Today we speak to Jasper Roelofsen, vocalist of Dutch band The Last Element. He tells us about their passion for making music people can understand and relate to and their dream to perform on the world stage.
Band Name: The Last Element
Members: Jasper Roelofsen (Vocals), Noah Grim (Guitar), Jan Bijlsma (Bass guitar) & Robert Spaninks (Drums)
Genre: Nu-Metal/Core/heavy rock
Founded: 2016
Originated From: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Discography: Broken (single, 2016), Lost (single, 2016) Hollow (single, 2017), Gravity (single, 2017), My Heart Became Your Home (single 2017), Dreamweavers (single, 2017), Not All Said and Done (single, 2018), My Own Hell (single, 2019), Forgot About the Sun (single, 2019), Damaged (single, 2019), Stuck in My Head (single, 2020), Blood Diamond (single,2020), Ocean Floor (single, 2020), The Devil (single, 2020) & Cut It Off (single, 2021)
How would you describe your music?
We want to say we sound like The Last Element, that makes us unique! Each of our songs is packed with heartfelt lyrics and vocals, backed up by heavy and epic guitar and bass grooves with killer drums laying the foundation for it all.
There is a lot going on, but it has a distinct sound that blends perfectly. I think most of our fans will easily recognise us among the many bands.
Furthermore, we focus on the music, we believe it’s a story we tell about everyone, we write music most can relate to and understand. It’s not about us, it’s about you!
What is your musical creative process like?
The start of a song can be a piano melody or Noah writes a killer hook, or Jan has some killer loops, it’s all possible we always just take it from a certain vibe and build on that.
After that we just let it flow! But from there we really start looking at the song as a whole, what the best fit is for the melody, the vocals etc. It’s a lot of fine tuning!
We really want the songs to turn out as good as they can be, sometimes that means rewriting large parts, sometimes it means we just shelve it for a year or longer and get back at it when we have inspiration again.
When everything is recorded and we have the right parts then we jump into mixing, which is the hard work of Jan and Noah mostly, and me and Robert just complaining about stuff! But in the end, that’s what really works for us!
How did the band form?
Jan and Robert knew each other from a previous project, had a lot of things going but decided the band could use a bit of fresh air, they reached out to Noah and myself and so The Last Element was born!
For each of us the best line-up we’ve ever been part of. Things just clicked and it went from there!
How did you come up with your band name?
We were searching for a way to explain the driving factor behind our band and that our music has always been very close to our hearts. We write about things that really matter to us, but that we believe also really matter to a lot of people.
We were searching for a way to explain what could combine the elements of hardship, love, trust, friendship and perseverance. That is when we decided all of these combined could be seen as – The Last Element – When we are together, we are stronger!
Who influenced you within the music industry?
A hard one, in our genre it would be Linkin Park and Bring Me The Horizon, but we listen to everything and even golden oldies can really inspire us. In the end we just try to make what we love not trying to fit a certain mould or sound.
Have you performed live much and what was your favourite gig to play at?
We’ve done a couple of cool shows as support acts for Skillet, Red, 3 Days Grace – each show amazing!! We aim to get some new cool support slots this year, at least if the shows go on!
What is the best thing about being in a band?
Writing songs and having them resonate with fans… it’s amazing to see people respond to the songs we write, how they interpret the lyrics and the way they like or love it!
It’s just such an amazing feeling that from scratch we wrote something, and the world starts to discover it.
What’s the biggest problem you’ve had to overcome so far as a musician(s)?
The biggest problem is and always will be getting our music heard! It’s always hard work and sometimes a song we love doesn’t do that much, while another just explodes.
It’s a strange world, but we enjoy the whole process, we just love doing what we do, and if more people join that’s just great!
What plans have you got coming up this year?
We hope to have some cool shows again, it’s been such a long time, even before Covid. The drummer broke his leg so we were out of it, then Covid started and now it’s been so long…. So yeah – we can’t wait to have some cool shows again.
Another thing, we really want to have more songs hit editorial playlists on Spotify and Apple and the likes. We’ve been pretty lucky with landing a couple of them, we would like to continue down that path, cause each time it feels great to be on a list among the biggest bands. It would really fire our spirits to not only be on the playlists with them, but also on festivals and shows.
What is your ultimate dream as a band?
World stages, epic music festivals, and platinum records – we like to dream big! I think we have music that can really go big, it all depends on the right moment and right songs.
We just keep working hard until we realise the dream one day. I mean the best thing that could happen would be a show where all the fans are singing along, that feeling would be crazy.
You can find out more about The Last Element and check ot their music by following them on Facebook, Spotify and YouTube.
If you’re in a band or a musician and would like to appear on this blog, please contact me and I’ll forward you an interview template.
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