Happy Camper

In 2025, Happy Camper returns with their fifth album: When Waves Rise. Together with singer-songwriter Leine, Job Roggeveen wrote this concept album, which centers around two lovers who, due to current unrest, dream of building a new life on an island far from the civilized world. Leine lends her dreamy, intimate voice, while the characterful Bouke Zoete brings his powerful and at times whispery, raspy sound. Together, they portray the two lovers in the album’s narrative songs.

Job Roggeveen started Happy Camper in 2011 as an indie revue project, featuring eleven different artists singing his songs. Among them were Blaudzun, Janne Schra, Tim Knol, Leine, and Bouke Zoete. The project also had a mascot: an animated yeti named Manfred. Their debut album, a cheerful yet melancholic collection, led to a sold-out club tour, a performance at Lowlands, and even an Edison Award. In 2015, the short film A Single Life, featuring the titular Happy Camper song, was nominated for an Oscar. The film was created by the animation studio Job, Joris & Marieke, of which Job is a member.

After several albums and tours, Happy Camper performed a theater tour in the fall of 2023 called Around The Campfire, with a more compact group of Happy Campers than before. De Volkskrant wrote about it: “It’s actually wonderful to see Happy Camper in such a small lineup: this way, the pure musicality draws even more attention.” In this form, Happy Camper will once again take to the stage in 2025.