Ayrin писал(а):

По поводу вокала, мне стало очень интересно, кто писал вокальные линии? Силье?

Из интервью Силье: "TG gives me the freedom to come up with my own vocal lines and lyrics as well as make music which is the way I love to work".

Interview with Silje Wergeland
As many of you will know by now Silje Wergeland is the new lead vocalist of The Gathering with whom she has already released a new studio album entitled The West Pole. On 26th June The Gathering are due to perform at the Graspop Metal Meeting in what might turn out to be the first of a number of announced tour dates, in the words of Silje we'll just have to wait and see...

(Q)Thanks for agreeing to this interview, I suppose the first thing people might want to know is - what led to your decision to join The Gathering?

(A): My pleasure Well, Octavia wasn't very busy at the time I saw the advert on Blabbermouth I think. I like their music (of course) and I thought it would be interesting to see how my voice would fit with the direction they wanted to go now. TG gives me the freedom to come up with my own vocal lines and lyrics as well as make music which is the way I love to work. And of course it is quite important that the guys and girl are super nice and funny to be with

(Q)The Gathering have already released the studio album "The West Pole", what can you tell us about this and working with singers Anne van den Hoogen and Marcela Bovio?

(A)The album has a lot of atmosphere and at the same time it has this rock attitude with some heavy elements. It was an exciting time as we got to know each other both as friends and as colleagues as we worked. I really like what we have created; it has some much soul and layers in the music. René has done a brilliant job with the production. It has of course been fun as well as exciting, and it is soo nice with all the good feedback we have got now on the three songs on myspace. I have never met either Anne or Marcela, hopefully we will meet soon. Their singing is really beautiful so you can look forward to hearing it

(Q)Stream of Passion are currently on the verge of releasing their own album. Given your respective bands share female lead vocalists how would you feel about performing alongside them?

(A) To be honest I hadn't heard much of SOP before I joined TG. I have never listened much to what the music business call 'female fronted metal bands', so I don't know much about this. I did check out the band and I think they are very good. I hope I get to see them play live at some point. Marcela is a great vocalist too!

(Q)The Gathering have already announced they are to perform at the Graspop Metal Meeting on 26th June, assuming that there are other shows to follow what can the fans expect from the forthcoming tour?

(A) Well, that is a big question, isn't it..hehe I guess we will have to wait and see...

(Q)If a film was to be made about your life which actress would you most like to play you and why?

(A)Wow, never thought of that. Hmm..I have no idea, or maybe Minnie Driver as she can sing and some people has even said to me she looks a bit like me haha

(Q)Do you have any regrets in leaving Octavia Sperati?

(A) Octavia is put 'on ice', and I don't think anybody has any regrets doing that. Octavia was at a point where we all agreed we needed to take a break, and it had nothing to do with me being in The Gathering.

(Q)Your musical education in both singing and learning the piano is listed as being of a classical nature, what made you decide to perform in a rock genre of music?

(A) Rock has always had a big place in my heart. My first favorite band was when I was six; a Norwegian rock band called The Kids. My mum wanted me to do classical education (sing in choirs and stuff which I never wanted to do as I wanted to sing in a band), but I always managed to turn it into some kind of rock and later metal When I started taking singing lessons I had to look for teachers that could work with me on my style, not too much classical as I never wanted to go quite there. I have classical training, but I never wanted to be singing pure classical (not that I don't like it

(Q)If Silje Wergeland wasn't involved in the music business, what do you think you would be most likely to do be doing now?

(A) I have always been doing something creative, like painting and drawing, but I also have a degree in marketing communication and project management, so I guess it would have been something within that..or take an additional degree in either nature medicine or in ecological matters as I believe we have been neglecting the holistic lifestyle and nature around us too much.

(Q)Thank you for your time, is there anything you wish to say which hasn't been mentioned?

(A) Thanks to everyone that has given me such a nice and warm welcome in the Gathering camp.

source: http://www.myspace.com/firestorm_media

Nia, а альбом тебе как?

Сегодня с утра послушал половину. С одной стороны, да, все проще, а простота - это немножко не то, чего ждешь от этой группы. С другой - впечатление положительное, слушалось хорошо, причем это на невыспавшуюся голову, на голодный желудок да еще и по дороге к зубному Так что окончательно сформулировать мнение получится, боюсь, где-то через месяц, когда песни в голове улягутся

Силье - это не самый худший вариант. Да, ей не хватает экспрессивности - сужу по трем песням - но, думаю, она себя еще покажет. Послушаем весь альбом, подождем летних концертов, тогда уже и можно будет делать определенные выводы. В музыкальном отношении Зе Гезеринг не разочаровал. Ждем-с!

Ave Omen писал(а):

Послушаем весь альбом

А что мешает сделать это уже сейчас? =)

HaCkEr писал(а):

А что мешает сделать это уже сейчас? =)

Я отстал от жизни - есть уже ЦЕЛЫЙ альбом?! От холєра! Дайте сцылко плиз!

Ну что, послушал. Впечатление вобщем очень неплохое. Порадовали Treasure, West Pole, Pale Traces. Для Силье это пока что дебют, не будем судить строго, оно старалась, она не залажала, она серъезно отнеслась к работе. Ставлю твердую четверку!

Конечно, это сильно не вписывается в тему последних событий, но всё же. Начала писать пост в тему Music DVD, а потом увлеклась и решила, что лучше уделю побольше времени и внимания именно gathering'овским ДВД и выложу сей пост сюда. Оговорюсь, что рассматривать я буду пока только концертную часть, про остальные материалы, может, напишу чуть позже.
Итак:

"A Sound Relief" (2005)


В пока единственном отзыве на сей ДВД на дарксайде написано следующее:
"Как и оформление DVD, так и само его содержание довольно просты и аскетичны, но возникает какое-то неуловимое приятное чувство, когда берешь коробочку с диском в руки. Высочайшее качество во всем - от оформления до звучания - вот как можно охарактеризовать релиз."

Мне остаётся только подписаться. Это тот минимализм, который не кажется скучным и пресным, а наоборот - притягивает сильнее подробностей и навороченностей.
Концерт в небезызвестном амстердамском Paradise от 25 мая 2005 года выше всяких похвал. В первую очередь рекомендую его тем, кому пришелся по душе акустический "Sleepy Buildings", ибо некоторые песни ("Red Is A Slow Colour", "Amity", "In Motion II") исполнены именно в этой стилистике. Ещё жаль, что в ДВД не стали включать исполнение акустическую версию "Kevin's Telescope" - как потом выяснилось, потому что ребята посчитали, что "это было исполнено недостаточно хорошо". В принципе, я понимаю, что они имеют в виду. Но сама версия уж очень интересная. Для любопытствующих:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wOFIWokXRc

Голос Аннеке местами звучит очень красиво, а местами всё-таки несколько зажато - ту же "Red Is A Slow Colour" я слышала в более сочном вокальном исполнении. Зато музыка... Ооо, этот концерт великолепно передаёт атмосферу и богатство звуковой палитры музыки The Gathering. Исполнение "Broken Glass", "Souvenirs", "Herbal Movement" и некоторых других определённо не ударило в грязь лицом перед студийными вариантами.
Отдельной похвалы заслуживает операторская работа: огромное количество крупных планов, причем всех без исключения музыкантов и инструментов. Во время концерта на заднем экране демонстрировались 3D-ролики, и на ДВД периодически показывались фрагменты этих роликов, причем подход очень грамотный: фрагменты клипов показывают не настолько долго, чтобы надоесть зрителю и заставить его думать "ну когда же наконец покажут музыкантов!", но одновременно не совсем уж отрывочно, чтобы была понятна основная концепция ролика. И нет резких переходов в стиле "играет группа" - бац!! - и ролик- бац!! - снова группа. Переходы по большей части постепенные и шикарно вписываются в звуковое сопровождение.
Да и в целом картинка ну очень приятная: необычный и красивый подбор цветовой гаммы, воспитанные зрители, погруженные в свою музыку музыканты, притягательная в своём простом белом одеянии Аннеке...


"A Noise Severe" (2007)


Первое время я была просто в восторге от представленного на этом ДВД концерте в Сантьяго, Чили. Ребята из группы изначально планировали сделать нечто совершенно непохожее, даже противоположное тому, что было на "A Sound Relief". И у них это получилось. После полуакустического (местами так и напрашивается эпитет "камерного") концерта в Амстердаме перед сидящей аудиторией шоу на стадионе Сантьяго перед, не побоюсь этого слова, беснующейся публикой выглядит очень свежо и бодряще. На сегодняшний момент это самый драйвовый концерт The Gathering из всех записанных. Группа всегда делала ставку на атмосферу и исполнительность, но не на зрелищность, здесь же и на долю второго кое-что перепало.

Невозможно не выделить приём публики, чьё участие является несомненным по своей серьёзности вкладом в драйв и зрелищность концерта. Особенно лично мне очень нравится момент, когда в "Liberty Bell" Аннеке, вместо того, чтобы после вступительных строчек пропеть положенное "Ууу-ааа-ааа", отстраняет от себя микрофон, и вместо неё это тут же делает публика. Ну а насчет "Saturnine" и говорить не стоит - на ДВД это ещё не так видно и слышно, а если смотреть любительские записи, то становится понятно, что зал пел вместе с Аннеке практически всю песню.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e6J4WaSGbo
А от коронной голосовой распевки в конце и вовсе сносит крышу и уносит куда-то очень далеко.
Я могла бы выделить немало особенно удачных, с моей точки зрения, исполнений, но самым моим любимым номером является "Black Light District" - о, это более шестнадцати минут чистого оргазма. Вся группа реально ушла в песню и отстранилась от окружающей действительности.

Но есть у этого ДВД и свои существенные минусы, и их, боюсь, много.
Прежде всего, это, конечно же, операторская работа. Сравнивать с "A Sound Relief" вообще смешно, ибо крупных планов маловато, а действительно хороших крупных планов и того меньше. Зато порой ну слишком часто и долго показывается с разных точек сцена издали, как будто с дальних трибун, и разглядеть как следует при этом можно только рыжую шевелюру Аннеке =D Плавные переходы практически отсутствуют, и слегка раздражает периодически попадающие в кадр двигающиеся камеры.

Освещение варьируется от хорошего до чересчур (я бы даже сказала неуместно) тёмного.

Но на этом минусы не заканчиваются. Я бы отметила ещё не самый лучший звук. Всё-таки местами голос (что наиболее заметно) и музыкальный ряд (в первую очередь гитара и бас) звучат грязновато, а в особо "громких моментах" некоторые звуковые эффекты заглушаются и теряются на общем фоне. Сначала мне казалось, что я, наверное, излишне придираюсь, однако потом сей ДВД посмотрел мой друг с задатками аудиофилизма и сказал то же самое. Даже если сравнивать концерт в Paradise полугодом раньше с по большей части довольно схожим сет-листом, разница в чистоте записи пусть и не гигантская, но, на мой взгляд, всё-таки заметная.
Примеры:
19 сентября, Амстердам, "Liberty Bell":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7qiCpSqQqw
24 марта, Сантьяго, та же песня:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5OjLec_Y3w
Особенно это ощущается на быстрых и особенно "громких" песнях - помимо "Liberty Bell" это "Monsters", "Third Chance" и т.д. Подобное кажется мне весьма удивительным ибо, во-первых, речь всё-таки о ДВД, а во-вторых, ребята из группы всегда очень требовательно подходили к вопросу о звуке.

Однако даже несмотря на эти минусы, я бы всё равно посоветовала ознакомиться с этим концертом тем, кто его ещё не видел - хотя бы для сравнения с тем же "A Sound Relief". Уверяю, с атмосферно-настроенческой точки зрения они настолько разные, насколько это вообще возможно в рамках творчества одной группы. Ну и, кроме того, от него реально можно словить настоящий кайф!
И, кстати, на своём плеере несколько песен я храню именно в записи с этого концерта, а не в их студийном варианте - к примеру, "Shortest Day", "Monsters", "On Most Surfaces" и некоторые другие.

На Noise Severe DVD во время исполения Saturnine Аннеке уж больно веселая (меня улыбнуло как она грозит пальчиком кому-то из публики). Да, A Sound Relief мне тоже больше нравится чем NSDVD. Но, в любом случае, кто не видел эти два концерта, тот не знает что такое The Gathering

Ну, лично я не могу однозначно сказать, что "A Sound Relief" мне больше нравится. Тут просто с какой стороны заходить: если с технической - то да, ASR на голову выше ANS, его и смотреть в разы приятнее (я вот всё представляю, какого было бы увидеть это на большом экране... в кинотеатре, например. У меня уже есть идея фикс - посмотреть "The Wall" на большом экране, с полным погружением, так сказать, а теперь ещё вторая идея-фикс по схожей тематике начинает сформировываться), да и вообще он профессиональнее, добротнее и продуманнее кажется (концертные части), в то время как при просмотре ANS порой возникает ощущение, что его лепили впопыхах. Но если рассматривать конкретно материалы этих ДВД (в частности всё те же концерты), абстрагируясь от той же операторской работы, освещения и т.п., то мне даже сравнивать толком не получается, т.к. оба хороши, но каждый - в своей области. На разные настроения они.

Ave Omen писал(а):

Но, в любом случае, кто не видел эти два концерта, тот не знает что такое The Gathering

Кстати-кстати, что-то в этом есть -))

Модератор официального форума The Gathering организовал интервью с Хансом Руттеном. >>
Первая часть:

1. Please tell us a Little bit about the months that followed August 2007, the Finland experience having tenths of fans from all over the world witnessing the departure of Anneke van Giersbergen, and the upcoming times of seclusion. Many of us thought would be the last chance to see the band live, how was it for you guys?

Well, we never thought it was our last gig, for sure. But it was a weird period anyway. We were overwhelmed by all fans coming from all different countries witnessing our last gig with Anneke. But we were also happy it was our last day with Anneke, knowing she would quit with the band. We already knew for 6 months she would stop, so it was in a way a relief that this day finally happened. Of course we started thinking about the future of The Gathering immediately when we knew Anneke would leave (march 2007). After Finland we also concentrated on other things different from The Gathering, musically and personally: Rene started his own guitarshop and joined Drive By Wire, Frank worked as a courier and played live with his alter ego Grim Limbo, Marjolein did several things musically and found a new job, and I (Hans) worked in a children hospital. We needed this break to reload our batteries, and to get creative again.

2. Was there a moment for The Gathering in which you were unsure to continue as a band?

We never played with the idea to quit the band for real. It would be such a huge dissapointment, especially for Rene, Frank and me, the guys who started this band, to quit because Anneke wanted to stop. We still had a good feeling about the four of us as a band and we know we still have a lot of inspiration and the drive to continue. The Gathering story simply couldn’t end with the departure of Anneke.

3. How difficult was it to come up with new song ideas?

It was a bit tough in the very beginning, but at a certain point, around the beginning of 2008, especially Rene came up with a lot of very good ideas in a relatively short time. Of course, you can decide to keep on going with the band, but you need strong song material too. We knew it would happen, but it’s always the question when?.
This time we had a clear focus: we really wanted to make a rock orientated album, with a lot of guitars, and not too many layers. This was not a new idea, during the recordings of ‘Home’ we already wanted to make an album which had more guitars. But it didn’t happen in the end. That’s why it felt comfortable that Rene;e also produced the album, we knew exactly how we wanted to sound this time.

4. How could you know what was the right step to take regarding the “new voice”? did you have in mind something clear during the auditions?

No, we stood open for everything. The most important thing we had in mind was that we, of course, would like the voice and if there was chemistry going on between the vocals and music. We had this Massive Attack idea: work with several male and female vocalist. We kept an eye and ear open, and as you already know we started an audition via email; vocalists could send their demo to us. We received a mere 250 demo’s in total. It was a heavy task listening carefully to all of them.

5. After many months of silence, the band gave news about finally having chosen a girl to front the band again, how did you choose Silje over the huge amounts of people auditioning?

Well, we were not really in search finding a new permanent band member. We were already working with Anne on ‘Capital Of Nowhere’, and we were talking with Marcela to work on a couple of songs. When we listened to Silje we liked her immediately and we sent her a rough demo version of ‘Treasure’. She sent it back and we liked it a lot. ‘Treasure’ is not an easy song, but she did a fabulous job. Silje was very driven, she wanted to hear all our new material, and before we knew we worked with her on 6 new songs and after we met her last summer she was a Gathereer! It just happened on a very natural way. We were not really in search, as we had this Massive Attack idea, but it happened anyway. A project is nice, but being in a real band with full bandmembers is better.

6. As far as Silje’s auditioning concerns, did she apply singing The Gathering songs, or her own material/Octavia Sperati?

No, she sent us some material and links of several projects she did, including of course Octavia Sperati, but we decided to work on new Gathering material. We didn’t do a real audition with old Gathering songs, as we are focused on the new record.

7. In previous news, The Gathering was thinking of using a male voice, why did it not happen in the end? Can you give us some names of the guys you thought of?

We had some guys in mind, the boys from Anathema for example, and I was in touch with Trickster G, but this album just wasn’t meant to be for male vocals. We were working with Silje and at a certain point we worked with her on all the other tracks of the new album. We were happy with the results, so we just went with the flow. We still think it is a good idea to work with guest (male) vocalists (and musicians) in the future though.

8. How are you handling the distance with Silje, as you have informed us, she’s currently living in the UK, how hard will it be to tour around with her?

I don’t think this will be a problem. It’s just all about planning. We will do a couple of gigs in weekends instead of stand alone gigs. And I don’t think we will do an extensive tour like we did in the past.

9. What is the idea behind TWP? Is it a concept album?

We have created a context in which we worked. When we were in the middle of the writing process it became clear this album is very ‘urban’. Most of the songs were fast, guitar driven, it felt like this album was ‘city’ orientated in a lot of ways. So we created a fictive kind of city, and gave this idea to the vocalists. It’s like walking in a city, in the park, the harbour, and imagine that people having dialogues, or monologues, and you have the ability to listen to those conversations. Everybody was free of course to make her own story, as long as it was connected to the context.

10. Where does the whole artwork come from?

It was Gema (girlfiend of Rene) who was surfing the net and stumbled upon the artwork of Adam Abernethy, an artist living in New Zealand. He actually knew The Gathering and we liked his work a lot, it connected very well with our context and the atmosphere of the album.

11. There are two beautiful contributions by guest singers Anna Rosa & Marcela Bovio, how did you choose the tracks they would be singing in? Who wrote the lyrics of those tracks?

They all wrote their own lyrics. It was more a feeling rather than choosing, really. We had the feeling Anne’s voice would fit on Capital of Nowhere, and the same goes for Marcela with Pale Traces.

12. Originally TWP was planned to include only 9 songs, why did you choose to make it a 10 song CD, and which track was the last to be added?

Rene came up with the idea to include a song of Silje on this album (You Promised Me A Symphony). The album is quite ‘dense’, so it was a good idea to break up the album a bit, with a piano orientated song. Silje was already working on this song for a while, she recorded this song I think it was in February this year in Norway.

13. Were there any songs left out of the album? Will they be included in a further release?

All the ‘left-overs’ will appear on the EP ‘City From Above’. This EP also includes the 13 minute title track which was written for a dance piece we contributed music to.

14. How has it been to work with a totally different personality in the vocals? Anneke and TG had been together from way back, it is to be assumed you had already a very specific method in the writing process…

Most of the songs (in the past and on The West Pole) were written by René and/or Frank. Later on we took these rough ideas to the rehearsal room or Rene’s studio and worked on arrangements together. When we had a rough demo we sent it to the vocalists. We have always worked like this so this didn’t change, it has been our way of writting for many albums.

15. Which bands would you say are the biggest influence for The Gathering right now?

Every bandmember has his or her own influence. We all like bands such as Doves, Dredg, Archive, The Arcade Fire, Elbow, and you can always hear a bit of influences, without losing our typical Gathering sound.

16. What are your favourite tracks in the album, and why?

I like Pale Traces, Treasure, No Bird Call and No One Spoke a lot. This can change of course. I can’t explain exactly why I like them. When I hear them I am touched a bit more then the other ones.

17. TWP is somehow a double release because of the EP "City From Above" which includes an instrumental track, TWP itself opens energetically with “When Trust Becomes Sound”. Are we seeing the rebirth of the epic atmospheres in ways of the tracks “How to measure a planet?”, “Black Light District” &” Sand and Mercury”???

Who knows? It depends on the material we have and the mood we are in. I myself love bands who are able to write long, interesting tracks, such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

18. “Treasure” is for sure one of the happiest songs The Gathering has ever written if not the happiest. I find a very strong influence from Arcade Fire in the drums, would you say the band is heading to a more “indie” sound rather than alternative rock?

I am not sure if I know the difference between ‘indie’ and ‘alternative’. They are more or less the same for me. I think albums like ‘How to measure...’ are more alternative already, so it is not really new for us. I think we still have this typical Gathering atmosphere, only the approach is a bit different.
I think we wrote a lot of uplifting songs lately, more extravert. If this is what’s coming out of the minds of Rene and Frank, then so be it. We are not going to force to write a ‘dark’ or ‘gloomy’ album. We were full of confidence when we wrote The West Pole. I think we also felt a relief. In the past, more and more the band became The Gathering + Anneke. There’s nobody to blame, it just happened. Right now it feels like we have the band right back where it belongs. It’s a band again. That’s what you hear.

19. “All you are” sounded at first listen like very generic female fronted metal, now i fully dig it and like it lots, makes sense inside all the stories told in the album. Nevertheless one cannnot deny it’s a very easy going track, is this the band’s attempt to get radio play in the Netherlands due to the huge success this genre has had in the past years?

No, this is not our main goal when we write a song. It just turned out more catchy than we thought. There is no masterplan to conquer the world .

20. One of the master tracks for myself in TWP is the self-titled track, the chorus line is catchy and dreamy as hell. Would you say/agree this is perhaps the track that mostly has the band’s signature in the album? Follows in the vein of classic tracks such as “Travel” & “A Noise Severe from your past releases”?

Rene wrote all music, Silje wrote lyrics and vocal lines, and Frank, Rene and me arranged the song as it is right now. It is a typical Gathering song. Rene came up with these riffs and instinctively we all knew exactly what to do. It is a very strong indeed. We will see if this song will end up being a Gathering classic

21. “No Bird Call” & “You promised me a symphony” sound as the most intimate & personal tracks in TWP, how much did Silje contribute in the music and melodies writing process?

YPMEA was entirely written, arranged and played by Silje so i would say it is very intimate. No Bird Call is a song Frank wrote, and Silje wrote lyrics and vocal lines. Nevertheless, almost every song was already written and roughly arranged when Silje (and Marcela and Anne of course) joined us to finish the songs as they are right now. This is how we work for years now, and it’s the way of working we like best. Of course in the future things can chance. Maybe we will invent a whole new way of writing songs.

22. In “Capital of Nowhere”, it’s easy to find a very high influence from Cocteau Twins in the voice and Pink Floyd in the music, it’s incredibly fresh and atmospheric, should we expect The Gathering to wander around this kind of songs in the future? I should add that i believe Anna Rosa did a WONDERFUL job on this one.

We think so too! Well, we enjoy to play dreamy, shoegaze orientated music a lot, and YES, we are thinking of writing more songs like Capital of Nowhere. We are huge Cocteau Twins and Slowdive addicts. But we didn’t really talk about new songs yet. First we need to take some distance from TWP and let it develop as it should.

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And I don’t think we will do an extensive tour like we did in the past.

Ну это понятно, но концертов жду с нетерпением.

А так, по ходу, Силье активно участвовала в альбоме: одна вешь полностью ее, она писала тексты к композициям. Вот только насколько оправданно что вокалистка живет в другой стране? Что из этого выйдет? Как она будет петь "Аннековские" вещи? До жути интересно!

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Вот только насколько оправданно что вокалистка живет в другой стране?

Для записи альбома - совершенно некритично. Для гастролей - сносно. Чем больше бабок срубит новый альбом, тем сноснее.

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And I don’t think we will do an extensive tour like we did in the past.

Пессимист. Хотя Крис Йонссон тоже в своё время думал, что Theli провалится.

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Как она будет петь "Аннековские" вещи?

Судя по альбому, чуть менее выразительно, но сносно. У её голоса тоже есть безусловные достоинства. Если постарается - будет оч. хорошо.

Кстати, половину интервью Ханса я перевёл, может за завтра добью.

Ещё одно интервью.
Interview Lords of Metal >>

‘The West Pole’ is everything but just another album for The Gathering. It marks the leave of Anneke van Giersbergen and welcomes the new singer Silje Wergeland. Earthshaking but also offering a new challenge but they knew how to cope with that from earlier experiences, they were always able to come out with a positive result. This time too and that feeling is supported by the nice conversation that was held in Nijmegen’s eldest café. Drummer Hans Rutten was there for us…
Text: Winston


I don’t want to focus on it too long but still, Anneke’s announcement of leaving must have hit you hard, or did you saw it coming anyway?
We did see it coming yeah. She told us that she couldn’t pull the weight anymore so at first we thought it was best to give her all the space and time she wanted. The band on hold for two or three was a possibility for us. But she didn’t want that either she wasn’t up for it anymore. The way she left wasn’t too nice from her side but that is between us really. We dealt with it now and it is time to move on and that is what we are doing.

How strange and sad at the same time. You achieved and experienced a lot together and now to let it end like this…how remarkable is it that she soon after her leaving already told to the press that a future collaboration certainly would be possible again with The Gathering?
I agree and I think it’s just very lame of her to say that. It will not happen and she very well knows that. To flirt with the idea is not done really.

And I think you are not the kind of band to keep that door open…
No, that door is closed indeed. I read what she said and I think that’s it’s not sensible to come out with that after a few months already. We discussed taking a long break on several occasions but she didn’t want to do that. So why still flirt with the idea? We grew into her presence on the foreground, deliberate or not, sometimes with a record company behind it. I’m relived we are done with that fact, her being placed above the band…

Clear. And then, what were the first ideas on continuing?
We let it sink in for a few weeks and Rene, Frank and myself discussed this after a little while. Marjolein told us early one that she gladly would be involved if and how we should continue. We did some writing but that went very bad. We were sounding so very sad. We then decided to focus on total different stuff in our lives for half a year. We didn’t start again untill January of 2008.

Did you start work with a certain expectation?
It would stand or fall down with the material we would come up with. Rene was very driven and I think that ‘The West Pole’ is very much hís album. He grabbed the bull by the horns contributed lots of ideas as well as Frank. We then realized that as a band we were still alive so we announced auditions for new singers, male and/or female. At first we wanted to use five or six singers, not just one person. We wanted to search a little and make this album a stepping stone. But that idea didn’t held on, at first we worked with Anne, from Nijmegen, she has a nice voice but more suitable for pop work instead of rock. We enjoyed working with her but she is just 20 years of age and was starting her studies in Utrecht so that was too complicated. Marcella Bovio came to us at the same time we wanted to call her. We already knew each other, from our time in Mexico where we performed with her former band. She is very educated and carries that fado feeling with her. We did a few songs with her, one is on the album and two will be available on the new EP. In the search of more we came across Silje. We liked her easy and calm way of singing over heavy songs very much and we had quite a some rock material ready for the new album. We didn’t want a riff fighter or a high pitched voice. So we sent Silje a rather difficult song to see what would happen and to our surprise she came up with beautiful melodies and she went along with the music on her own way. She was very eager, came by here in Nijmegen one time and all of a sudden we had six songs and by that we turned into a band, in a natural way.

You must have had many reactions on your advertisement for a new singer?
300 reactions and we had a lot of work with that! Among them a few surprises too where we thought “Huh? But aren’t you with so and so? Rather want to sing with us really?”

Who was that?
Hahaha, no I can’t say. But the interest that was showed was warming.

So Silje became the new singer…did you know of her band Octavia Speratil?
No, not really. They are more metal with a black metal and gothic touch I believe? That ban dis on hold now because of Silje’s chance with us but they are supporting her all the way. We are fond of the Nordic scene by the way, even though Silje lives in London herself. We are rehearsing on a regular base, she flies in on Airport Weeze Niederrhein so we can use our time wisely.

Which songs are you rehearsing?
The new album but also older songs as well. What we like and what she likes. Sometimes even to our suprise, Silje wanted to do ‘On Most Surfaces’ which has a difficult melodyline, but she wanted to do it very much.

Are there limitations for the setlist?
No not really. We will see what will turn out to be working for us. We won’t be playing anything from the ‘Home’ album though, that one is too close to us still. I find it hard to play that album and can’t watch the documentary that was made while we were recording that album. Any documentarymaker ‘wants’ the things to happen that happened with us but this hook wasn’t foreseen of course. (WA: Henk Rutten, Hans and Rene’s father suddenly died during the recording of the album, the documentary is on the ‘A Noise Severe’ DVD). It marks the goodbye of both Anneke and our father…

Did you have an idea how to create and produce the album?
Yes we did, we wanted to everything ourselves as much a possible. We invested a lot in our equipment and wanted to make a –for The Gathering terms- an easy album. I think we deliberately brought some past things back this time. A song like ‘The West Pole’ for instancecould very well hve been on ‘Always’, kinda has that same doomy feeling feel. And ‘No Bird Call’ has something of ‘Souvenirs’. I wanted to have a bit more up tempo songs without sounding ‘happy’ as that turned out to be our tendency. So that’s why a bit more songs with a 130/140 bpm beat like ‘Treasure’ and ‘All You Are’. The criticsm we get now is that we aren’t progressing as we used to. But I think that by using new singer(s) we still are. We like to do new things and this way we do but in a different way this time.

And you produced it yourself!
Rene was the producer indeed and that was new too. We set out not to make a weird jazzy album or something like that as we knew how criticized this one would be. The material what we had was that what we had, a lot of songs and ideas came from Rene. He insisted to open up the album with ‘When Trust Becomes Sound’.

A real letting-some-steam-off song to me…
The album was made to play loud! It is no ‘How To Measure’, ‘Souvenirs’ or ‘Home’. We are glad to still be around after 20 years. This is a Spring album, we still exist! Maybe no tour magnus opus but we did know very well what we wanted to create. ‘Home’ was supposed to be a rock focused album but that fell through now were determend to stock to that idea. You kind of have to prove yourself again.

And what about The Gathering live on stage?
With Silje. Marcella told us that she would like to be with us on stage too. In June we will do some try outs in Purmerend and Heerlen, then we will do Graspop and some other foreign festivals in Czech Republic and Portugal for instance. In the Autumn we go into the clubs in Holland and Europe and it will be next year I guess when we will head to South America again. The response there is good, they understand that it was Anneke’s wish and decision to leave and that she wasn’t kicked out by us. We will prepare ourselves well as a lot of people will be hanging on the old band. We want to talk about that period in promotion for this album but not much more after that…we’re moving on…

And that is noted down! To my humble opinion the spirit is back in The Gathering. The arent’t afraid of their past, are realistic about the present and are ready for the future. They have proven to have phoenix abilities; risingg from the ashes to achieve new highs. ‘The West Pole’ is a good stepping stone (pun intended) so I say good luck to them.

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And what about The Gathering live on stage?
With Silje. Marcella told us that she would like to be with us on stage too. In June we will do some try outs in Purmerend and Heerlen, then we will do Graspop and some other foreign festivals in Czech Republic and Portugal for instance. [/i]

Ураа!Марсела с ними будет.Это отлично,значит Pale traces мы услышим в живую!
Тем более,что Марсела в живую поет великолепно...

А испаноязычную Pale traces можно уже услышать ...тоже красивая версия.

Первое интервью переведено:

http://metal-queens.ru/index.php?page=the-gathering-8

GG, огромное спасибо за труды!
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joined Drive By Wire

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стал водить машину по методу "Drive-by-wire" (управление автомобилем не непосредственно, а с помощью бортового компьютера)

Речь идёт не о методе управления автомобилем, а о нидерландской музыкальной группе Drive-by-wire (офсайт, майспейс), в записи дебютного альбома которых приняла участие половина состава The Gathering, включая Аннеке (в песне "Happiness is Dangerous" есть её голос). Рене играл у них на басу во время концертов. А ещё раньше у них в качестве ударника на концертах, кстати, играл Роб Шнайдерс (ex-Celestial Season, ex-Kong) - нынешний муж Аннеке.

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я-то думал, что это какое-то движение. Типа, мы за компьютеризацию вождения ))
Эко лопухнулся