interview by: Roberto Martinelli

photos by: Peter Blok

Things had to be made right – last year we had brought you a very nice interview indeed with Hans Rutten, the drummer for Dutch sensation The Gathering. But it was supposed to be with the darling of the band, vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen. But some confusion about time differences meant we missed out.

Maelstrom: You know, I’ve started taking vocal lessons. All the stuff about breathing and where to send the air... it’s fascinating. I’d like to ask you, when and where did you start singing, and what valuable lessons did you learn?

Anneke van Giersbergen (below): Well, I’m quite young, but I’ve been singing a lot of years. I had all these phases. I had been making music before then, but when I joined The Gathering, we had a lot of shows to do, and I was very scared that my voice wouldn’t hold it, and that I would be hoarse, and that I wasn’t good enough. And all that stressing made me sick. I would wear three scarves and not talk after shows... the most valuable lesson was to relax and enjoy it. Of course be careful with your body, and all, but not to stress. And obviously I became a better singer because I sang a lot, too.

Maelstrom: So you didn’t have as much experience playing in bands before The Gathering?

Anneke van Giersbergen: I did! But not at the same level. I played in bars and little venues. But I didn’t care then about being fit or good. It was just fun. But with The Gathering, if I got sick, then the whole show could be ruined, and that put a lot of pressure on me. But when I let that go after years, I got better because I knew I could do it. And that’s the secret.

Maelstrom: I recently saw the In Motion DVD. It’s quite old footage – at least nine or 10 years old.

Anneke van Giersbergen: Yes.

Maelstrom: The oldest stuff is from a Dynamo festival. It seemed that your style then involved a lot more jumping around (obviously, it’s a lot more metal)...

Anneke van Giersbergen: (giggles)

Maelstrom: ... and my image with you now, on the Sleepy Buildings album, is more sort of a “sit down with no shoes on” approach.

Anneke van Giersbergen: Yeah, it sounds like we’re old people now. When we recorded the Sleepy Buildings album, we were in a place with seats for the audience. But then, for the tour, I got tired of sitting down after a few shows, so we pepped it a little bit up. So we have the semi-acoustic thing, but we also do more of the intense songs. So I guess we’re somewhere in the middle of easy listening music – where you can close your eyes and relax – and songs that are a bit more intense, ones that make you want to dance or move a bit.

I think it’s a very nice state right now. But I know that after this quiet album, we want to be a bit more rock.

Maelstrom: I don’t know if this is what you like to call it, but Psychonaut Records, in their press release, called your last studio album “loungecore.”

Anneke van Giersbergen: Yeah! I think we got this from a journalist, and we liked it so much, we used it. The funny this is that every one makes their own words for it. And that’s really cool because it’s very interactive that way; we make the kind of music that you don’t really categorize that easily. Everybody starts to think for themself .

Maelstrom: So will it be more “loungecore” next time, or more rock?

Anneke van Giersbergen: I think it will be as pure as Sleepy Buildings, but a bit more rock. Well, the ideas that are popping up right now, and that we will assemble this year, are a bit to the heavy side – but you have to think “heavy” more in the Pink Floyd style... a bit more atmospheric, but with rough edges and guitar sounds. Not bombastic.

Maelstrom: You mentioned Sleepy Buildings as being pure. I think that’s an excellent adjective to use. In fact, it seems that its being a live record is an afterthought; it seems more like a studio record in terms of its sound and its importance. You’ve done a different take on your songs. But most importantly, the songs that you do from before you were in the band now totally have new life to them, and I find that to be this record’s greatest contribution.

Anneke van Giersbergen: .... that’s nice....

Maelstrom: I have an old, dusty CDR of Always somewhere, and I thought, “oh, I have to go find it!”

Anneke van Giersbergen: Yeah.... and you’ll notice that it’s *soo* different! We just undressed it, you know? The funny thing about those songs is that when you strip them to their essential bits, there’s always a really beautiful guitar or piano melody at their base. And what was really funny and nice and interesting for us to find out about our own music was that some songs really need the heavy riff or the big drums – they were written like that, but there are a lot of songs that were written as a beautiful melody. So we surprised ourselves with our own music.

Like the Always songs, and the song from Like a Dance, “Like Fountains” – which is a riff-o-rama, you know? So many riffs, and it’s very fast... we stripped it, and it’s a beautiful piano song.

Maelstrom: Let’s talk a little about the experience that you feel when you sing. Now, this is coming from my newfound, nerdy appreciation of vocals... but, what are you doing with your air?

Anneke van Giersbergen: There are a lot of techniques to use, and it’s a very personal thing from singer to singer. The way I learned it is to set the air in the mid-part of your stomach.

Maelstrom: The diaphragm?

Anneke van Giersbergen: Ah, yes. And to send it down, and then to push it. So, when you make an “ahhh,” you make a steady sound, instead of putting the air through your mouth and pushing it through there. Your throat is open, and you make a yawning sensation, with an open mouth. The little thing at the back of your throat is up.... I’m good in English, huh?

Maelstrom: No, you’re doing great! I think that thing at the back of the throat is called the epiglottis.

Anneke van Giersbergen: We call it a huig (she pronounced it “hauhhhhc” – Roberto)

Maelstrom: Your drummer, Hans, told me that he doesn’t really care for the record if_then_else. He says it’s a big mess.

Anneke van Giersbergen: (laugh)

Maelstrom: What’s your opinion on that?

Anneke van Giersbergen: (laugh) It *is* a big mess. There are some really beautiful jewels on it, like “Amity” and “Analog Park.” It’s a mess because they’re all nice songs, with a few beautiful songs, but they needed more work, and we didn’t have time. [The album] is not one atmosphere; it’s not one thing. It’s kind of a blanket made of all different fabrics. It sounds like a collection.

Maelstrom: I do agree with what you’re saying, but despite that, I think that it’s why it’s my favorite record of yours. Also, it reminds me of my trip to Norway, because I had taken the promo version of the album with me there, and I listened to “Amity” when I was visiting the famous church that was burnt down by the black metallers. And whenever I hear that song, I’m right back there again, walking through the woods in the rain, to see that place.

Anneke van Giersbergen: That’s one the funny and beautiful thing about music: it takes you places, and it always takes you back to the place where you coincidentally heard the song. So it’s really nice that you can refer to us as being in a forest.

Maelstrom: But I didn’t record and mix the record, so my perspective is entirely different than yours.

Anneke van Giersbergen: It is funny to see how we feel about it, having made it, and the way you do. [It means] that it’s not a waste of time, in that it made a feeling on which to pick something up. It wasn’t such a smashing album, but it does something else for you. There are a lot of people who really love if_then_else because the songs are [so different from one other]. It’s kind of a mixing pot. I don’t really get into it – I get into some songs on it... but I never really listen to my own albums anyway...

Maelstrom: Oh, really?

Anneke van Giersbergen: Well, once every half year I put on my favorites.

Maelstrom: Tell me what your favorites are.

Anneke van Giersbergen: I like How to Measure a Planet? a lot.

Maelstrom: Yeah, I could guess that from the track listing of Sleepy Buildings. You have more songs from that record than any other.

Anneke van Giersbergen: (laugh) True.

Maelstrom: Fair enough. You have a new bass player, Marjolein. Please tell us about her.

Anneke van Giersbergen: That’s really cool... but, first, Hugo, our old bass player, he was kind of fed up with the whole music business, and making music, kind of, as well. All these things were kind of slumbering, but it was there – he didn’t give it much energy anymore. And he had all the good reasons in the world to leave the band: he had a baby girl, and that gave him the push to leave the band so he could be home... and we’re very much away all the time. And we think about the band and the record company every minute of the day. It fills your life.

We had to look for somebody new; and it was quite difficult as Hugo is a very good bass player. We had to find someone who could also fit in: who has a sense of humor, who you can have fun with. In the end it’s all about making music and having a good time as well. So we found Marjolien in the old home town where most of us come from. She was the friend of a friend. We knew her from parties and being around and cafes and whatever. We knew she was making music, but we didn’t know how good she was. We knew she was studying guitar, and we asked her, kind of without reason, because she’s a nice girl, to audition for us. She was the first to audition and she was so good that we called her up the same evening, and she was in. She was very steady and she played four songs... better than us, as we hadn’t practiced for two months. It’s great fun because she’s very young and has very much energy. (Marjolein, below)

Maelstrom: Let me see how I can ask this question... having another woman in the band, how do you feel that will take some of the focus from male fans off of you?

Anneke van Giersbergen: Hehe. To be honest, it’s ok to divide the male attention. Ha. Because I have enough, really, to share. Hahaha. If I can say it like that. And I’m making a little joke about it because it’s not important at all.

Being a singer will always put you in the center of the stage, and people listen to you because you are speaking the lyrics – you tell the story. So I actually like it better this way, because I have a feeling Marjolein, as a girl, as a pretty girl – she looks very good with a bass on stage – she kind of lays a bridge between me and the rest of the band. Sometimes it’s even annoying how much attention I get and the rest of the guys don’t get. We’re all in one band, and we all write the music, and we do everything together. It’s only on stage that it seems like I’m in front. And to be honest with you, she’s pulling us more together than we ever were.

She’s gotten a lot of good attention from it, as well from a lot of women! People in America were shouting, “you go, girl!” “Yeah! We love you, girl!” Very American!

Maelstrom: You were mentioning how old you are. May I ask you your age?

Anneke van Giersbergen: I’m 31. Marjolein is 23. The rest of us are all around 30.

Maelstrom: Your hometown... is that Nijmegen?

Anneke van Giersbergen: It’s Oss. The Ruttens were born in Nijmegen, which, actually, Van Halen were born there.... no, wait.... who was it? (She confers with her husband, who just woke up fro a nap on the couch) Ah! No, it was... no! It *was* Van Halen. Do you know Van Halen?

Maelstrom: Yeah, sure.

Anneke van Giersbergen: Right. The two Van Halen brothers and the famous Rutten brothers are from Nijmegen. They were born in the same hospital as one of the Van Halen brothers... the guitarist...

Maelstrom: Eddie.

Anneke van Giersbergen: Oh, man. I’m very bad in history of music.

Maelstrom: That’s ok. Who’s your favorite singer. You said you don’t listen to your own records. Whose records do you put on?

Anneke van Giersbergen: Radiohead... Tom York is one of my favorite singers.

Maelstrom: Thanks very much for your time, Anneke.

Anneke van Giersbergen: Thank *you* very much for your time, and say hello to your girlfriend.