Within Temptation
with Michiel Papenhove on Jun 30, 2001
Recently, news got out that Michiel Papenhove, guitar player of Dutch Goth-Rock/Goth-Metal pioneers "Within Temptation" has decided to leave the band. Here`s a recent interview with him just before this news reached the world...
  Can you give a brief introduction to the ever decreasing number of people out there that never heard of Within Temptation?
Within Temptation is a band that plays… ehm… well, let`s call it Goth-rock or something. Our music is mostly made up of a lot of keyboard parts with heavy guitars and the angelic voice of Sharon ;-) We focus on melodic stuff, that`s why we decided to not use the grunts anymore. These were present on our first two recordings.

  For starters, the question that`s been on everybody`s minds: why did it take so long for the new CD to be released? And what did you do during the years between "The Dance" and your latest CD "Mother Earth"?
WT is our hobby. Besides being in WT we all have jobs. And because of that, it is kind of hard to spend a lot of time on writing new material. What we did during the period between The Dance and Mother Earth is therefore pretty clear: we have been working or studying ;-) A lot of people think that the band is our life while that is, as stated here, definitely not the case.

  How does it feel to have the new CD released finally and get quite good reviews?
It feels great. We were very pleased ourselves with the final result and we were even more pleased when a lot of magazines and people from the music business reviewed the new album as being "quite good" (or even better than quite good ;-)).

  Are you pleased with the recording process and the final result of "Mother Earth"?
Definitely. It was kind of stressful to get everything done in the time we planned to spend on recording the album, but we think the result is very satisfying. We love it.

  What is your own personal favorite song and why?
Pffffff….. Hard question…. I like "The Promise" a lot…. But I kind of like all songs a lot…. I couldn`t really name a personal favorite, I`m afraid...

  Personally, I think the new album certainly shows that you`ve grown in a musical sense of the word. Is this a conscious shift to reach a bigger audience or just a logical swing? And what are your visions on the musical future of the band?
For us, it`s just a logical swing. We never had the intention to address a bigger audience (not that we would mind having a bigger audience or anything ;-)), we just make the music we like. And through the years we progressed into a style that is more melodic, more orchestral and more bombastic. What the future will bring is still not very clear. We`ll probably continue on the same track. I can`t really tell yet though… At the time of "The Dance" we couldn`t have thought that we would be making the style of music we are making right now. So it`s very hard to tell what the future will look like… It will definitely be WT, that`s for sure ;-)

  How do you feel about people drawing comparisons between "Never-ending Story" and Clannad, or Sharon`s vocals and Kate Bush (for instance in "Caged")?
People always need comparisons, so why bother about that ? We don`t mind, both Clannad and Kate Bush are very cool ;-) And Sharon definitely likes Kate Bush a lot, so there`s bound to be some influences. Music will always be compared to other music, so we feel perfectly fine with comparisons.

  A major difference between "Enter" and "Mother Earth" can be heard vocally. Sharon has grown a lot and has gained the space to explore her vocal capabilities. Did she aspire this or was it something that was linked to the musical growth of the band?
Through the years she has started singing better, mostly because of the practice Sharon got doing loads of live shows. She has indeed grown a lot, which works great for our music. So it wasn`t really an aspiration, it was more "something natural". We all got better at playing I guess…. But with Sharon, it`s most obvious.

  On "Mother Earth" there are quite a few guest appearances (amongst others Guus Eikens from "Orphanage" and Arjen "Ayreon" Lucassen). How did this come to life?
Our philosophy is: if there`s someone who can do something better, let him or her do it. Plus we like to work together with other people, to get influences we ourselves would never of have thought of. Guus is a very good friend of ours and we know Arjen because of the fact that both Sharon and Robert were featured on his work. So when we needed a solo for "Dark Wings", we asked Arjen to play it and he agreed.

  There is virtually no more grunting to be heard on the new CD. How does Robert feel with this stepping back on the vocal part?
To be more exact, there`s no grunt at all Robert doesn`t mind at all. In my humble opinion, he music on "Mother Earth" is great without the grunts. It doesn`t need the addition of grunts. We all agreed on that and because of that, there are no more grunts on the album. If we would ever write new material that requires a low growl, we might choose to add a grunt after all. But of course that isn`t sure yet Time will tell.

  During a concert at the "Effenaar" in Eindhoven (27 October) the song called "Ice Queen" was introduced as "Believer". Are there any more changes to the album done like this in the last months?
Ehm, yes, there were. A lot of the lyrics have been changed, and during the recording, a lot of orchestral arrangements were added to the basic songs. Besides this, the basic structures of most songs were already known. Although some songs didn`t have a final structure yet. These songs were finished while residing in the studio to record the new album.

  Towards the release date things got pretty hectic, so I understood. What kind of strain did it put on you as a band?
Well, you get used to that. Being in a band requires that you cope with hectic situations and pressure that is put on you by third parties. It`s just part of the deal. Nothing can be done about that ;-) And we don`t really mind. When things get hectic it can, in some cases, increase the productivity of the individuals involved. So we`re not complaining ;-)

  Both the lyrics of "Mother Earth" and "Our Farewell" are good examples of songs on the new album that can be related to emotions. Is this an accidental thing or is it a way to deal with personal experiences?
Hm... Ehm, well, you`re probably asking the wrong person here…. (-calls Sharon-) Sharon just told me she gets influenced by the music and writes the lyrics according to that music. She obviously has some idea of what a lyric should be like, but these lyrics don`t reach the final state until she hears the music on which they will have to be fitted.

  For the last couple of years, gothic metal is increasing in popularity. Within Temptation had a pioneering role in the Netherlands. What do you think of all the "sound-alikes" (not all bad…) that are following in your footsteps?
There are always bands that look and sound like other bands. We`re proud of the fact that we have influenced other bands to make music that may be similar to ours and therefore we don`t mind that there are "sound-alikes". Nobody`s really original anymore, so why bother about the fact that there are bands that play music similar to yours ? It`s cool if people start a band and are creative. So who are we to get upset about so-called "sound-alikes"?

  With the replacement of Martijn Westerholt on keyboard for Martijn Spierenburg, the line-up is almost the same as that of your former band The Circle. How do you feel about this reference to the past?
It`s very cool After all these years, The Circle/Voyage has kind of "re-united" ;-) It`s just very cool to be in a band that consists of really good friends. Can`t say anything more about it…. ;-)

  Besides music, the majority (if not all) the band members still have other occupations in life besides music. Is this due to a lack of self-confidence in the band and it`s potential?
No, that`s not it I think…. It just never was our idea to have a band as a "food-providing-thing". WT has always been a hobby of ours, and I don`t think things will really change a lot…. As far as me personally, I have my own Internet-design company and that is what I want to do for a living… So no musical ambitions on my side.

  What are your ambitions and what do you eventually hope to achieve with the band?
We don`t really have any ambitions and we have no definite goal in mind that we want to pursue. We just see what comes along…;-)

  I`ve visited your website: www.within-temptation.com. It made quite an impression on me. What is your opinion on the Internet as a way to present yourself to the general public?
Well, as I mentioned, I have my own Internet-design company. We make web applications and websites and because of that, I have put quite some work into the WT site (and will be putting even more effort into the site soon ;-)) . Web programming is one of my addictions (which I managed to turn into my job ;-)) so getting stuff on-line is not a problem ;-) And I definitely see the Internet as a way to present yourself to the general public too.

  Any last comments for our readers?
Ehm, not really ;-) We just hope that your readers like our music and that they`ll be coming to a show sometime. And please visit our website ;-)

(Antoine Mahler)

© Rockezine.com Jun 30, 2001, viewed 921 times since 666
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