Rockezine.com interview with Autumn on Mar 20, 2003

with Nienke de Jong on Mar 20, 2003

Tonight Autumn will play at the Noordschok festival in Groningen, Holland (check the live-review elsewhere on this site). As Groningen is singer Nienke de Jong’s hometown the interview takes place at her apartment, where she’s preparing for the show. Very much at ease and in great anticipation of tonight’s show she talks about the band enthusiastically.
		With an album out on Sony Holland and an impressive gig list Autumn are making quite a name for themselves in Holland. It’s time for people to get to know more about the band. The bass player and guitarist (who left Autumn a couple of years a go) played in a death metal band called Internal Putrefaction and they were looking for something new. They started writing more atmospheric music with progressive and Celtic influences. This was around the same time The Gathering started with Anneke, so that’s basically where the idea of a female vocalist came from. They gathered more musicians and a singer, in 1995 the line up was complete. I didn’t join ‘till about four years ago after reading an add in Aardschok (Holland’s major metal magazine – W) At that time I was background singer for the band Her Enchantment. I’ve recorded one album with that band, a pretty good one if I may say so, but I had only about a minute a song to do my thing. I wasn’t really comfortable with that so I started looking for something else.
		It was a pretty big change from Her Enchantment to Autumn The thing is that Her Enchantment is rougher and wilder than Autumn. Autumn is more focused on songs and… well, I really had to adjust to that. It took a few months before I was really sure of myself, but in the end it worked out very well.
		How did you become a singer in the first place? Ha, just like everybody else I started singing in the shower and each time I spend alone in my room. I think it has always been a lack of self confidence that kept me from thinking I could be a singer for real. But because I liked it so much I eventually took that final step.
		The biggest difference between Autumn and other bands within the gothic metal genre is Nienke’s voice. No pseudo opera, just natural, clean and melodic vocals with true emotion. The girl who sang in Autumn before me, sang that way as well actually so it wasn’t more than natural to sing her parts in kind of the same way. Besides, that’s also the way I sung in Her Enchantment. Not a real conscious choice, it’s just the way I sing and besides it’s also the way the rest of the band likes it. The difference between us and most other bands is that we write real songs while others have more of a technical approach.
		The problem is that it may be difficult… I mean, the record company places us in the genre and how are people going to react to the fact that we’re different from the rest? We were afraid that the people wouldn’t get it. Still, it worked out fine.
		Who inspired you or who are your examples, vocally? Actually this have always been male singers. So in the beginning I struggled because I could never sound like Glenn Danzig or Bruce Dickinson, Ronny James Dio… er, Jeff Tate… and now Russell Allen from Symphony X. As for the ladies… that’s a bit more difficult as there aren’t that many women in metal. But especially in order to learn I listen to female singers more and more. People like Lena Lane and of course Anneke (Gathering – W) are female singers I truly admire.
		Do you write your own lyrics? And what are they about? Death and destruction, ha ha, no… Well the thing is, when I joined the band bass player Meindert already had a concept including lyrics. It wasn’t really take it or leave it but, you know, the band really wanted it and I was ok with it.
		But for the new album this will change. Of course the lyrics have to fit in with the band, the whole atmosphere and all. Usually this means that personal stuff is translated into saga and mythical type lyrics.
		That makes it possible to put a lot in the lyrics without really exposing yourself. Now that I have the experience of all those shows and recording the album I know that I need to sing from a gut feeling. Just being able to do this I really have to connect to the lyrics.
		What’s the songwriting like in Autumn? Is it a group process or is there a main songwriter? We have many different ways of writing songs. Because the new guys, Jens and Jasper are used to working in a very different way than Autumn works. We are used to work out basic ideas together. Someone has a riff or a vocal line and together we turn that into a song. Jens, who also plays in God Dethroned, is used to working with deadlines. The studio is booked so songs have to be written. And Jasper too is used to writing complete songs. The new material will however be written in different ways. We also work with home recordings a lot and exchange ideas on tape.
		The fact that Jens plays in two busy bands isn’t a problem? We have a very convenient solution to that problem. Jens’s brother Mats fills in for Jens when he’s working with God Dethroned. At the level both bands are right now, we can’t say no to gigs or whatever. Actually me, Jens and Mats are working on a project together.
		Autumn takes so much time these days that there’s little room for anything else. I was studying when I joined Autumn… and I had a job at the Consultation Bureau for Alcohol and Drugs, helping people to get off alcohol and drugs, but the band costs too much time. Especially because I did most of the business side of the band as well. At a certain point I went to our record company three times a week and in the mean time I was the band’s booker as well. Plus playing in the weekend… So I had to put it all on hold.
		After playing as much as you have done lately are you satisfied with the way you perform? Hmm, well, you can always improve. We record a lot of shows both on tape and on video. Just to check what goes wrong. And we’re still improving our sound by investing in equipment. Besides this we look at our performance as well. Ha ha, I remember from a recording in Tivoli, Utrecht myself jumping around and after me the guys started jumping as well and it looked ridiculous! But I mostly listen to my vocals.
		I’m very busy on stage and after seeing Nightwish I realized that a calmer approach can be great as well. But I’m a very lively person so I am like that on stage as well. But it can ruin a more quite part with me running around. I mean, when a guy with a ‘I love beer and big tits’ shirts stands in front of me making the devil’s sign, it’s hard to be very serious, ha ha ha!
		In a short time you’ve reached a bigger audience and started playing bigger venues. Did the band adjust to that well? Yes, very much so. It’s great to be able to play bigger stages and bigger audiences. We still do smaller clubs as well. The advantage of the bigger venues is that everything is better organized. The P.A. and technicians are very good and… well, because of that we’re more relaxed about it because we know we can put down a better show. A good sound on stage is very important. But sometimes the atmosphere is better in smaller venues. The biggest kick we had was playing the Heineken Music Hall supporting Cradle Of Filth. 5000 people! At first we were afraid that the crowd wouldn’t like us because COF is a lot harder than we are but it worked out fine; it was ridiculous how many people sang along!
		What are your future plans? We’re going to record another album, of course. We have a license deal with Sony and the new album will probably be released by Sony, just like our first album. We’re not 100% sure but Sony is a good label. Still, we’re not very big yet and aiming for the underground. However, we’re probably going to stick to Sony. We get a lot of requests from foreign record labels who want to put out the album, so we’re looking into that as well. But mostly we’re working on new material. We want a really good studio this time and do it properly. Personally I’d like to work with Andy Sneap but he’s probably way to expensive for us!
Autumn will be playing at Fields Of Rock in Nijmegen, the Netherlands on June 15th sharing the main stage with, among others, Metallica. (Walter de Korver)