Hello and welcome to this interview for the Rising Darkness Magazine. Thank you very much for the time you are taking! Your new single "Monsters" is out now for a while - more than enough for me to be curious about it and of course about you!

Anneke :
Thank you. Here we go...


I was a little bit surprised when I noticed that the original "Monsters" Version is not on the single but lots of other versions. Why did you act like this?

Anneke :
It's just a choice. We wanted a few people to make a remix on the song. The album version is already on the album so needn't to put it on the single as such.


Why only this song and not for example other still unknown material as very often used on the "b" sides of singles?

Anneke :
Because we wanted remixes. We have some unpublished songs, we will use them another time I guess.


There are two bonus tracks on this record, two live videos. One taken at a concert in Nurnberg and the other one in Hamburg. Why did you especially choose these two German gigs? Have they been something special for you - were they different to them in your home country the Netherlands?

Anneke :
We had some nice footage of this tour from Germany. We always love to play in Germany and this tour was very special to us. We played with a great Norwegian band called Pale Forest.
It was a very very good tour!


As far as I know you did a very important step before your last album: you changed to your own label Psychonaut Records. How did you come on the idea to build up your own label - just to be free?

Anneke :
Yes, we fulfilled our contract with the old label and started looking for a new deal but every time we had a conversation with a label, we were not satisfied with their plans at all. We decided to do it ourselves and it feels very good. We have total creative an business freedom.

Are there any other bands next to you now on this label and what do you think would there be a certain type of music such a band should play?

Anneke :
No, all we do is the Gathering because we are just starting and we need to learn first. Maybe in the future we will develop. The style of music does not matter to us, as long as it is good, contemporary and from the heart.


There are quite a lot of extreme bands which changed their style of music absolutely over the years. I really think this is a good thing because it keeps the whole thing interesting. What do you think about the reasons for that? Does concentrating on extreme music like death metal confine a band to much?

Anneke :
There is music for every mood, so heavy music should exist and when it's done well and is of good quality, that's great. But when a band is making this music for years, it might want to do something different for a change, because people change. That's how simple it is. Then new, young people take over and make new contemporary dark music, and that's how the scene is kept alive I think.


What do you think, in which scene is your biggest community of fans to find? Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Gothic…?

Anneke :
Every scene! That's so cool about it. We have Gathering lovers all over the place. The scenes you mentioned, but also, old Pink Floyd lovers, young people, students, pop lovers, rock lovers... That's great!

How would you describe the Heavy Metal scene in the Netherlands? A young, open minded and rising scene or rather old and dusty?

Anneke :
I don't know, the Musical scene here is not very good at all. There are some good bands in pop and rock scene, but they are not doing very well outside of Holland. A few bands like Within Temptation are doing good but that's it.


If I would go on holiday in your home country which town and which very special places of interest would I have to visit in your opinion?

Anneke :
Amsterdam is always nice for a few days, because there is a lot to do and has a nice cultural status. and Nijmegen, the city where we live is nice and old. Good history and beautiful nature.


Every time and everywhere when there is something about The Gathering the speech comes up on Anneke. Isn't it hard for the rest of the whole band to stay a little bit behind your famous singer or do you enjoy it a little bit to have a calmer life in that way?

Anneke :
Yes, we all have our jobs within the band. We make our music together, we have the same income, we do everything together. I do more of the speaking for the band. But I am not more famous at all.


As I read about Anneke she was the first female singer on a Rock Hard cover ever! A fact you are a bit proud of Anneke? And you all Hans, Hugo, Renè and Frank? Aren't you proud of her, too?_

Anneke :
Well, it's me answering now hihihi! But we don't really care about these things much. It's funny, and it was a good picture, but the thing that makes us proud is the music that we make. The guys are more proud of my voice than anything else and so it should be.


At least let me thank you so much for your time and let me tell you: Hastikke bedankt dat jullie me de tijd hebben gegeven het intervieuw te doen. Nogmaals bedankt en tot gaauw!
( I really hope there are not to many mistakes in it! )
If there are any last words you would like to tell: here you are!

Wow! Very good!
Thanks to you too. Good luck and maybe you would like to know a semi-acoustic live album will be released in January 2004 which will have a tour as well.
Hope to see everybody there!

Greetings,
Anneke


martin