Anathema
Style Of The Music Is Secondary

07.10.2011

Fans of legendary British rock band Anathema have lately had the pleasure of seeing their idols awakening from a lengthy period of silence. In 2010, after seven years of downtime, the band released its latest full-length CD “We're Here Because We're Here”. And in autumn this year they came up with yet another release, a compilation of reworked hits from the very early stages of Anathema’s career called “Falling Deeper”. Shortly before its release the band’s mastermind Daniel Cavanagh, regardless of cracks and noises in the phone line, managed to tell us about his new look on the past and vast plans for the future…

“Falling Deeper” is a follow-up to yet another compilation of reworked old material called “Hindsight” (2009). Was it initially decided which songs should be on “Hindsight” and which ones on “Falling Deeper”, was there any kind of systemic approach?

No, because when we made “Hindsight” we didn’t know then that we would do also “Falling Deeper”. “Hindsight” was really jazzy because of songs like “Are You There?”, “Flying” and “Temporary Peace”. And “Falling Deeper”, when it started, it was to be a B-side of an EP, and it happened that the list of songs for the B-side - “Crestfallen”, “Sleep In Sanity” and “Kingdom” - grew and grew and grew, and we thought, “OK, what are the best things we can do for this music?” And the best thing was to do it with an orchestra. And orchestra is something we’ve been grown more and more into since we made “We’re Here Because We’re Here”. When we made this album we realized that nothing can replace the sound of an orchestra and that we should do more of this. And “Falling Deeper” was a great opportunity to do more of it. We thought, “This would be a great statement to make a really orchestral effort”. We just found the extra songs, songs like “J’ai fait une promesse” and “We, The Gods”, they just came to me, it was quite easy.

I can understand why “Hindsight” is called so, but what’s the meaning behind the title “Falling Deeper”?

Well, to be honest it’s just a phrase from “Crestfallen”, and the album “The Crestfallen” (1992) is the first album we ever wrote and also the first song we released for Anathema was “Crestfallen”. So that was the first song to do on “Falling Deeper”, and in the lyrics for “Crestfallen” there are the words “falling deeper into fear”. But there’s nothing more than that really.

Your website reads that “a fresh musical and lyrical approach has transformed” your older songs for this new compilation. I understand what it means for musical changes, but what does “a fresh lyrical approach” mean? Did you change the lyrics of your songs?

Yeah, the songs “Crestfallen”, “Sleep in Sanity” and “Kingdom” all had the lyrics rewritten. And the lyrics were based on the original lyrics, so I took the essence of the message of the original lyrics and then I made something new based on this.

Why did you change them? Does it have something to do with new life experiences or some kind of new outlook?

Yeah, I suppose so. “Kingdom” came together because of what I had experienced spiritually. Now a lot of time has passed, and I was a little different the other day from I am now. That’s why I wanted to adapt the old lyrics to the spiritual experience I gained over these years. But I’m sure the message is basically the same, it’s just a new way to phrase it, and it’s still inspured by by the spirituality that I have experienced.

You have female singer Lee Douglas in your band, but you asked Anneke van Giersbergen to sing the new version of “Everwake”. Why?

Well, the song just fitted her voice. Lee has a little bit bluesy voice, and Anneke’s voice is higher and sounds more heavenly and angelic. Also the songs on the album go back to 1995, which is the time when she was very active with The Gathering, so she’s been on the scene as long as those songs are … And we wanted to work with Anneke for a long time, because she’s a great person, a great singer and a great lady. It was an easy thing to do.

On “Hindsight” you had a totally new song “Unchained (Tales of the Unexpected)”. Will we hear any new stuff on “Falling Deeper”?

There isn’t actually any new stuff, just older stuff. But we’re making a new album now, we’re halfway to recording a new album next year…

What are the results of that competition you announced on your website when you promised to write a song for the winner?

Yeah, I was to write a song based on the title that the winner proposed. It really worked and we got a very good title and I’m working on that song now. I don’t know yet when it will be released, but it’s a very nice song. The winner is a guy from Greece and the song title that we chose is “Forgiveness”.

It seems to be a great idea to write a song for your fan…

Yeah, but you know, I was very disappointed because I wish I could release the song that day, when the competition was over. Or just play a new unreleased song that day. But it takes me longer to make songs properly.

Well, talking about the “making” of your songs, how do they come to you? What is the process like?

I don’t know exactly how they come but the music and sometimes the vocal melody will come very quickly at the same time and the lyrics are usually at the end. In the end of the session. And as for how they come, I can’t really say except that my imagination is always thinking about melodies and I always think how to make combinations of tunes in my head. But sometimes it feels like they just come from some higher place… And talking about inspirations, at the moment they don’t come from the outside, they come from what I feel. But I remember that one day I was watching the film “Elephant Man”, a classic film with Anthony Hopkins, a great film and a very emotional one, and when I watched it I had this emotional feeling, this connection to my heart and I picked up my guitar and started playing a melody based on that. And that song developed quite quickly.

And if the lyrics come to you in the end of the writing process, does it mean that while composing your melodies you have just a very general idea of what your songs should be about?

Yeah, usually it will be some general idea of what a song will be about… But while the vocal melodies will come quite quickly some words will form in there at the beginning. They are not usually finished at that moment, I have to change them in some time. And actually I try to read some poetry and not long ago I also bought some classical plays just to try to expand my vocabulary. I try to take in some new ways of expressing. But the subject of my lyrics doesn’t change that much – I just write about how I feel.

Anathema is a kind of band that can change their sound quite drastically from time to time. So what should happen in your life now or in the future to make you transform your style completely as you did back then in the mid-1990s?

I can’t really say. I think there can’t be a radical change anymore. But there can be a kind of expansion. You know, in different areas. There’s already been a bit more orchestral music, then we can be a little bit more into electronica or something else… But we don’t have to change now, we just need to expand, to keep playing and writing our very best songs. If we have our best songs now, that’s the biggest challenge to keep on writing songs like that. The style of the music is secondary.

And can’t any other music you hear affect you now? Like, you know, “that band is great, I like their style and I want to try something like that with my band too”…

Well, maybe I’m a little bit strange, but I listen to nostalgic music, I listen to the music I grew up with. And at this point of my life it’s all about re-connecting with my inner child and that person I always wanted to be. Music helps me to do that. There is some great modern music in the world and I like it when I hear it, but mostly what I like comes from the past. So maybe it’s more about Vincent (Cavanagh, Daniel’s younger brother and Anathema singer), he’s more into modern music and he often comes up with some inspirational suggestions…

Oh, then you make a perfect combination together…

Yeah, it’s something like that… (laughs)

One can see reviews on your albums posted on your website. Do you really read critics? Is their opinion important for you?

A little bit… But, you know, the only reviews that I really believe are the good ones. If someone says to me that one of my albums is the best record they’ve heard, I say “yep, I agree”. (laughs) And if someone says that this record transformed their lives or helped them to grow in personal and spiritual ways or got them more experienced I’m really happy about that. Because that was my feeling when I was writing and recording. So there are really only good feelings that I can relate to. If I really believe in music, there’s nothing any critic can say that can change my mind. Just a little bit sometimes I could listen to a few criticisms of the songs. For example, all of the violent criticism of “Hindsight” was that the songs sounded quite similar to the originals. And that is a valid point. I guess some songs have changed, e.g. “Are You There”, but I think most of those songs sounded quite close to the originals. So now, on ”Falling Deeper” there’s been a complete remake. So that one is a good point.

I’m quite impressed by your idea to give online music lessons to your fans. What’s the reason for you to do that?

Well, because emotionally I connect with people, it occupies my time in a healthy way, and it’s a secondary income. And I also wanted to see if I could do it, if I could become a teacher. And so far it seems to be working really quite well, so I’m pleased. But I did it really because I needed also a part time job.

Would you like to have something like your own school in future?

I haven’t thought about that stuff yet. I’ve just started teaching. But we shall see.

But do you think that you can teach a person not only to play an instrument (you can, really) but to compose songs?

Well, I don’t know about that, but I think that you can help someone with their own ability. If a person tries to compose songs it really helps when there’s someone who can just make the composition a little bit better. Honestly most of the people that are composing and that I spoke to are really quite good, so I don’t have to do a lot to make their stuff better, I don’t have to change anything. I just have to encourage them. I can sometimes help people just by saying “look, I can’t beat this passage, you’re really good at this”. It gives them a boost of confidence, a special confidence, because they are more than happy with my sound. It’s nice that they see it as that. But I’m always saying that I’m not very hard to beat. I’m meeting a lot of bright young people who already have enough musical enhancements and just want to grow a little bit. I’m very proud to be able to help.

You were said to be “in love” with Norway. Is it still your “heaven on earth”?

Yeah, but I haven’t been there very much. I’ve lived there since October last year, but I haven’t seen it very much. I will have to see, I haven’t had a chance to settle in Norway yet. Well, I love the countryside very much, the city of Oslo I love a little bit less, I don’t find it to be a great city really. There are great parts of that city, though. The only thing with Norway is that I’m excited because I knew to try it now is a good idea. If I didn’t go there I would never go. I thought about Norway for a long time, I said I will try it and I will see how it feels. It’s a very very peaceful place, and I like the mentality of the people. We shall see, but I do like it now.

In November you’re going to play in Russia. What do you expect from Russian public and our country?

I’m sure it’ll be fantastic. There are very warm people and I like the country a lot. I’m sure that we will have a very good audience, as we did in many parts of the world and I’m very grateful for that. I hope that everything will be awesome.

Anathema on the Internet: http://www.anathema.ws

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview

Ksenia Artamonova
August 9, 2011
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