Anneke van Giersbergen
I Don’t Always Make Right Decisions

24.01.2012

Dutch singer Anneke van Giersbergen, previously known as the singer of atmospheric rock band The Gathering and now a solo artist, is a remarkably bright and friendly person. From the first second of our meeting before her gig with Danny Cavanagh in Moscow’s Plan B Club, he won us over with her charm and created a very nice and easy atmosphere for the conversation. That is why, regardless of strict time limits, the interview turned out lively and sincere, and we got so many impressions out of it as thought we talked with Anneke for hours. We started with very logical New Year wishes and then got down to our first question …

Do you believe that we’re going to face the end of the world?

Oh, in 2012? I don’t think so. I think the opposite. I think there’s a lot of change going on… Of course I don’t know about the future, but if you ask me, I believe that we’re going in a year of positive change. So, I don’t think the world will explode. (laughs) Well, hopefully it won’t!

We hope so too! Well, tonight you’re performing with Danny of Anathema. So could you say just a couple of words about this collaboration? Why are you playing together? Why Danny and not Vincent?

Danny and me, we met in 1997 and we’ve always thought that we should do something together because we have a lot of similar ideas about music and about things. A lot of time passed by, and then we met again (though we met each other all the time), but in 2007 we met again and then we said, “Now we really have to do something” He was invited to do a solo show in Holland, and he said, “Maybe you should join me”, and then we really easily came up with the idea of doing three sets of the show. I do a set, Danny does a set and then we do a set together. And ever since then we’ve been playing in different places doing those shows. It’s really a lot of fun.

Some say that the musical evolution of Anathema and The Gathering was pretty much alike. Both bands started with death/doom metal and came to atmospheric rock. It feels like it was written in the stars that you and Danny would meet each other.

Yes, I think so. Like you said, The Gathering and Anathema were always like in parallel to each other. And so Danny and me were always in parallel. You know, we always saw each other on the same festivals, in the same areas. And we have the same kind of audience. So that’s why it was also very logical for us to do something together.

Doesn’t you husband (Rob Snijders, drummer in Anneke’s solo band – ed.) feel a bit jealous that you tour with another guy?

No! (laughs) Absolutely not! Danny and I are good friends and it’s all about music. And I do a lot of projects on my own with other people and it’s just normal for me to be away from home every now and then and to play music with other people and other guys, but it’s only music, you know. It’s no problem. (smiles)

I see. Your husband is a musician too and he plays in your band, so both of you have to go on tour from time to time. Isn’t it a problem to live a life like yours and to raise a kid?

Yeah, it’s a hard work. But I think it’s a problem of every working family, where two parents are working and have a child. You have to try to make it happen, to make it work. The small difference with our kind of life is that not a single week is the same – every week is different. You see a week ahead and you think, “How am I going to do that?” (laughs) But somehow we work really good together and we have a good help and yeah, we can manage. And we take him, our son Finn, we take him with us when we can. That’s the best thing, because if I am with Rob and with my son Finn, then I don’t have to even go home, because I’m happy when I am with them. If I am on my own I always want to go home, but if we are together and play music or whatever, then I’m very happy.

As you said, you take part in a lot of projects. How do you choose bands or musicians to work with? Is it a question of money or friendship or the music they play? What does really matter?

Well, everything. Exactly like you said, because first of all I have to like the music, of course, and a lot of those people are people I really like or people I’m friends with. But also, you know, if we don’t get paid, then I can’t take care of my family, so we need a little bit of money. So all these things are the things I think about and consider. But I can say that this year I’m going to release an album and we already have some tour booked for this year, we will play abroad and we also have a big Dutch club tour, so this year I won’t do lot besides my band. I’m really concentrating on this now.

Yeah, talking about your new album (“Everything Is Changing”), you’re releasing it under your own name, not under your band’s name. Why?

Well, actually nothing has changed, because I only dropped the name. It was a long name – Agua de Annique and Anneke van Giersbergen are two long names, and nobody who knows Agua de Annique knows that I’m actually Anneke van Giersbergen…

Oh, really?

Well, a lot of people don’t. And if I want to search for a new audience… People who don’t know me, they think, “Agua de Annique – what’s that?” I mean, you know, you know the music scene and you know The Gathering and a lot of other things, but if people have no idea who I am, they don’t understand the name. So I decided to drop that name and to release music under my own name, the name I was born with, Anneke van Giersbergen, and I think it will work for me better. Though I have a band, I’m also a solo artist. And that’s why it’s also not working for me to have a band name. It’s complicated, so I thought, just drop the band name, and it would be good. (smiles)

So nothing else has changed, right?

Nothing at all!

But the title of your new album is “Everything Is Changing”, so I guess people will expect more changes.

Everything is always changing, you know. But for me… Yes, I’ve changed the band name and I have some new band members, but for me band members come and go, because they have their own projects – though I have a really good band now and I’m really happy with them. But things are always changing. Like we said, in 2012 things are changing really fast and they have been for several years. It’s not only in your own life, but also in the nature and in politics – so globally everything is constantly changing and now it’s changing too fast. We have to be conscious about our choices. It seems like we cannot lean back and say, “I’ll just let life pass me by” – you know, you have to participate and you have to make right choices. This is how I feel. I’m always busy with things like that. That’s why I named the album “Everything Is Changing”.

When I saw your “Feel Alive” video it reminded me of Bjork’s “Hunter”. Was this effect deliberate?

Oh, it’s a good one, I have to say. But actually the idea was something totally different. We would shoot the video in a studio with me playing lots of instruments and doing different kind of things and I had gone to Amsterdam to pick up clothes and shoes and I had my instruments and I had my car full of things for the video, but when I came the director said, “Okay, start with a close-up”. And we did the close-up and then the director said, “This is really good, so maybe we should do only this”. We had a few ideas about it and we made the background white – we did this all white thing with only red lips and, you know, some details. It turned up really well and also the record company really liked it. I thought, “Yeah, maybe it’s something that people will notice.” We had a different idea when we came to the studio and we had something totally different when we came out. It was spontaneous. (laughs)

You’re going to take part in a children’s play, “The Bear That Wasn’t”, and, as far as I know, it’s the first time you do anything like that. How did that happen?

Actually it’s so nice, because it’s a small theater play and I do it together with another guy and he’s originally a drama actor, but now he sings and plays accordion and does some keyboards. We make music, but we also tell a story from that book, “The Bear That Wasn’t” – it was written in the 1940s, so it’s an old book. It’s a beautiful story about a bear. I get to act a little bit this time, which is very new for me and very nice. I learn a lot and it’s really great. We’re going to play in Holland, because the play is in the Dutch language – because it’s for kids. This year and the next year I will play in this as well. It’s in the afternoon, you know. It’s Wednesday afternoon, when children are free from school, and also Saturday and Sunday afternoons, so I can play in this children’s play and then in the evening I can play with the band. It’s really cool.

Yes, it is, but you’ve got so many things to do…

Yes….

Do you have any free time?

No! Never! We never go on vacation and we never have a weekend off, but I have to say it’s really important to do. Last year we were trying to have days off just to do nothing. We’re a lot at home, because when I’m not traveling I’m at home, but then we are always working on something. When Finn is asleep or at school we are always working. So we just said lately that maybe we should go on holiday some time. Last time we went on a holiday for six days or so, and it was six years ago.

Oh, six days in six years, that’s something!

(laughs) I know it’s stupid! I tend to be really-really tired and it’s not smart. But now we had Christmas and we were at home for three days and that was nice. I think we would do it more often.

A friend of mine wanted to know: why did you name your son Finn?

(laughs) That’s a nice question. We love the name because it’s short and cool, but we also love the Irish touch in it, and in the northern regions  like Scandinavia people are called Finn, too, which we like very much. I don’t remember exactly, but Rob, my husband, has a favorite book and the main character is named Finn. So there are a few reasons for it. And my son thinks he is from Finland, because his name is Finn, so it’s logical. So he says, “Yeah, my name is Finn, and I have in Finland also a mother and a father, because I come from Finland and when I go there I can speak Finnish because everybody in Finland says finn-finn-finn-finn-finn – so that’s the language!”. It’s so cute! If I am in Finland I always bring back the T-shirts with “Finland” and the caps with “Finland”, and he loves them. But he’s never been there. We should go. On a holiday. (smiles)

Oh, you definitely should! We’ve got only a couple of minutes left, so I wanted to ask you if you sometimes regret leaving The Gathering.

Not for a minute! And I can tell you why. I love The Gathering, of course. I’d spent 13 years in the band and I love the guys. I also love the music and I love the time. But at some point my heart was telling me, “You need to change everything, just to throw everything up in the air and see where it will come down”. It was a very difficult decision, because I knew that everything was going to change and I didn’t know what really could happen, but I wanted to make my own music, to be with my family more and just to make my own decisions, actually. I’ve been doing that and that makes me very happy. I’m very happy with that decision to do my own thing. I actually never regret anything even if I do something stupid. I always learn from it, you know. I never look back like, “Oh, I should have done this and this”, never. Even though I don’t always make right decisions. I’m only human. But I have to say that in the case of leaving The Gathering I think it was a good decision for that age in my life.

Well, that’s why you’re so positive. You never regret…

No. I don’t do everything the right way, but… If you sit on it for a long time and hold anger, then you get ill – and it’s not a good life. But maybe I think so because I am positive by nature. That’s the way I feel, I guess.

Well, it brings us to the end of the interview, so my final question is: do you have any dreams that you couldn’t make come true for the moment?

Actually I’m quite happy with what I’m doing, I have a beautiful family, I have my music, I have people like you who are interested and there’s not much more I can wish for. But in this state of peace I would like to grow in my band and in my life and become wiser and older and achieve things. I’m always looking ahead to what can I do to be a better person, to be a better singer, to be a better musician, to be a better mother and wife. And every week I’m asking myself, “Am I doing it good, am I doing it right?” I’m quite satisfied, actually. I don’t have any big wishes.

Anneke van Giersbergen on the Internet: http://www.annekevangiersbergen.com

Special thanks to Alexei Kuzovlev (Irond) for arranging this interview

Interview by Ksenia Artamonova
Photos by Olga “Omena” Dendymarchenko
January 7, 2012
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