PW: Hello there and congratulations on the new album. Before we go onto it I have to ask about events leading up to The West Pole’s release. After ‘Home’ you found yourself confronted with the departure of Anneke from the group. How much of a surprise was this for the rest of you, was it something that had been on the cards for a while?

HR: Yes it was a surprise and it was not a surprise! I had a very good conversation with Anneke about the future of The Gathering sometime around February 2007 and we talked about her new band, but back then it was just a project. She wanted to do an album with her husband, which was totally fine by us. We discussed a bit about touring and an agenda etc, etc. She was very willing to make a new album with The Gathering so we discussed making a rock orientated album, heavier and rougher and this was a very good conversation lasting 4-5 hours. Then all of a sudden, 2 weeks later she decided to quit. In the past we had more quitting conversations with her but she was saying she wanted to continue and give things a try again but now I am not sure what happened with her but she was certain that she was quitting this time.

PW: Going back to the album ‘Home’ it was a really mellow affair. I found myself namedropping all sorts on reviewing it, New Order, The KLF, Portishead and even Suzanne Vega. As much as I loved it the sound had moved further away from metal and even hard rock territories. I was wondering if Anneke was already thinking of leaving during the recording process and if this had any influence on the way that album turned out?

HR: No, I read a lot of conversations actually on Internet forums about this but it has nothing to do with it. The songs were actually very rock orientated and we rehearsed them that way but when we were at the church where we recorded, the songs became mellower. I think our producer had a big influence in this change and gave us some tips on how to play things and when we did it sounded better in the church I think. It was the whole atmosphere that led to the album being not so rock orientated as we had wanted it to be. The sound seemed more suited to an easy going sort of semi acoustic thing and that’s what you hear on ‘Home’ I think.

PW: You made the announcement that Anneke was leaving and basically got on with things. I had to think of comparisons with certain other bands with a female lead singer leaving after a long period of time and the way they milked the press for everything they could get from them? I guess this simply is not in your nature?

HR: Yeah we were a bit disorientated for the first two months although it was clear that we wanted to continue with The Gathering. We had to consider if we were going to make an album first under a different name and whether to start immediately. We decided to put out for an audition on the Internet and listen to other bands we liked and that was our first approach. Yes we had already singers leave before and had strong returns so we were confident about us making good music; it was just finding a good vocalist that was the most important thing.

PW: How did you go about the search for a new singer? Did you already have people in mind? Did you have many try out for the position and how long did the process take in the end?

HR: We had an idea about working with Marcela as she is a very nice girl and lives in Holland and she is very much in the range of Anneke and can sing very emotionally, very classical in her sound and we would really love to have worked with her. We sent each other emails almost at the same time as she was keen to work with us. We worked on a couple of songs but the original idea was to make a sort of Massive Attack orientated album with more vocalists, male and female. I also had contact with Kris from Ulver and he was willing to participate even though he was very busy but it just didn’t happen as we heard from Silje who sent us a rough demo and it was very, very good. It all happened very naturally as it was not even our goal to have a new vocalist on this album! We just wanted to do an album as a band again and see what did and didn’t fit, but with Silje yeah, at a certain point she was singing seven songs so she was a new band member.

PW: Did you not also originally state that you would possibly have considered a male singer full time, did you have any contenders try out and would that have not made it rather odd playing older songs live?

HR: Hmmm it was never a real goal, not really. It could have been interesting I think but.. I think it would have been too complicated. Things were already a huge operation and it was such a big thing. Doing 180 degrees turn and having only male vocals and doing old Anneke songs with a man would have been too complicated. We love female vocals, and I think The Gathering is attached with female vocals. We could perhaps do this kind of thing but under a different name. Yes we do have a passionate fan base and I think there could have been a big, big problem. The Gathering is all about beautiful female vocals, that’s one of the first things people who perhaps don’t know The Gathering that well would think of and we didn’t want to change that. We were happy to do some experimentation of course with male vocals and maybe some songs and duets but it just didn’t happen.

PW: You made the announcement about Silje Wergeland joining in March shortly before the release of ‘The West Pole’. What qualities did you find in her to make you decide she was the perfect choice for the new singer and why did you leave it quite so long before you announced that she had joined?

HR: We wanted to have finished songs first, so people could hear them, otherwise people might say Silje, she’s coming from a Gothic metal band and it would have got its own life with maybe negative things being said. We wanted to have something very much concrete and present Silje and show how she sings with us. The decision has pros and cons but it is one we took.

What we liked with Silje is that she is not fighting the music but she is into it, she is not shouting, there is no opera kind of thing it’s all very beautiful “orange colour” kind of vocals which we like very much. Of course she is a very nice person also which is very, very important. She is different from Anneke also, I think as a person she is totally different and vocal wise also, but there are still some links. I think for us it was the best solution really, it felt good. To be honest we did not think too much or totally crystallize everything to the core, it was like this feels good, she’s a nice girl, we are going to make an album with Silje and see what happens. Of course we were already busy with Marcela that’s also something we completed.

PW: Tell us a bit about the recording of the album, how did this differ from things in the past. I am assuming Silje joined you for the recording sessions. How did it feel working with a new person and did she contribute to the music and lyrics in anyway?

HR: She wrote all the lyrics, they are all her own lyrics. The songs were already finished, we went into the studio and Silje was also there. With this album the basic tracks were recorded in just five days. It was very short, essentially it’s a demo what you hear but that is exactly what we wanted to have a rough album and one not too produced like ‘Souvenirs’ and ‘Home,’ we wanted to have more of a live sound and rock orientated with guitars. We did not want to experiment in different ways but do a rock song and have it stay as a rock song, not try anything like trip-hop beats or whatever. We knew exactly what we wanted to do which is why we recorded it in a very short time and that’s what you hear I think. So it’s totally different than the last 5-6 other albums. It’s alive, it’s really breathing, it’s not dead!

PW: You also had Anne van den Hoogen and Marcela Bovio contribute on the new album, and there were possibilities for them joining the band how was it working with them?

HR: Anne is very young, she lives in Nijmegen the same city as us. She is a singer songwriter and still studying. We were working on the rock album idea and her voice is very 4AD, you know like The Cocteau Twins and totally different than rock so it was clear that she would be a guest vocalist. We did not talk about live situations or anything it was more about having fun. We had this song together ‘Capital Of Nowhere’ and even though she is inexperienced it was very good.

Marcela we knew already and with ‘Pale Traces’ we already had her voice in mind and sent it to her and she was very enthusiastic about it so we worked on it. At the time we were still at the modus of doing the Massive Attack type album but as mentioned that changed later.

PW: You start the new album with an instrumental ‘When Trust Becomes Sound,’ I take it that was done on purpose to prove that you are back and the in essence the same as ever, perhaps to keep the listeners waiting in expectation for the first introduction to the new vocalist?

HR: Yes of course it was done on purpose. It really sounds very Gathering-esque and yes it was really a statement for ourselves. It has nothing to do with Anneke, it was just for ourselves. The thing is on our Myspace people could hear songs with the vocals already and a lot of people downloaded the album of course and as people had heard the vocals already it gave us the idea to start with an instrumental.

PW: ‘All You Are’ is one of the most upbeat numbers you have done in a while, its really bouncy and keeps you on your toes, can imagine this going down really well live. What made you up the tempo here? I guess a lot of fans have been asking for something a little bit faster?

HR: No it was just this riff really. I play everything on the one, it’s like one, one, one you know, everything is on the spot and it’s just like a pulse and that’s what we wanted to do. A band like Sigur Ros do this sort of thing, we call it ‘on the one’ as every hit of the kick snare is at the same time, of course this is way faster and it sounded cool. It sounded as aggressive as The Gathering can ever be haha. It was cleansing our minds also as was the first instrumental song ‘When Verse Becomes Sound’ as we had this riff and had to get it out of our systems. It was simple and rocky and we needed to do it and Silje wrote really nice lyrics to go with it and vocal lines so it became a song we kept.

PW: What exactly is ‘The West Pole?’ From the lyrics that have been interpreted by fans on your forum it strikes as a song about lost love and as being quite reflective?

HR: Well there is a book called ‘The West Pole’ I do intend to read it if I have time. No there’s no real meaning, it’s just about perspective really. There is no West Pole but there is a North and South Pole being the magnetic fields, why is there not a West Pole? We thought it sounded good and if there is a meaning it’s like showing a different point of view. That’s like it is with The Gathering, we are still The Gathering but from a different point of view, without Anneke of course. So we had to go to the West instead of travelling South to North, well something like that.

PW: At times the album is both very dreamy and even minimalist. There is a hell of a lot of emphasis on the vocal harmony. I guess these songs really needed a very strong singer and I think it is fair to say Silje has really stamped her mark on things. The question really is if she is a permanent addition to the band as she has Octavia Sperati, which could make things tricky?

HR: Yes she is a permanent member, as for Octavia I don’t think this will happen soon! It is very difficult for me to speak about them though as I do not have exact details. I do know they are on ice and if she can combine it with The Gathering it is totally fine with us.

PW: I like the way you have announced some festivals and live dates and suggested that things could go wrong, again very humble of you. Are you intending to play both old and new songs and if things go well tour a bit more extensively?

HR: It is all going way much better than expected so far, so maybe it was humble but a little too humble. The idea was to play 2 or 3 old songs but right now we are doing 6 or 7 and they are going very, very well. They sound different of course but the core is still intact so it’s going to be 50/50 now, which was not really our goal. We expected to play mainly from ‘The West Pole’ with just a couple of oldies but it is all sounding very interesting. We love to play the old ones of course and why neglect a history going back 20 years if it still sounds fresh and good?

PW: Been a while since you have played the UK, is that a possibility.

HR: Yes, Silje is really pushing us to play the UK so of course it’s possible but it is a difficult market. London we would love to play but it also depends what happens with ‘The West Pole.’

PW: Have you had much reaction to the album yet?

HR: Yes I have read some very good reviews, what I hear from people is that it is a growing album, which I don’t understand really as although it is not simplistic it is a very easy going entrance. We never expected such acceptance with the album and if people have trouble with it, it’s musically really rather than the vocals. Now of course there is the live situation too but we are rehearsing a lot and everything is looking good. We just have to wait and see where we will play in the future.

For more on the band check out http://www.gathering.nl
http://www.myspace.com/gatheringofficial

Interviewed by Pete Woods

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