I was very pleased to catch up with Danny Cavanagh prior to their show at the London Islington academy 7/11/08 for a very frank and open conversation.

DC: Well we are going to finish the album, have it mixed by Steven Wilson and mastered. It’s going to be a fucking incredible record. Then the manager who is also the manager of Porcupine Tree is going to go to other labels in Europe and America and say, “listen to this.” We are going to get a record contract based on the quality of that record and he is going to do the negotiating and we will see where we stand after that.

PW: Well I would imagine that you would have been approached by labels already?

DC: Yeah, yeah we have had the usual suspects, Nuclear Blast, Century Media and all that but we just wanted to wait as we realised that what we wanted was the chance to record the record independently first then release it via somebody as your bargain position is stronger. Also as it is already recorded it means they can’t change it and you can keep the rights. As the record company have not spent a lot of money recording it so they can budget for other things. So that’s the plan. With ‘Hindsight’ being recorded independently we figured we can do that, we have better gear now and with the benefit of Hindsight and the benefit of all those recording techniques we can make a very good recording, give the files to Steven and mix it with him, have it sounding amazing, get it mastered and away we go, see who wants it.

PW: Wiki is saying that a new album could well be called Horizons and it is not impossible it could be a double disc produced by Steve Wilson. Is this still a likelihood or have things changed?

DC: The title will probably stay the same but I think it’s going to be about an hour long on a single disc. Produced by the band but mixed by Steven, we will be looking after all the recording process and the decisions but we are certainly very glad to have him on the mixing. There were a few arguments for and against the double album thing. It just seemed better having it an hour long and everything done in one listen as often what can happen with two discs is that people pick one over the other.

PW: You are in effect giving new songs to the public by putting them on your site and allowing people to make donations. Have you found this successful in terms of fans downloading the songs and giving a bit back in return?

DC: Yeah it’s been good, what I liked about it was that the reaction was instant. You could finish a song, master it in the studio and put it online that night. The next day you’d be reading all the feedback, it was instant not filtered but direct. I liked that; we didn’t make any money or anything out if it financially really. A lot of people downloaded it, thousands really and it got interest happening. It is certainly something we would consider doing again, perhaps with a full length album one day (but not this one).

PW: It kind of makes a change from making an album that’s put on the net illegally and has everyone helping themselves to it.

DC: Which happens all the time, it’s like what Radiohead did, really taking the power back.

PW: Are songs such as ‘A Simple Mistake’, ‘Everything’ and ‘Angels Walk Among Us’ likely to be included or will it contain completely new material?

DC: Two of those will, maybe three. They will have been re-recorded and sound a bit better, probably a bit quicker maybe 3 or 4 BPM faster so they don’t drag, they will be well improved versions and more succinct and to the point.

PW: I was pleased to hear Lee Douglas making her presence felt on the newer tracks, whether in the background or up front, how do you decide which parts are best suited to her and which to Vincent and are there likely to be more songs with her taking the lead?

DC: Oh yeah, I think there will be at least one song where she takes the lead, it’s quite a fast rock song, Vincent will be taking the backing vocals on that one. Everything just really falls into place as their ranges are different. Lee has a naturally higher range than Vinnie obviously, so the vocal parts will generally arrange themselves according to that. Vinnie’s an Alto and Lee’s a Soprano so it kind of sorts itself out. In fact I would say that for a lot of the band’s material. It writes and arranges itself if you let it, if you listen to a song once and rather than dictate to it listen to where it wants to go, it will tell you. I suppose it is like a sculptor. Michelangelo used to say that the angel was inside the stone and all he had to do was chip away and release her. It’s a bit like that. The song is kind of there somewhere and it wants to be born and you let it happen, when it is ready it will come.

PW: You have had a lot of time to gather ideas since the release of ‘A Natural Disaster’ how would you consider you have evolved both musically and as a band during that time?

DC: A lot is the answer and all of it in the right direction. We are much more of a collective now; everyone’s facing in the same direction. We’ve got focus and everybody’s found their place in what they can do, what they can bring to the table. Everyone has a role, a function I should say that they can fulfil. I think the writing has gone up several steps, which is down to experience and getting better at it all the time. There are some good songwriters in this band, John our drummer has come up with some gems on this one, which he has had locked away for a while, he is writing some great stuff. For my own part a lot is reflected by the fact that I am a much happier man now and much more at peace having gone through a personal healing three years ago which has been onwards and upwards ever since.

PW: No more walking into the sea then?

DC: No, no more walking into the sea, no more drinking! That stuff has all gone now. Things have always been an honest interpretation and expression of feelings and emotions of the world you have when you write it. It’s not just playing with words or emotions and stories, it’s real. It still is and the new songs I think are much more uplifting and much more spiritually based because I am now and it’s a natural reflection of that.

It’s a unique journey, the way the lyrics have developed. There has been a lot of pain in the past and a lot of trauma and troubles and there has been an epiphany if you like and an awakening, a lot of positivity and light. In the stuff that I am writing anyway, John is not necessarily writing like that.

PW: You also were managing yourselves, obviously you have plenty of experience in the music business but what would you personally say were the advantages and disadvantages of this and what advice would you give an up and coming band thinking, “we can do that”?

DC: Well we do now have a manager in place and a booking agent. When we lost our previous manager and started to take over our affairs we started making money. Suddenly the shows were earning us money and because it’s all done in house our tour manager is a member of the band (Les Smith). It’s obviously in all of our interests to look after the tours well as nobody wants to work for nothing. It’s been good and this tour is actually the best we have done financially and I think it is only going to improve.

Managers are great for contracts, you need them, someone to fight your corner and we have that now. I couldn’t give young bands advice, it wouldn’t be right for me to do so. I think you have to take each case on its own merits.

PW: You have a long running relationship with Peaceville who have just rereleased your Silent Enigma album a personal and I think fair to say fan favourite album. What are your memories of the original release and would you say hopes and expectations of its success were exceeded?

DC: Yeah, praise was heaped upon it which I didn’t expect. I remember that, I did not see it coming. Quite good memories really, I was young, up and coming and it was pre the dark days. I was quite well really in a lot of ways recording that record. It came together very quickly, I think it is all there in the sleeve notes, it was almost improvised in the studio that album. We were full of joy de vivre and were very bullish and the bee’s knees you know, I have positive memories of it all.

PW: I think its also fair to say you would have difficulty not playing songs like ‘A Dying Wish’ and ‘Sleepless’ live, do you relish the prospect of airing the old songs or perhaps wish that you could move on and lay them to rest for a while?

DC: Sometimes, it depends on the mood you are in. If you have a crowd baying for it, it’s great seeing their reaction. We have played ‘Sleepless’ every night on this tour and it’s sounding great, we have also down-tuned the guitar on it slightly. ‘Dying Wish,’ I don’t generally buzz playing that song, certain types of riffs and certain types of songs I cant go wholeheartedly, “wow” and really feel it and it doesn’t quite do that for me, other songs do. I don’t have a problem with ‘Fragile Dreams’ or any of the ‘Alternative 4’ material. There’s something about ‘A Dying Wish’ that doesn’t quite float my boat though. Sometimes it’s swings and roundabouts though and sometimes I do really enjoy it.

PW: As I stated in my review of ‘Hindsight’ there are some bands that strike as being particularly suited to going down an acoustic route and Anathema were at the top of any list I could have made of bands doing so. Was it something that came naturally to you and was it an idea that you had been thinking of for a while?

DC: Yes both! A lot of the songs are written in that way in the first place, written in an acoustic format. Also we have played loads of acoustic gigs over the years and I have done a lot over the years since I started playing with Antimatter. The acoustic guitar has really been there since back in the day when we used to sit around playing Beatles songs on tour with Trouble and having a drink at home and partying with friends. So it’s always been there and with all the acoustic concerts I have done it seemed like the right thing, the idea has been there for a long time.

The idea came about via the new manager, it helps to finance recording of the next album.

PW: In a way I’m surprised you did not do this before.

DC: To be honest you do need to wait a certain amount of years before you can rerecord due to the rights We wanted to get songs like Flying which is one of the highlights of the album and we had to wait for the recording rights to be released.

PW: Speaking of this I was pleased to catch you doing your acoustic set at The Barfly, you played a couple of numbers with Silje from Octavia Sperati, how did this come about?

DC: Well me and Silje are mates and it just came about because of that. I like to support what she was doing and I just thought I would come along and hang around and meet everyone as I had not met the band. That was it really. Yes I did think about recording together because there is a new song that I’ve got that could have had some lyrics in Norwegian but we are just mates really. I am actually moving to her home town (Bergen), I am a huge fan of Norway I had an immediate reaction to the place. We played a gig that night and I just got up and sung in Bergen and it was the easiest thing in the world. I had this huge déjà vu and there was something about being in Bergen, so I just got a flat there!

PW: The Hindsight tour has been underway for a while now and you have been playing quite a lot of dates in Europe so far. How has this been going? Any highlights or even bad aspects of the tour so far?

DC: I don’t like to concentrate too much on what’s been wrong really but all the shows have been really good. I suffered from lack of sleep and that brought on a few things that haven’t been too easy but I made some healthy choices. I try to pamper myself here and there where I can, be it a health spa or a gym, get an aromatherapy massage or something. You need to get something to chill yourself out and I have made choices like that. You need to sort yourself out as it’s not the easiest of things to stay in balance when you are constantly moving and not sleeping very well and waiting! It can knock your system and it did for me for a couple of weeks, I was a bit of a state. All the shows were good though, I like playing live.

PW: You are very much a band who I find immensely enjoyable at festivals and I think you would be the perfect addition to Bloodstock, any possibility?

DC: Somebody else said that to me, just this week. I would do it just because I love that part of the world. I think the Midlands are really the heart of metal! I certainly wouldn’t turn it down.

PW: I also wanted to ask about your thoughts on the Unholy Trinity show, I think it’s fair to say you went down a storm, how was this for you and have you any plans for a 20th Anniversary show of your own?

DC: NO! We don’t want to advertise the fact that we are that old haha. It was great, we went out there determined to blow the fucking place apart, we were determined from the off to put on a show that, you know. When we really want to give it something there are not many bands that can follow us as we put out a lot of energy. We knew that My Dying Bride would be a very different prospect if we showed THAT much energy and then they came on. It’s great what they are doing but it’s very much of a different ilk, sombre and very static on stage, so we knew we would stand out. We had that plan months ago but the lads didn’t actually want to do it and the only reason I committed them to do it was by telling them what we do is go on and blow the fucking place apart every night and then get off. That appealed to Vinnie so.

PW: Last question and something I have always wondered. Anathema are a band with a faithful following of open minded metal fans who have stayed with them from the beginning. They have also by going in a different direction picked up lots of new followers along the way but I really think that the mainstream has failed to fully grasp the potential of the band. Your songs are every bit as good and dare I say at times as commercially acceptable as say Radiohead, Muse, U2 etc and in my opinion you should be a lot bigger. Frankly I am glad you are not but what do you think about this?

DC: There is nothing I can do about it. I find it frustrating and I know it’s true but having said that I think it’s coming for us. Not necessarily to be like the new U2 or anything like that it’s a different kettle of fish. Because we came out with ‘Serenades’ it’s never going to be that way but I think we certainly have to get up there on a par with Porcupine Tree and Opeth. They are the ones who have really broken through to the next level. I love both bands and have a lot of time for them, I see them as the benchmark and I want to follow that.

We have Porcupine Tree’s manager and Steven is mixing the album, we are every bit as good as those bands, every bit, especially with the new material so. It’s all going to come; it’s all going to come at the right time. It’s taken me this long to really heal myself, to be ready for all of that. We were hyped at the time of ‘Judgement’ but I just wasn’t well, wasn’t really happy and everything so it was kind of difficult to make sense of it. Now I am a much healthier balanced individual and have managed to take a large part of my ego out of the equation, there is energy with all of us being equal. It doesn’t really affect me if thousands of people think you are amazing because I think we are all equal in this. I have gone through a personal journey where a huge amount of success, which could come is going to balance me at this stage. I’m not sure that everybody else has such a stable background and success could get to a few people a bit more than it would me.

Having said all that I want it! I want 500,000 fans a million, I want that! It’s not too many, not too much to ask, half a million die hard fans that’ll do me!

PW: Well there may not have been that many but the Islington Academy was absolutely packed for Anathema’s show. Vincent taunted the crowd telling us we had no idea what was coming from the band so it seems that they all share the opinion that Horizons is going to be a very special album. All we can do is wait for the wheels to turn and the process to get completed and finally released, thankfully it no longer sounds like we are going to be waiting for an eternity.

For more on the band check out www.anathema.ws
www.myspace.com/weareanathema

Interviewed by Pete Woods

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