Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / SHARON From WITHIN TEMPTATION Talks Knotfest, Political Messages & Australia Tour

Transcript

SHARON From WITHIN TEMPTATION Talks Knotfest, Political Messages & Australia Tour · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi, I'm sharing for with invitation and I'm coming to Australia.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Wonderful, thank you so much. Almost I have to ask,
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: what's taken you guys nearly thirty years to come to Australia.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no real good excuse except for that it
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: was difficult to fit in and to find the right
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: promoter to well, to actually to bring us over, to
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: be honest, and those kind of things were the most
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: difficult things to tackle to well, to get in the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: right place. But you know, our thirty years, we're still coming.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: So and that's a lot because it's not only that,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: but also I have a friend of flying and twenty
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: four hours is going to be horrific for me. That's
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: something that I have to be honest about as well.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: But you know, we have several people around me that
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: have done it many times. You share me. Just take
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a you take the sleeping pill and you're there. You
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: don't worry about it.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: That's the best tip. I know that light isn't the nicest,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: but yeah, if you can do anything, even some meditation, breathwork,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: that sort of stuff.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So I'm going to try. It's
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: going to be a new experiment.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's awesome. And how do you all feel
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: about playing not fest alongside some other huge bands on
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: the line up?
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, looking forward to that as well. You know, I
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: think festivals and also this one, of course is like
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: for us is like a candy store because then you
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: have especially because we're not playing that late on the
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: day this time so normal we play at night and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: then you are constantly busy with what you're going to do,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: you know, at your show. But when you already have
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: an early show, then you know you have the whole
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: evening to explore all these bands that you haven't don't know,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I haven't seen yet or so yes, I'm looking forward
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to that. So can't wait to explore and to enjoy.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: It's like like I said, candy store.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah that's it. And what band in particular or is
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: there a few bands in particular you're looking forward to saying, uh.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Let me think who are playing again? There there are
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of them that I want to see, but
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry so bad at names. I'm sorry I didn't
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: prepare that.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: There's a really good Australian band who I really enjoy,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: who you might enjoy too. And then the UK band,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: they're so Polaris and then the UK band is Ento Shikari.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I recommend you check them out, Okay, I will.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: I will the last one I think I actually know.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I've heard about them.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they're pretty big, They're awesome. Do things get
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: pretty wild for you guys on tour or are you
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: all about rest and recovery?
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Well, to be honest, the guys are pretty rock and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: roll always, But for me, I just need to you know,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: they can play the guitar no matter if they had
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: a heavy night before or not. But if I want
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: to sing, then it's a different ball game for me.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: So I'm always been a little bit more cautious of
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: you know, how I how I go through the night
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: before because of course I enjoy myself and but there's
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: for me a certain limit that I can cont cross
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: because if I want to give people the next day
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and I showed, and I still need to take that
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: in consideration. Of course, it's not very rock and robot. Yeah,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: it's how it works.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: No, that's it. You look after yourself so that you
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: can put on your best show.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah exactly, you know that's people pay for that, So.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it. Yeah, your latest album delivers a few
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: political messages. Why was that important to you all to
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: use your platform as a band to speak about these issues.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Well, you know when you thirty years ago, when we started,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: we didn't want to be that political or not that outspoken.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Although we've always been very much inspired by politics, and
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: it's always been in our music, but more through metaphors,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and we didn't talk about that much during interviews, but
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: it has always been something that inspired us because it's
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: it affects so many people's lives. Of course, especially in
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: the last few years, what's been happening happening in the world,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: it's been, to my opinion, beyond crazy, so many things
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: at the same time. But it's not like it's the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: first time that this is happening in the world. Of course,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: we had the Second World War and those you know,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the First World War and many other things happening in
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: different parts of the world. But what's happening now is
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: like there's such an unstipidity and the world feels so
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: unstable that we felt like more and more when we
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: grew older eventually and at the point that we are now,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: felt like you need to speak up as a band.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: You have a platform, and we stand for certain values
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: and our fans know that, and it's important to talk
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: about these things and to point out where your points
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: is or what your stand is in all of this craziness,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: because people feel hurt. I think most people in the Ukraine,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you know, certain countries. The songs that end that came
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: on our album actually was because of the fact that
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: when we were writing in the studio at that moment,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the war broke out in the Ukraine. So that subject
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: came into our music because you were seeing the images,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: you were thinking of the people that you've met while
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: playing in the Ukraine. We've played a lot of times
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: in Russia as well, maybe even more so in Russia,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: but this war was so particular clear where who the
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: aggressor is and who's not the aggressor. It was just
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: very also in a way easy to take your stance,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: you know, where maybe Gaza or many other things are
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: sometimes more difficult because there's such a history before and
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: still going on. But when we wrote about the Ukraine,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: it was because it was happening at that moment. And
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: also Iran. We wrote a song Bleedout, which is about
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Massa Amini getting killed by morality police now and those
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: kind of things. You see generations fighting back, all the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: generations with different values. And I think we also get
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: a lot of meals from emails from people from fans
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: saying like, Okay, it's so nice to be heard, although
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: you're from a different country, and I understand that there's
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: so much more going on. And then those two countries,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: of course, but those are the two that inspired us
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: in that moment when we were writing the album, of course,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: but you see, of course there's so much more going
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: on in the world right now that needs to be
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: spoken of, because you keep the subject alive. If you
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: don't talk about it anymore, then it dies down and
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: it gets to the background. You know. You see a
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: lot of times in newspapers people don't want to write
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: about the same subject, like the Ukraine was not mentioned
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: as much as it could have been, maybe or other
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: countries as well, because people were fed They could see
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: that people got fed up with them writing about it,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: so people were more cautious what they were talking about.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: And that's also bad in a way because the war
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: still goes on and people are still fighting for their lives,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and so I think through music for us, initially it
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: was to write off the frustration about it, and then
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: you end up repeating it all the time again on
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: stage of course, and talking about it in interviews again,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: which is a strange kind of circle coming back to
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: you again. But on the other hand, it also keeps
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the subject alive, and that's important, I think definitely.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: I think it's really courageous of you guys to speak
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: and have that voice as an artist, because I know
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of bands and people that do look
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: to artists to you know, have their say or have
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: an opinion or voice on certain subjects, and so sometimes
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: when they don't speak up, it could be really disappointing.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: And yeah, are the ideas and lyrics behind your music
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: a collaborative effort between you all or does it all
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: just come from you?
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: It's not a collective thing, because that's it's I wade
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the lyrics with Roberts most of the time. And it's
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: also something that we realized actually when we were touring
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: this album. With this album, and that sometimes we run
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: ahead because we're writing the music, Robert and I and
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: we're working with our producer, and the three of us
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: are talking about the subjects constantly and we're so you know,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: and then you still have to inform the band about
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: what you were talking about, and you can see that
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: they still have to make that development, but they do
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: eventually and they do stand for the same values, but
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: it's sometimes that there is a gap between that still,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: and that's something we realized also, like, especially when you're
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: so outspoken about certain things, you need to keep the
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: rest of the band of data as well because they're
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: going to be asked questions as well. And we didn't
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: realize that's as much because we didn't. We haven't been
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: that outspoken since since the latest album about something, so
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: that's something we learned. But yeah, the next album will
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: will inform them a little bit better and more what
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: it's about. And yeah, so they can have that transition
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, awesome. And what challenges have you faced as
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: a female front woman in the metal genre.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Well, actually, I was at the A s N A
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: s A in the Netherlands, which is like this gathering
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: of people from the industry, and I was asked to
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: talk there with Anak Heirsberg, who's from the gathering. We
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: were both bands starting in the beginning of the scene
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: that I'm in more or less and we were also
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: asked like what was it for you to be as
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: one of the first women in metal to what kind
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: of encounters, what kind of things did you come across?
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: And actually I've always felt very at home in the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: metal I think somehow I was never felt. Of course,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: you had challenges, you know, there was always, of course
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: certain groups that were having difficulties seeing a woman and
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: you know, dealing with that while there only would listened
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: to Metallica, for instance, just to say so. Also because
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: we played as a support act in the beginning of
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: our career for Metallic a lot of times and some
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: fans loved it, and there was also some has hated it.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: But you know, it's like and that's fine because we've
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: always been like, you know, we don't care. This is
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: an opportunity for us, you know, opening up for them
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: at the time, and yeah, and if you can win
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: with hearts over because they do enjoy what you're doing
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: and they think it's cool that you still go on,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: although you get a lot of shits, you know. But
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: I must say that it was very diverse. But in
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: the scene itself, I've always loved working with men. I've
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: never had any strange things happening to me always had
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: of course at that time, my boyfriend with me in
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: the band, of course, and I've always felt like yeah,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: and I've always felt like one of them, and I've
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: never felt like they separate. I was separated from anything
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: because I was a woman or anything. So that was cool, actually,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: and I'm really happy to see that a lot of
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: women started from that point as well, not just just
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: because of me, but a lot of women at that
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: time that started making music and metal did inspire a
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: lot of young women after that, and that's really cool
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: because I think the more there is of us, yeah,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: the more diversity. And I think it will it will
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: bring more people and more ladies to the metal and
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I think we have a different color to bring and
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: different sounds, so it's definitely makes the scene more diverse,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: of course.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. That's so good to hear that your experience
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: was positive throughout all of that as well. You had
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: very little issues. You know, you get the people that
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: maybe don't love your stuff, but that's with anything. But yeah,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: glad that you were able to get through it.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, no strange in in r people or anything.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: And on that, what advice would you give to a
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: sparring musicians, particularly females wanting to break into the industry.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I think, well, I think the thing is always to
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: find what you like most doing like the sounds you like,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the bands you like, but also bring something new to that.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: So don't be something that's already there, but try to
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: be your own, your own version of that, and bring
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: something and you will bring something new, you know. It's like,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I think your own sound is important. Your own identity
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: is what will make people connect to you, not just
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: a copy of something, but to find your own sound.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: And yeah, a way of presenting yourself is going to
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: be the key thing that makes you different from other bands.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: So that's that is pretty important to be honest.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, great advice. Do you currently have any guilty
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: pleasure music or music you enjoy that maybe a shock
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: considering the music you make.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Well, I just told some people before you that the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: lady that got me into music was actually Olivia Newton
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: John and I've listened to her throughout my whole life.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: How lovely.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was like four or five years old when
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I saw the movie Grease, and I was just like,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I want to do the same thing. I would just
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: want to sing, and I felt she was. She had
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: a voice of an angel and she looked like an angel,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: and as a young young girl, was like, wow, the
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: so cool. And from that point I started ready with
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: bands at a very early age. I was eleven when
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: I started my first band in school and yeah, and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: after that I got into other bands. While being in
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: music school, I found some guys who were close to
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: twenty years old and I was fourteen, and they was like,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: would you like to be the singer of our band?
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: And I started performing with them in cities and stuff
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: like that, in bars and on the street, on festival
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: small local festivals and in totally different kind of music
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: that I'm in now. But it was like playing song
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: of Pink Floyd but also Iron Maiden, but also you
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: know Stevie ray Vaughn. There is also Blu Sky. I
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: played everything when I was younger, the range of different
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: styles of music. But I've eventually did figure out that
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the music I love most is the more heavy music,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: and I started with grunge music. At the time, I
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: was totally in love with Havana and everything. Uh yeah,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: what's surrounded the grunch music? And from that point I
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: met actually Roberts, and he introduced me more to the
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: to the well different kind of music again, more with
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: grunts and then yeah.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Do you know what I think in all your influences
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: you mentioned there from way back, it actually translates through
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: translates through your music as well, because it's really hard
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: to just define within temptation as one genre. I think
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: you guys have so many different elements there. There's melodic
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: in there, there's you know, there's a lot of different
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: things going on.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: So yeah, totally, I totally, I totally agree with you,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: and especially how we started. I think it was Roberts
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: was really into Marillion, and I know we all were
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: into Clanets and Dead Can Dance and those kind of music.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: So it was all emerge of so many styles that
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: everybody liked, and I think everything you listened to that
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: at one time inspired you. It's in there, you know, so.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I can definitely hear it is there.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: What are you mon looking forward to about your trip
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: to Australia.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Well, to discover of course, I'm looking forward to the
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: festivals and our own shows that we're going to do,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: but also to discover your country, you know, the nature
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: because it's such a different nature than we have anywhere
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: else in the world. So I've been to Australia when
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: I was a kid. I was my parents were expected
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and we lived like for five six years almost in Indonesia.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: So we went to Australia to have a trip with
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: a Volkswagen then to tour there. And I've seen a
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: lot of places, but you know, a lot of things
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: that I remember is from pictures, so it's not a
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: lot that I remember, just certain memories that pop up sometimes.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I can't wait to see it again and
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: then maybe to see what comes back also to me.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so lovely. That's so amazing that it sounds like
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: you got to grow up in a few different places actually,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: in travel the world quite a bit.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did. And I
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: think that also gave me a different perspective on the
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: world than some other people from my own country at
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the same age. You know, I've lived in Yemen. I
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: lived in Surinam and Surinam and Yemen were not the
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: most easy places to live at because Yemen was actually
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: at work when we were there, so it was like
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: and in Surinam it was actually a beautiful place and
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: people who are so nice, but then you had the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: revolution of it was cool actually by Balders. So there
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: was a lot of political stuff going on in those
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: countries where I lived, except for Indonesia where it was
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: pretty quiet and relaxed where we lived. So yeah, it
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: was very diverse my childhood.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely that I can imagine that would have been
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: so eye opening as a young and to grow up
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: around a lot of those different.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Things, yeah, exactly.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Fans of Within Temptation can catch those side shows on
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Monday the third of March at Princess Dida, Brisbane and
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Thursday sixth of March at Max Watts, Melbourne. Sharon, it's
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: been great talking to we know you kill it at
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: not first. I can't wait to see that.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, thank you very much, Hope there, thank.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: You taking it.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Bye.