Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 956 - Anneke Van Giersbergen (The Gathering) Talks New EP - "La Mort"

Transcript

PODCAST: Episode 956 - Anneke Van Giersbergen (The Gathering) Talks New EP - "La Mort" · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

• 0:00
  When you live your life, you go through all these phases, right?
• 0:03
  And when you get older, you have so much experience with, you
• 0:07
  know, life, you know, being a woman, being a mother, being a
• 0:11
  musician, being a friend, being everything.
• 0:14
  And I just write about it as honestly as I possibly can.
• 0:20
  And then I make this the music as well as I can.
• 0:25
  I sing as well as I can. But you never know what the
• 0:28
  audience is going to think. That's one of the things that
• 0:31
  you have to kind of learn is that you kind of just put it
• 0:34
  out. I don't think about, you never
• 0:37
  know what people are ready for or you know, what, what their
• 0:41
  taste is like or what not. So I don't think about it.
• 0:44
  I'll just release and then hope people will catch on to it and
• 0:48
  come to the shows and, and luckily, you know, most people
• 0:52
  do. What's up everybody, it's Kifi.
• 1:01
  And I am joined once again by the wonderful Aneka van
• 1:04
  Geesebergen. How are you today?
• 1:06
  I'm good. Thank you so much.
• 1:07
  How are you? I am.
• 1:08
  Well, thanks so much for making the time and it's afternoon.
• 1:11
  You are overnight where I am in California and I was very ill
• 1:15
  after that festival in the heat and I didn't get to I'm fine,
• 1:19
  but I was just like I came back not feeling great from the high,
• 1:23
  the desert. I went to a music festival in in
• 1:27
  the desert, lovely, but also hot and very exhausting.
• 1:31
  But we're here to talk about your new EP Lamort.
• 1:34
  I know you've been through kind of a very interesting, to say
• 1:38
  the least, last couple of years. Obviously personal losses.
• 1:41
  I'm very sorry for the loss of your parents.
• 1:43
  I feel like these two EPS, the previous one, Lavie and Lamort,
• 1:48
  they speak to me a lot. I lost my parents a long time
• 1:52
  ago, but it doesn't seem like a healing has happened
• 1:56
  tremendously for me. But I wanted to know if this
• 1:58
  process has been, you know, cathartic for you and helpful to
• 2:01
  you. Yes, and I'm so sorry for you
• 2:04
  yes. Now we know from each other how
• 2:08
  that feels, right? And it's it's something that,
• 2:11
  and you know this as well, it's something that you can't
• 2:14
  envision when when you have still both of your parents in
• 2:18
  your, you're an adult. You have your own life, You have
• 2:20
  everything, you know, set up for yourself.
• 2:25
  Yeah, yeah. It's absolutely such a weird
• 2:27
  feelings to have your parents fall away.
• 2:30
  It's so profound. It's so like your basic, your
• 2:35
  grounds, your everything is, is, is when it's gone.
• 2:40
  I didn't realize that it would be so profound to to lose your
• 2:44
  parents when and being an adult. And so lots to think about, lots
• 2:50
  to feel, lots to write about as well.
• 2:52
  Like you said, I mean, it comes across in the, in the new songs
• 2:57
  as well, as well as other topics, right.
• 2:59
  But this is, yeah, it's been 2 years and it's, it's like
• 3:03
  yesterday. And so, yeah, it's a lot to to
• 3:07
  to, to, to think about and to write about, for sure.
• 3:11
  Right on. I feel like even though, you
• 3:14
  know, it's a heavy subject, I do still feel there's a lot of joy.
• 3:18
  There's a lot of hopefulness in there.
• 3:19
  There's a lot of lessons learned.
• 3:21
  I even feel like Lamort is more joyful than the previous record,
• 3:25
  if that's possible. Red Sky feels like very
• 3:27
  uplifting. I know it's heavy, but it's
• 3:29
  uplifting heavy personally, right?
• 3:31
  And I just love that the ability the music has to kind of take
• 3:35
  you places and, and you've always been such a great
• 3:37
  storyteller in all of your. Work.
• 3:39
  Thank you. Yeah, I think so.
• 3:41
  I mean, everything should like when you're, when you get older,
• 3:45
  you want things to be in a certain balance.
• 3:50
  Your, your life, your musical life, everything you do, it
• 3:53
  needs to have some kind of balance.
• 3:55
  And obviously, you know, I had a, a great childhood and, and a
• 3:59
  good life with my, for instance, with my parents.
• 4:02
  So I can look back on happy time.
• 4:05
  So that's, that's the thing. But also I, I always try to see
• 4:09
  the light at the end of the tunnel.
• 4:11
  And I am a big fan of positivity, which is I think
• 4:15
  also an underrated thing in life and nowadays.
• 4:18
  And there's so much going on, but I'm really advocating
• 4:22
  honesty and balance and positivity and light.
• 4:27
  But it has to be, I mean, there is darkness and we, we, I'm,
• 4:32
  I'm, you know, I'm head on with the darkness, but I'm also head
• 4:35
  on with the, with the light should be, there should be a
• 4:37
  balance. So I write about all these
• 4:39
  things and I know, I know. I mean, sometimes I like, I
• 4:42
  sound like an old hippie, you know, and this is so much going
• 4:47
  on. But I meet a lot of people who
• 4:50
  listen to our music and they say like, you know, I feel the same
• 4:53
  way. And we need, you know, we need
• 4:55
  positivity and we need, you know, art and music and and so
• 4:59
  on. So it's all coming back in in
• 5:01
  the music. Fantastic.
• 5:03
  I, I do feel like I've been preaching this myself also, like
• 5:06
  whatever, whatever, listen in America, it's been a disaster
• 5:11
  for us. But I try to preach to my
• 5:14
  friends like, you know, find your joy, find your happiness
• 5:17
  now because you know that things are not promised.
• 5:20
  And I don't know what the shape of the world is going to take in
• 5:22
  the future, but just take care for yourself.
• 5:25
  Don't hurt anybody else. And, and you know, work on
• 5:28
  getting, if you're not close to your joy, get advancing on it.
• 5:31
  Get close to it because it's, you know, the world will take
• 5:35
  from us, right? We unfortunately, you know, you
• 5:37
  can lose your family, you can lose your folks and friends, but
• 5:40
  if you're working on yourself, you're already making, you know,
• 5:44
  you're making strides. And I think just as long as it's
• 5:46
  progress forward, right? So true, so true.
• 5:48
  And I know you're having a difficult time right now.
• 5:52
  There's so much going on at your, you know, at your front
• 5:55
  door. And I love these words from you
• 5:59
  because if for me, sometimes it's easy to say because we are
• 6:03
  in Western Europe and it's relatively quiet over here, but
• 6:08
  we see everything that's going on with you and in other parts
• 6:13
  of the world. And as long, like you said, as
• 6:16
  long as you take care of yourself and your little
• 6:19
  surroundings, if everybody does that, you know, then then it
• 6:23
  will be at least for your, you know, your surroundings and will
• 6:29
  be a good place. But yeah, we need world leaders
• 6:33
  to to also to take care of us, right?
• 6:37
  And it's a difficult thing. It's a difficult thing.
• 6:39
  But I know also, like you said, arts and music, it will help us
• 6:44
  come together and, and be and be this vast and strong community,
• 6:48
  especially in the rock and metal scene.
• 6:50
  We have such a vast, strong community and and it's so cool
• 6:53
  to share this all together. Right on.
• 6:55
  I do feel like tough times, tough music toughens up people
• 7:00
  in a good way, so that's a great thing.
• 7:02
  And you know, again, like heavy can be a lot of things, riffs,
• 7:05
  it can also be emotions. You know, Lamorte has so much
• 7:09
  character and quality to it. And I love that you continue to
• 7:12
  work with your live band. Obviously it's easy because they
• 7:15
  are wonderful and and you've been working with them for quite
• 7:17
  some time. So it's really nice to see them
• 7:20
  get to do things beyond just, you know, interpret your other
• 7:23
  music they've made with you and yourself and your own long
• 7:26
  career. Work by yourself and your solo
• 7:28
  career. But it's really nice to to get
• 7:30
  the backing band here fully, like really get to like, you
• 7:33
  know, let it all hang out so it be spit, you know, so to speak.
• 7:36
  For sure, for sure. Super cool, super cool.
• 7:39
  Let's talk a little bit about the the track listing a little
• 7:42
  and and whatever you feel like sharing impressions or anything
• 7:45
  or the songs themselves, whatever you feel like sharing
• 7:47
  is fine with us. We love it.
• 7:48
  Fade In Fade Out is the opening track and very, you know, a
• 7:52
  somber piece comparatively to the end of the last EP.
• 7:57
  Yeah, it's, you know, fade in, fade out.
• 7:59
  It's it's kind of the one of the little bit more darker songs on
• 8:03
  the EP. And it's, it's also about, you
• 8:07
  know, finding your own truth and not be scared to, to, to share
• 8:14
  it and to talk about it. It has, you know, this is one of
• 8:19
  the more poetic lyrics. So sometimes it's hard to
• 8:22
  explain, right? But it has to do with also a lot
• 8:28
  of people and are having difficulties talking about
• 8:32
  what's really, really going on internally.
• 8:35
  And you know, this, I mean, this lots of people, especially men
• 8:38
  sometimes having difficulties talking about their feelings and
• 8:42
  they bottle it up. But also young people.
• 8:44
  I mean, I have a son, he's 21. I see him and his age group, his
• 8:49
  friends sometimes just struggling, finding themselves.
• 8:52
  Talk about it, talk about it. So it's about so it's about like
• 8:56
  encouragement and talk about what's really going on with you
• 9:00
  and to share. And you know, so that's kind of
• 9:05
  lyric lyrically what's going on. And musically, it has like it
• 9:09
  has like a powerful chorus, but also this like long and darkish
• 9:16
  stripy bridge kind of, you know, and that, you know, that's
• 9:20
  supposed to be your internal journey that we can all make
• 9:24
  when we think about stuff, when we think about our lives and our
• 9:28
  future and our present. And so it's kind of a story.
• 9:33
  Also it's it's like a story you can kind of dive into and it
• 9:41
  takes you along. So it's one of my favorite songs
• 9:43
  on the EP as well. Definitely mine too.
• 9:46
  Handle Me with Care is the next track.
• 9:48
  I love the It's clever, right? We always handle With Care is a
• 9:52
  thing we see every day and we don't think too much about it,
• 9:54
  but Handle Me with Care seems very poignant.
• 9:58
  Yeah, it's one of the the so, so true.
• 10:01
  It's one of the more straightforward lyrics and it's
• 10:07
  about I'm sorry we have to skip this one.
• 10:11
  I'm so sorry. I just fucking blacked out this
• 10:15
  one. No worries.
• 10:17
  No worries. If it comes back to you, we can
• 10:20
  organize it. No worries.
• 10:21
  No worries. Yeah, we can.
• 10:23
  We can also talk about Red Sky. We talked a little bit about it
• 10:26
  before being like, it feels very uplifting.
• 10:28
  But obviously, again, a heavy subject matter.
• 10:31
  And, you know, again, if, you know, we can just have a general
• 10:34
  conversation about all these songs because, you know, in
• 10:37
  general, I know it's, you know, maybe something I didn't mention
• 10:40
  was that perhaps our fans don't know this is part of a trilogy.
• 10:44
  There's another piece of music coming, I imagine next year or
• 10:47
  later this year when you're off the road and finish with things.
• 10:50
  But you know, I do feel like this is beautiful continuation
• 10:53
  from the previous release. And you know, I like that you're
• 10:57
  still challenging yourself. You're over a year to do
• 10:59
  different things and continue to explore your creativity as a
• 11:02
  solo artist. It's, it's a lot of people don't
• 11:05
  a lot of people, you know, I don't want to say they mail it
• 11:07
  in because I don't feel like a lot of the music I listen to
• 11:09
  feels, you know, by numbers, if you will.
• 11:12
  But like, I love that you're still trying to do different and
• 11:14
  amazing things. Hey, well, thank you, thank you
• 11:17
  so much for your for your trust in, you know, in everything I
• 11:22
  and and we do. It's for sure it's when you live
• 11:26
  your life, you go through all these phases, right?
• 11:29
  And when you get older, you have so much experience with, you
• 11:33
  know, life, you know, being a woman, being a mother, being a
• 11:37
  musician, being a friend, being everything.
• 11:41
  And I just write about it as honestly as I possibly can.
• 11:46
  And then I make this the music as well as I can.
• 11:51
  I sing as well as I can, but you never know what the audience is
• 11:55
  going to think. So you have to, that's one of
• 11:57
  the things that you have to kind of learn is that you kind of
• 12:00
  just put it out. I don't think about you never
• 12:04
  know what people are ready for or you know what, what their
• 12:08
  taste is like or whatnot. So I don't think about it.
• 12:10
  I'll just release and then hope people will catch on to it and
• 12:15
  come to the shows and, and luckily, you know, most people
• 12:19
  do and they follow me around like yourself, like and just
• 12:23
  curious about whatever it's going to be, what I'm going to
• 12:27
  do next. And, and luckily people really
• 12:30
  like it and follow it, which is great because I I'm able to
• 12:34
  continue making music and expressing myself.
• 12:37
  It's also, you know, handle for people also to express
• 12:41
  themselves because it's you know, I find when when we
• 12:44
  release music that that people start talking about themselves,
• 12:50
  you know, in in and to you because they hear your music.
• 12:54
  And that's what music and art kind of folks, right?
• 12:57
  Just to think about ourselves and talk about it and and share.
• 13:02
  So I and I love it. You know, I love it.
• 13:05
  I didn't, I mean, it's not massive.
• 13:07
  I mean, I don't have to play the stadiums and we, you know, but
• 13:11
  there's a vast group of people like in this rock and heavy
• 13:14
  metal scene who are so great and so open minded.
• 13:17
  And I'm so happy to to to release and then even like songs
• 13:21
  like Red sky, like you said, which is kind of uplifting and
• 13:25
  heavy at the same time. And I know what this is.
• 13:28
  This is about dreaming and I don't know if you have
• 13:32
  experience with, I mean, some, some people don't remember their
• 13:36
  dreams, but I do remember all of their, you know, all the all of
• 13:40
  my dreams. And I find that, for instance,
• 13:43
  you know everything and you can speak any language and you can
• 13:47
  make huge music and you understand everything in your
• 13:51
  dreams and then you wake up and you know nothing, right?
• 13:55
  And, and I always wonder like, and it seems pretty frivolous
• 14:01
  topic, right? So, but I think it's, you know,
• 14:04
  make me makes me think that, you know, somewhere when we are even
• 14:08
  when we are dead, but also when we when we dream, we when we are
• 14:11
  asleep, we visit a place where all this knowledge is and all
• 14:15
  the answers are there. And why don't we have the
• 14:18
  answers right away when we wake up?
• 14:20
  And it's some things. And when I was writing this, I I
• 14:24
  thought maybe it's just this is frivolous or maybe people don't
• 14:27
  catch on to this and, and everyone's like, yeah, I feel
• 14:30
  the same way. And I think about these things
• 14:32
  as well. So it's so cool to to share
• 14:35
  this, you know, with each other. Nice.
• 14:38
  I, I think Carl Jung had something to say about dreaming
• 14:41
  life is a whole nother universe that you're just barely aware
• 14:44
  of. And I'm I'm probably butchering
• 14:47
  that and and and misremembering exactly how he said it.
• 14:51
  But it's been some time. But I I also remember it and I
• 14:55
  vivid dreams that seem very real.
• 14:57
  And I dream about my parents, a lot of my mother, especially who
• 15:00
  I was. Very, Yeah.
• 15:01
  I dream I hear her voice like, not from memory.
• 15:04
  When I'm awake in my dreams I hear her, which is wild but
• 15:08
  good. It's not.
• 15:09
  It's not a bad thing, it's a good thing.
• 15:10
  No, it's, it's, Yeah, me too. Yeah.
• 15:13
  I know with the very busy touring schedule you've had, you
• 15:16
  have been able to get on the road and do some tours of Europe
• 15:18
  with your band, perform some of this music live and I'm sure
• 15:21
  your other material too. Do you envision eventually being
• 15:24
  able to perform all three together?
• 15:27
  Or maybe it's like AI know there's a the record is out now
• 15:30
  as we're in, as we're doing this interview and I know there's a
• 15:33
  records 2 day release for the EP which maybe it'll get to the USI
• 15:36
  don't have to buy one and have it shipped.
• 15:38
  But I may, and I wonder if you will perform all of this.
• 15:42
  Together, yeah. At some point this, the three
• 15:45
  EPS is going to be an LP release, an album release
• 15:51
  somewhere next year, I suppose. And so we, we are, me and my
• 15:58
  band are playing live shows throughout.
• 16:02
  So eventually we'll we'll be playing the show, we'll be play
• 16:06
  all the songs together with, you know, all their solo stuff and
• 16:10
  gathering songs. And, you know, so we have like a
• 16:14
  huge eclectic set list with my eight piece rock bands, which is
• 16:19
  fantastic to perform with them. And so yeah, for sure we're
• 16:23
  going to continue doing the club shows and hopefully get to US.
• 16:29
  And at one point, that would be so, so, so cool.
• 16:32
  I know, I know you have. You're going on the road a week
• 16:36
  from now basically all over Europe, European festivals,
• 16:39
  headline shows, I think all the way down to South America as
• 16:42
  well at the later in the year. So maybe next year or late this
• 16:45
  year, certainly don't want to take you away from your family
• 16:49
  during the holidays after you so much.
• 16:51
  But I wanted I did want to ask how that's been for you.
• 16:54
  You know, I know thinking back to the very first time we met
• 16:58
  and spoke like 10 years ago was like, please don't ask too many
• 17:01
  questions about the gathering. We'll get back to it someday,
• 17:03
  but not right now. And then here we are like the
• 17:05
  last two years. It was wonderful reunion and the
• 17:09
  Mandy Lion stuff. And I want to I want to mention
• 17:11
  like 30 years ago, when I was in one of my first bands, I had a
• 17:15
  friend of my drummers I named Chris Ward really like turned
• 17:18
  me. He was a huge fan.
• 17:19
  So because he was such a huge fan of Mandy Lyon and you know,
• 17:23
  how to measure a planet, I became a huge fan.
• 17:26
  So I want to give him a little shout out.
• 17:28
  I know, I know that he I don't think he watches these things,
• 17:30
  but if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have like grown.
• 17:32
  He played these records all the time.
• 17:35
  On top of everything else. We were listening to like a
• 17:37
  crazy amount of music back then. But like, you know what, you
• 17:39
  never know, one friend can turn you on to something that makes
• 17:42
  you a lifelong fan. So I feel very fortunate.
• 17:44
  But I'm very, I feel like I'm glad I live to see this reunion
• 17:47
  and this return and this music being performed that I think,
• 17:50
  you know, especially that century media era of the band.
• 17:53
  I think the the, the releases and the time when you came in
• 17:56
  that, you know, had something to it, like a magic to it that I'm
• 17:59
  really thrilled that people are getting to finally see again.
• 18:02
  I'm glad I got to see it once, maybe next year or later this
• 18:06
  year, but yeah. How's that?
• 18:07
  Yeah. How's that been for you to come
• 18:08
  back and and, you know, reconnect?
• 18:10
  It's it's a lot different than, you know, you're like you said,
• 18:13
  you're playing clubs and theaters and then also huge
• 18:16
  festivals this summer. So like, you know, of course,
• 18:18
  yeah. Yeah, so I play like, yeah, like
• 18:21
  you said, I play the clubs and I have like 2, two small tours
• 18:25
  with my bands. So the rest is all gathering
• 18:27
  shows like the the big, the big festivals and so on.
• 18:32
  It's with the gathering. And thank you again for the
• 18:35
  compliments and thank you again for this face in, in in our
• 18:39
  music. And I mean, that makes me so
• 18:41
  happy because it's we didn't expect.
• 18:44
  We did expect when we did this reunion shows in, in, in Holland
• 18:49
  last year, we did expect for people to like, because we know
• 18:53
  Mendelian is still in people's hearts and people still listen
• 18:56
  to it. But we didn't expect to be so
• 18:59
  popular, our reunion with the original lineup.
• 19:04
  And so, so then so everybody, all the promoters and the
• 19:08
  festivals were jumping on it. And then so then we figured, OK,
• 19:11
  let's do one year with a beginning and an end.
• 19:14
  We do all that, like the cool stuff and we, you know, reunite
• 19:18
  and we celebrate and and then and when and then it ends for
• 19:23
  for the Mandelian shows. Amazing how how many people
• 19:32
  still feel. So generally, you know, love
• 19:35
  this, this album and and we we are really amazed.
• 19:40
  So we're looking forward also to play the the One US show and for
• 19:47
  sure to travel around and and you know, we've been we've been
• 19:50
  playing and we've been rehearsing also ever since.
• 19:53
  And it's just so much fun to to be together again for this.
• 19:58
  And also it's different because when we were when we were
• 20:03
  together in the 90s and we had this, we just did this.
• 20:07
  It was nothing else that we did and only the bands and this
• 20:11
  music. And there was a lot of fun and
• 20:14
  we had fantastic time. But there was also a lot of
• 20:16
  pressure right from the record company and the management and
• 20:18
  the people who listen to the music and everyday opinions.
• 20:22
  And it was OK, you know, because that's what it was.
• 20:24
  And it was a fantastic time. But nowadays like.
• 20:28
  We, it's been 10 years for one show and then ten years before
• 20:32
  that since we played together. So this is like a huge time in
• 20:35
  between. Now everybody has like their own
• 20:38
  lives and we have all kinds of other stuff going on and I have
• 20:41
  my music and the Gathering has their music, but also we have
• 20:45
  mortgages and kids and stink things like that.
• 20:48
  And then and now it's just like only fun.
• 20:51
  It's like only super nice that we are together and we play and
• 20:55
  anytime we hearse, we have like stories, like audio.
• 20:58
  Remember this venue are these men that place and already
• 21:01
  remember that gig. And so there's no pressure, you
• 21:06
  know, in building something. It's just, you know, celebrating
• 21:10
  and long answer, sorry, but it's, you know, we, we feel very
• 21:16
  blessed that we are able to do this year of shows together.
• 21:20
  Right on. And it's kind of like another
• 21:21
  kind of family and a family reunion in a lot of ways too,
• 21:24
  right when you. Get back.
• 21:25
  Really, it's they are like brothers.
• 21:27
  When we were for young adults in the 90s, it's we were always
• 21:32
  together. I saw them more than my own
• 21:34
  boyfriends, you know, and my friends and my parents and what
• 21:39
  my family so. So they felt like brothers.
• 21:43
  And they still do. And we know each other so well,
• 21:46
  even though there's like a time gap in between that we
• 21:49
  frequently saw each other still feels so close.
• 21:55
  So yeah, for sure, lovely. As always, I have a final
• 21:59
  question, which is always a wild card question and I'm sure you
• 22:01
  barely have time, but what is the last good book you read?
• 22:05
  Actually, I, I'm reading a book right now.
• 22:08
  It's, it's so it's a Mama mother thing.
• 22:12
  But my, I have a son of 21. He just moved out of the house
• 22:16
  and like for a few months now and which is great.
• 22:21
  He lives like a 15 minute bike rides away.
• 22:24
  So he's very close and we see it, but I miss him very much.
• 22:28
  And I'm reading a book about a pair, like about kids leaving
• 22:33
  the house in the empty nest. And so I'm reading like, like
• 22:38
  what professional and psychologist has to say about
• 22:42
  these processes where what's going on in parents and mothers,
• 22:45
  their heads and hearts when kids leave the house.
• 22:48
  So not very rock'n'roll, but that's that's what I'm currently
• 22:51
  reading. Which is which is.
• 22:54
  Great, there you go. Something practical for your
• 22:57
  life. Aneka, always lovely to talk to
• 23:00
  you. Thank you so much for your
• 23:01
  generosity and your time and congratulate, you know,
• 23:03
  congratulations on Lamort and it's out now.
• 23:06
  Thank you so much. There's a Record Store Day vinyl
• 23:08
  release coming. Please go get it and be safe and
• 23:11
  good luck on the tour. Really excited for you.
• 23:13
  Thank you so much. Thank you for your great
• 23:15
  questions and your time. I hope to see you in the US.