Interview By Marcy Bell

 

We have the pleasure to interview the sweetie Anneke van Giersbergen on phone from her homeland, the voice of The Gathering for 13 years, and now leader of her own band Agua De Annique. The new album is out and Anneke talks about it and much more…

So, Anneke your third solo album is out now and you are concentrated more on your country. What are your expectation both from the Nederlands and from abroad as “In Your Room” (review here) is going to be realized in 10 country as France, Finland, Germany, Belgium, the U.S. and four South American.

I never have expectations. I think we did a good job and I’m waiting for people’s reaction, now we’re promoting it through press and here in Holland also through tv and radio shows. So we’ll see…

How can you describe the new album? Is it more personal than the others, isn’t it?

Yes, it is like a making of a personal diary, I wanted to be clear and direct, not fake, and this is the way a feel now, I feel transparent, I wanted to be transparent.

In your opinion not having a big record company behind can be a point in favor for artists?

I have my own record company, yes. But with low budget, not with a big budget as if you have a big major on your side. But I and my band can do what we want without pressure from outside and that’s really good because you can express clearly yourself.

How has The Gathering experience influenced your solo project? How did you put together Agua De Annique?

Thirteen years with The Gathering, and yes if I look back in my life I had so many great experiences. Basically when I left The Gathering I wanted to create my own band to express what I was feeling, I wanted something different and with my husband Rob (Snijders) on drums I decided to create a new band. I called Joris (Dirks), on guitar, because he lived where I used to live and he accepted, then I asked to my old friend Jacques (de Haard) that now is on bass. And that’s how Agua De Annique was made.

How is your relation with your colleagues from the Nederlands? I think about Sharon den Adel, Simone Simons…

Our relationship is very good, more than in the past, I played live with Within Temptation, Simone also she is a good friend of mine.

You are so lucky because you live in a country, Holland, where there are a lot of good groups such as Within Temptation, Epica and Delain for example. Here in Italy we are not so lucky…

Well, in Italy you have one of the most important metal groups in the world: Lacuna Coil. So…

How is your relation with your fans? Do they can catch you directly on MySpace or Facebook?

I’m in touch with my fans directly though Facebook and Twitter, I have also a MySpace page that I use it less. I prefer direct and short messages.

Are you going to play outside The Nederlands? Italy? Your next plan?

Now we have to do promotional stuff, we have four gigs in November in Holland, and one in Lebanon. So we hope to be back on tour in Europe and also in Italy, we missed last time due to production problem.

 

Latest Multimedia :

 

Links :

Anneke Van Giersbergen Official Profile

Anneke Van Giersbergen & Agua De Annique Official MySpace

Anneke Van Giersbergen & Agua De Annique Official Site

 

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