Within Temptation Interview - part III

CK: Like I’ve said a couple of times this is a really special tour for the US fans to finally get to see you after all this time, have you had a chance to hang out with Lacuna Coil at all on this tour? How are they treating you?

RW: Yeah, yeah.

SDA: Yeah, a little bit, we have had a barbeque together.

RW: We played some video games with them. They are very nice people.

SDA: Yeah, they are very nice.

CK: Yeah, I met them years ago, they really are a sweet bunch of people.

RW: Yeah, absolutely I think that is very important when you are on tour that you can get along with the other bands – it just makes it that more enjoyable.

SDA: Yeah, and that is not always the case, it’s great that they are nice – it makes it also much easier and makes for a nicer experience, of course.

CK: Your paths probably crossed briefly on the European festival circuit, but you never officially met?

RW: No, no we hardly met. No, that’s funny. On the other hand, it’s logical everyone is touring and playing and one band is playing a festival one day and the other band is playing the festival on another day, and everybody is busy doing promotion so yeah, we never met.

CK: Different schedules.

SDA: Yeah.

CK: The rumors are floating around that you may be coming back in September or October ….

SDA: Word goes fast (laughs …)

RW: Well, it’s certainly what we want to do, but of course, it all depends on how the record is being received here when it comes out on July 24th.

CK: Other than trying to get a single released here on radio, are you going to be doing any promotion over here behind that release date, I know you have a lot of tour dates booked in Europe around that same time?

RW: Well, all of that is starting up now, so everything will show itself in the next two months. Hopefully, everything will start to roll from there.

SDA: Hopefully they will play it, but it’s not going to be easy I think.

RW: We just heard there is a radio station in Atlanta that is going to play it. But everything depends on how it goes and if it was up to us we would come back in September or October.

CK: Awesome, I sure hope that happens.

SDA: We are keeping our fingers crossed.

CK: As am I. Your first public performance in ’97 was in front of ten thousand people at the Dynamo festival in Holland?

SDA: Yes, I believe that was the fourth show we ever did.

CK: From a couple small club shows to that huge stage?

SDA: Yeah, yeah. It was like a big festival – the biggest metal festival in Europe at that time and we were playing in a big tent with ten thousand people and we didn’t have that much stage experience, not at all, actually, but it was like plug and play and you really have to have some experience to get your sound right, because that’s really what it’s all about.

RW: To get everything right.

CK: Yeah, instead of projecting to a small room, you need to be able to hit the people way in the back of a festival crowd.

RW: You have no clue what is happening to you – none.

SDA: It felt a little bit like being thrown before the wolves, yeah, (laughs) we had a little bit of experience but you need a little bit more experience to play before such a large audience. The experience though in a way, when the people saw it, they loved it, because from that point it went crazy after that for us – it grew gradually from there but very fast for a band like us, yeah, it was amazing.

CK: So you grew up fast because you were thrown into the fire, it was either, sink or swim – learn it fast?

RW: Do or die

SDA: Yes, that’s how it was it was - do or die.

CK: That’s awesome. Sometimes that’s why things work out.

SDA: Yeah.

CK: Now obviously Keith Caputo of Life Of Agony has performed with you and did a great job on the single “What Have You Done”, and I had read in an interview that from the very beginning of your career you had a wish list of performers you’d like to work with and he was top of the list based on a performance you saw at a Holland metal festival where he blew you away with his voice, a singer that just ...

SDA: Grabs you, yeah.

CK: Like you do to me. Can you publicly reveal any of those names on that wish list or do you not want to jinx it? I know it’s an odd way to phrase it.

RW: No, They are all dead.

SDA: We actually said that as well before. One of the bands I loved when I grew up was Kurt Cobain and Nirvana – his voice was such a force and everybody in the band the drummer and their energy and everybody in that band was very, very important to me when I was growing up so, of course you have a wish list but those are the ones you never know …

RW: The big ones that you will never get but it’s not because of death that we were saying that, it’s more because we love Keith so much, for us he’s just as good as Kurt Cobain. I’m also a big fan of Alice in Chains as well.

SDA: Yeah Layne Staley.

RW: Yeah, he has such a direct character in his voice and I think with Keith it’s the same thing – this guy just has an amazing voice.

SDA: Same thing - he has such a grabbing force to his voice.

CK: Once the song was written were you like that’s the part – get him on the phone?
Once the song was finished were you like we need him here?

SDA: Yeah.

RW: Yeah, when we wrote that song we felt yeah, we need a male singer on this one, that was the first step. Then we decided the guy we want to have is Keith.

CK: He was the top?

SDA: Yeah, absolutely.

RW: That was also our joke to him, yeah, we wanted to have Kurt, but, he’s dead, but I think you’re just as good.

SDA: Some people because it was written down like that they interpreted it wrong. They took it as disrespectful and we have a lot of respect for Kurt Cobain and Nirvana and all those bands. We loved the singers in that movement as well, I have a lot of respect for the singers and those bands.

RW: Yeah, some took it the wrong way.

CK: Besides the obvious Amsterdam, if I ever got a chance to visit the Netherlands, since you two live there, where do you vacation, that isn’t necessarily a tourist area?

RW: It’s very important that you don’t hit the gas pedal too much because then you are out of Holland before you know it. It’s so small.

SDA: No gas.

CK: Border to border it’s what?

SDA: Two hours, I think.

CK: From end to end both directions?

RW: The longest part is three and a half from point to point and then it’s width is two hours. It’s a small state probably here in the States.

CK: Well, it depends on the state.

SDA: Well, we have sixteen million people in Holland now.

CK: Did you both grow up outside of Amsterdam?

RW: Yes, we both did, but now we live in a smaller city. Amsterdam is just part of what we call the romstomp which is four cities very close to each other with a lot of smaller cities in between. It’s just one area of Holland that is very populated and that’s where we live. Everything is thirty minutes away from each other. In Holland, we have a nice beach that runs along the whole coast of Holland.

SDA: Yes, and Den Haag has really nice old buildings, it’s really the rich and the posh part of Holland, but it really has some beautiful architecture of houses, buildings and beautiful floral gardens.

RW: And of course, we have a lot of museums as we have a lot of known Dutch painters like Rembrandt and Van Gogh. I think some Americans are interested now in our waterworks. We have a lot of dikes to keep the sea out because our country has always been battling against the water.

CK: All along the coast?

RW: Yes, exactly they have huge installations to keep the sea out and regulate the water flow.

SDA: Yes, because we are very much below sea level.

RW: Half of the country is a few meters below sea level.

SDA: And where we live it’s the deepest point, it’s the lowest point.

RW: Yes, we are seven meters below sea level.

SDA: Yeah, where we live ….

RW: Windmills, for example, were not only used to make grain, to make bread, but they were also used to keep the water out, to pump out the water and to make new land again.

SDA: Yeah, to make the land dry.

CK: It’s just a natural evolution of the coast that is slowly eroding away and dropping below sea level?

RW: Well, there are two things happening. We gained land from the water …

SDA: Because we dried it out.

RW: Because in places where there used to be a lake, we dried it out, we took the water out with the windmills, so we got more land to live on. So, Holland was smaller before. But, also the land is sinking. It’s just a natural process.

SDA: In a natural way, the glaciers are going up in countries like Sweden and Norway are going up and we are going further down so, it’s more dangerous for us now.

CK: Is it kind of like Venice how the water keeps rising?

SDA: Yeah, exactly - same thing more or less.

CK: Belated congratulations on Eva Luna. I have a five year old daughter myself, she’s the light of my life and by the way, she adores you – you are her favorite singer, when we are in the car, we have to hear Sharon, she watches the dvds at home and puts on a dress and sings along. I was just talking to her earlier today and she asked if you were going to play “Memories” and “Angels” and I said “No, not tonight but she is going to play ‘Ice Queen’ and ‘What Have You Done’ and you love those”, but enjoy her as they grow up fast …”

SDA: Yeah. Laughs ….

CK: Does she ever come on tour with you at least when you are in Europe?

SDA: Well, in Europe we play bigger venues, you’ll notice that ...

CK: Like the big outdoor festivals in the summer?

RW: No, just on our European tours in general when we play bigger venues and we have a bigger bus, we have a place to take along a nanny to take care of her when we are playing, then we take her. Otherwise, she is at grandpas and grandmas.

CK: For this American tour?

RW: Yeah.

CK: Do they live close by to you now?

RW: Yes, for American measures, yes.

SDA: Yes, for American measures, yes (laughs …) One hour and fifteen minutes.

RW: For Dutch measures, that is very far away.

CK: Well, thank you for your time.

RW: You’re very welcome.

SDA: You’re welcome.