The Gathering

Thank-you so much for posting the press conference. They are such wonderful people. Frank was the first band member I met and I could not believe how nice he was. Then I met the rest of the band and they were so nice and down to earth it amazed me. I will be looking forward to there new material.

The press conference was very interesting (note to self: don't catch a taxi in Romania - Sydney taxis are bad enough...) but perhaps a transcript could be posted instead?

Here is the transcript (more or less) of first part of the conference. Maybe there are some errors!

H: My name is Hans, from The Gathering
F: My name is Frank, from The Gathering, playing keyboards, he's the drummer
H: And we have half an hour to answer to your questions if you want, just shoot! I only speak English by the way, my Romanian is really not quite good.

Question:Everybody knows about Anneke's departure. Can you speak about her reasons?
H:That's already stated in her MySpace. The main reason is that she wants to stay more at home, with her child, and she wants to put more time in her project. And that's the main reason! Of course we tried to persuade her, maybe only make albums and not touring anymore, just to make it easier and confortable for her, but she didn't want to make music with us anymore. It's quite harsh, but that's the reason

Question: Everybody consider that The Gathering's career starts with 'Mandylion'....
H: Well, I think we started with 'Always'
Question: Yes, I know, but So, Anneke is like a trademark for The Gathering....How will that change?
H: We will. Of course it was a shock for us too. Right now we are repositioning our standards, our goals. We think a lot about it, what to do. Of course it's an heavy task, but we are The Gathering, we saw many years already, we almost exist since 18 years. A lot of things will change, of course. We are very much busy with auditions, with a lot of things right now, think a lot about voices we like already playing in a band, we had auditions already, so we are busy with it.

Question: Will you have a male voice?
H: We do not know yet. If we find a good male voice, maybe female, maybe more voices, it could be possible

Question: You are looking for a precise person, or are you open for something new?
H: Of course we are not searching for an Opera vocalist, for example. We have specific taste of course, but it's a matter of taste, we have to like it. We are not going to search for Anneke clone, that's for sure. I mean, Anneke is Anneke, she's faboulous, but we have to continue, we are not going to search for..... it will be ridicolous! It's a new start right now, a new era. Maybe it won't be that popular anymore, you know, a lot of things will happen, we know, but we want to continue, we love to make music with the four people who are still in the band, so we will continue.

Question: Maybe are you interested in a male vocalist, with a more aggressive style?
F: No, we are not going to return to the first album, I don't think so, but there are lots of possibilities..... it's a very creative new challenge for us and we are really excited to go to reharse again, to write songs, to record, so... it give us a lot of inspiration as well.
H: I think it will be a more heavy-orientated album for sure, of course... for us it's as frustrating as for the fans, you know, so it will be more heavy.

Question: Will you do a special tour to say goodbye?
H: No, because we both continue: she is in a solo career and we continue with the band, so we play these 3 gigs and we don't like to do a farewell tour, it's not like a cup of tea to do, because it's not a farewell, well maybe for The Gathering and Anneke...

Question: Did you compose something new already? Are you thinking about a new album?
H: We are very busy with it right now.
F: We have already a few songs in progress, I'm still working on writing new songs also
H: It gives a lot of ideas right now. We tried to put something negative into something positive, so to use the heart, you know. We don't like this, that this is happening. It's very strange for us because we have been on the road with Anneke for 13 years, ok this is changing but it gives a lot of inspiration and we tried to see and focus on the positive side of it.

Question: From where does the inspiration come?
H: Everything. A trip like this is really inspiring, being in Romania for the first time, it's a beautiful country. We were almost killed in a taxi yesterday, the driving is really insane. We were sitting for 7 hours from Bucarest to here like... Will I ever see my child again? You know, but we made it and we enjoyed the country, we enjoyed the people very much and this is an inspiration too

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...penso che
ho di nuovo i brividi
e mi lascio prendere
da domande inutili....
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BAUSTELLE

Great work! Thanks Eternity

That's very very nice and fair Eternity... for everyone here

Might have been very long for you to write this part.

All you wrote is almost what i got.

There are some misunderstanding to me such as "Will I have to see my child..."
actually I heard "Will I ever see my child..." some small details but your whole job is very good.

Thanx.

Yes, I could not understand well some words, indeed!
Thank you

_________________
...penso che
ho di nuovo i brividi
e mi lascio prendere
da domande inutili....
____________
BAUSTELLE

thank you for posting that interview. i'm still so sad. i swear it was the weirdest thing~a few days before they announced that anneke was leaving i actually thought to myself that i hoped the gathering would never break up or anything cause i love them so much. & then my thoughts went towards: well, with my luck anneke will prolly leave or something... & then this!
i am looking very forward to any of anneke's future projects tho. she is & will always be my favorite singer & an inspiration to me. i love her dearly & this won't change that.

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what fine judgement i see
in the eyes of our world leaders
oh how beautiful life could be
if it hadn't been shot to pieces...

That video is sadly emblematic... makes me sad to watch it... so i better not hahahaha

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Listen to Jelena, like I am right now.

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The Gathering pics

It IS a very sad thing for Anneke to leave, on that we all agree. But what Hans stated is very true: there was a The Gathering before Anneke. I personnally know them since the release of 'always' and evolved with the band and their music. As they grew, I grew. That is my special bond with The Gathering. A new singer or new singers may well be a new era for me too. Of course I will follow 'Aqua de Annique' too but the band has gained so much respect in the years I listened to them I can NEVER turn my back on their music. RESPECT for all of them! Succes and see you guys! Greetz

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I wish you knew, your music was to stay forever...

Even if Anneke WAS the original singer. I would expect The Gathering to continue on without her.

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The Gathering pics

you? Alive??

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Het zal wel weer off-topic zijn...
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I'm not obsessed, it's an hobby

What a sad news ... difficult to believe there won't be album anymore from The Gathering with Anneke as a singer. It is even more sad to believe I've never seen them and will never see them on tour.

But, I believe that both parts (Anneke with Agua De Annique on the one hand, Hans, Rene, Marjolein and Frank with TG on the other hand) will go on and give us new musical wonders.

The Gathering with Anneke will always be one of my love. Your music was one of the only one that could make me cry.

From the deepest of my heart ...

Thank you.

The Gathering will not be the same without Anneke and Anneke will not be the same without The Gathering.
Still I hope the best for her and hope the guys will go on making wonderful music


You will forever be in my heart...thank you thank you thank you for everything...

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''I shrink and shrink until I'm gone...''

Has she changed her mind yet??

im still hoping on this possibility!!!! hehehe

Right now, nothing would make me happier than Anneke changing her mind about this, but it won't happen, so I'm just trying to avoid posting anything here.

Very much my dear 'smack'-friend

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I wish you knew, your music was to stay forever...

OMG! I decided to stop by here today to see what the news was for a new TG CD, and my heart stopped!!! Anneke leaving TG is the worst news I've heard in a bit. This is a shock to me. Living in the USA, it's hard to find people who know or have even heard of TG, and I've been into them for so many years. I even have my son (who's now 17) into them, he plays them all the time and learned many of their songs on the bass and guitar. I just woke him up to let him know about Anneke, he can't believe it either.

But the show must go on, and I'm glad the they will continue with a new singer, and that we'll still be able to hear Anneke with her new project as well. So maybe it's the best of both worlds.

Still I'm sad.

Sam