Sharon and Jeroen van Inkel had many, many conversations over the phone last year during the Q-music Sessions and you can listen to them again this Friday!Tune in to Q-music NL on Friday between 04.00PM-05.00PM (GMT+1) to hear Sharon talk to Jeroen and hear the brand new single ‘Whole World is Watching’ featuring Dave Pirner.
As one of the forerunners of the modern symphonic metal movement, and also having been pegged with the gothic and dubious female-fronted subgenre tags, Within Temptation have achieved great success in Europe, cultivated a loyal following in America, and continue to try new things. Their last album, The Unforgiving, pushed their ’80s pop and rock influences to the forefront, injecting an extra dose of melody into their music, while their latest release, Hydra, amps up the energy, even experiments with rap and touches of psychedelia, and features four guest vocalists. It’s a natural evolution for a band that started life as a doom/goth metal group with their 1997 debut, Enter, and has since grown in other directions, which makes the title of their new album highly apropos. Somehow, the group finds a way to balance it all out.“I think with every album we’ve changed a lot,†confirms singer/lyricist Sharon den Adel, calling the Aquarian from Holland. “If you compare Enter with Mother Earth, it’s also a really big change. We’ve always been a very melodic band but also very heavy with the guitars really up in your face, and for us this [Hydra] is the heaviest and most up-tempo album we’ve made so far.â€The group has often used full string sections on their studio works and even released an orchestral live release called Black Symphony. This time up there is trippy cello work in the mid-section of the majestic “Edge Of The World,†but the symphonic feeling enhancing the hard-driving songs comes mostly from keyboardist Martijn Spierenburg. Robert Westerholt’s axe work certainly drives most of the tunes here, like the lead single “Dangerous,†which features vocals from former Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones. He is not to be confused with the ’80s new wave artist of the same name, who would probably also manage to fit in comfortably on a Within Temptation album with the right song. (If you want to hear how diverse the band’s tastes are, grab the limited edition two-disc set of Hydra which includes covers of songs by Imagine Dragons, Lana Del Rey, Passenger, and Enrique Iglesias.)Den Adel says that propulsive lead single “Dangerous†is inspired by daredevils, thrill seekers, and people living on the edge. Considering the uptempo nature of the tune, the subject matter seemed highly appropriate. They also felt that musically it overlapped with that of Killswitch Engage, and being a fan of that band and its former frontman, they reached out to him. To their surprise, he not only had known about the Dutch outfit for years, but was eager to contribute.“It was funny because we could’ve asked him years ago,†says den Adel. “We sent him the song with a guide track for the vocals, and knowing Killswitch Engage we felt he would do more screaming, but he came back with this really epic kind of vocal style. It was a surprise, and we didn’t know he could sing like this as well. We were surprised, but it was better than what we initially had in mind. We’re happy that he’s on it because the song really grew from that.â€The other three Hydra vocal collaborations also yielded great results. Former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen appears on “Paradise (What About Us)?†and her operatic vocals glide and intertwine beautifully with those of den Adel. It’s a natural fit for the two pioneering metal sirens. Soul Asylum singer Dave Pirner also lends his raspy style to the haunting closing ballad “The Whole World Is Watching.†The sharp contrast to those contributions is “And We Run,†which spotlights the rapping of Xzibit. Westerholt in particular is a fan of the American rapper, and when the idea of combining his genre with the music of Within Temptation emerged, he was the obvious choice for the guitarist.“I didn’t know if he would do this to be honest,†admits den Adel. “But Xzibit is a very open-minded guy who’s experimenting with rap and uses guitars sometimes and has been working with orchestral things. I have this really high voice, and he has this very dark and deep voice, which is a cool contrast already. The fact that he’s open-minded to experimentation made us think he was the right guy for us. And we liked his music.â€Their management knew Xzibit’s people, and the band soon asked him about the collaboration. He offered the chance to see if it worked, and they clicked. Other than explaining the idea behind the song, den Adel says they gave him carte blanche to do what he wanted, as lyrics are a rapper’s signature. “We wanted to give him the opportunity to do something for his own perspective and add his own thing to it because that’s what we wanted to have from him,†she says. “I think it came out very cool, and what is special about the song is that it doesn’t have a rock or metal structure, it has a dance structure. The song became original in the form it’s already in and also because of Xzibit. There are no dance elements in the song, but it’s more like how dance music is built up and how they create a structure. It sounds different from the songs that we normally do, and it is the most special song on the album.â€In the way that “Dangerous†deals with thrill seekers, Hydra‘s lyrics on the whole invoke the ideas of maintaining one’s identity and holding on to one’s sense of self even in the face of overwhelming circumstances. Den Adel explains that “Covered By Roses†was inspired by the idea of living in the moment and celebrating important moments with people you care about. Many life transitions can be hard, whether it is moving on or someone leaving your life, and those memories can keep you strong in the future.The members of Within Temptation understand this theme well. Den Adel and Westerholt have three children together, and she acknowledges that she is always juggling two worlds. “I couldn’t just be a mom, neither could I just be a musician,†the singer explains. “I need to have both worlds to be happy, and I just try to find the right balance between things. When we started the band we were so young and very dedicated to it, so every weekend we were playing because we loved doing it. We almost drowned in it. We put all our other needs aside. I never went to clubs. I didn’t have time for it because I was always with the band, always doing stuff for the band or with the band. I neglected certain things and grew up very quickly with this band.â€Always being on the road and working with the band meant that she missed out on certain parts of her life, but she has also gained much from the success that she and her bandmates have achieved. “Certain sacrifices give something back to you, but you’ve also lost something,†she admits. “It’s important to think about what kind of balance you need in life. It almost broke up the band in 2007 after we came back from America because of all the touring. At that time, I had a one-year-old at home, and for two-thirds of the year we were on the road constantly. She had been on tour with us for a certain time. It wasn’t just that fact but also that everybody had been living on a nightliner for such a long time. We were so much in each other’s faces that at the end of it we really hated each other more or less. We really needed a break from each other in 2008, and Robert and I also split up for a few months because things didn’t go the way that we wanted them to. Everything was too heavy. But it brought back a new balance which works today. We realize that everything needs its space, and everything in life needs its space, like family and friends but also our passion for our band. It’s about balancing things, and that was a big change.†Within Temptation will perform at Vintage Vinyl on Jan. 27. Hydra will be released Feb. 4 through Nuclear Blast. For more information, go to within-temptation.com.
Friends in the US, tune into SiriusXM’s Octane channel (Ch. 37) next week to hear their awesome Within Temptation special!The special features an interview with Sharon and Ruud as well as several acoustic tracks from Hydra performed exclusively for Octane!GET READYTune in at the following times:1. Tuesday Feb. 4 at 5pm ET / 2pm PT2. Thursday Feb. 6 at 9am ET / 6am PT3. Saturday Feb. 8 at 12pm ET / 9am PT4. Sunday Feb. 9 at 2pm ET / 11am PT5. Monday Feb. 10 at 9pm ET / 6pm PTThanks to Octane for having WT songs up and for the continued support of “Paradise (What About Us?)â€.Want to make sure you hear Within Temptation more on the US radio? Request Paradise by calling calling SiriusXM Octane at 1-888-362-8263, via Twitter (@SXMOctane) or Facebook!
Within Temptation fans are highly anticipating the release the band’s brand new record ‘Hydra,’ which arrives in North America on Feb. 4. The disc features numerous guest vocalists including Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner, rapper Xzibit, former Nightwish songstress Tarja Turunen and ex-Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones, who offers vocals on the single ‘Dangerous.Loudwire recently spoke with the band’s frontwoman Sharon den Adel about recording ‘Hydra,’ teaming up with the aforementioned eclectic vocalists and much more. Check out our interview with Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation below:What does the title ‘Hydra’ mean to you personally?It represents a few things, from a music perspective for us — every head is a character and the character stands for a different side for us musically like the melodic part, the bombastic part or the symphonic part. Now we’ve added new elements to our music with one song but again another character, it’s a rap combination with our kind of music. It’s stands for new things and also the past.Lyrically, ‘Hydra’ stands for facing your demons and to embrace your fear and move forward. There will always be a certain issue in life. A short example of this is the song ‘Covered by Roses,’ which is about the passing of someone but also carpe diem and making the most of now and the memories you do have together. You’ll celebrate this person’s life still, they’re apart of you and you’ll take them with you.What an eclectic mix of guests on this album. Talk about working with Tarja Turunen, Howard Jones, Xzibit and Soul Aylum’s Dave Pirner.Well I’ll say, you’ll never know what you’re going to get when you ask someone you don’t know. There’s so many collaborations on this album because we didn’t know if it would go over well. From a music perspective we thought, “Okay there might be one or two that might not work out somehow.†We got lucky and they all worked out somehow, sometimes a lot of things just work and it goes the way you were hoping for. We looked at the songs when we wrote them [and thought,] “What could we add now to the song now that the album is finished?â€Dave Pirner for instance, it wasn’t the question whether we were going to put it on the album or not, we love the song. We didn’t want to go too far away from what we originally do, we like to experiment a lot but this was really on the edge. We tried to make as less limitations as possible to see if it works or not but also it reminds of us Soul Asylum in a way. It’s got melancholies but at the same time it has uplifting guitar playing like this ‘Runaway Train’ kind of song, it has the same kind of feel to it.It was a very difficult thing to find him [Dave Pirner] actually because he’s not really into social media and those kinds of things which we had hoped to find him on. We found him through other people eventually and it took a while to track him down actually. It took us some months maybe we didn’t ask the right people but we had to start somewhere. When we did meet him, he’s such a nice guy, very friendly and he liked the song, the rest is history.We had met him and you don’t know someone so how do you break the ice? How do you get to know each other? We took him to Amsterdam and explored the town and the day after that we had the ‘Dangerous’ video with Howard Jones and he [Pirner] was still there so he went to our museums and he came back and it was a really good time, we had fun working with him.Is there any artist you dream to work with that you haven’t had a chance to work with yet?There’s such a list of people I would love to work with but the thing is you need to have the right song. There are so many people that are talented and that you admire but when the song is there, then you might think of that person.How was the recording process of ‘Hydra’ for you?If you compare it to the first album we ever did, which was a long time ago, we got more time for it which is very nice. We had two or three days for a song and I remember with the first record ‘Enter’ and I tracked my vocals in one day I think for all eight songs. [Laughs] So that was a major difference, so I would write lyrics one day and finalized it, then the demo and then the main lead vocals and backing.Were there memorable moments while recording a specific song that stood out for you?Yes, well every song has a different story of course. I think the song ‘Edge of the World’ is more close to me because it’s a more personal song and it has a long track record. I wrote this song with this guy I think in 2009 and the song was written in a totally different form. It appeared on the record because he called me and was like, “Do you remember we had this day in Amsterdam and we wrote this song together.†I always try to write with different people because if you write on your own or with the same people more or less the same things come up and that’s fine. When you work with other people you learn from each other.Anyway the song came out and it started more like a grunge kind of song. What started me with heavy music was the grunge period. I was really a grunge girl. So we’re like, “Oh how cool we wrote a grunge song†and it changed to more of a piano kind of song. He called and was like, “Do you remember this song?†and it was a special song to me. We met each other again in Amsterdam and made this song out of it, it’s more psychedelic and we lowered the tempo. Musically things change a lot, it just became a really special song and I’m really proud at how it turned out.After 15 years of making music as a band, how have you evolved as a musician with each new album?I did new things. I think the change started with ‘The Unforgiving’ album, the one before this one. We felt like we had to let go of all boundaries of our musicial style. With ‘The Heart of Everything’ two albums back, we finalized our symphonic style, we tried to make it sound better and better. With ‘The Unforgiving’ the previous album, we let all boundaries go.We thought if we let this go maybe we can grow again because we were stuck at a certain point. When we did that it was like a no brainer of course and it gave us more room and we listen to all types of music. Any kind of rhythm from any kind of music could inspire us and we came up with the most extreme kind of thing. These last two albums have been so much easier to write than ever before.[The albums] from ‘Enter’ to ‘The Heart of Everything’ were very difficult for us to write, we had a lot of blockades musically and we were stressed because of it. Sometimes you didn’t write for certain periods of time but also the clock is ticking away. For the past two albums it has gone so smooth, it amazes me still. You don’t realize that you setting boundaries for yourself makes it harder for yourself. It was an eye opener to just start writing and not to think about anything and in the end it still very much turned into a Within Temptation album with different angles and perspectives.Our thanks to Sharon den Adel for taking the time to speak with us. Within Temptation’s new album, ‘Hydra,’ can be ordered at iTunes or at the band’s official website.
Tonight, Within Temptation will visit the popular Dutch television show ‘De Wereld Draait Door’ (DWDD).Dutch friends can tune in to Nederland 1 tonight at 19.00 hrs (GMT+1) to see Sharon talk to host Mathijs van Nieuwkerk about Hydra and watch the whole band perform live!
Many Dutch friends have been asking for it, and your pleads have been answered:Within Temptation is doing a very exclusive instore show with signing session in Concerto in Amsterdam, this Thursday!The band will perform tracks off of Hydra live and will be signing the new album, afterwards. Entrance is free, so make sure you get there in time in order to get in!DetailsDate: Thursday February 6Location: ConcertoEntrance: FreeTime: 17.30 hrs (GMT+1)Address: Utrechtsestraat 52-60 Amsterdam
