Within Temptation

By: Ken McGrath

Already a force to be reckoned with on mainland Europe Holland’s Within Temptation have begun to make serious inroads into the UK goth-rock/metal scene. Signing to veteran label Roadrunner Records and winning a World Music Award hasn’t done them any harm either. The Dutch quintet is composed of Sharon den Adel (vocals), Robert Westerholt (guitar), Jeroen van Veen (bass), Martijn Spierenburg (keyboards), Ruud Jolie (guitar) and Stephen van Haestregt (drums).

Yes their brand of female fronted heavy rock/light metal will be and delight to anyone who has found joy with Evanescence but it’s in European goth rock that they have their roots. Symphonic power metal, lyrics rooted in fantasy and semi-operatic vocals have been comfortable bedfellows on the European metal scene for aeons. Within Temptation’s latest effort, ‘The Silent Force’, (which only secured a UK release since they hooked up with Roadrunner) has already clocked nearly 500,000 sales, with the first single to be lifted from it, ‘Stand My Ground’, climbing into the top tens across the continent. But it’s only recently that metal fans in the UK and Ireland have sat up and taken notice. Band leader Robert Westerholt (guitar) admits that the success of Evanescence opened up new grounds for them to explore and conquer, but that said all it really did was provide an open window through which they could access a new audience. Over time they would have surely found a door. And it’s not just them either; Finland’s Nightwish and Italys’ Lacuna Coil are already becoming big names in countries where almost a year ago few would have known their names.

Shortly before he was due to go on stage for Within Temptation’s biggest ever headlining show on British soil Blistering.com got a hold of Robert for a very quick chat about success, awards, and dance music (?).

ON WINNING THE WOLRD MUSIC AWARD FOR BEST SELLING DUTCH ARTIST:
“Well it was it’s like all the awards which we received lately. It’s nice that you get those awards. It’s a bit unreal I must say that you’re THE best selling Dutch artist internationally. It’s not, I think, that we had that many big selling Dutch, great artists lately but it’s of course nice to see now that you’re doing well and that you’re doing well internationally. That’s the same of course with every band.”

ON THE DUTCH MUSIC SCENE:
“I think in dance Holland always does very well and we had 2unlimited in the past and Vengaboys in the past. There are a lot of dance artists (like) DJ Tiesto, who is a worldwide known DJ. A lot of underground dance things, but I’m totally not into dance, I don’t really know exactly how it is. In the past, in the ‘70s, we had the more rock orientated acts. A lot of bands had rock hits but internationally there’s not many rock acts really coming out now from the Netherlands.”

ON SUCCESS IN EUROPE:
“We do very well in Finland, Spain, Portugal and Germany, of course. Some countries like our songs better than others. I think also we are not typically a one hit band. Some bands have one hit that spread all over the place and it remains that hit, but we’re a band that’s developing. It’s a little like conquering country by country (laughs).”

ON PRACTICING:
“We don’t practice really on our instruments, that’s something I always do very badly. Our guitar player (Ruud Jolie) he’s a guitar teacher so he’s really technical. I don’t practice my instrument, I just more… I like song writing, but every day at least four hours. It’s not my cup of tea. I’m just busting my brains for a great tune or a great song. That’s what I try to do. Of course it’s also about getting your inspiration that’s very important. That you think about stuff. Get yourself loaded up. That’s why I think music is very important, you have to get your input from somewhere, that you’re inspired to write. So you learn during time how to do that.”

ON THE DEAL WITH ROADRUNNER RECORDS:
“Well we didn’t have a proper release in several countries, (so) it was a collaboration with BMG and Roadrunner and then our management also had a role in there of course to get our records out in countries BMG wasn’t able to do a good job (in). It’s very important that the label likes your music and like I said, in record country every country can have a different opinion on something and we’re very lucky now that we can have a good release through Roadrunner in several countries. It’s like a normal release for Roadrunner in the UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.”

ARE YOU JUST CONCENTRATING ON THOSE TERRITORIES?
“It depends on what comes across. We’re always, of course, open to new things but you can only concentrate on some countries and of course we also want to write a new record, so we’re not trying to get our record released anywhere that we can’t play

ON RELAXING:
“We don’t relax a lot (with) interviews and the concert. Of course after the show, that’s the time when you have a drink and sit down and that’s the moment when you relax. If you have a day off or something, we try to see as much as you can. It’s very hard ‘cause you’re in every country, in every city, but you never see some things, so when you have to opportunity you really try to do that.”

With new territories like the UK being won over it is not going to be too much longer before the US and Canada become targets. Within Temptation have already set their sights on touring Australia and Japan, but whether they can reach the levels there that they have on the continent is another story though. Get ready folks, the European invasion is underway. [END]