Here is the interview with Within Temptation that we could do during their promotion for their new album in Spain. Sharon and Ruud were in Madrid, to answer our questions and to tell us the news about their new album, titled “The Heart of Everything”, and which has just been released in Europe. They will begin their European tour on 14th February in their country, Holland, and they will continue over all Europe.
David A. / Javier Tendero

M.S: Hi guys, first of all thank you very much for your time today despite the lack of it.

Sharon: No Problem, really. Thanks to you for coming.

M.S: Sharon, Ruud, How do you do? Have you had a nice flight?

Ruud: Very fine, we are glad of all these travels. We had a nice flight towards Spain but we had to wait a lot of time at the airport, but nothing else.

M.S: Yes, you must be really tired of travelling everyday…

Sharon: Well we are tired, but this is part of what we do. (laughs)

Ruud: And we like it as well, in fact now we are going to Vienna (laughs). Sharon. But we always recover the energy when we get to the cities and we see all our fans so happy.

M.S: Do you like coming to Spain?

Sharon: Yes sure, we always like coming.

Ruud: We have had a great Spanish lunch here.

Sharon: Yes, we have eaten many things, different kinds of cheese , "tortilla"… It's been amazing. (laughs)

Ruud: We have a big smile on our faces (laughs)

M.S: Within Temptation is ten years old now. How has the band grown through these 10 years since the beginning with "Enter" until today with your new album "The Heart of Everything" which is about to be released?

Sharon: Well… I think that when we started many years ago, Enter was our first album but we never thought about having much success with it. Now for the new album, we tried to change many things and to do something new. We like changing many things of each new cd that we release. And for the new album, we have experimented with many things to get the album that we wanted.

M.S: Ruud, you joined to Within Temptation for the Mother Earth Tour, right?

Ruud: Right! Correct.

M.S: And do you like touring, the promotions and all these things that suppose belonging to a band?

Ruud: Of course. I have been doing it for five years, and it's been great, we have gone to many places that I didn't know. I like it (smiles)

M.S: Your albums are all completely different. You have always introduced something new in all your albums and have changed some important points when you release a new cd, but always with your characteristic touch. Have you introduced new elements again for "The Heart of Everything"? Or have you followed a similar line from your previous album, The Silent Force?

Sharon: Well.. It's a combination of them in fact. We have learnt a lot with The Silent Force, because we had a big production, a big choir and it was the first time that we recorded an album with orchestra, and we have used it again for the new one. But, in The Silent Force we noticed that some instruments of the band could only be heard as back instruments, for instance the guitars were in a second level in the album because of the high sound that we gave to the orchestra when we mixed the sounds, and now for The Heart of Everything, we have found a more balanced sound between the orchestra and the band. So in fact, I think there are many changes, but they have been good changes and we are very happy with result.

Ruud: Yes, we have worked hard experimenting a lot of things for the new album, in sounds, and Sharon's voice has been quite different in many occasions…

Sharon: Yes I really had to shout sometimes on the microphone to get the new voice that I wanted to include in the album, and It's been really hard.

Ruud: We have used as well different microphones to get many different sounds, acoustic guitars, in The Cross we have used very heavy drum kits… and we have experimented many other things.

M.S: We have listened to few songs of your new album, "The Howling" and "What have you done?"... Sharon, we have seen in "The Howling" that you have a new effect in your voice at the beginning of the song. Has it been difficult to record your different tones of voice for this album?

Sharon: Well… in fact it was a shallow, not an effect. What we did was to focalise on the recording of my voice in a very high tone and a very low one as well and we put it together, and that's what you could listen to in the song.

M.S: It's great, I think it fits perfectly for the song, and that's something new that we, the fans, never heard previously.

Sharon: Yes, I think so, I like it too, but thank you anyway (laughs)

M.S: How is your baby, Eva Luna?

Sharon: Wow, she is growing and growing and almost walking. And luckily, she 's healthy as well. Thanks for asking. (laughs)

M.S: Has the birth of your daughter been a new source of inspiration for you when composing your music?

Sharon: Well… not really. Of course it was a very nice experience, in fact is one of the most beautiful experience for a mother, but we didn't use it in that way for our music.

M.S: Has Martijn composed any song for this album, like he did previously for The Silent Force?

Sharon: Yes, he has composed some songs with me, such as The Hand of Sorrow, The Truth Beneath the Rose, The Cross and Forgiven.

M.S: As I said before, we could listen to "The Howling" because of your promotion of the videogame The Chronicles of Spellborn, Will you tell us please, what the song is about?

Ruud: All is about a certain part of the game when you got the presentation of the story which is behind The Chronicles of Spellborn, and Sharon and Robert used some elements of the story of the game to write the song, which is about the specie called the howling, right?

Sharon: Yes, it's like a character of a The Chronicles of Spellborn more than a specie.

M.S: Something that surprised us in the track-list of your new album was the song "The truth beneath the rose" , inspired in The Da Vinci Code. Will you tell us what this song is about , and how this song took form for you?

Sharon: Yes, exactly. The song is about the fact which is hidden behind religion but not in general. I mean, it is about the personal belief of each person but independently the religion. It doesn't matter what we believe in. So it is inspired by the people's faith in their religions. It is a combination of all these things (smiles).

M.S: You have made two videoclips of "What have you done?", what has happened? Were you not satisfied with the final result of the first video? Or, have you made a second video for the other different version of your single in the U.S.A?

Ruud: No, we wanted to have two different choices, it's a different story line what we tried to do with the videos.

M.S: Before you begin this european tour, you have already played in The Vrienden van Amstel Live festival. Did you play songs of your new album in those concerts? And, How did they work with the audience? Because your album is not released yet, and nobody was able to listen t your songs before.

Ruud: No, we didn't play any new song from this album. We played songs from The Silent Force such as Stand my Ground and songs from Mother Earth. And this festival consists of playing with another artist and we played Stand my ground with a dutch artist but with the Within Temptation's sound. And it was really fun for us.

M.S: We can see that Robert broher's project, Delain, is having much success wherever they go, in fact they will be again in the "Metal Female Voices Fest V" and they have collaborated with you. Then, Will they be supporting you during your European tour? Or Could it be possible that they come with you to your gigs in Spain this month?

Sharon: Well it's not sure, because we have talked about it, but they don't know the availability that they will have and other things that should be planned such as the time that they would have to spend with us and it is something very expensive for them, because they would have to go away from their jobs for a time and have no restriction to play, and besides there is something personal as well. And I'm sorry but I don't think Delain will be in Spain.

M.S: Then, Will you have any other band supporting you in your Spanish gigs?

Sharon: Maybe a local band will be supporting us, but we don't know anyway. If we don't have any band supporting we will possibly begin to play a little earlier.

M.S: You will go this year for first time on tour to America with already known bands there, such as Lacuna Coil and The Gathering…. How do you feel about this new adventure that you are going to begin?

Sharon: It is something very nice for us, because we have never played before there and we don't know what the reaction of the people will be. Everything will be different from Europe because we don't know if American people like Within Temptation or not. That's something that we will discover when we go there.

M.S: What do you think about Lacuna Coil and The Gathering? Do you like them?

Ruud: Yes, they both are amazing bands. We think we will like to go there with them.

M.S: You have received many e-mails of South American people begging you to play there, and finally all their efforts will be compensated this year. How do you think that American people will receive you in your first tour there?

Sharon: ell in North America we don't know what will happen, but our only experience near to South America was in Mexico, we played once there and it was something great, because people were very enthusiastic and we enjoyed there, but I don't know what will happen in South America. We will see it. (laughs)

M.S: After this European tour, the summer festivals and your American tour, Will you come again on tour as you did previously with The Silent Force Tour?

Sharon: Yes, I hope so.

M.S: Don't you think that you might have a very busy year? Sharon and

Ruud: Yes we will have a very busy year, or at least we hope it (laughs)

M.S: And, Will you be able to take your daughter with you on tour some much time ?

Sharon: Well she's going to be here in Spain when we come and she will travel with us. After it, she will stay at home, and when we begin our American Tour she will come with us, but because there will always be somebody who stays with her during our shows. She will have a very busy year like us. (laughs)

M.S: Last summer you played here in Spain in Metalway Festival, did you enjoy in that festival? And, besides your gigs in Spain, will you come back to Metalway Festival this year as well?

Ruud: I specially remember this festival because of the warm weather that we had unlike the weather in the other festivals in Germany, Belgium, Holland… That's something that we love of Spain. (laughs)

Sharon: Yes, we remember that festival because it took place in two different places, and, in the South, in Jerez, we had an amazing stay with many people there cheering up and everyone running everywhere (laughs)

M.S: Well my last question goes for Ruud, now you're studying singing lessons, and you do the backing vocals in Blue Eyes as we could see. So, are you going to sing in your gigs?

Ruud: I'm very surprised you know about my lessons (laughs). I have participated with backing vocals in the album in Frozen and The Cross, but I will focus on the guitar in the shows so I don't think that I will do the backing vocals in the shows. Specially at the beginning of the tour because I have to be concentrated on my guitar during the shows and we have the background voices recorded, but we don't know yet, maybe in the future I will be prepared for it.

M.S: Well, this has been all the interview. I wish you the best in all your gigs, but specially in your American tour, I really hope you success there because you deserve it. Thank you very much for your time.

Sharon : Thanks to you.

David A. / Javier Tendero
Interview Photos: Laura Martín

LINKS:

SPANISH REVIEW FROM "THE HEART OF EVERYTHING"