Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Within Temptation

Guitarist Robert Westerholt talks about The Unforgiving and North American tour.

Symphonic metal couldn’t have been any better than Within Temptation’s 2007 album, The Heart of Everything (review). As a result, the band had accomplished all it strove to do within the subgenre’s restraints. Its 2011 release, The Unforgiving (review), marks somewhat of a new beginning for the Dutch band, led by vocalist Sharon den Adel. The concept album tells stories of characters and tragic events that are part of a much larger tale. Accompanied by a comic series of the same name and a series of short films, fans have multiple levels and formats to work as a guide to what matters most in the end, the music.

Within Temptation has not completely abandoned its roots, but for the recording of this album, a strong ‘80s metal and new wave influence is evident, along with tracks that would fit with the vast number of songs that cover this band’s 15 year career. In their first trip to the United States since 2007, Within Temptation embarked on a six-city mini-tour, making stops in prominent cities along the East Coast. Just a few days into the tour, before we saw the band for ourselves at Rams Head Live in Baltimore, Md., guitarist Robert Westerholt (Sharon’s husband) called in to Live-Metal.net’s Jeff Maki to talk about The Unforgiving and the strong ‘80s influence on the album. And according to Robert, The Unforgiving story has only just begun.

Live-Metal.net: I was actually scheduled to interview Sharon today, but I guess you’re the next best thing. Your manager mentioned something today about Sharon having a sore throat and then a commitment or something, so is everything OK with Sharon and with the band right now?

Robert Westerholt: (laughs) Yeah, yeah, she’s very much alive, so no problem.

[Editor’s note: Sharon said onstage she was having “voice problems” (detailed in our Rams Head Live concert report here), but she still performed the remaining shows on the tour.]

So you guys are back in the U.S. for the first time since 2007 for “The Unforgiving Tour.” (Sept. 10, Terminal 5) is the fourth show, tonight in New York, and I see it’s sold out. So I take it that the response has been great so far and everything has been amazing?

Yeah, it’s kind of surprised us. We are playing bigger venues and they’re all pretty full, and we’re having a lot of fun on these shows.

I’m going to the show in Baltimore at Rams Head Live (Sept. 12), and I went ahead and cheated and took a look at the set list. You guys are playing a good bulk of the new album, but which of the new songs do you think are getting the biggest reaction live so far?

The biggest reaction? In general, the songs all do well live. And it’s a lot of up-tempo songs, and people like them, which for new songs that is always a nice thing. And the other thing is that we also love to play them ourselves. It’s a lot of fun for us. But the songs that are doing well live: “In the Middle of the Night,” “Sinead,” “Faster,” “Iron”—those are the songs that are doing really well.

I read in interviews that the first plan for this album was for you guys to write a soundtrack to a movie, but that then evolved into The Unforgiving. But at what point or what song during the recording did the idea really start to develop?

Well, it was actually already before we started writing that we knew that we wanted to make this concept album. We thought the time was there. We felt this time we wanted to do something new and fresh, but also with the whole album process, it was a new and creative. For years, we had already been having this in our minds that at a certain point we would make a concept album, and now we had found the right form of the way we wanted to do it. It had to do with the fact that we really didn’t have to do a concept album in chronological order of your songs and tell the whole story with the lyrics. So at a point we realized we wanted to do more like a soundtrack-based form, and then tell the story with the movies or with The Unforgiving comic series.

So speaking from a lyrical standpoint, does every song solely have a role in the story, or are there greater meanings and aspects of the songs as well?

No, it’s all direct to The Unforgiving. Every song is about a certain event or a certain character and it all has to do with the story. The only thing is that it doesn’t tell you the whole story. It’s just different songs about different characters. Because we worked from the music first and we had written the songs first, then we looked at the story and found that this song really fits that part of the story or this song is really about that character. And that’s how we really filled it in lyric-wise. It was also interesting to see how we work the best. When you write a song and feel like “this” song fits a story or something that which I experienced before, you really can work from your feelings, not that you have to follow a certain script.

Songs like “Shot in the Dark” and “Sinead” certainly have a strong ‘80s feel in different ways. Describe where this ‘80s influence comes from.

Well, it has to do a little bit with the fact that we were very young when we started listening to music and it was in the ‘80s era. The first record I bought was Bad from Michael Jackson. And that was some time ago. (laughs) It was totally ‘80s. Also, bands like Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Billy Idol and Chris Isaak. At that time, there was a different kind of melody they used to have. I think that the sounds that you are hearing, for instance, are in there, but not really that much. It was the kind of chorus or melodies that we used in letting a bit more of our roots come out.

And that was kind of fun because when we (first) started to make music, we actually went a bit away from what was there because we felt we wanted to do something new and there was an idea about how it should sound. And now we were just letting our familiar things just come up again and play with them. That was very inspiring and very liberating also, that we could just write what came up. Then in the end, we realized that a lot of things that we had written had to do with the ‘80s. Also, on the metal side, bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica, we also had roots there.

I was going to say, on the other hand, you have songs like “In the Middle of the Night” and especially,“Iron,” that, for me, almost has a power metal sound. These songs are heavier and different from anything the band has done before. So what was it like for you to go in and play these songs? Was it a lot harder or was it natural?

No, very natural. For example, a band like Iron Maiden or Metallica, those are really the first bands we listened to when we really started to get into metal. So that was really in us—those types of songs. But like I said, we just let those things come up, and that’s why, of course, we also ended up also with songs like that.

You talked about the album not even telling the whole story of The Unforgiving. With the comic also released, is there a real beginning, middle and end to the story, or could we see a prequel or sequel in a future release tied to The Unforgiving?

Yeah, definitely. With the record, we have got such a big story. But in the end, this story is also a lot about just individual people who have experienced traumatic things in their lives. So there is always a story to tell or side story to this. And now that we’ve kind of put down the basic concept, I really feel that we need to develop it more and go deeper with it because it’s also inspiring us so much. So yeah, there will be more to come.

Now that the band has been around for 14 years, and you have kids and a growing family with Sharon, how have your motives or perspective changed from when you first started the band?

Well, that’s kind of funny because they really haven’t much. It’s always been so much a part of you. Of course, there have been additions to your family and it’s part of your time, but that’s also an enrichment. It’s not that it’s taking away anything from the band or from the music. I also think that is something that will never go away. That’s just something that is in yourselves, which is part of you. So there’s maybe more in your life, other important things, along with the band.

(Editor’s note: Robert and Sharon became parents to Eva Luna on Dec. 7, 2005 and Robin Aiden on June 1, 2009. The birth of their son, Logan Arwin, was announced on March 31, 2011.)

What have been the highest, and then lowest points over the course of your career as a band?

Highest point—well, there’s been a lot of high points because you really go from one high point to the other. When we first started, we never thought we would make it this far. But our first festival at Dynamo (Dynamo Open Air festival, Netherlands, May 16-18, 1997) in Holland was a big high point. And after that, like every new country you go to is like a new experience.

Also, playing live with the orchestra [Within Temptation & Metropole Orchestra: Black Symphony (review), recorded live at The Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands on Feb. 7, 2008], and now on this tour—we have never played before for so many people in the States. And we are enjoying it so much. And on the creative side, we have released this concept album, the comic and movies, and we never thought that we would be able to do that. And to have it in the States and all over the world in all the shops, that is just so cool. But also with new challenges, that’s also where you get your energy from.

And low points, well ,that’s the good thing about people—they tend to forget the low points. But I don’t think there has been much of a low point. But if we have to cancel a show, that’s a low point, and we’ve had to do that two times in our existence; two times in 15 years we’ve had to cancel a concert—that’s a real, real low point.

Also, for example, when you’re writing a new record and can’t write a song, there’s a really bad feeling and you feel really down. But that’s something you have to conquer and something you find.

OK, Robert, I know we have to wrap up, so that’s what I got. But I will be out there Monday night in Baltimore so I’ll see you then.