Voire même deux, si c'est du niveau de leur collaboration sur Addicted.
“I was with Devin for three days in Canada, then I came back to Holland, slept, and in the morning I did two children’s shows to 160 kids each. I hadn’t even gotten over my first jetlag and I had a second one (laughs). The theater show is based on a book so I get to act, which is something I had to learn to do. It’s a show that suitable for kids my son’s age (6 and 7 years old), and it was a new challenge. It took me a year to put it all together, and it’s totally different from what I’m doing here at the venue tonight. Here, all I have to do is go on stage with a microphone and a guitar. The theater show…. Jesus, you have to remember your lines and stand in this or that light, take three steps, say something else…”
“It’s crazy but it’s do-able,” Anneke continues. “My big challenge in life it to say ‘no’ once in a while. Everything is great and I love doing all these things, but my husband gets mad at me sometimes because he’d like to see me take a rest once in a while (laughs). I love life and I’m so proud and happy to be a musician… which is also killing me sometimes. I do have to choose what I do more carefully because I’m not 18 anymore, I have my son, I have a husband, so there’s more to be responsible for. When I started with The Gathering all I did was get on the tour bus and waited to see what would happen next.”
With regards to her age, Anneke’s voice has held out supremely well with the passage of time, which isn’t always the case amongst singers. If anything her voice is stronger than it was when she made her debut with The Gathering in 1995.
“I think that may be the case,” she agrees, “but maybe more with character than physically. I have to be careful about my condition because my instrument is in my body, so it’s a big challenge for me to get enough sleep and eat properly to take care of my voice. When I’m on stage, sometimes I start out being tired, but the energy that I get from the crowd gets me going. I suppose it’s like fooling my body in a way (laughs). But, if I sleep and eat well I’m 10 times better.”
As mentioned, Anneke recently completed recording her parts for Canadian vocalist / guitarist / producer Devin Townsend’s new album, Epicloud. It’s the second time the pair have worked together, with Devin having conscripted Anneke in 2009 for his Addicted record after seeing a YouTube clip of her performing the Ziltoid The Omniscient track ‘Hyperdrive’ live in concert. It’s one of those artistic relationships that, according to both parties, has it’s own untouchable corner.
“I love Devin Townsend like my brother.” Anneke say without missing a beat. “He means so much to me musically and as a person. In his music he has the perfect symbiotic relationship between heavy and melody and true emotions and feelings. It’s just so pure and so heavy. When I was singing for the Epicloud album I told him I could hear West Side Story in the music. It’s so fairytale-like but so damn heavy. I love it.”
“I almost cried when I sang in his studio,” she says of Epicloud. which is due for release later this year. “There was one song that I did and he listened back to it quickly, and I was really quiet while he did that. It almost made me angry because it was so good but he didn’t say anything (laughs). He realized that and said ‘Oh, um, you know how I am with compliments…’ and I was like, ‘Devin, this has nothing to do with compliments. This song is out of this world!’ It’s just… fucking hell, Epicloud a classic and it’s not even out yet. It made me angry because godammit it was good, and Devin was just ‘Oh, well, um, cool…’ (laughs). I know Devin’s music but I haven’t heard anything like Epicloud in my life. I’m so proud to be involved.”
This isn’t just heat of the moment lip service. During the Epicloud recording sessions back in April, Anneke took time out and posted a brief update on the proceedings via Facebook saying Devin “made me do 20 hours of the loudest and most gorgeous vocals I’ve ever done.” Not a statement to be taken lightly from a critically acclaimed singer.
“Yeah, because I never say that,” she laughs. “I’ve never said that in my life. It’s funny you noticed that because I thought about it when I was writing that post, and it’s Devin making me sing the stuff. I’m doing what he wants me to do, so if he says ‘Stand on your head naked in a corner and sing’ I’ll do it because that’s what he means to me.”
Devin has a reputation of being a taskmaster of veteran drill sergeant proportions in the studio. Soilwork frontman Björn “Speed” Strid went on record with BW&BK in 2002 following the vocal recording sessions for the band’s Natural Born Chaos album, saying that Devin pushed him well beyond his known limits and “almost killed me” in doing so. Anneke understands Björn’s experience, albeit at a less musically volatile level.
“He did it on Addicted and even more on Epicloud. I know my own voice pretty well, but Devin made me do things I didn’t really know I could do. He asked me to sing in various ways and I didn’t really know how, but I tried because he asked me to and, fucking hell, I can do it (laughs). I can reach this high, I can reach this low, be this loud or this soft. Devin gets out every aspect of my voice.”
In an interview with Devin back in June 2011, he discussed his plans for Epicloud and laughingly explained that “hopefully I’m going to write all the heavy and hard singing parts for Anneke.” In actual fact he sings with her on the album as they did on Addicted and for the select tour dates that followed.
“Devin’s voice is just amazing,” says Anneke. “When we were in the Epicloud sessions he asked me about doing a quiet vocal and showed me what he wanted, and I said we should do it together. So, we were at the mic together, and having him singing next to me without the surrounding sound of a live show… he scared the hell out of me. I think I have a strong voice, but he was so loud that I couldn’t hear what I was doing (laughs). Devin said ‘Okay, I’ll stand on the other side of the room…’ and he still scared the hell out of me. He’s my hero.”
As such, Anneke readily admits that working with Devin has definitely influenced her own music.
“He’s influenced me quite directly, actually. For some reason, what Devin is doing in big I’m doing in my own little world. I’m very inspired by people and especially by Devin in being able to mix heaviness with pop elements and beautiful and bright things, and there’s also a dark side to it. I think that’s the way we are as people, and because we have so many sides why not put all that in one song or one album or one show? That was my idea for Everything Is Changing, and I’m very proud of it. But Epicloud, the magnitude of it is out of this world.”
