,,It’s impossible to pick just one event. There are so many concerts, albums, tours we did, that we are proud of. I don’t know if pride is the right word for this. I personally do love our ‘How To Measure a Planet?’ album. The production, the songs, the way we recorded the album, with Attie Bauw, it was something really special. I am fond of all our albums, but ‘Always…’, our first one, and of course ‘Mandylion’ are real highlights as well. Both albums are recorded in a short time, played live, and we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears in the whole writing and arranging process. Of course our first Dynamo Open Air (metal festival in the Netherlands) gig, our first Pinkpop (Dutch pop/rock festival) gig. Playing at big European festivals such as Roskilde, Glastonbury and Sziget festival, the numerous European, North and South American tours. Having an ‘impossible’ single which became a small hit (,,Strange Machines”). Oh, I could go on for a while.”

,,Style wise: not really. We just did what we wanted to do, without looking to the commercial aspect. Production wise, I wish we had a bit more time to produce, arrange and write some songs and productions. ‘If_then_else’ could have become a better album at some points, I think. It doesn’t make any sense to re-write history and re-mix and/or re-record those songs or even albums. We try to look forward, and you can still change songs, for example in a live situation. Maybe we asked a lot from some fans. But I also know that a lot of fans really liked the different sounds on our albums.”

,,‘How To Measure A Planet?’, followed by ‘Souvenirs’. We reached a creative peak, and had the time, knowledge and the financial means to record both albums. But of course I do love them all, even ‘Almost A Dance’. Without ‘Almost A Dance’ we would never have been capable of making ‘Mandylion’. And I really love our last one, ‘Disclosure’, with Silje (Wergeland). I think ,,Heroes For Ghosts’’ is the best song we ever wrote. It has everything The Gathering stands for.”

,,We were both raised in a town called Oss, located in the south of the Netherlands. There was not that much happening in Oss for youngsters like us back then, so we (and a lot of other people from Oss) started a band. The few pubs we visited were full of bandmembers, it was, for us, very interesting and very exciting to even have the idea to play in a real band. There was a very lively metal scene in Oss. Important was the fact that we wanted to make our own music and be as original as possible. We had, and still have, a huge fantasy, which we wanted to translate into music we liked and wanted to play in our rehearsal room, and later in a live situation. Back then we listened a lot to bands like Celtic Frost, Paradise Lost, but also music from the alternative and prog scene (Rush, Pink Floyd) and even modern classical composers such as Philip Glass. Besides listening to music we watched a lot of movies and even documentaries inspired us. We just combined all those influences and tried to make something new out of it.”

,,René and Bart (Smits, first singer) were playing in a band around 1989. One day I saw them play live, and this triggered me to start a band / project myself. Luckily they agreed so the three of us started rehearsing in an old shed in Heesch, nearby Oss during our autumn break in 1989. Shortly after our first rehearsals it occurred to us that we needed a bass player. Bart knew Hugo (Prinsen Geerligs, bass), he was in the same school class and they were friends. Hugo was in touch with Jelmer (Wiersma, guitars) so after half a year we had a steady, decent line up. At that time we listened a lot to Paradise Lost’s ‘Gothic’ album, and Nocturnus, who had a real keyboard player, also when they played live. To add some gloom to our sound we asked Frank (Boeijen, who was in the same class as Jelmer) to join us with his keyboards. The line-up was completed.”

We were influenced by Celtic Frost, Cathedral and Paradise Lost back then, but also crust core bands like Axegrinder and Amebix. Frank was besides metal also into alternative rock like The Pixies, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk. Me and Hugo were very much into Rush. We all loved Pink Floyd. So, yes, we had a lot of idols back then. We tried to learn from these bands by covering them and we rehearsed days in a row to find out how the structure of these songs was made. I remember we played ,,Subdivision” by Rush. Very complicated, especially when you are young. But somehow we managed to play that song.”

,,We had very low ambitions actually. We did have dreams of course, but we all knew that doing something in music doesn’t mean you are going to ‘make’ it. We were thinking in little steps. First we wanted to do a rehearsal. Then a demo. When we succeeded, we wanted to play live as a support act (we opened in 1991 for Dead Head). We always had little dreams, but we weren’t very ambitious as we knew we would never really make a living out of this. We have fulfilled a lot of those dreams throughout the years, which is really fantastic, and I am very grateful we could do so many beautiful albums, festivals, tours, etc. Nowadays we still have some ambitions. We would love to play in some countries we never played before, like Australia, Japan, Korea. We also still have a lot of ideas when it comes to writing another album. There’s still a lot of stamina and creativity in this band.”

,,Well, after some struggle we got the rights back of 2 albums, ‘Always…’, and ‘Almost A Dance’. We decided to start our own little imprint for those 2 albums. When we fulfilled our contract with Century Media we decided to release new albums under our own label as well. The Gathering always was a band with a ‘do-it-yourself’ mentality, and seeking to control things ourselves as much as possible. We learned some lessons from the past, so it was better this way.”

,,That was one of the most special gigs we ever did. It turned out so much better than we expected. Everything was just right that day. It was exhausting, playing 2 gigs of 2,5 hours in one day, but it felt right in so many ways. It was also a proper way to say goodbye to Anneke (van Giersbergen), as it felt strange how it ended in 2007, doing a festival in Finland as our last gig together. We were incredible happy how it went, being all together, and doing this trip down memory lane from our very first album until ‘Afterwords’. I can safely say it was a historical day in the history of the band.”

,,No. We never received a golden album. Well, they are gold now, because you don’t have to sell that many albums anymore today to receive a golden status. Back then in 1996 I guess it was like 40.000 copies? Anyway, it’s not that important. It’s too late as well, as I don’t think Century Media is interested to buy some golden records (you have to buy them) and hand them to a former label band.”

,,No, not really. The Gathering was and still is important. It didn’t change our ideas about making albums and doing tours. Of course priorities change in life; becoming a parent, getting a stable income so you can buy a house, etc. I think after we celebrated our 25th anniversary, in 2014, we needed to take a step back due to several reasons. We didn’t have a bass player, because Marjolein (Kooijman) quit the band. And me, René and Frank had a strong feeling we needed a break, a sabbatical for at least a couple of years. But we all knew we would pick up the band again at a certain point.”

,,No. We had such a good time on tour, meeting people, countries, making albums on a regular basis. It was a dream come true. Yes, you miss some things. I would love to play in a soccer team, which is impossible if you play so much. When on the road you miss for example your family, birthdays, parties and seeing friends on a regular basis. But if you are on the road with friends, it is ok I guess. I didn’t regret it.”

Don’t ever expect that you will become a professional musician. Just start playing, a lot, even if it’s not that well paid (especially in the beginning). Try to play live as much as possible. Make music you believe in, despite the trends and all good advice from friends. Listen to people who actually ‘made it’. They know how it works and can give you useful advice. Be open to learn, don’t be stubborn, but stay close to yourself. Most importantly: don’t expect that you can make a living out of it. That’s so difficult, it shouldn’t be a goal in your life. The goal should be to play, have fun, and grow as a musician.”