Someone send this article to me from the epica forum,
might be interesting.
Amanda was present at the vocalrecordings and again, she did a hell of a job!
While vocalist Amanda Somerville isn't a household name, she is a driving force behind several metal bands when it comes to shaping and creating vocal arrangements. Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, she now lives in Wolfsburg, Germany and spends a great deal of time working with bands that record at Gate Studios with producer Sascha Paeth. She also spearheaded the AINA rock opera project from 2003. BW&BK recently hooked up with Somerville to discuss her recent work on the new EPICA album, Consign To Oblivion, and AFTER FOREVER's forthcoming work, Remagine. The following is a brief excerpt from that discussion.
"There's a big difference in working with Epica versus After Forever. Epica is much more open to outside ideas, and After Forever know exactly what they want, they know exactly how they should sound, so I was basically polishing their ideas. Floor (Jansen/After Forever vocalist) is a bit older than Simone (Simons/Epica vocalist) and she's had quite a bit more intense training and...wow...she's a hell of a singer. She also has a completely different voice from Simone; she's got a heavier, harder voice, and that girl can belt anyone under the table. It's a lot of fun working with Floor because it's a completely different style from Epica and I can push her a lot harder. I really love Simone's voice because it's very soft and angelic, but with Floor I can really test her limits and get that mega-bitch voice out her (laughs).
The new After Forever album is their best yet. It's a lot different from the last one. They've got a new keyboardist (Joost van den Broek/ex-SUN CAGED) and he's becoming a new head in After Forever. Being the new guy, he's has a huge influence on the band. He and Sander (Gommans/guitars) have really hit it off and they've been writing like crazy together. We really tried to guide them into doing things that aren't as all over the place as some of the stuff might have been in the past. I think the new album is a lot more focused than the last one. There's some really catchy stuff on it."
We spoke to the greatest Grunter/Composer/Guitarrist Sander Gommans of the band AFTER FOREVER about their fourth album " REMAGINE " !!!! We discussed the album REMAGINE! Floor voice, Andre , Joost influence on the BAND and lots more!!!!
INTERVIEW:
- Hi Sander, thanks for conceding us this interview. Well, this time you've had a lot of problems during the recording process of the new album "Remagine", the illness of Andre, your appendix operation... but, in spite of all these negative things, are you finally satisfied with the results?
Hi there!!! You're welcome, thanks for YOUR awesome support! Well, the recording process wasn't that easy, but in the end, everything seemed to work out fine! The music certainly has been given a special and positive touch due to these problems, I'm sure you'll be hearing that in a few songs. I'm very satisfied with how it turned out, again i't's After Forever, but it has got much more to offer than our previous albums! I think this is the album many fans have been waiting for, but also an album that creates a bigger audience. The structure of the songs are often still pretty complex, but the melodies are very catchy , it makes the songs more open, more dynamic in a way!
- Luckily Andre seems to be completely cured from his cancer now. Did you use his drums from the preproduction for the album? Was the sound quality good enough?
Yes, we used the preproduktion. The way he played the drums was excellent (incredible how he played the preproduction, everybody was amazed, it showed us once more how good Andre is), the sound wasn't too bad but still needed some work. In the end, the drums sound very cool, it's stil typically Andre, and it's got a bit of a "live"" feel.
I think the drums sound louder than any other After Forever album, and not only the drums:-) Andre will maybe need one more operation, but we're sure 'he'll be with us soon again!!!!
- How would you describe "Remagine", compared with the previous AF albums?
Remagine is everything After Forever did, but also much more.
Remagine is After Forever in the best possible line up, you'll hear that in the music.
- How was the writing process this time? I guess it has been different from "Invisible Circles", since "Remagine" is not a concept album...
Yeah, it was much different, we had much more freedom. Joost and I wrote all the songs , Floor wrote the lyrics, after that we worked them out with the rest of the band. The writing process was very natural and fun to do, this time we also knew exactly how the final production should sound, Joost also even wrote the choir and stringsparts, we had everything worked out before the preproduction already. It was very relaxing to be able to write in different atmospheres unlike the concept album, that was most of the time of course pretty depressive. Now, the songs have more caracter individually, you'll be hearing a lot of different atmospheres. This also was the first time that we had a keyboard player who actually uses his keyboard not only as a way to do a lot of classical stuff, he creates sounds that actually give more strength to the guitars or fill in a sound aspect After Forever never used! Writing songs has always been the best part of After Forever for me, and it seems to be getting more and more fun to do! I'm already looking forward to writing the next album!
- "Remagine" is the first AF album with the new keyboard player Joost van der Broek. I'm very curious to see if he has been a strong influence for "Remagine". How would you describe his role in the sound of this album?
Well, I already talked about it, we wrote the songs together, so you might say he's got a lot of influence.
It's cool to work with somebody like that, because he 's very versatile! I always want to let the songs sound like After Forever, some things just don' fit in in my opinion, Joost is somebody that sees it as a challenge, and tries to find another solution that might fit better. For the classical arrangements he also was very important, and it's great to have somebody that is also interested a lot in the productional aspect. Joost added something to After Forever that also makes the rest stronger, I really hope to be able to play with this line up forever!
- "Remagine" is a combination of the words "Reflection" and "Imagine". Are the lyrics of the album related with these concepts?
The lyrics of a few songs have to do with this title, though I must say the title is not definite yet. I'll keep you updated about that! There are a few songs an the album or on the single that have to do with dreams, they reflect the Remagine title.
- "Invisible Circles" is quite an aggressive album, with a lot of grunts. How are your grunts on "Remagine"?
They are still present, but not as much as in the Invisible Circles album. The I.C, album needed this, the grunts were an important element of the atmosphere and caracters, this album is much more versatile and shows a lot of aggression in instrumental way, not everything needs grunts. That doesn't mean that the grunts have disappeared, be prepared for some heavy and aggressive songs!!!!!
- How does Floor use her voice on this album?
In all the ways you can "remagine":-) I think many fans will be surprised hearing different aspects they never heard of her. Of course, the operatic voice is again very present, the belting voice is there again, but the album contains also more "airy" vocals that take care for some "relaxing" atmospheres on the album. Emotionally , I think it's very clear that Floor and Amanda, who supported her, did a great job, the vocal parts really kick ass I think! the choruses are more clear and are sometimes added with second melody lines, also something After Forever is discovering more and more!
- Does Bas sing on "Remagine"? If so, is his role more or less important than on the previous album?
He will sing on the album, his role nearly stayed the same, he has got a great voice that gives a special touch to the album, I think the vocal parts on this album really show what he can do with his voice.
- I'd also like to know about the guitars and bass... on "Invisible Circles" the sound was pretty aggressive and loud, heavier than ever. How is the sound this time? And... will there be any guitar solo?
Yes, there will be guitar solos!:-) Yes, it will sound even heavier and more agressive than Invisible Circes!:-)
I think we've got the sound we were searching for for this album, a clear honest sound, a heavy sound without having the band pushed away by all the classical ingredients. The balance is great I think, but also differs from song to song, each song has a different approach, but as a whole it still sounds great!
- If you had to choose only one song from "Remagine", a song which makes you think "I'm really proud of this song, most of the fans are going to be impressed by it"... what would it be?
Hard to tell, because the song I like is most of the time not the songs the fans like. When I have to choose a song, I've already passed the process of writing and mixing them, the fans just enter it when they listen to the album, so they might have a different opinion. I think the frst song (after the intro) already gives the fans a good impression what After Forever was, is, and will be, maybe that's why I think this song will be a favorite of the fans!
- What are the differences between the Sander Gommans of "Prison of Desire" and Sander Gommans nowadays?
Nowadays, the band sounds exactly the way I hoped it to sound, during Prison of desire I was proud but always felt like it could sound more convincing in a way. I didn't like the real ""baroque" stuff, however I know we still have some of these elements, but in another way. Back then, I also was somebody who really put a lot of attention the parts of songs, nowadays I'm more into the structure of the song itself, the song has to be good, it doesn't have to have a lot of interesting parts, it just needs the good ingredients.
Actually, when I look back, my musical taste hasn't changed a lot, but I'm coming closer and closer to find out exactly what I like in music and to be able to make that a more clear part in After Forever.
- This is just a curiosity... how would you describe the music of AF for someone who has never heard the band?
Very difficult, i made up a lot of terms, now I only say: It’s what you want it to be. Our music contains so many styles, it impossible to give it a good name, although I still think the real core of After Forever will always be METAL!
- Time ago you were planning to do a very special concert with a classical orchestra for this year... do you still have the idea of doing it?
I certainly have, we're still working on it, but I'm pretty sure it will happen!!!!!!!!!!
- The DVD question!! We are waiting impatiently for a After Forever DVD, Maybe a Live concert or something, is there anything planned?
Not at the moment, but ....you never know!!!!:-)
- Finally, do you have any other side project besides After Forever? Or at least any ideas for it?
I have many ideas, i also recorded a lot the past years, but unfortunately, After Forever together with with job as a teacher take too much time to finish all these songs. That;s why I decided to put some of the ideas in the last album, still hoping to be able to finish some project stuff in the upcoming years!
- Thank you very much for your time! The last words of this interview are yours...
Rafa and Saul, thanks a lot, I really appreciate your help!!! To all the fans out there: thanks for reading this interview, I hope it gave you a bit of a glimpse of the new album and other stuff! We'll be here for you with the new album next September, be prepared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Greetings~!
Sander
