Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel On "Bleed Out," Touring Plans, Van Halen, Influences & More
it's the beltro cast now with Daren Bel let's get ready to listen to your favorite artist outro well it's a pleasure to be speaking with you about bleedout and everything else bleedout is the new record and the first single from bleedout came out in 2020 now was the album actually finished in 2023 um it was finished um in 20123 um let me see at the beginning of this year we record the last things yes so uh we wrote songs over time like um we started in 20 20 uh with the the the first four songs that we released in the during the pandemic uh that's when we wrote those because we were going on tour with a co- headone tour in Europe with evanesence and we wanted to have some new music and then ending up releasing everything in a period of coid because it was continuously you know stretching it and uh um so it felt like to stay in contact with people we release more songs than we were initially um hoping to do but it helped us in a way so yeah so is there a lot of unused or leftover material from the bleedout sessions that might make its way to a future Within Temptation album uh there is one song we didn't put on the album which I really love but sometimes you know you have like one of these songs that you're really hoping is going to be like a real Banger and then turns out not the way you had hoped or you think there's more potential to it so we are hoping to put that on the next record or maybe release as a new single somewhere maybe in the future and uh it just needs a new um well I love the chorus of it but the rest of it should maybe be be Rewritten and so it will change as a song but I I believe in the song very much but there will be maybe a future for it so does Within Temptation not finished songs if they don't like where it's going I asked that because some people I speak with will write 60 songs and Pa it down to 10 and other people say well if there's 10 songs on the album that means we wrote 10 songs no we are in the in the first category we write a lot and then we have a lot of demos and then we decide in the demo phase if we're going to finish them or not or just thr in the bin and sometimes even songs that we thought like uh they're cool but then something still don't work out it's something that you keep on the shelf and then okay maybe if there's time we'll try to rewrite it because there's potential well I admire that Within Temptation now not only makes great music that keeps getting more popular over time but how open the band is to collaborating with other artists who are not and I I hate to use the term but symphonic metal you are not a symphonic metal band it's such a limiting term but working with Dave perner from Soul Asylum yet also corrupt uh when did you kind of realize hey we should collaborate with everyone just as long as they're good uh well what we always do when we write songs and we we we want a collaboration with someone because it will add something to the song it's mostly because of musical reasons not because of course the people that we ask we admire them and we know they have an huge talent and everything but it's more like it it's all about the music for us so if you think this person can add something to it and they're not known we'll ask them as just as much as someone who's very known of course it's nice to when they're known but you know sometimes uh the perfect Voice or perfect guitarist or something else that they play is in a different kind of genre and we will do that anyway because we will anything that benefits the song is the first choice for us but then also you outside of Within Temptation you've done solo material and you've also been on other people's albums so are you regularly meeting people and they go you should be on our album you go sure and that's happens no not really it's like um I actively sometimes approach people like with Arman fur which is a dance DJ of course yes I actively uh approached him in a period that that I felt like I need to do something else than with invitation at this moment because of personal reasons like okay I need to break away from everything I'm gonna do dance yeah that's different and I wrote a song with him in and out of love and um and with other artists it's more like sometimes they approach me and they send me their songs and then it's like do I think I can add something to it that I will come out good in a way does it fit my voice and do I like the lyrics and do I like the sound of the music uh those things are very important for me so if I really like something I'll do it and I don't care if somebody is very known or not known you actually LED towards something I wanted to know about which is Armen vanan now he collaborated with one of my favorite singers of all time David Lee Roth they did that jump remake of Van Halen yeah yeah yeah did you get to ask him about that at all no no not not really uh that's a good question I'm gonna ask him next time how that was actually because that leads me to you know van hin we think of them as this american band yet two of the four members grew up in the Netherlands with Indonesian Roots which does that sound a little familiar to to you yeah exactly did you grow up listening to Van Halen and the reason I asked that is because here in the States they're like a top five biggest band ever but everybody I speak to from Europe who's an established musician goes yeah I knew one or two songs and that was it Van Helen was not one of the biggest fans uh well I grew up with them I don't know every song but I know the the biggest hits of course I know them and uh I do love their music very much and we as Dutch people consider them also Dutch like you of course you know when you have some when there's only a small connection will say yeah that's Dutch that's Dutch no there's some Dutch in there we're everywhere yeah I I mean growing up as a big fan of the NBA you learn that Rick Smiths was Dutch and and all that so there is that list of their Dutch they're ours yeah yeah exactly we you know we're very um actually the Dutch are actually normally very modest but when it comes to owning you know owning not not owning really owning but of course like saying like yeah but they're they're Dutch it's like trying to be modest but still like yeah they're Dutch you know like wo well something I'm also curious about is and I'm calling Within Temptation a huge band you did not I'm saying with in temptation is a huge band who has millions of listeners on Spotify every month hundreds of thousands of social media followers on each platform Etc now are the hits and the big albums the same everywhere in the world or is it the kind of thing where the second album bombed here but was huge there and then the vice versa kind of thing so like is the set list the same everywhere um no it's like you said like certain songs really were hits in certain countries or extremely successful albums or and in other countries other albums came became wave more successful like for instance in Spain uh I think the Silent Forest was uh really really a big album in Spain we were on the number one for months with one of our songs and but in the Netherlands and more the northern part of Europe it was more Mother Earth for instance that was a big success and it took gradually every time also uh also trying to uh win over a country like for instance we started in 2001 with this album Mother Earth for instance and it became success in 2002 and then we got signed up with a German company and it became a success in 2003 in Europe in the rest of Europe because they were signed for the rest of Europe and it's like okay um so it was just always gradually growing growing and growing with every album and bringing it back to bleed out the record company for us in the states at least is forc music recordings you're labeled did you know when you started the album hey this is us we want to be our own label or is that the process of looking at the deals and going we're better off independent uh I mean what we're doing now you mean yes well the thing was that we wanted to release more in the moment like in the dance scene happens for instance and that when you have a a certain subject that is really happening at a certain point that's important and you have a song about it that you don't want to release it three years after on an album you know when everybody's like what are they still talking about that you know we've been there done that you know bye not interesting anymore and uh you want to be well you wanted to be in the moment and we weren't able to do that with the traditional record company and they said well if you want to do that we're not the right right company for you and we felt like okay then we're going to do it on our own and um you know they had the option to do an another album and they wanted to and we wanted to do it as well but because well we have a lot of respect for the L this one that we were working with because they gave us our freedom back again to do what what that to do on our own which I'm really happy about otherwise we would have been stuck in a situation we didn't want to be and uh so being able to do this during a very strange time which was called coid um yeah we were able to release more songs which initially brought us also the certain prom like okay you really released a lot of songs there needs to come an album at a certain point are are we not going to do an album we just going to relas singles we didn't know we were just trying out things in the moment not thinking that the co would start the pandemic would be that long and long lasting and but you know it's still uh what the positive side is that people were still engaged throughout the whole time that we we are releasing this album and had a lot of good and positive feedback also about it but the only thing is now is the fans are saying yeah you know the most of the album is already out there so what am I supposed to be excited about [Laughter] well I can understand there was still some songs they didn't hear yet and um I just hope they will like that as well it's like four songs or something so yeah and uh but I think it did help us in the time that we needed it every for everyone with the upcoming touring are you going to be playing a lot of bleed out as part of the set list um I'm not sure yet because we still need to figure out what we're going to do with the next tour also uh like how it's going to look like because we're starting of course in Europe with this tour and uh we like big setups like you know what you're use of of AR maybe or for any other band that does big visuals we do that also in Europe and um so we're starting with that in November thinking about what's going to work as a set list and working on what's going to be nice as a visual thing on stage are we gonna blow somebody away from a cannon or gonna let finally the boys fly in the air this time instead of me because I am afraid of heights and they always always put me in something that I'm very high above the ground and I'm always shaking before I have to go upstairs or in something ah anyway so um but this time I'm gonna be involved with that so most of the time Robert is doing this so yeah the Iron Maiden tour that you were on I believe Bruce Dickinson was coming out of an airplane in the first song in every yeah yeah I'm not gonna do that well in your case for most live performers I find that the adrenaline doesn't die down for you know three four hours until after they come off stage but in your case when you do the extra stunts and the raise stuff on top of that I can't imagine how much adrenaline that is for you do you have an easy way to come down after the show because don't you also have to do vocal warm Downs um no I don't do vocal warm downs but it's more like I do mentally need to go come down on Earth again and also physically because like my heart goes like up there and doesn't come down until like a half hour after the show because it's like constantly acting reacting on things happening in the in during the show and also trying to engage the audience with us and trying to win them over to forget their daily problems and get into the show and the things that we're trying to bring across as a message in a certain way and and trying to be uh trying to bring across messages but also trying to be entertaining and to have to give them an amazing night of course and yeah you do that in different ways like talk about the city that we're playing in saying some sentences in their uh native tongue and trying to so I can say several things in several languages but don't ask me to continue in the language after that because it's all you know it's all sized to the show that I'm doing and yeah right usually when I interview people I ask hey what's life like outside of you know being in this huge project in your case I think I know what the answer is I mean you have a few children you do solo projects there isn't any downtime that's the vibe that I get with you Sharon yeah you're totally correct I'm just you know every time I try to meet up with my friends is like okay you know in a few weeks I'll I'm going to be it's going to be so much easier to meet up again and then few is like oh my God I have all these interviews and I got this and that and I plan promotion tour throughout Europe okay sorry guys you know we have to reschedule again I'm sorry and then you know it's been like this since the year started actually with me coming home and my husband not telling me like okay actually the producer is going to be at our doorstep When we arrive at home it's like what yeah yeah yeah didn't I tell you no you didn't tell me yes we're going to record already the songs that we've just written you know that so like the last time you were there and okay I said okay well we didn't finish the lyrics yet so it's like okay overnight riding in the car lyrics okay what are we gonna do what do we had to have and I like oh my God how are we gonna do this and then and how long she come yes he's gonna come for two weeks it's so two weeks where in our house oh wow and you know it's always amazing to work with our producer he's a nice guy so you can always have him as an expert member of the family but it's more like just rolling from one thing to another and then go to Sweden to record stuff again to write stuff again to come back to the Netherlands again oh my God it's it's been a roller coaster but I love it but it's it's a lot to process and that's also the reason why the tour starts next year in October so we can have some downtime some real normal Lifetime with the family and friends and and also think in all quiet how the next show should look like one of the things you mentioned before was and we have to design the show with the visuals I'd imagine that that's just as much work as writing an album it is and I leave that most of the time to Robert and he just shows me in the meantime like what do you think of this and what do you think of that and I give my opinion and and I'm some like like someone he asked his my opinion between things that he thinks is the correct way and then say okay do you think what do you think and I just give my you know and he continues again what whatever I have said after that and and he does that on his own with our own his own team uh he's also involved with the writing process with me not with me literally but separately from each other because we fight like no other couple but we love it and still together after many years and um but we can't work up together in the same room when writing actually but it's more like so he does this project it's like a separate project from the writing process and I get to do the you know other parts that are creative like work with the videos but also with what kind of clothes on stage you know what kind of um those kind of things developments of that yeah well that's that's fantastic that 26 or so years I think it is it's still going and two questions and then I'll let you go and the first one is when did you realize that this was a career because I know that you started as a teenager when you're a teenager you don't realize uh things like warehousing and freighting Equipment things like that you realize at a certain point you have to incorporate because your band is a business and there's insurance and all the boring grown-up stuff so when did you realize that this was your life you were a lifer in music well uh you know the first time we had a like we had a job besides our job you know but music was never felt like a job but for some people they would consider it a job the amount of time that we put into it so during the weekends we were like full force playing everywhere and everything was every time sold out and like oh this is crazy and going back to our jily jobs on a Monday very early working till late and then still writing new stuff for fun and yeah and it continued for many years like that and then we and in in the in the underground scene and even in the metal scene which wasn't that underground anymore at the time that we were in this starting with this music um we had sold out shows from venues like we started with a very small venue the first three I think and then the fourth show we played was on Dynamo open air which is a huge Festival yes and we played in the tent during the day and it was like packed there were 10,000 people there was the biggest amount of people we played in four shows I didn't even know what how the monitors were working so I was just like I don't can't hear it myself but I think I'm in the correct song and I think I'm here somewhere and I just had earplugs in and floor monitors there something came out and I just tried to sing on it and we did well because everybody was raving about it at that time after that festival and it just grew with everything we were doing was crazy we didn't understand what was happening and we uh didn't stop working besides our band until we had like a song that became a hit song on the radio so at that point I realized okay this could be something for the future if we you know just stick to what we're doing stick to to believing in our own capacity and our own abilities as musician and just do where our heart lies maybe we'll make it in the end maybe we can do this for like fulltime you know and our Dream will come true because this is the best best best job ever to my opinion although I must have I could have done other things that I like as well but I must say you know this is the only one you get an Applause for so I guess the best job the Applause well the last question I have for you and I like to find this out from singers what is your position on karaoke do you hate karaoke as much as I do I love karaoke especially songs I can't sing that are out of my range and then sing as loud as possible and annoyingly as it possible and like are you singing things actually you're really sounding bad I love it you're like an average pedestrian with karaoke where you're the person who can sing but goes out of their way to sing the stuff that just seems like a good time yeah I love it you know and the best time when I did it was actually in Japan we hired a room and um and even I wasn't present at the moment that this was actually happening which I'm so sorry but everybody said it was magical that our keyboard player was saying I'm a Barbie girl from yeah you know I'm a Barbie girl and it's like oh my God he's like this really big big guy really muscles you know like mly men type and uh my God seeing I'm a Barbie girl he got the everybody on the floor laughing so hard and I missed it and you know but you know I love karaoke so I'm gonna be in there when he sings it next time well then what's your go-to with karaoke and then I'll let you go sorry what's what's the song or artist that you gravitate towards when you just don't care and you're doing karaoke oh it can be anything but especially songs um what did I do last time because I did karaoke this summer actually with some friends in in Spain uh my God what song did we do um well it's of course like maybe maybe even a song like uh Van Halen song or uh or Nana song but it could be also like uh f fighters uh like uh Learning to Fly which I think is the best video and the best song to make me you know uh feel happy in a way so it's um it can be anything but um yeah even Sayang On karaoke on my wedding five years ago and we did uh we opened up with um with the song um uh what's it called again oh my God it's from the blonde lady uh Lady Gaga with shello it's called yeah shello we opened up with that that is the best thing I've heard all day Sharon well I'm really I know I know we get a little crazy but we love it know and just to invite other PE do the the same thing and it was such a nice party afterwards because you cann't get people away from the microphone they were just fighting over I I do a song it's like okay we don't have to do anything anymore we started it and so if you're hanging out with Sharon wear ear plugs that's what I'm I'm because I don't always sound like I sound on St when I sing karaoke that's true absolutely wear your wear your plugs exactly well thank you for your time congratulations on bleedout hope to see you in New York in the very near future and in the meantime just keep up all that success and that great Artistry thank you very much thank you for having me until next time outro cast
2023-10-24 20:55
