ANATHEMA Talk About New Lineup, Songwriting Process

ANATHEMA guitarist/vocalist Vincent Cavanagh and drummer John Douglas recently spoke to the U.K.'s Terrorizer magazine about the band's new lineup and songwriting process. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Terrorizer: Which direction is the new material going in?

John: "Danny [Cavanagh, lead vocals] pretty much wrote the last album, 'A Natural Disaster', so this one is more of a band effort. The new material has the essence of that album, but we’re just trying to push the boundaries and go for it."

Vincent: "We write from the heart and the writing styles complement each other. We've got three singers in the band now, because John's sister, Lee Douglas, happens to be a brilliant singer and gets on with everybody. So we're going to have a lot of broken harmonies going on, a lot of diversity and really huge sounds."

Terrorizer: Does having a female element in the band give you a lot of new options?

John: "Yeah, it's another brush to paint with."

Vincent: "We're both hearing her voice a lot in the material we're writing. If she's not doing a lead she's doing a harmony, and she's got a great range, and it really fits in with where we're going. 'A Natural Disaster' closed the door in a particular chapter emotionally, and now the songs are just reflection of characters."

Read the entire interview in issue 136 of Terrorizer, on sale Thursday, September 15.