ANATHEMA Frontman: 'I Have Been In This Band Longer Than I Haven't Been In The Band'

Danish web site Antenna recently conducted an interview with vocalist Vincent Cavanagh of the UK atmospheric rock band ANATHEMA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Antenna: Your musical journey so far have been quite evolutionary, some would perhaps even say revolutionary; how do you see it yourselves?

Vincent: Much more intensely than everybody else, to put it that way. From the outside looking in, I can see how people will view it. From the inside it is totally different! For us it's the easiest and most natural thing ever, just to be yourself and get better at what you do, from day to day, from moment to moment, from song to song and onwards. It is life's learning process. We're not trying to do tricks here, we're not trying to learn a craft, we're just being ourselves and, if we get better at what we do it's because of our much richer life, experiences, the highs and the lows and everything in between. So, it's simple: It's the most natural thing in the world.

Antenna: So it has just happened this way?

Vincent: It always has. It has never changed. We've never had to think about it like that. It's bizarre. The only time I ever get asked about that is like now and even then, now, it's a strange concept: to think about our evolution. It's, like I said, like getting up in the morning and having a cup of tea. It's what you do. It's you. I don't see how it can be any other way. I don't understand how it could be any other way. Other bands can do whatever they do. We do what we do. And we come to the table without any pretentiousness and any agenda. We're not trying to sell records here. You either like it or you don't, I don't care, either way we will continue our … work.

Antenna: A lot of bands seem to be recording just to have an excuse to go on tour; I have the feeling that you enjoy recording as much as playing live?

Vincent: There is a lot more aspects to what we do than just recording and touring, and the whole lifestyle that goes with it, is part of us. I have been in this band longer than I haven't been in the band, more than half of my life, which is amazing, isn't it? But the time in the studio and the initial sparks of ideas that comes with it are really important; nothing can beat when you're in that moment and realize that you're on to something great. It's a funny thing, though; we've done seven albums yet and on each of these albums I doubt that you'll find a definitive version of any of the songs. Maybe a couple, but, really, all of our songs have been done in their proper sense on tour somewhere, in the past few years, since the last album ["A Natural Disaster"]. We're far better as a live band than on record. The next album could change that, though.

Read the entire interview at Antenna.