The Gathering (band)
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|---|---|
 The Gathering live in 2010 |
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| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Progressive rock |
| founding | 1989 |
| Website | http://www.gathering.nl |
| Founding members | |
| Bart Smits (until 1992) | |
| René Rutten | |
guitar |
Jelmer Wiersma (until 1998) |
| Hugo Prinsen Geerligs (until 2003) | |
| Hans Rutten | |
| Frank buoys | |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Silje Wergeland (since 2009) |
guitar |
René Rutten |
bass |
Marjolein Kooijman (since 2003) |
Drums |
Hans Rutten |
Keyboard |
Frank buoys |
| former members | |
singing |
Marike Groot (1992–1993) |
singing |
Niels Duffhues (1993-1994) |
singing |
Martine van Loon (1993-1994) |
singing |
Anneke van Giersbergen (1994-2007) |
The Gathering ( Engl . For the meeting or the meeting ) is a rock band from the Dutch town of Oss . The band, which was founded in 1989, has experienced numerous changes in style from death metal to doom to progressive rock . Based on the genre trip-hop , the band called their style "trip rock". The band's discography includes ten studio albums and three DVDs . In 1999, The Gathering formed their own record company, Psychonaut Records.
history
Founding, Always and Almost a Dance (1989–1994)
In 1989 the brothers Hans (drums) and René Rutten (guitar) decided to start a band together with singer Bart Smits. A short time later Hugo Prinsen Geerligs (bass), Jelmer Wiersma (guitar) and Frank Boeijen (keyboards) joined the band.
The band rehearsed once a week near the Dutch town of Oss. Their love for metal and their willingness to experiment should prove to be a fertile basis for the band. In 1990 the band recorded their first demo tape, An Imaginary Symphony . At that time, the use of keyboards in metal-oriented music was still quite uncommon. Nevertheless, the feedback was consistently positive. In January 1991 the band played their first concert in the small town of Heesch as opening act for Deadhead and Invocator. Three months later the band recorded their second demo, Moonlight Archer . The band played concerts as opening act for bands like Samael , Morbid Angel and Death .
The band signed a recording deal with Foundation 2000. In 1992, the debut album Always… was released; with Marike Groot a singer was hired as a counterpart to Bart Smits. The album enabled the band to play many concerts, including in Belgium and Israel . Since the collaboration with Smits and Groot did not work, both left the band. A year later, Almost a Dance, the second studio album was released. However, it turned out that the voices of the new singers Niels Duffhues and Martine van Loon did not match the music. Both later left the band.
Mandylion , Nighttime Birds and How to Measure a Planet? (1994-1999)
In 1994 the band met the singer Anneke van Giersbergen . Her voice matched the atmospheric music perfectly, so that she got the vacant vocal position. The German record company Century Media gave the band a contract. The third album Mandylion was released in 1995 and was particularly successful in the Netherlands. The single "Strange Machines" made it into the Dutch charts like the album . Extensive tours have brought the band to all parts of their home country as well as to Belgium and Germany . The expectations for a new album were high.
Nighttime Birds was released in 1997. The album is musically similar to its predecessor and also turned out to be a success. The tours became longer and brought the band to Eastern Europe, France , Italy and other European countries.
At this time, serious changes were taking place. Jelmer Wiersma decided in July 1998 to leave the band. The band experimented with new ideas, different instruments and recording techniques. The result was the album recording How to Measure a Planet? , which was released as a double album in autumn 1998. The album received positive feedback from the music press. In the summer of 1999 the band played 14 concerts in the USA .
Annoyed by the music industry, the band decided to take the business into their own hands and founded their own record company, Psychonaut Records . In 1999, the debut album Always was re-released, followed a year later by Almost a Dance . Both albums were remastered and provided with new artwork. Since her contract with Century Media had not yet expired, the live album Superheat was released in 1999 . The majority of the songs come from the studio album How to Measure a Planet? , the rest of Mandylion and Nighttime Birds . The songs were recorded in 1999 in the Netherlands.
if_then_else , Souvenirs and Home (2000–2007)
Another chapter in the band's history followed with the sixth studio album if then else , released in 2000. This was followed by a fifteen month tour across Europe and Mexico . The tour ended in October 2001 when the band roamed through small Dutch clubs. Then the band took a break. For the band's twelve and a half year anniversary, the band released the EP Black Light District on their own label.
In the meantime, Century Media released the DVD In Motion with two incomplete concerts (Dynamo Open Air 1996 and Kattowitz 1997), two video clips and a discography. Since the band was not informed of the release, they consider this DVD a bootleg .
In spring 2003 the seventh studio album Souvenirs was released. At the end of 2003, Hugo Prinsen Geerligs announced his departure. He was replaced by Marjolein Kooijman.
A year later the band released the semi-acoustic live album Sleepy Buildings - A Semi Acoustic Evening . This album was recorded on two consecutive evenings in the Dutch city of Nijmegen . Sleepy Buildings was released by Century Media , along with the Accessories - Rarities & B-Sides compilation .
In autumn 2005 the double DVD A Sound Relief was released. The first DVD contains a concert in which the band plays more calm, melancholy songs. As a suitable counterpart, the DVD A Noise Severe with the more rocky, heavier songs was brought onto the market in November 2007 . On April 13, 2006, the eighth studio album, called Home , was released. For this album, the band signed a distribution agreement with Sanctuary Records . The concerts in Germany planned for April as part of her European tour were canceled without replacement due to Anneke van Giersbergen's illness.
The West Pole (2007-present)
On June 5, 2007, longtime singer Anneke van Giersbergen announced that she would be leaving the band in August because she wanted to work with her new band Agua de Annique . The band played their last concert with van Giersbergen on August 4, 2007 at the Ankkarock Festival in Vantaa . The band then went looking for a replacement for van Giersbergen.
In May 2008, The Gathering announced on their homepage that they are currently working on two different albums, which will be recorded with different singers. The new singer Silje Wergeland was introduced on March 12, 2009. The Norwegian previously sang in the doom metal band Octavia Sperati . The ninth studio album The West Pole was released in May 2009, the tenth album Disclosure followed in September 2012.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
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 NL
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| 1992 |
Always ... Foundation 2000 |
- | - |
First published: June 9, 1992
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| 1993 |
Almost a Dance Foundation 2000 |
- | - |
First published: October 2, 1993
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| 1995 |
Mandylion Century Media |
- |
NL20 (39 weeks) NL |
First published: August 28, 1995
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| 1997 |
Nighttime Birds Century Media |
DE80 (3 weeks) DE |
NL12 (10 weeks) NL |
First published: May 15, 1997
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| 1999 |
How to Measure a Planet? Century Media |
DE99 (1 week) DE |
NL45 (4 weeks) NL |
First published: November 9, 1998
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| 2000 |
If then else Century Media |
DE76 (1 week) DE |
NL47 (4 weeks) NL |
First published: July 3, 2000
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| 2003 |
Souvenirs Psychonaut Records |
DE90 (1 week) DE |
NL47 (5 weeks) NL |
First published: February 24, 2003
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| 2006 |
Home Psychonaut Records |
- |
NL34 (4 weeks) NL |
First published: April 15, 2006
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| 2009 |
The West Pole Psychonaut Records |
- |
NL98 (1 week) NL |
First published: May 4, 2009
|
| 2012 |
Disclosure Psychonaut Records |
- | - |
First published: September 12, 2012
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| 2013 | Afterwords Psychonaut Records |
- | - |
First published: October 5, 2013
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Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the band interview at RockOverdose from June 14, 2012 ( memento of the original from June 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ psychonautrecords.com: Who we are ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b biography at laut.de
