Vinnie Cavanagh - Anathema

September 02 2010

After interviewing Danny Cavanagh at the 2008 edition of the HELLFEST, I get to meet Vincent (aka Vinnie), the other half of the two-headed entity that is ANATHEMA. He share with us deep insight into their new magnificent opus “We’re Here Because We’re Here”, what process of building it was, the not so obvious true meaning of the album’s name, his Liverpool roots and the special Paris show to come. His final advice being “Come early!” when speaking of this very promising show (October 10th).

Fab : Congratulations for this album, which I find really complete and rich. Was it the result of seven years of work in composition, or it has nothing to do with that, as some of the songs have been written very quickly, or very recently?
Vinnie Cavanagh (Lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) : Thank you. The composition of the songs sometimes can be instantaneous, and sometimes can develop over time. You know, you may put an idea away for a little while and now it seems to just come knocking at your door and says "Hello! Remember me?"… song like "Dreaming light" that came very late in the process. With "Hindsight", we're actually glad that we took our time because it was better for it. Now the composition though, I mean, I think, I don't really make a distinction between album to album, it's more like day by day, you know, you write a new song and it's completely different from what you did yesterday. And there's no distinction between albums there. So, I prefer to think of music in that way really. That it's always kind of free and open to do whatever…

Fab: To evolve.
Vinnie Cavanagh: Yeah, to evolve, exactly. You have to be honest with yourself sometimes, you know. If you're doing something, and you appreciate the concept of what you think it is, then you can sometimes color it, even if you don't mean it to, you can sometimes get in a way of it. And sometimes, it's actually better to let the idea be the leader, so that the idea leads you on a journey, of what it needs to be. Like for a new song when you say "well, that'd be cool if I put this kinda beat over in here", if it doesn't need it, it doesn't need it, then don't put it on.

And when something is complete, it'll tell you, it'll let you know. You know what, there's nothing else I want to do to it. And it could be just, just a piano track, with no instrumentation on it, just the piano, you know. You know what? I'd put a beat behind this, but it doesn't need it. You got to know when something is…It'll tell you when it's finished. Take "Imagine" by JOHN LENNON, a very simple song one of the simplest songs ever written but one of the most memorable. Anybody can be clever you know, and put intricate things, but it takes a bit more appreciation for the idea to just keep it simple.

Fab: At first, I couldn't listen the four songs separately, as if they were just one big song, because they really have a continuing mood to them. It is just me?
Vinnie Cavanagh: No, it was intentional, absolutely. I think you've got then the fifth one, with the sixth and seventh one, "Angels Walk Among Us", "Presence" and "A Simple Mistake" which are again, one thing. And I think, for me as well, "Universal", "Get Off, Get Out" and "Hindsight" are linked as well. So, you noticed that there's actually a gap there, it's deliberate. And there's gap after "Everything", just before "Angels…" also, that's deliberate. We do it deliberately to try to… it's a very interesting process to see which songs complement each other, and how you can change a certain beginning or ending of a song, to complement what's coming before it or after it, to create that flow between things. It's really getting interesting, you change keys right at the last minute, you can change a song's key, you can change the tempo, you can change anything just to give it that kind of, more of an objective widescreen perspective, you know? Rather than just the microcosm that is that song. To stand back from it to see what it looks like, together with other things…That's cool.

Fab: Even if some of the songs were written several years ago, how do you keep them fresh in your mind? I mean, in a way to defend these titles onstage the best you can.
Vinnie Cavanagh: Let's address that specifically, right? Let's say the oldest song written on that album is probably "Angels…", we really talked of it, we realized that we wanted to give it something else, and Danny (Cavanagh - Vocals, Guitars) started to play that guitar riff, and I suggested that he played that guitar riff, play if heavier, and we listened to that, and at this point, change it back there and those kind of things just freshened the ideas. And I think it's much a better version, and of course, we added the Lee's (Douglas - Vocals) vocals on it, which had a nice very subtle backing vocal touch. And the "Universal" set of chords is one of the oldest piece on the album but it wasn't finished, you know, it came later. I don't think anything is really finished right until the very last moment, until the final mastering. And even then, you're still allowed to change it in my opinion (laughter). A song has different lives. A lot of bands do that, I think it's a very good thing.

Fab: What's the meaning of the album's name?
Vinnie Cavanagh: The meaning of the title comes from a song from World War I called "We"re Here Because We're Here" in repetition. And it was sung in a tune called "Auld Lang Syne" which is now an old English New Year's song. It was a joke, a sardonic…it was a joke that one guy encouraged its entire troops to sing because they were facing such adversity and such death, so let's just be defiant, full-throated to fight, they just sing this song to keep their spirit, to make them going.

The guy won the Victorian Cross for that. It's the highest honor that you can have in military honors. So, that kind of spirit of togetherness, of defiance, of all of those adverse conditions and everything that was happening to them… You can't beat that, you know, they had death in the face and they were (making war screaming sounds)…

It was amazing. That's where it comes from, so what we did is that we look the story, and when we wondered on how to call the album, it was the only one that everybody agreed on. We really wanted a collective decision on that. So everybody agreed that we liked this one, we agreed on what it could represent for us. It's our spirit and our togetherness and our bond, you know? The brotherhood and sisterhood that we've got, and everything that we've been through on our lives, which is not pretty some of it, you know what I mean? But we can just appropriate that in our own way. That's why the photos in the album are from locations from my childhood in Liverpool.

Fab: Lee is now a full member of ANATHEMA. Was it something coming more from you or from her?
Vinnie Cavanagh: It was mostly from her I guess. We've always wanted her to join and she just had other commitments in her life. Now, she's really up for it. She's always been there you know. Now, she's ready to do it full time. Cool! (laughter).

Fab: She brings another sound layer.
Vinnie Cavanagh: Absolutely, yeah. Like trying harmonies with her, it was great. Especially on this album, me and Lee harmonize very well, that was a discovery so, we used it, and we're going to do it again.

Fab: John Douglas (Drums) wrote two songs ("Get Off, Get Out" and " Universal"). How did he bring them to you?
Vinnie Cavanagh: Unfinished. Like"Universal". I've been playing that song to myself for ever, and I knew in my head exactly how the second half of the song was going to go. I, like in my head, created the rhythms and played it on the guitar, constantly, constantly. And basically, imagine the whole thing, and it still comes to you. If you play something enough, it just comes to you. I helped John finish that one, especially on the second half. For "Get Off, get Out", this one was a little bit more complete on this half, but I think, what I do, I basically filtered what Danny and John did. I did filter it through me and arrange it, bring it all together and produce it.

Fab: And as the lead singer, you have to adapt…
Vinnie Cavanagh: Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes with the vocals, I've got a bit more of an open collaboration with John than I have with Danny on the vocals. Because Danny kind of writes a lot of, virtually all of his own lyrics and everything, you know. Nearly always already done. I do get some chance to, you know, change a couple of things here and there, probably not as much as I'd like but, you know, that's just the way it is (laughter).

Fab: Being from Liverpool, were the Beatles a big influence on you? And are you still supporting the Reds?
Vinnie Cavanagh: Yeah, and Yeah (laughter). I've always loved THE BEATLES, they were fantastic. The first song I've ever played was from THE BEATLES. I played "I wanna hold your hand" when I was three years old. And football? "Oh God!" (with a very funny exasperated tone in the voice)…Not quite as happy memories, especially recently.

Fab: Ok, next question (general laughter). You did a part of the album artwork with Lasse Hoile …
Vinnie Cavanagh: (cutting) No. He basically did some color treatment on two pages and that was it. Basically, it was Jamie (Cavanagh - Bass) who took the photos, and I did all the treatments. I rendered them. But it was I think pages two and three that I didn't have time to do, I was busy doing something else, so he quickly did them for me, and that was it. That's all he did, he had no influence on them. I told him what to do, I told him what I wanted, because I couldn't do it, it was at the very last minute. Basically make it more look Sepia, more like a memory, you know?

Fab: It's not the first time you worked with Steven Wilson. What did he bring to the "mix" this time?
Vinnie Cavanagh: Clarity & objectivity are the two biggest things I guess. He refines our ideas, he made some good decisions, and he found a space for everything in the soundscape, because there were a lot of things recorded. He was dropping frequencies here or there, or like basically find enough space to fit everything in, to complete our vision really because he knew from the beginning that was like a hugely ambitious thing, but for some case sometimes you just have to simplify, you know? So he's great, very good!

Fab: You offered the possibility to download three titles (Everything, A Simple Mistake, Angels Walk Among Us) before the official release of WHBWH. Was it kinda test for these songs, of the direction of this album, to have some feedback from the fans?
Vinnie Cavanagh: Obviously give something back, you know, at this point. It was already a few years (without records) at that point…We wanted to give people something. I mean, we spent money recording some things, but we thought, we're not gonna sell it, we just give it out and people can pay whatever they like if they want to. That was quite a good idea.

Fab: Will you do it again?
Vinnie Cavanagh: Hummm…I'm not sure really. I don't know. I think I got more respect these days for a complete work, rather than releasing demos. I mean, these were high quality demos, but I will hope that we don't feel necessary to release any demos, because we've already recorded an album that is going to come out.

Fab: It was because there was such a long wait…
Vinnie Cavanagh: Yeah, exactly. I don't wanna wait three years to do the next record. I want to have it done like next year, by next summer at the latest. Soon. But that's one of the reasons why it took us so long to make this album, because we had to build our own studio, buy all the equipments. It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of money. Now that we have it, all we have to do is find some time, get the right songs, practice, rehearse, get it all ready, and it's ok! We book a certain place, bring all the equipment that we set up, and then we record it, and we'll do another one quickly.

Fab: Is there gonna be an " Angelica part.three " on the next album? (ndlr: referring to "Angels…" considered as the second part of "Angelica").
Vinnie Cavanagh: Probably so, yeah. I think Danny got a common thread, some of the songs are kinda part of the same family. But it's too early to say what's gonna make it to the final cut, so.

Fab: Do you consider that 2010 is your 20th anniversary?
Vinnie Cavanagh: I don't really consider 1990 as our beginning, because we weren't even called ANATHEMA. I mean, I considered like, the first time it felt like a bound was not right after we started, it was probably late 1992. Because then, we started to get interest from Peaceville Records, we signed a deal very quickly. And we record "The Crestfallen" E.P..That's what really felt like "ok, this is the beginning of ANATHEMA", for me. So I don't really consider this year to be our twentieth anniversary, because when we look back twenty years ago, we weren't even a band. We were hardly playing gigs. So, two more years to wait, yeah (laughter).

Fab: Do you have a musical guilty pleasure?
Vinnie Cavanagh: Euh…the BEE GEES? (laughter). But it's alright…(still thinking), yeah, I do actually, yeah: "Street Hip-Hop Battles….". When we were living in New York, for five or six months, I don't know what it was, but I've always been interested in those things. And you know what? While we're here, I'm gonna start checking these things out, but not in the Bronx or in Harlem (laughter). I just check some on YouTube, it's a lot safer! (laughter). It's ridiculous and misogynist and it's just "my gang is bigger than your gang", but there's something powerful, fascinating about it. And I haven't even bought any rap records, you know. But there's definitely some interest there for me.

Fab: What should we expect October 10th? Your show in Paris…
Vinnie Cavanagh: We're gonna play our own headline show, so we can do, hopefully as long as we can…We'll probably play all of the new album, maybe even have the chance to fit some new ideas that people have never heard before. That'd be cool. And also do a little bit of collaboration with the support artists: Anneke Van Giersbergen and Petter Carlsen. It should be fun and entertaining. Come early!