Interview to Anathema's Daniel Cavanagh

Some bands enter your life and stay with you. They become a central part of your life. Years go by and release after release, the band grows and evolves together with you (or you with them). Anathema is one of those bands for me. The melodies and emotion of 1998's Alternative 4 moved me. I knew I had discovered a band that had something special, something that set them apart. This feeling became even stronger the following year with the release of Judgement. Anathema had found themselves as a band, they were not afraid to take risks and I was happy to go with them wherever they wanted to lead me. For the first interview on this blog, I could not resist the opportunity to speak to Anathema, and Daniel Cavanagh was kind enough to answer my questions.

Anathema's last few releases have seen the band evolve into a more stripped down minimalist sound. I love these albums and find them incredibly beautiful and moving but Judgement has always remained my all time Anathema favourite. That changed with the release of Distant Satellites and I suspected there was something personal that inspired the band to create such an excellent album. 

In Daniel's words, "Distant Satellites is a little bit like the story of the band and what we share and what we have in our connections, not only with each other but also with others who have been part of the band. It's about love, it's about family and togetherness. It's about lives orbiting and intertwining around each other. Sometimes becoming distant, sometimes coming back close. The metaphor is there for all to see. The title track in particular is talking about this, but the metaphor extends to the whole album."

In the conversation, it was obvious that music is highly personal for Daniel and the rest of the band. Daniel, talked about how "our purpose as a band is to connect and communicate with each other in the band and the fans; a positive interaction of communication and energy.  And if the music is helping people, giving us and them something positive; that can only be good." 

Anyone who has followed Anathema can perceive that something changed after they were left stranded and without a record label back in 2006.  The band came together and evolved into a new, more minimalist and uplifting sound. It's clear that Anathema has changed and the last three albums of new material since 2010 show more depth, scope and ambition than their earlier efforts. These albums are more than a collection of excellent songs, each of them is a powerful statement.

When asked to choose a favourite song, Daniel hesitated, perhaps not wanting to favour some songs over others, as if not to betray or disappoint his babies. After some thought, he mentioned "Dreaming Light, Untouchable, Ariel, Anathema, The Lost Song Pt 3... Pretty much every song in the last three albums." Tellingly, with music being so personal to Daniel, I wasn't surprised he just mentioned songs from the last three albums.

When asked if he would like to collaborate with any other musician and if so what kind of music they would create, Daniel said that he is a creator but not much of a collaborator. "Of course, there's people that I would like to share the stage with, but I don't look further than creating with Anathema. I would feel really strange presenting my material with anyone else." Daniel has often played gigs with Anneke Van Giersbergen and many people have harboured hopes (including myself) that they could create some music together, but I guess we'll just have to keep dreaming and enjoy their performances. 

Every band and artist is influenced by someone, but Anathema has managed to craft music that sounds truly unique. Asked to share some of the influences that drive the band, Daniel said that "if Anathema was a person, I think everybody would agree we'd be listening to Radiohead, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath in their classic days and Nirvana." Daniel added, at a personal level, that these days he's "listening to a lot of Type O'Negative, especially October Rust." 

Despite their long and successful career, the band struggled for years to get a record deal (2006 to 2010) and with the great changes that are happening in the music industry in the last few years, I wanted Daniel to talk a little bit about what advice he would give a new band starting right now. 

"You can't do it for the money but you have to find a good manager and trust that manager. Be strong enough to take decisions, trust your manager and make sure you know where the money is going" so the band is sustainable. He also touched on how to keep the band together, which is not always easy. "Follow your heart, believe in yourself, and respect the chemistry of your band. Don't get carried away with yourself if you're the main person in the band. Love the people around you as much as you can." 

At the end of our conversation, I asked Daniel to imagine where Anathema could be in ten years. "I think we still have a lot of music still to come. I hope we will still be creating forward thinking music and maximising our potential. Probably we will have seen our greatest period by then. But I hope that business will be in order, the music will be good and we'll be healthy and happy; still being able to perform and valuable in terms of music."

If their career and especially their four releases since 2010 (here including, 2011's Falling Deeper) are anything to go by, creating valuable and forward thinking music for the next ten years will not be a problem for this band. Few can create music that transcends genres and touches people the way Anathema does. Looking at their latest output and their progression as a band I'm definitely looking forward to the future and their 'greatest period'. 

A massive thanks to Daniel for giving his time for this interview.

For my review of Anathema's latest album, Distant Satellites go here

Anathema are touring Australia in August with dates in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. To get tickets go to Metropolis Touring

Here's Anathema's latest single: