LIFE AFTER THE VISITOR
Clive about Immortal? – August 1999

A conversation with Clive about life after The Visitor. Life after the thief, the vampire, the priest and the clown. Life after Paul... In other words, life after Arena's most successful period so far!

And if we have to take Clive's word for it (or want to take Clive's word for it): ‘Yes, Arena have stuck with The Visitor and from thereon we'll take it further again. Just like we did with every previous CD.’ Before we were going to talk about Chosen [the working title of the album at the time – eds.], I asked him if I needed a tape recorder in order not to have to memorise it all. But, according to him, he didn't really have a lot of information. So I should manage with the writing pad lying next to the phone. And then the waterfall started! Unfortunately, I therefore wasn't able to note and register everything, but well, this way there'll be more surprises left for later.

For starters, the planning of the new album as it stands right now. The album will be recorded following the upcoming tour. At the moment the writing process is well under way. Clive regularly teams up with one of the other band members to exchange ideas. Mixing the album is scheduled for January 2000 and it will hit the shops in April of that same year.

So, what's ‘finished' already? At the time of the phone call there were four definitive titles. Butterfly Man is described by Clive as ‘an epic of about eight minutes long with a dark kind of Gothic flavour.’ Then there's Waiting For The Flood: ‘a melodic song with an acoustic touch. The lyrics can be seen through both God's eyes and the devil's. An ironic, sinister song.’ The third title Clive mentioned, is Ghost In The Firewall. Clive: ‘This track is written as seen through the eyes of an alien. This alien wants to be ‘part of the system' on our planet.’ He can't tell anything yet about the atmosphere of that song, since the lyrics are in a more mature stage of development than the music. Moviedrome is the title of Chosen's Hanging Tree; an epic song that already lasts ten minutes. ‘And that's just the middle section of the track,’ says Clive. ‘It will definitely grow into some fifteen minutes. In this song the main subject of the album will return: chosen.’

Besides these songs there were two untitled tracks. Clive describes one of them as ‘harking back to Songs From The Lions Cage’; an epic song with a ‘big ancient history field’. Well, we're very curious! The other nameless track he referred to as a straightforward song. A positive, ‘hands in the air’ kind of song. Generally speaking Clive called the album ‘more melodic here and there, but on the other hand also heavier than The Visitor’. And that's all we get for now...

At the moment, a little under thirty-five minutes has been written. Clive hopes for an additional twenty minutes of music, resulting in almost an hour in all. Talks with Hugh Syme on the artwork are in progress (hurray!) and the production will mainly be in Clive's hands. Mike Stobbie will 'supervise' it all again and also bring some fresh air into it. Simon Hanhart will be the one responsible for the end mix once again. In other words, the composition of the ‘Visitor team' hasn't really changed. The biggest difference will be in the duration of all the separate parts of the process: ‘We'll spend less time inside the recording studio than we did during the recording sessions for The Visitor. Back then we'd even think out new ideas in the studio. This time the writing will be done outside the studio. Only after everything is written will we move into the studio!’

So far for the information about Chosen. It may not tell you very much just yet, but take it from me: there is life after The Visitor!

By: Marcel Kolenbrander