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Within Temptation was founded by grunter and guitarist Robert Westerholt in May '96.
Before this he was in The Circle, a band which played the same sort of music Within Temptation does now.
They were offered a recorddeal and from that moment on there were a lot of troubles with the bandmembers.
Robert got kicked out of the band without getting a reason for it.
The band finished their recording under the name Voyage and the CD "Embrace" was released by Nightfall Records.
After this release Jeroen van Veen (bass) was put out of the band too.
These were the main reasons for Robert's girlfriend Sharon den Adel and guitarist Michiel Papenhove to also leave the band.
 The Circle released 2 demo's and the songs Frozen and Broken Silence on the DSFA 6 compilation CD About three years later Robert contacted Jeroen and asked to join him in a new project. He had already composed two new songs which got, after some modifications, the names "Enter" and "Candles". Robert wanted to start a new band and make more music like this. Jeroen was interested and suggested Michiel as the second guitarist. Michiel agreed immediately and by this time Sharon was recruted for the female vocals. She had already sung in a regional band and was for a short period of time with a choir. Robert asked his younger brother Martijn Westerholt to play the keyboards and Richard Willemse was found as a drummer. A big part of former The Circle/Voyage were back together again.
Unfortunately Richard left the band pretty quikly and because of this dissapointment Within Temptation was kept simmering for a while.
In August they started with a demo called "Enter" and the new drummer was Dennis Leeflang.
The demo was sent to various record labels and after a while Peaceville ( England ) and DSFA Records ( Holland ) showed interest.
By this time new problems came up with the drummer and Dennis was put out of the band.
Again a new drummer had to be found and fast too.
It was found in the person of Ivar de Graaf ( who would leave Within Temptation by January '98, but he's back now ).
DSFA gave Within Temptation the oppertunity the play some gigs with Orphanage and the band were asked to make another demo.
This nameless demo was recorded in one day at Studio Moskou in Utrecht.
DSFA was satisfied with the results and offered a record deal.
A week after signing this deal, the recording for the first CD "Enter" started.
The CD was produced by Lex Vogelaar ( guitarist at Orphanage ) and mixed by Oscar Holleman ( e.g. The Gathering, Gorefest ).
Other members from Orphanage were also involved with the recording: George Oosthoek appears as a guest-singer on "Deep Within", Guus Eikens gave some synthesizers/sound advice and Lex Vogelaar played the guitars on "Pearls of Light". Around the 7th of April '97 the CD "Enter" was released and on the 17th of May the band played at Dynamo Open Air. You all know the rest... |
