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NIGHTWISH

Tuomas Holopainen speaks out in one of the first interviews since the departure of Tarja Turunen

Left: Tuomas Holopainen - No regrets. (Photo used with permission.)

On the 21st October 2005 Nightwish handed their vocalist Tarja Turunen a heartfelt letter of 'Dear John' proportions asking her to leave the band. In the six months since that final concert at The Hartwell Arena in Helsinki Tuomas Holopainen, the mastermind behind the Finnish operatic metal group has had to re-live his decision every day with hounding from the media and in his own latest project, a DVD of their final stunning concert with their former singer.

At the time of the decision to part ways with the woman who had always been at the heart of Nightwish the band were undoubtedly at the height of their career. They had released an album of great magnitude, Once, that was hailed as a work of genius and the group were enjoying sold out shows wherever they toured. But underneath the success was a schism, the band was growing apart from their singer, who in their words had become "a diva, who doesn't think or act the way she used to."

For Tuomas and the other members of Nightwish the soul of the band was not in the platinum-selling albums or in the trappings of fame, it was in the music and since October this is what Tuomas has been able to concentrate on. With the DVD out at the start of June and recording set for the autumn it looks like Nightwish are able to get back to what they do best. Louise Brown pinned Tuomas down a quick chat in Germany to catch up on what's been happening since Hartwell.

So it's been six months since that final concert in Helsinki. Have you been enjoying a well-deserved break?

TH: Actually I've been really busy, I think the past six months have been more stressful than the past three years put together so we should have been back on tour to have a vacation. I've been doing the DVD and I've been writing new songs all the time and then we had all the hassle with the media. It's been quite a six months but things are finally calming down.

Have you been quite hands on with the production of the 'End Of An Era' DVD? You didn't just hand the rushes over to a production company and let them get on with it?

TH: No, I was kinda supervising the whole thing of course but there was always so much that I needed to do elsewhere. I watched through the first editing of the concert and it was almost perfect by then but I just had to make some minor changes. And when it came to the documentary it was the same thing.

I know you don't want to dredge up the past but obviously you've watched the DVD... Does it make you nostalgic? Obviously Tarja is quite a dominant feature on it, does it bring back any good memories of the time you had as a group?

TH: Actually we had this media presentation of the concert last Monday in a cinema here in Germany and it was the first time I watched it through on the big screen, and I felt, I don't know, such mixed feelings, I mean bittersweet would be the best way to describe it. But on the other hand I also felt so proud of every single guy on stage and the girl because we started the thing ten years ago and this the was kinda like the climax of every thing, the highlight of the whole career, the symbolic highlight. So I was proud of everybody and I'm really happy that we had a chance to immortalise this show in that way.

You had released the name of the DVD End Of An Era before we knew what you were planning in terms of the line up changes. Were you surprised when it came as such a shock to everyone when you actually announced it? To most people End Of An Era signified maybe a change in musical direction not band members.

TH: Yeah, the symbolism is really obvious in that one. We decided to do this DVD back in the beginning of 2004 before we even decided to tour and the idea was that the last show would have to be something spectacular and we would film it and come up with a DVD of it. The original plan was to do it with an orchestra and a choir but that didn't happen so we just made like a normal big spectacular show. The title End Of An Era came last summer and it was actually made up by Marco, the bass player because I just couldn't figure out a perfect title for the DVD. He called me up and was like "hey what about End Of An Era", because in the band we already knew what was going to happen, so I thought, yeah that was perfect.

Were you expecting the media furore that it caused?

TH: It shocked so many people and you can't believe the media hassle we got; in Finland especially, it wasn't that big outside our country but in Finland we were in the tabloids for two or three weeks. Every single talk show was talking about the Nightwish issue. Even the prime minister of Finland had an opinion of what happened. It was ridiculous. Everybody had an opinion. There were psychologists on TV telling me what to do with my life in the future and many religious people came to me and told me I had sinned big time and had to pray to Jesus Christ as I had betrayed my friend and was going to hell. And I got a lot of really weird letters and emails so I was wondering, have I created a monster or what? Things are a bit easier now.

The Prime Minister had an opinion? Wow, it does seem that in Finland even the government are interested in heavy metal, they really seem to support it over there. Are you proud to be from a country with such a great metal heritage?

TH: Absolutely, I believe Finland is the only country in the world where extreme metal bands always top the national charts. Just one example but Children Of Bodom were number 1 in the singles charts for 11 weeks a few years ago and not the rock charts but the actual charts and this is a phenomenon that can only happen in Finland. And I think metal music is like a national music.

And what about Lordi being Finland's 2006 Eurovision entry?

TH: I'm very proud them, it's very good for them and I voted for them I think five times in the finals and they made it so we'll see. The Eurovision Song Contest, it represents everything I hate about music, you know? It's so cheesy, it's horrible. So I'm just glad that Finnish people were finally able to put in something different to shock the pack a little bit and I really hope they go far and win the sh*t.

Um didn't Nightwish represent Finland one year?

Yeah back in 2000, with a song called 'Sleepwalker'. We ended up being 2nd in the Finnish finals, the audiences gave us full points but the jury voted us off. They did us a favour I guess, we never made it to the finals, which is a good thing.

So back to the present, you've just launched the search for the new singer, how is that going? Any good? Any terrible?

It's been overwhelming when it comes to demos. So far I've been listening to close to 500 different demos sent to me in the past 2 months or so and word is that I've got another 100 waiting for me at home. Some are good, some average, they are coming for all over the world and we have been checking out every single one of them, I want to emphasise that but absolutely no decision has been made yet and we are in no hurry. There are 20 coming still each day so we are taking our time. Personally I would be happy even if we didn't find anyone till the end of the year.

So no deadline then?

TH: Not really. All the studios have been booked for the next album and I have written the songs for the next album and we will enter the studio in September but you know for the past 10 years the singer was never in the rehearsal room so its not going to change like that. Obviously if we find a replacement next week all the better but it can be done this way as well.

So if someone out there is thinking, I want to sing for Nightwish, what qualities should they have?

TH: The last thing we are looking for is a cheap replica of Tarja. I mean she did her job perfectly and her voice was perfect for the band so there is no use trying to top that in any way so I think that I will bravely go into new directions with the female voice. The most important thing she must have is versatility, she needs to be able to sing those high notes with a lot of force but also sing the ballads with emotion and some recognisable voice wouldn't hurt either. I mean there are a lot of good singers with personality out there but the most difficult thing to find will be the charisma, the right character because not only does she need to have the voice, but she needs to have a sense of humour and the best self esteem in the whole world, because just imagine the hell she is going to go through when we announce her to the public.

So you didn't think of doing this in the media's eye? Surely you could have done some kind of MTV or Pop Idol type show to find a new vocalist.

TH: We were proposed that, there was one broadcasting company in Finland and actually one from abroad that suggested it to us that wanted to make a reality TV show like INXS did. I think it's a ridiculous idea and it would be really bad for the image of the band and I think we can take care of it ourselves.

Thank goodness for that! Are you also fed up with all the speculation surrounding your new singer? It seems impossible to pick up a music magazine and not see some established singer associated with you guys, are you fed up with the press suggesting Sharon den Adel or Liv Kristine are gonna sing for you?
TH: It's a really cheesy stuff for the media and the press, you couldn't believe the amount of rumours. Liv Kristine was on the front cover of one of the biggest magazines in Finland one day saying that she is the new singer of Nightwish. Amy Lee was in the tabloids in the Finland saying she is the new singer and then Simone from Epica. Pretty much every female metal singer has been announced as the new Nightwish singer but you shouldn't believe anything and I truly trust people will not believe anything. I mean the only really reliable source for this information will be nightwish.com.

Back to the DVD, this is going to be the only Nightwish release for some time and you're not hitting the road again any time soon. Do you think that your fans are sticking by you? What's the response been to the DVD?

TH: People seem excited to see it. Naturally there are people out there who think that, "we'll give them a chance" and I think this is most healthy way to approach the whole thing and unfortunately there are people who are die hard Tarja fans and won't accept anything under the name of Nightwish again.

The one thing that does stand in your favour is that in your open letter to Tarja you talked about your love of music and your refusing to let fame and greed get in the way. You've said you don't mind playing to 10,000 people or 300 people, is that true?

TH: Exactly, it sounds so cliché and I believe all the bands say this but it's actually and honestly true. It's really simple: All we want to do is play, we love playing and we like to be with each other, travel the world, meet new people, you know it's the best possible life you can have. I don't really care about sales, I know some people will think it's commercial suicide but if the next album sells 100,000 copies instead of 1,000,000 but we're still having fun as a group and seeing the world and playing different places - who cares?

While we're waiting for new material, are the Nightwish members up to anything else music-wise?

TH: Nightwish will definitely be a priority when we start recording in September but of course Marco is doing a new Tarot album and Emmpu has founded a new band called Brother Firetribe (Click HERE for more information - Ed.), which is a straightforward good mood 80's hard rock band in the style of Van Halen, which is really good, I can recommend that to you and I am playing in a couple of Finnish rock'n'roll bands and doing some live shows now and then. We still see each other, we live in different cities but whenever we get the chance we'll go for a drink or something. These guys are really like my best friends.

So you're all busy with the writing of the new album. Is it a solo effort or do all of you get together for a brainstorming session once in a while?

TH: It doesn't really work that way for us. Songwriting is a really intimate and personal process for me so I really need the solitude and the time being by myself. I couldn't imagine Nightwish doing an album of songs from jamming in the rehearsal room the way Pantera did. It's a really good way and I really respect that but it's not our style. I sure hope you are not going to be disappointed. I am feeling really confident about the new songs, there's 15 of them already and the other guys seem to be really happy about them. All we need is a singer now.

by Louise Brown