Nightmail sierpień 2006 Crew/Management

czarnycharakter

The Fans - Nightmail August 2006

Ida (Hauho): To Tero: Have you ever been arrested for running naked in public or similar?

Crew/Management: nope.

Charlotte (England): To Ewo:
How did you get where you are today with your career? What advice have you got for people wanting to get into the management/"backstage" aspects of the music industry? Are you single? Smile

Crew/Management: I started with 11 years at a record company, then moved on just by intuition to
take care of the NW business, what a trip already ! I am happily married !

(): To Markku: How much money is "burned" for pyros in one show? Where can one study pyros?

Crew/Management: It depends on the places and venues. If you are doing a big arena gig, we burn easily 2-3 times the money needed for smaller club gigs. Prices will start at approx. 2000-3000 euros to much much bigger amounts. In Finland we don't have a "pyroschool". You only need a license to use explosive materials. Self-taught by trial and error.

erkkipetteri (Etelä-Suomi): Here is a question for Tero! How do you feel when fans (mostly girls) scream for you before the show when your doing you job on a stage?

Crew/Management: It's really funny, and yes, I like it!

Sande (Vantaa, Suomi): Ewo, what has been a highlight of your career as a manager?

Crew/Management: Pretty hard to name one, but let's say that getting the Gold record for
ONCE from Germany and surviving the ONCE WORLD TOUR 2004-2005 were really
something... after those two the German Platinum was like next to nothing

Beata (Germany): Toni:
Is it only up to the band to find a new singer? Will you also give your opinion on the potential singer? Or will you totally leave it up to to guys?

Crew/Management: We will certainly tell our opinion but it's another question if they will listen to us Wink

Tanja (Vantaa): Kimmo: What time do you start to set up the stage if shows starts let's say 20.00...

Crew/Management: It depends, fastest setup time was at Download festival, only 32 min! Normally it takes 2-3 hours.

Keke (Hamina): Question for Ewo. When band starts to tour after a new album will singer first be "ran in" by touring in Finland, Germany or directly in the USA? What bad/good things you find in mentioned three choices? Have a nice rest of the summer and keep on pushing \,,,/ !

Crew/Management: We'll go straight to the US. We definitely owe that to the North American fans,
since we could not make the planned second round over there at all. Also, US
tours are quite heavy as a whole, so it is a good way to show to the new
vocalist what this is all about...

marialena (athens): i want to know how the questions of the fans to the band in the nightmail are chosen? what are the criterias and who decides which of them will be in the final list?

Crew/Management: Christian: The first selection is made by Jarmo and me, but Jukka has his hands in the process as well. We usually select a lot more questions than we expect the band member to answer, so they still have a chance to pick the ones they like best.

The criterias are:
- Don't ask things that are on the website! ("Is it true that Tarja left the band?")
- Don't ask things that would be on the website! ("Have you found a new singer yet?")
- Don't ask for concerts, all we know is on the Tour Info page
- Pay attention whose turn it is
- Write only in English, Finnish or German
- If your question starts with "This isn't really a question" then don't ask it
9 out of 10 questions are eliminated by this list, and if the remaining one is at least somewhat original and interesting to the public, then it will be picked.

(): Andy: What is the most difficult instrument for a technician during a concert? And what is the biggest nightmare?

Crew/Management: A broken instrument. If everything brakes down during the show.

Mie (Helsinki): Tero! What do you do to stay so fit in the middle of all that booze?

Crew/Management: I don't eat that much when I'm partying

and all those load-ins and -outs keep u fit.

Marde (Joensuu): Lighting Guy Tommi: It is written in the NW book that you met your wife during a tour. Is your lifestyle more calm since then?

We people in the crowd know you mostly from the scenes in the DVDs...

Toni: In the NW book, there was some criticism pointed towards the management. What do you say about this criticism?

Tero Kinnunen: How did that famous piss taste? Did you threw up after drinking it? :/

Crew/Management: Tommi: The story is true and yes there have been some moments when things have been a bit more calm. But nowadays I'm divorced and single again so back to normal... Cool

Toni: If you never received any criticism, how could you improve your work?

Tero: it was warm and salty, didn't throw up! not that good, don't try this at home...

Lara (Italia): Are you irritated by how we use the GuestBook?!

Crew/Management: Christian: Irritated isn't the right word maybe. Let's say "surprised".. But hey, still better than a guestbook full of advertisements.

Topsu (Kitee): Tommi. Have you gone to a school to become a lighting techinician or have you learned everything the hard way? What is your motto as a lighting techinician? Do you somedays still need to drive the bus?

Crew/Management: Yes, a lot of self-studying and learning by mistakes. My motto: Lights and atmosphere... No need to drive the bus anymore. I've found the couch in the back of the bus...

Angel (Canada): To Christian: Just how long did it take you to create this new site? How extensive did the process go?

Crew/Management: It is hard to break it down to a specific timespan. It feels like an entire period of my life, hehe. The first time Jukka and I talked about the possibility of a new website was in early 2003. I started to learn PHP and MySQL and then began to work on the legendary red website, which was later discarded because it did not go at all with the "Once" era. Then there was a long period of not working on the site at all, because my studies required all my time and attention. Nightwish's popularity grew a lot faster than my programming skills, so we decided to take a programmer aboard who actually knows what he is doing. After Benedikt joined the team, it probably took about eight months to finish. Including several layout changes that were necessary following the end of an era.
Long time, but keep in mind that we webmasters have day jobs. We are doing this in our free time after work and on the weekends.

Mortimer (Heaven): To the sound guys (Kimmo):
Why are there playback elements and exactly what is playback for the songs?

Crew/Management: There are many elements on the songs which are almost impossible to perform live, for example orchestral parts and choir. BUT: there are NO lead vocals, NO percussion tracks, NO guitars or NOTHING that the band can play live !!

Simon (Canada): All crew: How involved do you guys get with Nightwish personally? Do you hang out with them outside of work, or is it strictly a business relationship? And how far in advance do you know of Nightwish-news before it goes to the website?

Crew/Management: Tero:
we hang out together when ever it's possible, so we are friends (the crew and the band).

Ewo:
I signed the band to Spinefarm Records during the Middle Ages. Of course we are
aware about a lot of stuff, which just awaits to be published...

Toni:
Actually one of the first times when I met the guys(&girl) my dad was driving their tour bus. We are seeing each others sometimes also "outside of work". Most of the news we know a good time before publishing.

Jarmo: I met Jukka with "help" from my sister Satu before Nightwish was even born. When I created the first version of Nightwish -website (year was 1997) I met also other Nightwish -members. I meet Nightwish -members nowadays every now and then. Sometimes I hear Nightwish-news just before I put them to website. Sometimes much earlier.

Markku Aalto: Tommi (our LD) brought me to this crew. We are friends nowadays and we meet from time to time if we have time. We will hear some news before they are made public Very Happy

Andy: I don't see the guys often but it's not strictly business relationship. I don't know about the news before.

Christian: I think we would meet from time to time if I wasn't living in another country, but we stay in touch through e-mail, chat or (in urgent cases) phone. I feel more like a friend than a business partner to them. Some news I know in advance, some I just learn when I put them online.

Kimmo Aalto: I saw Nightwish first time somewhere in Germany August 2003 and that was also when I was hired to do FOH during their forthcoming Once tour. It was at the rehersals in Kitee just before the first show where I met the band members for the first time. Ok, Marco and I have known each other since 1989...
It is not completely a business relationship, but on tour I spent so much time with other technicians and we keep in touch weekly. My holidays (what ever it means ?) I spend at home so far away from Helsinki and Kitee. In my opinion: The less you know, the better! It is easier to answer if someone asks you what is going on: You don't need to lie.

Inkeri (Periferia): Markku Aalto: have you ever caught on fire while doing pyro-things? Very Happy

Or has somebody else from NW? =) Thanks for being along creating a great success story of a great band!

Crew/Management: Not in this group, Timo from Stratovarius burn his hand once, that was not so nice Sad

Thanx!!!!

A.A. (Suomi): Toni. What kind of crew Nightwish has on tours in Asia and in South-, Middle- and North-America?

What kind of set up does Nightwish take with them on tours in Asia and in South-, Middle- and North-America?

Crew/Management: If we are going to another continent we are taking at least: FOH engineer, monitor engineer/production manager, light tech, guitar tech, drum tech, bass tech + me + Ewo. We are trying to take own gears as much as possible.

Iita (Hauho): Ewo: How tall are you?

Crew/Management: 193 cm, without my combat boots

(): Ewo: Is the number of demos that are being sent in decreasing now?

Crew/Management: Not really.

Saana (Helsinki, Suomi): Jarmo, have you ever driven in a totally wrong direction and caused NW being seriously late for a concert or something?

Crew/Management: Maybe the most challenging drive in Finland has been to drive from Nummirock (Kauhajoki) to Himosfestival (Himos) right after the gig. Two concerts during one day. Distance is "only" about 200 km but time to drive in worst case only about three hours. That time includes packing the bus after show and driving through festival area trying to evade sometimes very drunk people. One time I forgot to turn right from one important crossing and that caused 0,5 hour delay to our schedule. Even that I drove as fast as our bus could handle. Being late for a festival is not so good, because usually schedules in festivals are very exact. Luckily Nightwish was headline band then so after them there were no other bands anymore waiting for their turn...

Sammy (Karjaa): Would it be possible to know what kind of effects/processors kimmo uses on FOH and for what purpose? This might have been in some music magazine but I've missed it.

Crew/Management: I don’t carry so many processors with me, only for Tarja's vocals: TLA 5051 tube preamp and ProTools Digi002 where I use C4 and C1 compressors. There is an explanation to use those: There is no possibility to take the lead vocalist to check her microphone in front of the audience, but this helps to get the vocal sound as good as possible in short time. Basically I use what the local PA company can provide, according my rider. There are still 2 things that I'd always like to have: Yamaha SPX-990 for the snare drum and Eventide H3000 for Emppu's guitar.

L4re (Hellsinki): King Foo. Do you sometimes feel that you are ignored? Or do people think that Nightwish takes care of all the management things by themselves? Keep on doing a great job King Foo fellows! \,,/

Crew/Management: Ewo:
It is definitely fine to be ignored, since we are not doing this for getting our faces to the yellow press

Toni:
It's enough if the band considers us.

Ole Kristian (Hafslo, Norway): To Antti Toiviainen.
Hello... Since you are the guitar tech guy, it's logical that I ask you this question: What guitar effects/equipment does Emppu use? Very Happy

Crew/Management: t.c.electronic G-major, sans amp ps-1, cry baby wah, digitech whammy-wah, mesa rectifier

Eduardo Fortes Alayón (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, España): To the management:

I like to expose the fact that some people can't buy the CDS from NW because of its high price. Do you think, as Marco, that if I download all NW stuff, am I stealing the bread for your kids? I know its hard to be an artist these days, but its even harder to pay the real estate.

Crew/Management: Ewo:
I surely understand if one does not have the money to buy everything.
Just imagine if all the people would download their music for free: The band
and the record company could not afford to release anything anymore and we
all would have to work on the construction sites... which is ok, but you got
the point? Without any buying customers there will be no new music.

Toni:
There is also legal downloading shops (iTunes, etc.) and the music is a bit cheaper... at least in Finland..

Jozet (The Netherlands): Toni and Ewo: why don't you put a picture on the website, where you describe yourself?

Crew/Management: Ewo:
We are so ugly that people would throw up. All touring would end, record sales
would go to zero.

Toni:
It is easier to work "in the shadows".

ande (loimaa): tommi, how long have you been doing lights? Has it always been your profession?

Crew/Management: I have been bringing light into the darkness for 12 years. It hasn't always been my job, I've done some other kind of shows as well.

Andrzej "Edmund" (Chorzow, Poland): Markku Aalto - Pyrotechnician
1. Have you ever had problems or an accident with fire or other pyrotechnics on stage (e.g. delayed explosion)?
2. Are the explosions controlled by a computer or fired manually?

Crew/Management: 1. We tried a time-coded system during the ONCE tour, but it was not that good so far, so we will wait for a while to use it again. Maybe it will happen during the next tour.
2. Our gear is a small computer, digitally coded. But we shoot manually by pressing the button.