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At this point Nightwish does not need greater presentation - after 5 years of their existence, this Finnish band has become much more important for the metal scene than we could ever imagine. With the 'Century Child' album that sold gold in Finland during only 2 hours (yeap, you read well) they reached a new, high standard in symphonic-operatic metal. A standard that may not be matched by any other band for a long time.
On the occasion of the 'Century Child' release, PowerMetal.cl arranged a special interview with Tuomas Holopainen - the mastermind of Nightwish. You'll learn here what does the band and metal music itself mean for him...

Tuomas, let's begin with the distan past: when you were a boy, have you ever imagined that you would become such a world-wide-famous heavy metal musician? I guess you have stopped thinking about those time now and you must be enjoying the incredible present fame. But tell me, are you surprised by the success you have gained with Nightwish?

God, YES! I have never even dared to dream about such a success. I have never stood in front of a mirror and practice some 'rock-star-gestures', if you know what I mean (laughs). When I was a boy I dreamed about becoming a marine biologist. So Nightwish project was originally just a hobby. However, it soon turned into something more serious so I needed postpone this dream indefinately. At the moment Nightwish is the most important part of my life. But still I'm truly surprised by our success.

What is your inspiration when you write the music and the lyrics? Have you changed the way of composing since the first album?

The greatest inspiration for the lyrics comes from my own life, personal thoughts and dreams. And it has always been this way. The songs I write deal with everything that is important for me, the subject I touch are only the ones I'm interested in. I can't imagine writing songs about something that doesn't apply to me in a personal way. For the music yet I am most influenced by the movie-soundtracks. I think it's easy to hear on our new album, 'Century Child'. I don't want to flatter myself but I think that our new compositions are close to the works of Hans Zimmer or Trever Jones.

Could you please name your favourite classic composers?

Actually, I'm not so much into classical music. As I said I prefer movie scores composers like Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, James Horner, Trever Jones... the list goes on.

Ok then, let's get back to metal music. What are your favourite bands and why?

There's a lot of them. To name just a few: Sonata Arctica, Children Of Bodom, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Amorphis, Entwine, etc. Most of the Finnish bands have developed a unique style, which you can easly hear on their albums and which makes them easily recongizeable. And other bands that I like much are My Dying Bride, Rhapsody, Tiamat, Panther, Paradise Lost, Rammstein, The Kovenant, After Forever and many more... (laughs)

What does music mean to you?

It's a life style, something that I'm close to every single day, something that I do and love doing. And most importantly - music gives me an opportunity to express my emotions and opinions.

Most of the people have some kind of idol, mentor that they try to follow, emulate. Do you have such a person? Who is it, a musician, writer or maybe a friend of yours?

I played in two bands before I found Nightwish and there was this band 'teacher', Teemu Kautonen. I guess he was my first mentor. I learned really much from him, mainly about composing both music and lyrics. I owe a lot to him.

Who is your favorite keybord player and why?

I have always admired Vangelis, the Greek magician of the sinthesizers. His work is simply outstanding! I value pretty much the same Kitaro, the japanease composer.

Have you ever thought about doing some solo project?

Actually, it's been on my mind for a long time now. I dream about creating an album in Vangelis/Enigma/Era style. And for the moment I'm playing the key parts in a project band called For My Pain. I haven't compose anything, it's not a true solo project. It's more like a 'band therapy'.

Ok, let's get back to Nightwish for a moment. There are two question I need to ask. When you started thinking about finding Nightwish back in 1996, did you actually know what style you're going to play? Did you wanted Nightwish to be heavy metal band or maybe you thought of a completely different style, something more atmospheric, for example? And then - what are you memories from the first Nightwish gig ever in Kitee on 31st of December 1997?

Well at first we planned to play acoustic music, no heavy sounds were on our minds. But then after releasing the first demo our style somehow changed into the metal and that's how it remained. And the first gig memories... There's one memoriy, actually: we were scared like hell!

Is there a good 'chemistry' between the members of the band? Is there anybody more amusing, irresponsible, crazy than the rest? Is there a 'charistamtic one' who leads the band?

Chemistry is very good. But definitively we are all very distinct persons. Emppu is the crazy and amusing one; Jukka is the one who worry about the whole band, who takes care; Marco is the 'nice' one and Tarja is the charismatic one. I guess I'm the quite one, the crazy Beethoven of the stage.

What can we expect of Nightwish in the near future?

After the launching of 'Century Child' we started our world-wide tour and yes! we hope to see our fans in Santiago soon. I can't wait for that!

Tuomas, thank you very much for your time! Could you please greet Nightwish Chilean fans?

Just as always I hope to see you all at Nightwish gigs - we'll have a great time together! I love Chile and the whole South America continent. My best wishes, nighttime whispers, Tuomas.