Tuomas -Exclusive interview for the Romanian fans 2006-06-02

Patty

Given the official launch in Romania of Nightwish's "End of an Era" DVD will take place at Artmania Festival in Sibiu, we took the opportunity to have this exclusive interview with Tuomas Holopainen, the band's song writer and keyboard player.

Friday, June 2nd

Hi Tuomas, the first question is very complicated: what have you been doing lately?

Well, the past like five or six months I have been concentrating on doing the new songs for the next album and have been doing pretty succesfully actually because all the songs are already done. It’s gonna be 16 new songs we’re gonna record. Of course, we don’t know how many of them are gonna end up being on the album, but that’s been like my main focus for the past months. But there have also been these issues with the new Nightwish book and the upcoming DVD “End of and Era”, so it’s been quite a busy time.

On the 2nd of June the new Nightwish DVD "End of an Era" will be released. Many people see it as the countdown to the volcanic eruption that followed. Is this somehow reflected in the video footage?

Not actually. When I look at the show, you know... you can really get the feeling that there are deep emotions. I don’t think that you can really sense what’s gonna happen after the show. I just think that’s the best show we ever did, in many ways. Visualy, it looks really stunning and I’m just really really happy with the DVD. When I watch it I feel pride more than anything else. So proud of the guys and the girl. In a way, that’s a symbolic highlight of what we are as a band.

"End of an Era" will be presented in Romania at the Artmania Festival in Sibiu. What do you think about the release of the DVD at a Festival, located in the heart of Transylvania, and which celebrates Finnish and Romanian arts and music?

I think it’s an incredibly fantastic idea to do this and I feel really proud that “End of an Era” will be presented there as well. Actually, I was in Transylvania, in Sighisoara, once on a vacation for a week and I totally fell in love with the place, so I just wish I had the time to come there again for this festival, but unfortunately, we’re really busy with doing the demo recordings for the next album and all the new songs, so I have to miss it this time.

“End of an Era" closes the first chapter in the Nightwish story so far. Looking back to the early start of the band, what is the most important thing you keep in mind from these past years? What's the most valuable possession you have gained?

Despite all the drama and all the conflicts, all the ups and downs, you know... I wouldn’t change a thing because the whole ten years, they have kind of made us the persons that we are and hopefully we have been able to learn from the mistakes and grow up as musicians, but moreover grow up as persons. So it’s impossible to mention just one thing. I take it as a whole and I really hope that the next era, maybe like the next 20 years, would be as fruitful as the first 10 years and I could also go on with a little less drama this time.

What did you feel when you first watched the DVD?

Really mixed feelings. I think the best word to describe it would be bittersweet. In a way, like I said, it was the best show we ever did and.... pride! I think that’s like the best word to describe how I felt because I was so proud of the band, what we had accomplished during the past 10 years. I was so proud of Tarja, how the public was and everything, so I just thought “Wow! Ten years ago we were somewhere else and now we’re here”. It really really gave me the shivers especially at the end when you look at us bowing to the audience and you can see the people’s reactions and everything and... it’s a very sad moment as well. Kind of like brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it.

Recently, a book about Nightwish was released in Finland. Do you think it has managed to capture the band's essence within its pages?

First of all I think it’s a very very honest book and it pretty much goes through all the ups and downs of the band and shows all the skeletons out of the closet. I didn’t even read the book thoroughly before it was released. It was totally the author’s view of the band’s history and of us as persons. So when I read the book I, in a way, read it from an outsider’s point of view as well. Sometimes I was feeling ashamed, sometimes I laughed my ass off, sometimes I was crying. You know, it pretty much goes through the whole scale of human emotions. It’s pretty like mall stuff as well. Some anecdotes here and there are... how would you say?... controversial in a way that I had to wonder myself why these things had to be included in this book because sometimes it’s pretty heavy stuff. But when you think about the band’s life for ten years, you don’t want to read about stuff like me learning to play the piano or anything boring like that. You want to read funny things, you want to read the shameful and dramatic things so maybe the author wanted to emphasize a little bit of those as well.

What's the direction Nightwish is heading into now, musically? Are we to expect big changes?

I wouldn’t say big changes. In a way the next album pretty much is gonna be like a natural sequel to what the previous album “Once” was. I mean that the scale again will be huge, from ballads to really really hard stuff and everything inbetween. But there also will be some new elements that we haven’t used before, like we always do on the albums. And of course, the most radical change will be the female voice, so that’s all I can tell you at the moment because it still takes a lot of time to get the whole thing together.

And when can we expect the new material to be released?

We’re entering the studio the 15th of September, so in about like 3-4 months. So the time is closing up. If everything goes as planned, I’m sure that everything should be ready by spring of 2007. And if we’re gonna release it in the spring or the summer or the fall, I have no idea. It’s up to the labels as well, but I’m pretty sure that it will be released sometimes in 2007.

Ever-present in the band's lyrics is the mourning of a lost innocence and the endeavour of regaining it. Have you made this your personal quest?

Yeah... that’s a good one actually. Good question! You could say that. I mean, the biggest inspiration for me in doing a song is like my own personal life, what I have become as a person and, like you said, the endeavour of trying to regain the innocence. Very well said, so that’s still like the thing that I feel like I need to do songs about, also on the upcoming album.

Many female vocalists want to be a part of Nightwish and you have already received hundreds of demos. How is the selection going?

Well, still searching. I got to be honest with this. We haven’t decided anything yet. There’s still like 10 demos coming each day, so at the moment I think we are going somewhere around 800, when it comes to the candidates. There are some really really good ones. We have even met a couple of the candidates, but like I said, we’re still searching. There’s no hurry. We’re definitely taking our time because this is a matter that you really don’t want to make any compromises, you don’t want to make any exact schedules because there are such big steps so we really have to be really careful about this. I’m sure that she’s out there, somewhere.

What are you particularly looking for in the new singer?

The last thing that we are looking for is like a replica of Tarja. Many people are trying to look like her, trying sound like her and the way she sang and the way she did her own thing was the best possible so I don’t see any point in trying to copy that, so I think we’re gonna do some radical changes when it comes to the female voice. Most important thing is that she has a wide range. She needs to be able to sing like the hard songs with a lot of force, with power and also to have a lot of emotion in her voice to be able to sing the ballads and everything, so I think versatility is the most important factor when it comes to the voice. But naturally she needs to have the charisma as well and a powerful character altogether and a really really good sense of humour and self esteem because I think she’s gonna go through hell when her face and name is published.

Is the new voice of Nightwish going to influence your compositions in some way?

Not actually because all the songs are already made and when I did the songs, I heard this like ghost female voice in my head all the time. It was kind of a relief actually not to know exactly what the new singer was gonna sound like.

Nightwish has an important fan base in Romania. What would be your message to them until they will see Nightwish reborn again?

How will I say it?... Have the faith and give us a chance and sure we are gonna do the best we can and I really hope that you’re not gonna be disappointed. We are trying.

Thank you, Tuomas.