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› NIGHTWISH : TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN
Baz had a chat to Tuomas right before the last gig on the first UK leg of the Dark Passion Play world tour.
I got to the venue at about 5.45 and waited around outside like a good soldier. I had contact with Ewo (who is the tour manager for the band for those of you who aren’t geeks on the subject like moi) who confirmed that I would be meeting Nightwish’s main man at about 7. I was a bag of nerves to say the very least - Nightwish has been on my favourite bands ever list since about 2002, and so five years after meeting them as a mere fan at a signing session, I get to meet the guys professionally, doing an interview… I am not ashamed to admit that I was somewhat ecstatic!
The interview had no real limit but obviously I had to be conscious that they were due on stage very soon. I walked into the room with the fan club guys were all the guys where chilling out, but got a chance to meet them all a little before being whisked into a wash room for the interview with Tuomas.
So here it was, my very first question, so I thought I would make it a good one right off the bat:
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HB – In the press of late there have been many reports of a very poor reception and a lot of sniping at Anette due to her not being ‘the real vocalist of Nightwish’ and what not. Has this been hyped in the media, or has it really been that difficult?
Tuomas – Actually it has been really easy, with lots of positive feedback. We are surprised how easy it has been, we were expecting a lot more difficulties but I think the facts speak for themselves. The album is selling more than any of our previous releases and we are selling more and more tickets on this tour.
HB – But there have been incidents?
Tuomas – Yes, not many, but a few… I understand why the fans of Tarja do it and feel this way, and I’m OK with them; it makes sense in a way as they want Nightwish to be the way it was.
HB – That is understandable I suppose, it was quite a move. Speaking of that, what prompted the move from Tarja to a relatively unknown, kind of obscure choice in new vocalist? (Not that I mind, obviously…)
Tuomas – Well we were looking for a new singer and felt it was time for something different. We definitely didn’t want a Tarja copy-cat, it was time to move on musically. All we knew was that Anette had the same power and the same emotion as Tarja, but she could deliver it in a different way; she was not classically trained like Tarja, she was new. She just had real power.
HB – How has she been coping with the older Nightwish material live?
Tuomas – There has been some whining from fans that she is so different to Tarja and really petty stuff; I really can’t stand people who whine and moan all the time. The fact is that she is so different in her delivery to Tarja that a lot of fans are just shocked when they hear their favourite songs with Anette singing so differently. She picked up and fits songs like Nemo and Dark Chest of Wonders really well; when she first auditioned she really impressed us with these. The songs she has found harder to adapt to are songs like Wishmaster and The Siren. She first auditioned us with these songs and we really weren’t sure about them - over time though she has adapted them and they are really sounding very good now.
HB – With that said, I feel that her voice is a much more... I’m not sure how to say this, short of ‘sellable’ vocal. Do you agree with that?
Tuomas – Definitely, she has a much more ‘rocky’, ‘poppy’ vocal, kind of in the vein of ABBA, Anette is much more easy on the ears and she has brought to us a much wider audience.
HB – Was she picked for this purpose?
Tuomas – Not at all, we never once thought of her like that, we auditioned a lot of great vocalists who could have been just as, if not more, sellable. We just all felt in our hearts that she was the one we wanted, and still do.
HB – So, onto the band. How does it feel now as a band, playing massive venues the world over and selling out massive crowds? Do the band feel any ‘bigger’ or different to when you first gigged in small venues?
Tuomas – We have got bigger in popularity, but I think we all feel the same. It doesn’t matter if we are playing Donnington Park to 80,000 people or a small place in Texas to 400; we never treat a gig differently. We have always given our best; we just don’t think of ourselves as ‘big’: we just feel so lucky and honoured to play to any crowd. It still shocks the band sometimes! Like tonight we are playing the Apollo Manchester to 3,500 people, it’s just amazing!
HB – Time for a few easier questions to have a chill with. First off, the need to know question of the night… What is the “Most Headbanging” track in your arsenal?
Tuomas – Hmmm... I would have to say Master Passion Greed!
HB – What’s the best track you have ever written?
Tuomas – That has to be The Poet And The Pendulum.
HB – A very well written track to parody the original poem by Edgar Alan Poe, I must admit. I have to ask though, towards the end of the song, the lyrics, “He was found naked and dead, with a smile on his face, a pen and 1000 pages of erased text." I have been asked to find out the meaning behind it…
Tuomas – (Smiling at me) Well, listen to it again and you will find the meaning…
HB – Is it to do with the end, the meaninglessness of his torment and his life, the final madness?
Tuomas – Kind of, you’re on the right lines.
HB – Ok, your favourite track overall?
Tuomas – Again it has to be The Poet And The Pendulum!
HB – Figured as much… OK, craziest member of the band?
Tuomas – Marco, he has just got the most energy even though he’s the oldest out of us.
HB – Do you guys still do the very odd things or crazy pranks on the support acts that you used to do?
Tuomas – We are getting old! A little wiser and more professional now, I think…
HB – You have toured together for over a decade. Do you guys ever really p*ss each other off?
Tuomas – About 8 or 9 years ago the band had a lot of fights and it got really nasty. There was a lot of ignorance and not knowing how to cope. It was around the time of Oceanborn and we have all this in the book. (At this point I felt a bit sheepish, he grinned and I just moved swiftly on…)
HB – What is your favourite venue to play in the UK – what city has the best reaction?
Tuomas – The reaction has been equally good all over the UK, I always find the UK people and the crowds the most polite and respectful people, so I don’t really have a favourite place.
HB – Well I would love to know a little about an older song, just a little curiosity about one of my favourite songs from Once. What really inspired the very different Creek Mary’s Blood?
Tuomas – I was reading a book of the same name by Dee Brown, it was a sequel to “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” and I really felt touched by this book. It is one of the greatest tragedies of mankind, the genocide of the Indian people. So this song was done out of pure respect.
HB – More raking over past albums; it is so apparent how much you have changed as a band since the poor production values of Angels Fall First to the stunning production of Dark Passion Play - how has it felt?
Tuomas – Well Angels Fall First was originally an 11 track demo that got picked up by SpineFarm and they decided to put it on general release for some reason. It was very innocent and I suppose a bit cute, but the production value of that album was just bad.
HB – Ever think you will do a set of re-masters of the old albums?
Tuomas – NO! Absolutely not, I don’t see the point, why bother altering something that already has fans? I still don’t know why we had to re-release Sleeping Sun as it was fantastic and I think the remake was not nearly as good and lost a lot of the originality of the song. People should just let music rest in peace and enjoy what they ARE.
HB – OK, so production values aside then, what is you favourite album beside Dark Passion, personally from, again, a writer’s perspective?
Tuomas – Either Once or Oceanborn, as they both hit a different mark?
HB – It does feel as though, from a musical perspective, Century Child was an “in-between” release of these two albums, like you were trying to move on, but not sure how...
Tuomas – Exactly, I agree. With Century Child we didn’t really hit the mark that it was supposed to hit, there was little progression and the album had a very dark and gloomy feel that I really didn’t like or think suited us. Some songs I really don’t enjoy hearing but others are very good; overall I’m not a big fan of that album.
HB – Speaking of that album reminds me, I really want to know if there was ever a cover planned for the new album with Anette, like Walking In The Air or The Phantom Of The Opera?
Tuomas – Yes, there was a cover made but it will never see the light of day as we could not get permission to release it at all.
HB – Mind if I ask first, what was it, and second, why it couldn’t be released?
Tuomas – Have you seen the movie, The Piano? We did a cover of a beautiful track, the theme. We sent the cover of The Heart Asks Pleasure First to Michael Nyman and he did not like it. His piece was very simple; I added guitars, drums, and bass. He didn’t approve, which hurt as I really did this out of admiration and respect, but it will never see the light of day, sadly.
HB – Well, onto a more pleasant subject then… Any ideas yet for the next release, when it might be and what style, etc?
Tuomas – We have some ideas and songs jotted down but nothing concrete at the moment. We are looking at a late 2010 release at the earliest with the current tour schedule.
HB – A long time between releases - do you prefer it that way?
Tuomas – Very much a quality over quantity issue. We have few albums, but all worth the time it took to make them. Obviously touring for long periods makes writing harder as the conditions are completely wrong to make anything in-depth.
HB – Just wanted to return to the subject of touring… How has it been touring with Anette; how has the band coped so far?
Tuomas – It has been hard, it always is touring for so long, and still with a year and a half to go. It has been stressful some days and easy on others. It has been hard sometimes for Anette as she didn’t really know what to expect and all the social pressure that came with being in Nightwish. So it has been shaky some days, but in all truth she is coping very well considering the circumstances.
(Finally, I had to ask, from a journalistic point of view, about Tarja’s departure… I made it quick though, as I didn’t want to take the attention away from Anette and the new Nightwish… Happily Tuomas was very honest and didn’t mind me asking.)
HB – Is there any animosity towards her?
Tuomas – None at all, it is very much in the past and there is no point raking over it. What happened happened and I wish her happiness.
HB – Do you ever talk?
Tuomas – Sadly, no. Never once since…
HB – Do you hope that one day you can rekindle some sort of a friendship, as it must be hard losing a long-time friend?
Tuomas – It is very hard and upsetting but it is how it is. I really hope that one day we may be friends again, but who knows.
HB – Well thank you Tuomas for chatting to me, being so honest, and giving me so much of your time, it has been very much appreciated.
Tuomas – Thank you, I hope you enjoy the show…
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With that we shook hands and I headed through just in time to catch Marco with his pants down… literally! Anette just arrived and I had time for a very quick photo, but due to camera issues, only had a phone to take shots with so it was blurry. Notice how Marco is hidden behind everyone!
And then to the review! Rock on guys!
Barry Hoban
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