Tarja Turunen:
The illuminate vocalist of Nightwish
Intro & Interview by Luxi Lahtinen
Interview pics by Humberto Sanchez
Thanks to Spinefarm Records for promotional pictures.
ONCE,
the title of Nightwish´s most ambitious, most pompous, yet most
matured album to date could be considered as one of the most
anticipated releases in 2004 amongst the Metal fans all over the
world. On ONCE, the whole band has truly outdone themselves in
many different ways, so one may wonder whether they have already
reached some sort of a culmination point in their career as far
as nearly a musical absurdity of their
´everything-stronger-everything-bigger´ song structures on this
new album are concerned.
Since I already managed to
discuss with Tuomas Holopainen the songs on ONCE earlier
this spring, at the pre-listening session of ONCE, I was also
eager to get the female aspect for the album as well. A
possibility for this was arranged by Tuula Salminen from
Spinefarm Records – and on 14th of May I found myself sitting at
one restaurant in Helsinki, and Tarja Turunen, the absolutely
wonderfully talkative and easy-going front lady of Nightwish,
was sitting in front of me on the other side of a small table. I
put my tape recorder rollin´ and started inquiring a a few
things from her about the new album, touring plans, and
basically trying to overall cover all those things that have
raised some sort of curiosity in my own mind as far as both
Nightwish as a phenomenon, and also Tarja as a person, are
concerned.
So ladies and gentlemen… ONCE, by the words of Tarja Turunen
respectively – and just much more...!
I heard ´an odd rumor´ that you Nightwish might
have a new album coming out even relatively soon... (!)
Excuse me, but I´m quite not following you now... What
´rumor...´?!
(*both Luxi and Tarja burst into laughing*)
Ok,
let´s continue a bit seriously now. There are two weeks
remaining before the official release (in Finland) of
Nightwish´s new album titled ONCE. What kind of expectations do
you have about your album concerning how it will be received
amongst Nightwish fans around the world?
Oh my God... I´m mingled with fear, ha-ha!! No, just kidding.
Of course it gives me some chills to think what people will
think of it when they get a chance to hear it. With this
particular album, I´m especially very excited about at the
moment because out of all Nightwish albums I´m personally most
satisfied and happiest with ONCE so far. I would be lying if I
said the rest of the band wouldn´t think the same way. So yeah,
I must say that I actually feel pretty confident about this
album and hopefully our fans would like the album and appreciate
all our efforts we put into it, too. This is the first time for
me personally when I can proudly say I´m 100% satisfied with my
vocal parts on this album specifically. Now I feel like my voice
on ONCE is as natural and relaxed as it can be in the first
place and I don´t sound ´forced´ or ´artificial´ as I partly
tend to sound on our previous albums. And this is actually what
I have tried to achieve for Nightwish albums for so many years
already. First of all, keep in mind this once so little and
fragile girl who started studying classical singing, has grown
up A) from that little girl to a woman during the whole career
of Nightwish. I was very young when I started in Nightwish as a
vocalist. Then B) this little girl has matured and progressed as
a singer during all these years in Nightwish and right at the
very moment I could say that nothing seems to be impossible for
me any more as far as some certain vocal techniques and stuff
are concerned. I have pretty much achieved many those things
vocal-wise what I actually have been looking for all these years
for my singing. I feel really comfortable with my vocals on ONCE
for the very 1st time in Nightwish and that´s the thing what
makes me really happy.
Quite a many (media) people both here in Finland and
abroad have been privileged to hear ONCE in advance and so far
what I have heard or read, it has already become very evident
that people consider ONCE as your best album to date and
actually no one has said a bad word about it. And even I
personally think that using such words as ´great´ or ´brilliant´
or ´amazing´ to describe how I feel the album, is a bit ´lame´
and just does not do enough justice overall for the songs on
it...
Thank you... thank you! It´s wonderful to hear those kinds of
words about it!!
I love it!! I really do... But anyway, one of the facts
behind this album is, a relatively good bunch of ´outsider´
people; all those supporting invisible forces who have
constantly been working for Nightwish for your success, really
seem to believe in a true potentiality of this album in order to
give you an ´extra push´ for the next level on your way toward
even more successful times.
We
have a new international record company outside of Finland
releasing ONCE all around the world and we are one of their most
important, top priority bands these days. So just like you
already said it, there´s a really huge marketing strategy behind
us right now as far as ONCE is concerned. It´s been really
wonderful to notice that something in this ´big´ scale is really
happening to us right now. It kind of works out as an ´extra
fuel´ to us and gives us lots of self-confidence for sure
without doubts as we know lots of people truly believe in us
what we do. I think it´s also that kind of capacity for us a
certain way that has never existed so strongly for us before.
Everyone of us must be truly grateful and happy that we have
reached a bigger step with each of our release so far during our
career to reach a wider audience for our side. CENTURY CHILD as
an album, was sort of a channel for each of us to discharge some
stress and frustration. I have to say that quite a big amount of
stress and negative pressure was unleashed through that
particular album; it was a very dark album all in all now when
thinking of it afterwards. As for ONCE, when Tuomas started
working with the songs for it, he started doing the wholeness
for it from a grass (roots) level, giving a birth for the songs
on it in a good and positive mood. And all that really shows on
this album as I feel like this album is everything what we have
been trying to find with Nightwish musically. ´The whole
package´ seems to be working now... and by that ´package´ I of
course mean both the band and people behind us feel that finally
we are approaching together toward something where we all firmly
believe and have 100% trust to.
CREATING SOMETHING...
´MONSTROUS´ CALLED “ONCE”
What was the most challenging thing to you personally when
thinking of the whole making of ONCE? Has it has become sort of
a trademark for Tuomas by now, he just never underestimates his
skills to write either ´too-taken-for-granted´ song structures
or lyrics for Nightwish, so didn´t you have any problems to fit
your vocal parts to some of his songs that probably felt kind of
tricky or complicated at first either structure – or lyric-wise?
Hmm... that´s a quite hard question... now let me think for a
second. Well, according to some of my principles in general,
when I should go a studio and lay down my vocal parts to some
new song, I always tend to talk with Tuomas in what kind mood I
probably may be at that day. The basic rule for me personally to
sing songs that Tuomas has written, depends on my mood really.
If I may a bit angry or frustrated or even aggressive, then it´s
always easier for me to try out some of those heavier and more
aggressive songs by nature that he (Tuomas) has written. If I
feel tired or somehow lazy, then there´s even not much point to
try out those types of songs in the first place you know what
I´m saying? But of course Tuomas also writes songs where I
should try to change my singing style from more mellow vocal
parts to more aggressive vocal parts, so in that sense I just
have to give the best out of me, no matter what mood I may be
at. For example the 9th song on ONCE called “Ghost Love Score”
is the type of a song which demanded me a lot because the song
has three different parts that are very different from each
other structure-wise – even in those three different parts
there´s many minor little parts where I had to change my singing
style from one type of mood to another type of mood and that was
quite a task in itself. People should keep in their minds that
my voice is only one instrument amongst other instruments and
using my voice its own separate instrument is quite challenging.
I honestly think that with this album for the very first time in
my life, I have better managed to become ´one of the
instruments´ in Nightwish´s music than with any of our previous
albums, without thinking too much that there´s my voice versus
an arsenal of other instruments on ONCE. But I do also confess
that ONCE was more challenging album to me personally to fit my
vocal parts in for sure. But as I think I managed to stay in an
amazingly positive mood during all these months when we were
recording the album, it turned out to be kind of an easy album
for me to do after all. Probably one of those things that made
it such an easy album for me this time, was the fact I wasn´t
forced to be in the studio from early 10AM to 10PM; it was more
like being in the studio for example from 10AM to 1PM for me,
ha-ha!! I may have sung my vocal parts to 1 or 2 songs only at
maximum in a day. And that was the biggest difference compared
to my own working methods of the sessions of our previous album
CENTURY CHILD.
So you spent drastically much more time in the studio when
you were working on with your vocal parts for CENTURY CHILD...?
Yes,
I can say I did. Overall the recording sessions for CENTURY
CHILD had much more frustration involved in them and nothing
seemed to come out as effortlessly and painlessly as for this
new album of ours. Of course I have to admit while we were
recording CENTURY CHILD, I was suffering from some health
problems as well. I was very sick at some point of the recording
and I think it surely had some effect on my vocal performances
on that particular album. I never felt that comfortable with my
vocals on CENTURY CHILD when I was singing them for that album.
I was kind of seeking constantly ´the right formula´ to get my
vocal parts sung for CENTURY CHILD and that was quite hard for
my, I must say. Luckily I eventually knew what type of vocal
parts the songs on CENTURY CHILD needed from me even if it took
some time from me to go there. On ONCE everything was simply
much easier for me due to a number of things.
Did you have to do any compromises for ONCE as far as your
vocals are concerned? I mean, did some of your thoughts and
visions about some vocal parts differ from those what Tuomas had
originally been thinking for some certain songs?
He-he... now when you are asking this, there´s one song on
the album which caused some serious conversation between him and
me. That song in question was “The Siren”. There´s some chanting
parts in that song that, believe me or not, have been done by
me, ha-ha!! Both Tuomas and me were thinking that this song
missed something; something that could be sort of reflect some
Middle Eastern vibes musically. Then I started, kind of like for
my own fun, imitate some Eastern type of signing which I had
never done in my life before, kind of my own speaking voice
yelling to Tuomas: “Hey Tuomas, what if I sang this way... ”.
And right from that very second Tuomas commanded me: “That´s
EXACTLY what this song really needs...!! Now where the hell is a
tape recorder... and microphone, etc!”, ha-hah! So that Eastern
type of part turned out very improvised and spontaneous way for
that particular song and I´m actually quite surprised myself
that I was capable of creating that type of thing for it like
out from nowhere. I guess many people may not even realize that
it´s actually me behind that voice when they get a chance to
hear the song. I really am very proud of that specific part
myself.
And then you had this so-called “London Session Orchestra”
on this album that contains over 50 professional classical
musicians. Bringing it in for the album as its own separate
instrument didn´t cause any ´xtra´ troubles to you personally to
get your vocals to fit into the songs and especially into those
many orchestrated parts?
No, not at all. On the contrary, I felt like it was a real
pleasure for me to sing my vocal parts right into the middle of
everything as most of the melody lines were already there and
Pip Williams, the conductor of the orchestra, kind of knew
already in advance what kind of vocal parts these songs
arrangements would demand from me as a matter of speaking.
Tuomas and Pip worked really hard for these orchestrated parts,
so the table was kind of already served for me when it came my
turn to add my vocals into this massive wholeness. In fact, 4
songs out of the all songs on ONCE, were already completely
finished when I entered the studio to sing my vocal parts for
them. So it was absolutely wonderful surprise for me to notice
how easily and painlessly I got my vocal parts into the songs on
this album. In my opinion all the orchestrated arrangements of
the songs have been done perfectly thinking of the band´s needs
and overall expectations how the songs should be like musically.
MARCO HIETALA, AN EVIL & BAD
MOTHURFUCKER...
Marco
Hietala surely brings his own welcomed contrast to this album –
as he did on CENTURY CHILD already for the first time. What have
you learned sharing and singing songs with him now when you are
much more experienced with sharing vocal lines with Marco? I
guess you are pretty much used to it and feel the presence of
his voice comfortable nowadays?!?
Yes. But I have to tell you that when Marco was introduced to
me for the first time as Nightwish´s 2nd vocalist, I honestly
felt very nervous about it. And that´s the truth, he-he! Just
imagine a situation where Marco sits in a studio, behind
monitors and on the other side of the glass of a mixing room and
I should prepare to singing in the front of him. I was thinking
back then for the first time: “Oh my Holy... whatever! Now
please get out of here and QUICKLY if possible...!! ”. But
eventually I luckily didn´t tell him to do so, but I think he
also sensed some tension in me in that particular situation for
sure. I was kind scared to sing while he was there present at
the same time, I can tell. I think we should keep in our minds
that we both came from so different circumstances: Marco already
had a respectable long career in some Heavy Metal bands as a
singer/player and I was just learning to do some classical vocal
singing properly. And reflecting all Marco´s experiences to my
short experiences as a vocalist in Nightwish back in the day, I
felt like I was in David´s tiny sandals against Marco´s
Goliath´s boots, metaphorically speaking, of course! Luckily
soon I realized that it´s simply a great idea and experience to
share some vocal parts with him. Marco definitely brought his
own contrast, an additional spice into wholeness and overall he
was a complementary element to other already existing elements
in the sound of Nightwish. Usually Marco´s role in Nightwish is
to bring these, may I say, more ´evil´ vibes into the songs;
he´s the ´bad, evil guy´. And in contrast to Marco´s ´evilness´,
my role is to be that more sensitive, feminine and ´good person´
in certain lyrics and music in this band. What is so great in
Tuomas´ way to arrange songs and write lyrics in my opinion,
they both tend to go hand-in-hand all the time. Also, it needs
to be said about Marco, I feel like Marco also enjoys using his
very masculine voice next to my voice. Now when Marco has
established his place in the line-up of Nightwish, I feel much
comfortable and secure in a live situation when someone is also
there helping me out with some vocal parts. I do consider it as
a true advantage for myself. I think Marco supports me very much
nowadays in a live situation as now it´s not only me who sings
there. His support to me is very precious indeed; even when I
have a bad day for some reason or the other, he´s the one I can
always turn to and talk him whatever may bug me. He always
manages somehow to find those supportive words to me and cheep
me up out from that bad mood.
What I personally find so cool now in Nigtwish´s music
nowadays, is this strong and occasionally even a very huge
contrast that can be created in the songs of Nightwish by using
both your and Marco´s voices in very different and effective
ways. Marco´s voice basically fits very well into those types of
atmospheres where Nightwish want to sound dark, mean and nearly
violent whereas your voice, generally speaking, fits into
everything from mellower to calmer to ballad types of parts
incredibly well in my opinion. Two totally different voices
definitely open new opportunities to Nightwish to expand its
sound even further...
Yes, I just couldn´t agree with you more!! To have both a
female and a masculine voice in the same band, gives us a whole
new view to look into all those opportunities ahead of us for
us. Now we are not so limited to my voice only, like I said
earlier, Marco has brought more depth and new opportunities to
bring this thing even further musically which is only a positive
thing for this band.
IN ORDER TO SING LIKE AN
ANGEL...
Talking about your gigs a little bit here as well... Now
when you have an album full of new songs ready, it also may
automatically mean that your live sets may get a bit longer and
if they are meant to get longer, it also may put your voice to a
tougher and harder test when you hit the road again. I have to
wonder how on earth you are able to keep your voice in
good condition and unbreakable during these long tours, gig
after gig, night after night, etc.?
You tell me, he-he!!
I bet every professional singer who has been trained to
sing opera, must take care of his/her voice constantly;
otherwise you are in trouble with your voice eventually...
That´s true. I need to keep my voice in a good fit all the
time. It´s a self-evident truth for me personally that since I
started singing opera and learning different and useful
techniques to use my voice as professionally as possible, one of
the most important things is to make sure you are able to sing
effortlessly. Being a singer has become a way of life to me and
being aware of that is at present all the time there for me.
When we are on tour, it´s quite difficult for me to follow all
those rules what comes to my normal daily routines concerning
overall work, food, sleep, etc.. I mean, in my own private life
I don´t go to bars every second night for just hanging out. And
when we are on tour, I try to avoid smoky places as much as it´s
only possible and try to sleep enough and eat properly and
regularly during all these tours. I have learned to know what´s
good to me when I´m on tour with this band. For example, a
stomach´s well-being is a very important thing for a singer. I
have to tell you that my own stomach has constantly been causing
some troubles to me – and especially on tour. When you travel a
lot, tour a lot and get tired eventually, I start feeling like
my body becomes a foam rubber, so you can only imagine how
difficult and hard it may be for me to sing when this kind of
annoying situation hits me. When you are singing opera, you body
simply must be as flexible as possible without feeling any kind
of stress or tension in your body. Otherwise it´s very unlikely
that you are able sing properly. When being stressed, it has a
negative effect on your voice and when feeling tired, it has a
negative effect on your body again. So with all these symptoms
together, you are only able to use one thirds out of your voice
capacity at maximum. And it feels really so bad. I have to say
that I have sacrificed lots of my time just to keep my voice
fit, trying to explain politely to my band mates whom I´m
working with on tours daily basis that my voice, which is a very
fragile instrument, can be damaged so easily by many things
around me. I have explained to them that I need a bit different
conditions for me on tours because if there´s like a half dozen
people around me (for example) in a tour bus and everyone smokes
close by me, then it just simply has a destructive effect on my
voice in a long run. Singing two hours in a row at 11-12PM, when
you normally should go to sleep in your private life, is so huge
physical experience for me that there simply must be a certain
kind of special conditions for me when touring. Touring and
living on the road, is a very hard thing to do in itself. You
should maintain a certain positive mood in you all the time ´coz
it´s a part of a good promotion. Also there´s certain rules how
I should be dressed when seeing and meeting fans on tours as
it´s a part of this whole circus as well as far as promotional
purposes and values are concerned. It´s kind of an exhausting
life both mentally, but also physically all in all as you should
take so many things into consideration at the very same time.
Keeping my voice in a good shape during the tours depends on how
I sleep, what I eat and how I manage to avoid and keep away from
certain things that may cause some troubles to my voice. It´s a
really long list of things, but it´s all essential and necessary
for my voice without doubts...
Are you able to sing when you have flu, by the way...?
I just almost recently sang in two classical concerts in
South-America and I was suffering from a very bad flu at that
time. I avoid talking as much as possible as it was tough for me
in that condition, but luckily I still managed to sing in those
two concerts. In fact, there´s a big difference between talking
and singing. Namely talking in itself is much harder for one´s
voice than singing actually. Especially singing classical music
is healthier for one´s voice than talking to someone with a
normal voice.
What´s the most difficult thing overall to sing the way
you do - for example, reaching the highest octaves or
something...?
No, not at all... Actually reaching your own harmonious and
stable well-being, that is. When you are performing as an opera
singer, you also have to be natural with yourself and with the
whole situation. In order to reach that, it normally takes many
years to become one with that kind of situation where you are
supposed to perform in the front of 1000-or-so people. It simply
isn´t that easy as one could imagine in the first place. If
there´s some tension in your body while performing, it´s nearly
impossible to sound natural. And learning to sound natural, it´s
the most difficult process which takes years – and it has taken
even years from me to learn that. This also varies on a daily
basis, depending on where you perform or in what mood you are at
that time, for example. Last week I had a concert in Romania and
since then I haven´t been training my signing at all. Even this
week´s break is too long for my voice and I should start
rehearsing my voice again soon in order to get it back into good
shape. If you don´t train your voice regularly for a quite long
while, then your talent to be able to sing, gets rusty. That´s
how it simply goes...
So it could be compared to training 110-metre hurdle, for
example. Without training it you kind of forget how to run
fast...
Yes, exactly! Without training your skills, you unfortunately
cannot go too far. I always tend to train my voice during tours
as much as it´s possible because to learn signing properly is a
continual learning process in my opinion.
´ICONS´ OR ´ IDOLS´ - WHAT
ARE THEY?
Do you have any sort of ´icons´ or ´idols´ as far as some
opera singers are concerned? I think I haven´t read even one
interview ever where you could have mentioned that you admire
some opera singers by name or give some credit for them for
being sort of an influence for your own vocals...
I have to say that I don´t have any certain models if we keep
this restricted to some opera singers only. I honestly think I
have worked pretty alone in order to reach all that what I have
become as an opera singer. Just thinking of Nightwish alone and
me as a part of it, I think this certain formula that we have in
Nightwish, is pretty unique after all. There´s no other band
around these days that could sound like from us in my opinion.
Of course I have to admit there are really wonderful singers
amongst classical singers nowadays who I do admire and
appreciate a certain way; the way how they sing and their
ability to be so versatile talented within their style of music.
I have a huge arsenal of classical - and opera music at home;
lots of different female singers that I love to listen to when
I´m at home. I have to confess that I´ve been collecting a
certain type of singer´s music for my own collection that kind
of remind of my own voice a bit. But back to your original
question, I do not have any ´idols´ THAT way as people often
tend to think.
I was wondering, have you ever even tried to rip some
parts from some other singers, let´s say for pure experiment´s
and new challenge´s sake, just to see whether you might be
capable of singing the same way as some of these certain
singers; doing something that you have never tried out with your
own voice before?
Well, let me tell you something. My own singing teacher who
is a Japanese woman and has been teaching me in Germany, she has
a very special and distinctive voice by herself, and when I
heard her voice for the very first time, I kind of realized that
it would be totally absurd if I ever even tried to achieve some
traces or tones out from her voice into my own voice because
almost every singer in this is world, is so different from each
other and everyone has a very special and personal voice of her
own, so copying or trying to imitating her voice would just be a
sheer impossibility for me. Of course you can listen to other
singers more thinking of how they sing technically and so on,
kind of giving you a clue that it´s also possible to sing this
and that way – in a way allowing for myself to try out the same
thing if it can work out for me as well. Maybe it just doesn´t
work out for me the same way, but there´s no harm trying
something out even just for curiosity. But like I said,
imitating someone´s voice, is a whole different thing and most
often it is a failed attempt for any singer to sound like some
other singer on this planet.
“CREEK MARY´S BLOOD”
Now if we return back to ONCE, have you already possibly
noticed that there´s some song on this album which pleases you
more for some reason or another than some other songs on it and
can you find any reasons why it is so? When I talked to Tuomas
about two months ago, for him it was “Creek Mary´s Blood” due to
this certain and very special atmosphere in it...
I was just about to say that particular song HAS it all; this
very special atmosphere simply reeks from it! I honestly have no
idea that it also is Tuomas´ favorite song off the album as we
overall haven´t been talking to each other that much about the
songs on it. Ha, in fact we have even been doing interviews when
both of us have been in different rooms, so there really hasn´t
had much chance for us together to talk about the album yet. So
I must say that I really look forward to go to our hometown
Kitee with other guys to play our album release show 22nd of May
2004 because at least then we will have a good chance to talk
about the songs on it; how they feel the new songs and overall
what kind of other thoughts they have toward ONCE. But I have to
say that my favorite song on ONCE right at the very moment
“Creek Mary´s Blood” as well. John “Two-Hawks” brings a really
special and unique feeling into that song, so it´s hard to not
like that song. In my opinion it´s breathtakingly beautiful song
and it has basically all the elements that a song needs on the
whole. It has a really nice beginning, a great ending, a very
pompous performance of the ´London Session Orchestra´ and all
those harmonies in this song are what Nightwish is all about
100% musically. I think John´s contribution for that song really
spices the whole song up. Without his excellent contribution in
this song, the song would offer so much less to a listener. I´m
very amazed by his guest appearance in it and I really love this
song very much myself. It´s such a song in my opinion it even
might work out as late night music for some Nightwish before
they go to sleep. It has a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere and
it really fills you up with a good spirit and a good feeling, I
think.
I remember Tuomas telling me that he flew all the way from
the States to Finnvox studios and did all that what he did for
the song at Finnvox studios. Did you have a chance to meet him
when he was visiting here in Finland?
Unfortunately for my great loss, I wasn´t in Finland at that
time. But Tuomas has shown me some pics from him and told me
many things about him via email. I was in Argentina back then
and got a couple of emails from Tuomas where he told how great
and really a cool dude this John was. It would have been nice to
meet him face-to-face, though.
In my opinion bringing him onto this record was actually a
very clever move from Tuomas ´coz I think this was the first
time from any Heavy Metal band to bring this type of a ´special
spice´ onto an album; and even this successful way as it can
clearly be heard in “Creek Mary´s Blood...”
I agree totally with you!! Also, I think even for many people
that read about this via press kits, interviews, etc., may get
them even more excited and curious about us – and eventually
they want to kill their curiosity about this John´s guest
appearance in this particular song by finding out themselves how
this song is like actually.
Could you honestly claim that the songs on ONCE represent
that type of Nightwish for you personally that you have always
wanted to do most as far as the songs musical ingredients are
concerned?
Absolutely...!! I can fully subscribe to that. In all its
heaviness, it´s truly that kind of Nightwish I wanna hear more
from this band in the future. I really do enjoy when Emppu
churns out some of those damn heavy and shredding guitar riffs
in some songs on ONCE as every time when I hear them, they go
right through into my spine and give me some chills. I have to
say I have learnt to like that type of stuff little by little;
that kind of heavy sound, I mean. To be real honest with you, I
have been longing for those types of things into Nightwish´s
sound for quite a long time as a matter of speaking. I have
always felt that ´something´ has always missed from our previous
albums and now he has got it finally on ONCE. And that feels
very good, I can tell. The whole album is so much better than
anything what we have done before; all those different and
varied things on ONCE simply make it one massive wholeness.
There are so much different things on ONCE that it´s sometimes
hard for me to understand they are all there actually.
Tuomas even told me that during the recording, they almost
had some problems to get everything recorded for ONCE as the
studio equipments´ capacity wasn´t originally meant to capture
this much stuff for just one album...
Ha-ha... that´s right. I felt almost sorry for the guys while
they were there and pondering anxiously how on earth they get
everything done there as they had originally planned. Couldn´t
say I could have envied them a bit, he-he!!
FROM EVANESCENCE TO
EUROVISION – HUH...!!
I remember very well the times when Nightwish became a
more known band everywhere in the world when you released your
2nd album called OCEANBORN. It´s surely one of the cornerstones
on the whole career of Nightwish and having a real opera singer
in the band brought even more attention and publicity for
Nightwish without doubts. After that, even some others also
thought that it would be a cool concept to start a
Metal–orientated band because Nightwish had become a quite
popular band amongst the Metal listening audience and a few
hundred thousands of your albums were sold worldwide. This was
especially noticed in the States where
´this-one-female-fronted-band-called...´ came from
eventually....
Just please tell me no more, ha-ha-hah...!!
So what do you think of them honestly... I mean
Evanescence?
Well... hmm... I see it as a rather positive thing after all,
even if I need to point out they have simply nothing to do with
Nightwish´s music. They do a very different thing musically
compared to us and I also need to say they are more like a
´product´ in the true sense of the word that was built up by
media when the time was right for their type of band. And with
that massive promotional organization they had behind them at
that time, it was never meant to fail. The timing was absolutely
right for them – and nowadays they have become a damn huge name
all around the world. But it´s only a positive thing because it
seems that finally people are not thinking that conservative way
in the music business any longer. And hopefully this more
open-minded thinking amongst people in this business is here to
stay from now on, keeping the doors open for bands similar like
them, y´know. I think that there are always some closed doors
inside the world of music that just need to be opened by new
bands in order to achieve something different and unique
musically. For example, we have been quite a ´gate crasher´ here
in Finland by our very distinctive sound as there are no other
bands around here in Finland that could sound like us. Just
think of all those other Finnish (metal) bands that have also
done something unique musically much before Nightwish that have
also succeed in doing their own thing without copying or ripping
off some other bands musically. I think this is one of the
strongest reasons for all that why Finland is such a known
country globally as a very Metal–producing country. As long as I
can remember, people are always asking what on earth we Finns
have in our drinking water because we have always had so many
talented and successful Metal bands coming from our country
through many years already.
I really cannot do anything else, but completely agree
with you Tarja because I have been wondering the same thing
myself for many years already. There just MUST be something in
there, in our drinking water, I mean, heh! I honestly think that
the Finnish Metal scene is damn strong, unique, and especially
very varied these days and I´m sure many will surely subscribe
my statement without any hesitations. And that leads me toward a
bit sadder music related topics. Isn´t it quite a pity that
apart from our largely known and strong Metal scene, everything
non-Metal related as far as music overall coming out from
Finland is concerned, doesn´t arouse screaming storms of
applauses amongst people in other countries. Well, just think of
our ´glorious´ achievements in Eurovision Song Contest over the
past few years or so...
Oh my... don´t even remind me, ha-hah...!!
Hah... I just couldn´t avoid the temptation. You were
easily nominated as No.1 Finnish act a few years ago by the
Finnish people when people got a chance to vote their favorite
artists in advance via phone. But the highly respected (!)
judges didn´t have the balls to send Nightwish to this
competition... and as a result, Finland, as a musically isolated
and abandoned country, continued crawling on this already
familiar miserable path into an eternal oblivion again... poor
us Finns.
Oh yes, I remember that very clearly. Our song “Sleeping Sun”
was one of the nominees for Finland and just like you mentioned,
it was chosen as No.1 song out of all nominees by majority of
votes given by the Finns. It still was a good experience for
Nightwish in this kind of ´questionable´ song contest, but
eventually I think I should be glad that we weren´t chosen to
represent Finland to that particular song contest (which was
arranged in Gleben Arena, Stockholm, Sweden in 2000) because
those type of competitions have not been meant for a band like
us. The positive thing was that we got a great bunch of new fans
for Nightwish by the help of that song, so in that sense it was
worth it. But all in all the whole Eurovision Song Contest is a
plain joke for me personally; a big and laughable joke if I can
be this honest with you. And I believe many other Finnish people
seem to consider it nowadays as a joke only. Even this year the
Finnish tradition to be one of the poorest countries music-wise,
was continued by ´a-song-I-refuse-to-remember-right-now´. I just
came to Finland and just missed this competition in question for
like 30 minutes when I opened TV at the hotel. I think it´s
actually a very hilarious entertainment to watch them and it´s
odd to think how many people watch them every year all over
Europe – like 200 hundred million people watch them every year.
It´s simply just amazing...
Alright, just FUCK Eurovision now... let´s get back to
this new Nightwish album. As I already mentioned earlier, what
has become quite evident by now according to some advance
comments about ONCE, many actually think that this new album of
yours is kind of is supposed to be Nightwish's ultimate
breakthrough album; or if it isn´t, then nothing won´t be! How
do you feel about this type of comments yourself? Does it give
to you any extra pressure, any extra heartbeats to think that
way?
I would be lying if I denied it completely... Of course it
does! But we have put so much money into this that we
realistically don´t have any other choice, but believe that all
our efforts will pay for us eventually. We simply have to
believe in the potentiality of this album; there´s not much
other choice for us after all, or is there? Also, when all the
marketing people truly seem to believe in this album, of course
it creates some extra pressure toward us, too. But I have to say
that all those people that have been working with us with this
new album, have been really supportive and encouraging to us so
far. It´s still a funny feeling that even if they believe and
trust us so much and we should have nothing to be worried about
at all, all this trust from these people toward us still kind
creates some pressure for the whole band and that´s exactly that
thing what us so excited about the new album. If this album
turned out to be a letdown album from us i.e. it wouldn´t sell
as well as record companies behind it expect it to sell, then it
would be a shattering disappointment for everyone involved with
this for sure. The way artists usually seem to think is that at
least they have done their best and if that won´t pay off for
them, then it´s their fault even if that´s exactly how it is
not.
It´s all about how a certain product is marketed today;
the more promotion a certain release gets, the better chance
there is to make it available for all those potential people
that may even buy it...
Exactly!! A properly and well-done promotion means incredibly
much, I totally agree with you!! On the other hand, I think
right now we have such an album in our hands that really has a
very good change to be the most successful album in our career
thus far; I honestly think that this even may be a potential
breakthrough album for us. It´s a great album in so many ways in
my opinion and definitely the best Nightwish album we have been
capable of creating during our career so far. But despite of
this – and like Tuomas has stated sometime, everything that
matters to us is the fact we know that we have done our best
with this album and as long as this fact pleases us, we should
not let any other people ruin that spirit for us or let them put
us down even if it wouldn´t sell as much as people in general
seem to expect it to sell in the long run. The pressure
certainly is at present there all the time as far this thing is
concerned, but we shouldn´t care for it a bit. What may come,
comes, but if that won´t happen, then... oh well.
However, in all fairness it would be kinda ´utopia´ or
even ´absurd´ to think if your new album belly-landed totally...
Well, of course I think the same way, but when speculating
with that thought, it´s somewhat impossible to think or deal
with that type of negative thoughts right now because it´s not
even out yet. I guess we need to wait a few more months before
we are all wiser concerning this how well or badly it was
received by our fans around the world. Like I said earlier, we
have done everything possible from our side for the album and we
all feel very secure and comfortable with this album. If that´s
not enough, then there´s simply nothing we could do for it any
more. But feeling this great toward the album as everyone of us
is doing right at the very moment, pleases us enough for sure.
It really pleases us so much and I hope our fans will get
pleased the same way by that album.
RELEASE GIG IN KITEE –
HOMETOWN OF NIGHTWISH
You will have your album release party in Kitee Icehall,
22nd of May 2004. What are some of your top feelings about it in
advance?
Oh no...!!! I´m really very much thrilled about it in advance
already, I can openly confess that for you now!!
I just saw the press kit for that event and noticed that,
according to your opening time, you should start playing at 8.30
PM and the ending time for the concert was 00:30 AM?! So I
assume there must be some error there on that press kit, right?
I guess you won´t be playing that long set, though...?
What? Seriously...?! There must be some misunderstanding
there then. We will play a long set – that´s already for sure,
but 4 hours... no way!! In that case it seems like someone has
screwed the ending time for our set on that information letter.
So are you going to play all the songs from your newest
album ONCE at that night?
No, not all of them as right now it´s simply a plain
impossibility for us to perform all of them live due to some of
the most orchestrated parts in our new songs, but we´ll anyway
play 6 new songs off ONCE. And of course we are also going to
play sort of ´best of´ set, containing songs from each Nightwish
album we have done thus far. I think we have a good set coming
up for our record release gig that should please most of the
Nightwish –fans for sure. It´s been a while since we have played
last time, so it will surely be a very special gig for all of us
and even that´s why all of us may probably feel a bit nervous
about it in advance, but certainly a positive way.
Also as Kitee is considered as Nightwish´s hometown for
most of you, it also must add its own ´special´ feel all over it
even more...
Yes, that´s right. It´s also great to know at this point that
many people from some other countries will arrive to this little
town called Kitee just to see us playing there. For example,
when I went to Argentina to do a concert there, I managed to
speak to some local persons there and they told me that they
will fly over to Finland to see our record release gig and that
really proves that we really do have some very devoted Nightwish
fans probably in every corner of this world which is fantastic
in my opinion.
What´s actually the whole capacity of that Kitee Ice Hall?
How many people can be pulled in before it can be considered
sold-out?
Well, as far as I know, over 3500 tickets have been sold so
far and there´s 200-300 tickets more still left, so I suppose
maximum capacity will be near by 4000 people or something...
As you have lots of experience performing in the front of
thousands of people when doing gigs both with Nightwish and your
own classical concerts all around the world, could you say that
nowadays when you walk onto a stage, you are secure and
confident about yourself that you are not afraid of performing
or don´t feel any shy even if the whole concert hall would be
packaged by thousands of people?
Yes, I feel very confident every time when I go and perform
to all those people when doing concerts. If I lost that feeling
and felt nervous to perform to all these people, it just would
not work out for me. I remember that back in the early days I
was kinda nervous to go there and I always had to go through
each song from our set alone in my mind beforehand for a concert
in order to avoid any mistakes as much as possible I may have
done during the concert, trying to find a moment of
concentration for myself before going onstage. I have maintained
my professional attitude toward a concert situation because
that´s my job and I get paid for that. I just never take our
(/my own) concerts lightly or underestimate our audience.
Never... All the actual preparing to perform, thinking all those
different faces amongst the audience, etc., it really charges
your own batteries and when performing onstage, I always try to
give the very best out of me for them. Also, it´s always very
important even for myself that I never go onstage when I have a
bad mood ´coz it will ruin your performance. I myself have
experienced and seen bands that have played for their audience
when having a shitty feel inside a band and they cannot hide it.
They may think that their audience cannot sense that, but they
are wrong ´coz they do. For me personally it would be totally
horrible if I went onstage in a shitty mood because I probably
couldn´t perform in that state of mind at all.
Do you have any sort of methods or ´rituals´ in Nightwish
before the actual show-time where you gather together in some
little corner and try to pump a good spirit in each of you up a
little bit so that everyone would feel great or relaxed before
entering onstage?
Each
of us has very individual ways to concentrate on gigs. Everyone
of us is kind of a hermit in his/her own way, wanting to spend
some time alone before going onstage, but right before that
moment when we are supposed to go onstage and play all those
people in the audience, we tend to hug each other. This ´hugging
thing´ has become sort of routine inside the band during past
few months actually after we have some hard times going on at
one point of time when we were touring for our previous album
CENTURY CHILD. Hugging itself feels so great and that´s what we
always do together before a gig as we always wanna give our best
performance each time for our fans who have attended to a
Nightwish gig. It´s really wonderful to notice that we have
really grown together as a band during all these years and we
all feel that this bondage between each of us is much stronger
and more powerful than it has ever been in this band this far. I
have to say that I´m really anxiously look forward to go on tour
again and play for all those Nightwish –fans all around the
world again even if I know long tours will be again a very
demanding and challenging time for me both physically and
mentally. But even if I know what may be ahead of us, I´m still
very excited to go touring again. Playing in different countries
and cities is absolutely a wonderful experience, I have to say.
“ONCE” CONQUERING THE WORLD
MORE THAN ONCE
You will play a bunch of outdoor festival gigs during this
summer before starting the actual touring for ONCE. One of the
bigger outdoor gigs that you will play this summer, will be the
Dynamo Open Air Festival in Holland 5th of June. Have you ever
been there with Nightwish, by the way?
No, never... Somehow we have always managed to pass that
particular festival for some reason or the other. Seems like our
previous tour schedules have never fit to us in order that we
could have performed there during the previous years. The
beginnings of June's of the past years have been hard periods
for us to get us gigs fit in as it seems. So this will be the
first time for us to go there this year and I have to say that I
really look forward to play there. I think outdoor festival gigs
basically are great to do because huge audiences will provide
you a great feeling to get started touring for indoor gigs later
on tour.
I checked from your website almost recently that you will
also have your first US/Canada –tour coming up...
Yes, that´s our first tour there, starting from the mid of
August and if I remember correctly we will have 15-or-something
gigs on this US –tour. We have only done some one-off gigs there
before, so this is gonna be our first real tour in the States
and it´s really nice to go to play for all Nightwish –fans
there, too.
And from this US/Canada –tour you´ll return back to Europe
again and continue touring on many places of the European
territory...
Yep, that´s right and after that we´ll be heading our way to
South-America again, playing countries like Chile, Argentina,
Brazil and such countries in the fall of 2004.
What about touring in Japan; have you had any talk yet
about touring there possibly during 2005, for example?
We´ll do a tour in Japan next spring...
And that´s ´official...´ info already for any curious
parties or...?!
Eh... (!), let´s just say that it´s being worked for us right
now, he! Also, I´m not sure if I can tell you next thing
´officially´ yet, but we have already been booked 4 gigs to
Australia which is a really cool thing for us, too. Also, as for
this Japanese tour, in the very same breath I can already tell
that we will go to Korea and probably even some other Asian
countries during the spring 2005 as well. I don´t know that for
sure yet, though.
FANS, FANATISM &
OTHER STRONG STORIES FROM THE ROAD...
As
you have been touring with Nightwish to almost every possible
corner of the world, could you mention some special gigs or
countries that have stuck in your mind for some reason or
another? What have been the most memorable ones thus far?
Well, probably for all of us it´s South-America as a whole as
the fans over there are really incredibly devoted and even
fanatical to us. I remember when we were there for the very
first time there, basically having not any kind of expectations
from those gigs, whatsoever – and they really showed
whole-heartedly to us how much they love Nightwish´s music there
and it was all like a big dream for us; a totally incredible
experience for all of us, I have say! When we played those few
gigs there, I can honestly confess that I cried a few times
after the gigs were over. And for all this great feeling I have
to thank all our fans in those countries. I remember that I
always kind of needed to ask from myself: “How on earth can this
be possible...? Is this really happening to us or is this only a
plain dream...?!”. Y´know, all this type of questions... I was
really moved when seeing the audience´s great joy and feeling
the energy and all that noise coming from this massive amount of
people when we played there for the first time. Sometimes I have
had moments when I have been physically so sick that I have been
afraid of going onstage for not knowing whether I am able to
pull off trough the whole set with my voice. Going to a gig when
you are sick, and knowing that you might be able to use somewhat
fully your voice during your set, is always kind of playing on
the edge of your health as it surely is not healthy for my voice
in the long run. When you are sick, you should really spend time
by resting only and making sure you´ll get well first before
continue doing gigs because signing itself is such a physical
thing for myself in the first place. But going to the front of
that many people who are incredibly supportive - even fanatical
toward you right from the very start of your set to the very
end, really gives you an extra dose of fuel and energy to pull
through your own part during a concert. For example when I was a
bit sick in London last time we were there, my band mates told
me after the gig that I was signing like an angel even if they
knew that I wasn´t in my best shape at all. The guys said to me
that I sang probably one of my best sets ever and they were very
much moved by my performance back then. I had lost my voice
totally for talking, but still managed to pull my part off quite
well eventually. And even if I was kinda sick at that particular
gig, the absolutely wonderful and totally supportive crowd
helped me so much to get the best out of myself in that
condition. So all the thanks to all those people who came to see
us there at that night. A good crowd is always a great blessing
nowadays when you have such fans amongst the crowd who really
show their joy and support toward us. I think I even wouldn´t be
here talking to you right at the very moment if things weren´t
the way they are for us right now. We have been a very lucky
band in many ways, I guess.