Nightwish

[Serena]

The door is ajar and you can see Nightwish singer Floor Jansen smiling and saying goodbye to a journalist, one of many she’s been talking to today. Needing a break, she rises from her chair and greets us outside with a firm handshake as she passes.
 
Floor has been with the band for over four years now. The fact that she has been centre-stage through its most successful chapter is no coincidence. It’s something that seems all the more incredible given that she first had to overcome a potentially career-ending health scare.
 
“I am the voice, the translator of these words and emotions, and I feel honoured,” is how she describes her role in the band, and her friendship with songwriter and keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen. “I let it transmit through me, but he is the maestro and it’s due to his brilliance that this band is what it is.”
 
Over six feet in height, Floor’s physical presence could not be more striking if someone had coated her in luminous paint, but she’s not at all intimidating. Her expressive features invite conversation and while she speaks in considered sentences, there’s a joy about her, a love for all this that you can’t see being extinguished any time soon.
 
It’s a crisply cool and clear September day in Helsinki, but the Dutch-born vocalist’s promotional duties have largely confined her to a cordoned off function room at the Finnish capital’s Helka Hotel, into which a procession of writers from all over Europe are being rotated in 20-minute intervals. Tuomas and bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala are on the same schedule in other rooms.
 
They’re here to spread the word about ‘Vehicle Of Spirit’, the Finnish band’s aptly-titled DVD which captures their sold-out Wembley Arena show in its entirety. It also features a jaw-dropping open air headliner in their homeland at which they played to a crowd of 24,000. With the band about to take all of 2017 off and Floor preparing for motherhood next March, it’s also a chance to reflect on what has been - to put it mildly - a remarkable few years.
 
Losing both original singer Tarja Turunen and her replacement Anette Olzon in the space of seven years might have spun an established band like Nightwish into an unrecoverable nose dive. Neither departure was amicable, and few – including this writer – expected them to bounce back a second time.
 
Faced in October 2012 with the catastrophic prospect of abandoning a troubled US tour, the suddenly singer-less band persuaded Floor Jansen to board a transatlantic flight. In 48 frantic hours, she attempted to learn the set before making her debut in Seattle. She hadn’t even heard latest album ‘Imaginaerum’.
 
Had the band approached her a few weeks earlier, they would have found the singer too sick to perform. Successive tours with After Forever and ReVamp had resulted in what Floor rather conservatively describes as “burn out”. Head spinning and body broken, she’d virtually become a prisoner in her own home. It was over a year before she could even venture as far as a local shop. Then she was asked to fly to Seattle to rescue one of Europe’s biggest rock bands.
 
“I had literally collapsed,” she tells me. “I thought it would be a month, but it ended up being a year and a half. I was at home thinking it was all over. The way you feel just before you fall into bed is how I was feeling all the time. It was shit, but I learned a lot, and that has been important because now I work harder than ever. I got professional help, learning most importantly about how I could change my ways. It was a very valuable life lesson. There’s no fast route to recovery, but thankfully I got there just before I joined Nightwish – there was no time in between.”
 
Floor was at sister Irene’s wedding when the call came. She’d known the band since After Forever supported Nightwish back in 2002, but receiving texts from the band’s management wasn’t a regular occurrence. Driving from the church to the party, Floor noticed she’d had a call from Toni Peiju, who manages the band alongside the amiable and Viking-like Ewo Pohjola.
 
“I thought it was weird and couldn’t imagine why Toni was calling. I explained where I was, and asked if it could wait till tomorrow. He said yes, but about 30 minutes later, he texted me. He said: ‘I just want to ask if you could sing for Nightwish on the South American and Australian legs of the tour, because Anette got pregnant and she can’t do those dates’. Anette wanted the band to cancel those legs, but you can’t just call off entire tours, so the band came up with the idea of bringing me in to deputise for her.”
 
Shortly after, as relations with Anette reached breaking point, a second call came. This time they said: ‘Actually, can you come right now?’. “So, off I went to the US. I had no time to prepare, but that was good in a way, because I also had no time to worry about it!”
 
On arrival, Floor could feel “stress in the air”. Although the band and its management made every effort to welcome her, she sensed the blind terror galloping hard on the inside. The only solution was to shut it all out.
 
“It was unbelievably scary. I don’t think I was very grounded, having had such long-term health issues, but I had loved Nightwish for years and to have the chance to join, and to try to fix things – that was great motivation. I couldn’t afford to pay much attention to them and just had to focus on what I was doing. Fortunately I knew a lot of the older songs but I certainly had a big challenge.”
 
Tuomas also has vivid memories of this traumatic but ultimately game-changing chapter in his band’s timeline. Backstage at Madrid’s Barclaycard Arena, the week before the DVD launch in Helsinki, he recalls the radical decision the band had to take.
 
“There was only ever one name in mind. It was just a matter of whether she was up to the challenge, but even after the first soundcheck in Seattle, I knew we’d got it right. I thought ‘if she’s already this good, just imagine where we’ll be in a few months’.
 
“Before the first show I was really confident, but she was nervous. She had to read some of the lyrics from paper which looked really cute, but the audience was very understanding. In fact, a big thank you must go to the fans for their open-mindedness and support. When Floor replaced Anette for those shows, we offered all ticket-holders a refund – and I think only seven took it.”
 
Barely two years later, a reborn Nightwish released ‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’, an intoxicating celebration of life, the planet and our own privileged position upon it. Arena-headlining status swiftly followed.
 
“I’ve always been interested in natural sciences, and I even studied biology for six months,” says Tuomas, explaining the inspiration for the album. “That was my dream as a young kid – not to be a musician, but to become a scientist. When it comes to writing music I’ve always been drawn to more personal or fantastical stuff, but for some reason that I can’t really explain, this felt like the perfect time to bring these other issues to the music.”
 
To instil the required sense of wonder, Nightwish decamped to what they describe as “a cabin” in a remote, rural part of Finland. Here, surrounded by nature, ‘Endless Forms Most Beautiful’ was shaped and recorded. Floor paints a happy picture of this process, remembering how they would spend evenings around a camp fire “eating vegan sausages and discussing the topics on the album.”
 
“I strongly felt we had to do something a bit different,” says Tuomas. “I’d discovered authors like Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Brian Cox, and for a couple of years I didn’t read anything else. I found it so inspiring, and I saw it as a good way to connect all the people in the band. I knew they had also become interested in this, and thought alike.
 
“Not everyone in Nightwish is so keen on fairy tales and Tolkien, but we all had a mutual respect for this subject matter and everyone played their parts with big smiles on their faces. Songs about evolution, songs about religion; this was stuff we could all get enthused about.”
 
Floor says she wasn’t surprised by the subject matter. “In fact, it made total sense to me and I could identify with it, almost as if I had been the one coming up with the ideas,” she adds. “We initially played the songs on the piano. There were melodies and lyrics, and I’d speak with Tuomas about how to phrase them. It was a nice process. He is such a fantastic songwriter and lyricist that it would be arrogant of me to interfere too much – it would be pure ego. However, if I woke up with the most divine melody in my head, it would not be unthinkable for it to end up on the [next] album. He is certainly open to other ideas.”
 
Born on Christmas Day 1976, Tuomas is a thoughtful and artistic man who strikes you as being slightly bemused to be living inside the body of a rock star. Save for the occasional shy smile, he’s not easy to read, but he’s patient, humble and engagingly honest. When not being interviewed, he tends to waft around quietly – there’s a sense of gravitas, a seriousness about him which suggests he feels great responsibility towards Nightwish and everyone involved with it.
 
Inscrutable he may be, but there are oceans within. Take the old classics - the lone wolf sadness of ‘Nemo’ (“my loving heart, lost in the dark”), which made a certain journalist sob like a twat in the squalor at Download. Or the pointedly autobiographical ‘The Poet And The Pendulum’, in which “a widowed writer torn apart by chains of hell” fantasises about his own death before finding hope in a devastating mother-to-son coda.
 
These songs and others like them are today sung with the utmost care and respect by Floor, who also inserts the supercharged emotions they always deserved. During ‘Ghost Love Score’, at the point where Tarja used to wave and walk off stage, Floor instead launches a series of seemingly impossible notes skyward, befitting the song’s climactic final act. “To me, it’s not a Tarja song or an Anette song, it’s a Nightwish song,” she explains. “I never tried to sing them in the exact same way they’d been sung before, but it’s a process, and slowly you make those songs your own more and more.
 
“I knew my own identity as a singer, so that helped me give them a face. I’ve been able to implement my own sound and personality without wanting to copy what had been done already.”
 
There’s a lovely scene in a Dutch documentary in which Floor is shown footage of her parents – their eyes wet – watching her sing ‘í‰lan’ at Tampere, Finland, in front of 24,000 people. It cuts back for a reaction shot of Floor, and she’s in pieces. How is it that she can convey and be affected by such powerful emotions without, as the band’s British multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley puts it, “blubbing” on stage?
 
“I sometimes do,” she sniggers. “It’s a fine line. The thing is, if I get too affected, I can’t sing. I try to let it transmit through me, but then I become very sensitive to what I get back. If I’m already close to feeling it too much and then I see someone ‘blubbing’, I’m gone and I simply have to look away.”
 
The last two years have seen a change of tone, as the music has become less turbulent and more celebratory. Tuomas regards the last album’s 24-minute closing track ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ as his band’s finest achievement. It ends with the mantra “We were here! We were here!”, an attempt to remind us that our very existence is the result of our winning an unlikely genetic lottery.
 
“It’s a positive force overall, I hope,” he says. “It’s a celebration of life; about making the most of your time. I don’t even think we’re living in particularly dark times. We sometimes think we are because the media covers troubling events with such intensity. All kinds of shit is still happening, but in the past there have been more wars and conflict going on than today. It all comes down to education and science. One of my heroes Bertrand Russell said ‘the beginning of wisdom is to see the world as it is, and not as how we wish it would be.’ I think that’s a very wise statement.”
 
This same vehicle of spirit moved Nightwish to go ahead with their Paris show on November 25 last year, even though it came just 12 days after the terrorist atrocity at the city’s Bataclan theatre. With nearly every other touring band calling off their Paris shows, it was a move that won the Finns much respect. “I considered not going for about five minutes,” shrugs Tuomas. “We all wanted to play Paris. It’s not that we didn’t feel for the victims, it was the contrary. It was about making sure that life goes on – you don’t want to send out the message that darkness has won. There was a special atmosphere and for me it was one of the top three shows of the tour.”
 
Floor is especially defiant: “A lot of mostly American bands decided it was too dangerous. No, it’s not! The odds of being killed in a road accident tomorrow are far higher than being killed in a terrorist attack. These suicidal idiots with their bombs want to spread fear, so let’s deny them that.”
 
The band sealed a triumphant year with the now immortalised Wembley show. As you’ll see on the DVD, it ended with the front rows in tears and Tuomas staggering backwards, as if stunned, holding his head in his hands. And that’s before evolutionist and writer Richard Dawkins stepped out to deliver a concluding speech in one of the most memorable – and strangest – endings to a rock gig ever.
 
After another full year of touring, the end of the road has finally been reached – for now at least. Floor and partner Hannes Van Dahl (Sabaton’s drummer) will go home and prepare for family life. The rest of the band – completed by their quiet, underrated guitarist Emppu Vuorinen and drummer Kai Hahto who has been deputising for the unwell Jukka Nevalainen – will go their separate ways.
 
There are only two things that Tuomas will reveal about the future. Firstly, that their calendars for 2018, 2019 and 2020 are already populated with yet-to-be-announced Nightwish activity, and secondly, that the next album will continue the theme established by the last.
 
“I think we got about half way there – there will be more. I think this is probably just part one of the process; we didn’t yet say all we have to say. It is such a vast world of inspiration and we have only just touched the surface.”
 
That said, and perhaps indicative of the need for a break, Tuomas admits that he is “completely empty” and doesn’t have any new material written. “Usually by now I would have five or six songs. I haven’t really felt like doing any, but maybe it will come next year. If it does, that’s great, but if it doesn’t, we are not in any hurry. To be honest, I will be surprised if inspiration doesn’t come next year. I’m not taking any pressure though – that’s the whole idea of having the year off.”
 
Before that comes the wrench of the long goodbye. “It’s going to be emotional by any measure,” he sighs. “I am already feeling melancholy creeping in, but at the same time I’m really looking forward to just being at home with my family. But I love all of these people – the band, the management, the technicians, everybody. It is going to be hard, but a year goes by quickly, and we know the story will continue. We have the plan for the following three years in front of us, and that will keep us sane.”
 
The promised calm waters will be an interesting contrast to the passage thus far. If there’s one thing that has separated Nightwish from other bands it’s the sense of drama. The size of the emotion. The turbulence and the triumph. The book waiting to be written. The film waiting to be made.
 
Nightwish - Floor and Steve
 Floor Jansen with Steve Beebee
 
Since joining the band, Floor has had her arms and right shoulder festooned with colourful, empowering ink, courtesy of Italian tattooist Silvia Pretto. The centrepiece is an owl, a creature almost as symbolic to Nightwish as Eddie is to Iron Maiden. It’s a mark of her transformation from housebound invalid to striding rock colossus. That journey, from darkness to light, is clearly also reflected in how fans experience the music.
 
Erika Althreya from Slovakia went to a Nightwish show in the Czech Republic this year, and was moved to write the following on their Facebook page: “It took me some time to process what I saw. I was standing there covering my tears with shaking hands, feeling every picture, every note, every single second of that show. For the moment there was no band, there were no people, because everything just worked as one and I felt so peaceful, emotional and, I am not afraid to say, divine.”

[Serena]

Otro teaser!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNC_uZ2GeU4

[Serena]

Hello Floor, I am Mattia from Nightwishers!
Hello, how are you?
I’m fine and you? Congratulations for your pregnancy! You are 5 months pregnant, we are so happy for you!
Thank you!

Shall we begin? The DVD is going to be released soon. It will include two amazing shows. Have you already seen it? I am sure you are proud of the band’s performance but is there anythi you would like to change?
Yes, releasing a  DVD and being part of the band, promoting it means that I have seen it! So you ask me if I would want to change something?

Yes if something was wrong, maybe you would have sung something differently?
It’s a weird question, to be honest because we really don’t want to release an imperfect piece of work, so you can assume that when you put something else you are proud of that. And yes I am.

This is your second live DVD with NW, but in this case there are song especially composed for you and your voice. Were you more comfortable with this and do you think this is a better product than Showtime, Storytime?
Approaching a Nightwish song is something that always had my own personal, my artistic imput, whether is an older song or a new one but of course songs that have not been sung by anybody else are more mine, “my songs”. So yes, what makes the biggest difference, more than that is that I have been in the tour from the very beginning from the first note to the last. I think this makes the difference between the two products, I am not more proud of this one instead of the other, because I was very proud of Showtime too. It is about capturing a moment in our lives and our career and now we are at this point.

Also the different location, it’s not a festival it’s more ‘yours’, more intimate?
Yes, of course

Let’s talk about the tour, Italian fans have been very happy because you had 3 amazing concerts in less than a year: Bologna, Rome and Mantova. It never happened before. Do you have good memories of this concerts? Which one you enjoyed the most?
Yes, I do, I can’t really say if I liked one over another, I think all of them were a great fun.

Concerning the meet and greets, you had one for each show, and you had a Masterclass. Is there any special remind you would like to share?
Yes, we had a great time at the meets, nice dudes. If we have any energy left is wonderful get out and met people. The masterclass was my thing, it has nothing to do with Nightwish, of course I was there having a show there. And we had very sweet gifts, I have been able to bring home with me, supernice, nice food, some things around the theme of the album.It was very nice, a very warm welcome from everybody.

Pregnancy doesn’t stop from work, although NW are taking a deserved break you are going to perform with other artists, including Marco for Raskasta Joulua. Since it is a Xmas event you will become the Mariah Carey of metal…
Oh am I? *laugh*

Are you going to perform All I Want For Christmas Is You?
Thankfully no, no. I don’t want to be the Mariah Carey of Metal!!

Good for you, I am not a fan!
Me neither!

How are you preparing yourself for this event? And how excited you are for this?
Well I am studying the songs at home, I got the instrumentals, but tomorrow we will have the rehearsal with the singers so we will go through the stuff. Yeah, I am very excited, I have never done something like this before. With so many singers, I mean. I have done a similar project called… I can’t remember….

…I remember that, because you had to come to Italy too but the date had been cancelled.

Yes, Heavy Xmas? That was cool, but it had nothing to do with Xmas, because anybody played any xmas song. I am generally very cool with Xmas music so it was nice to play into this heavy metal version, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Of course. Speaking of collaborations, you will be a guest singer in the upcoming Ayreon’s album. You have already worked with Arjen, what are the differences between him and Tuomas in the making of an album?
I don’t understand why people wants to make comparisons because they’re such different way of songwriting.

I am NW singer, and the songs are sung mainly by me (and of course Marco), whilst in Ayron, the songs are composed for various voices, Arjen writes several parts and then look for suitable voices. It’s not easy to compare, they are very different persons, but I knew Ayron for ages, since I was 185 or something and I have been guest in multiple of his albums. When he sent me an email asking if I wanted to sing for him in the next album I had no brain because I always enjoyed working for him. He produces quality music and other important artists will join.

In a recent interview, Tuomas talked about a show with an orchestra. Let me tell you that this would be a dream…. Do you think it will be ever possible? Maybe in the next tour? No rush!

Yes, many people have been wondering about this for years, but now it’s not the originality craze anymore. It is not one our main priorities at the moment, but I agree that if it happened, it would be wonderful.

It might be far fetched with you NW commitment, but do you have any plan for you career? I don’t mean with another band, that’s why ReVamp are no longer together, but maybe a solo album?

Yes and no, I don’t have new collaborations, but in 2008 I wrote a rock album with Jorn Lofstad, from Pagan’s Mind. This album has never been published, it was ready and finished but never recorded. A year ago I took it off and though it would be really cool to do something with that music. But my honest ambition at the moment is to become and mum and relax. If I will find any spare time, I could write music. This project has been laying around for year but I don’t really want to make any plan, I will write music when I can. If I can  publish it, maybe this year, good, but nothing is sure.

Last question: what’s in Floor Jansen’s Ipod? Tell us 5 songs you can’t stop listening to lately.

I am more of an album person. I really liked Evergrey’s lates one, in which I sing in In Orbit. I can’t remember the names, I’m terrible… I liked Delain’s last one and the soundtracks of Angels and Demons and The Gladiator.

Thank you so much for your time

Thank you for your support, we hope to see you in 2018

Sure, it’s been an honor

 

[Serena]

– Hola Floor, es un placer charlar de nuevo. Vamos a hablar del nuevo DVD de NIGHTWISH y de otras cosas relacionadas con la banda.

Antes de nada, enhorabuena por tu embarazo. Me imagino que el parón de la banda te servirá para realizar el parto y tomarte y relax y disfrutar de los primeros meses de tu ¿Hijo, hija? Hablando de esas “vacaciones”. ¿Hasta cuándo durará dicho descanso, al menos para ti?

Floor.- Bueno la verdad es que planeamos tomarnos este descanso antes de empezar nuestra última gira. Algunos de los miembros querí­an descansar porque ellos llevan girando 20 años prácticamente seguidos, así­ que hablamos del tema y todos coincidimos en que era una buena idea. Por eso nos hemos tomado todo el 2017 libre.

Debido a esto, planeíé mi vida familiar en torno al descanso, que será exactamente un año y volveremos con NIGHTWISH en 2018.

NIGHTWISH
– Para empezar a hablar del DVD. ¿Por quíé lo habíéis titulado “Vehicle Of Spirit”?

Floor.- Pues hay un amigo del grupo que vino a ver un concierto hace unos años, se quedó tan alucinado con el concierto que nos llamó “vehí­culo del espí­ritu”.

Cuando hicimos este DVD pensamos que ofrecí­a una gran impresión de lo que somos hoy dí­a, con esos dos conciertos especiales que hemos incluido, y se nos ocurrió que ese tí­tulo podrí­a encajar perfectamente con este lanzamiento.

– Incluye dos conciertos de la gira “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” grabados en el Wembley de Londres y en Tampere, Finlandia y material extra de otras ciudades. Es claro que Refleja lo que ha sido la última gira, con temas de discos recientes y muy poco material de los tiempos pasados, pocos “Grandes íéxitos”. Me imagino que cuando la banda decidió hacer el repertorio tendrí­a en cuenta que una gran parte de los fans echarí­amos de menos los “viejos hits” y otra gran parte agradecerí­amos que tocarais “otras canciones, no siempre lo mismo”. ¿Quíé opinas al respecto?

Floor.- Es muy difí­cil encontrar un equilibrio entre todas las etapas de la banda, y por supuesto no podemos complacer a todo el mundo. Pero creo que hay bastantes temas antiguos, desde los inicios del grupo y creo que es un buen equilibrio. Hay que tener en cuenta que estábamos promocionando “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” así­ que es normal que en esta gira haya habido muchos temas de ese disco. Me gusta el repertorio, tenemos una lista de temas estándar con algunas canciones que variamos, así­ que tampoco todos los conciertos son iguales.

NIGHTWISH
– Es cierto que la anterior etapa donde la banda interpretaba muchos viejos temas quedó reflejada en el DVD de Wacken. ¿Es el DVD y concierto que de alguna forma sirvió como reconfirmación de tu integración total en NIGHTWISH?

Floor.- Bueno, creo que eso es algo que tiene que decidir el público cuando vea el DVD y se formen su opinión.

Por lo que a mí­ respecta me siento totalmente integrada en el grupo y me considero parte de la banda.

– Una vez que tú has visionado el DVD completo, ¿con quíé escenas, temas, detalles, actuación te quedas? Ya, ya síé que es complicado, pero siempre hay partes o temas favoritos… ¿Cuáles son los de Floor en “Vehicle Of Spirit”?

Floor.- No lo síé la verdad. Hay muchas canciones de las que estoy muy orgullosa, y hay muchos momentos especiales, así­ que no te puedo decir. Uno de mis momentos favoritos fue en Wembley, cuando Richard Dawkins salió al escenario e hizo su discurso, y tambiíén me gusta cuando sale toda la pirotecnia.

Cuando estoy en el escenario no puedo apreciar muchas cosas, así­ que ha sido divertido ver el DVD.

NIGHTWISH
– De los temas de tu etapa en la banda, ¿cuáles son con los que más disfrutas en directo y con cual o cuales te sientes más identificada?

Floor.- No tengo canciones favoritas, me encanta cada canción y disfruto al máximo de cada concierto. No te puedo decir, sinceramente.

– ¿Y de los temas de la era Annete? ¿Y de los de Tarja?

Floor.- Te digo lo mismo, me gusta el material de la banda y disfruto cantando el tema que sea.

– Con todos mis respeto… En el concierto de Madrid se te notó menos entonada, menos metida en tu papel… Más estática que otras veces, aunque cantaste de maravilla, como siempre, pero…No se… Para mi y para mucho fans, (la mayorí­a) eres la perfecta vocalista para NIGHTWISH y solo hay que ver el nuevo DVD para darse cuenta de su gran valí­a vocal y escíénica, pero la actuación de Madrid fue un poco frí­a. ¿Hubo algún motivo que recuerdes? ¿Quíé sensación tuviste durante y tras el show?

Floor.- No recuerdo que estuviera frí­a, la verdad.

NIGHTWISH
– Volvamos a hablar de ese parón de NIGHTWISH. En ese tiempo, lo lógico es que Tuomas y el resto de tus compañeros usen ese tiempo para componer nuevo material, tomarse un descanso en su vida artí­stica y disfrutar de sus familias, como tú. De todas formas, en ese intervalo, seguro que NIGHTWISH iríéis ideando como será vuestro siguiente capí­tulo como banda…

Floor.- No, vamos a tomarnos un descanso. Cuando te vas de vacaciones no trabajas, y eso es lo que vamos a hacer, no trabajar. Un descanso significa no hacer nada, y ese es nuestro plan hasta que volvamos en 2018 con algo que no hemos anunciado y que es como un secreto. Es algo muy grande que estoy segura emocionará a todos los fans de NIGHTWISH.

NIGHTWISH
– ¿Tienes idea de por dónde irán los siguientes pasos que seguirá NIGHTWISH en el futuro? ¿Habíéis hablado sobre ello? Porque vuestro último disco “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” fue editado el 27 de marzo de 2015 en Europa y el 31 en Amíérica. Ya toca nuevo álbum…

Floor.- No, no puedo decir nada más, porque no hay nada más.

– Despide tu misma la entrevista como quieras…

Floor.- Espero que todos nuestros fans en España disfruten el DVD y confí­o que no todos piensen que estuve frí­a en Madrid.

Rafa Basa

 

[Serena]

Villancicos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXq-l6GB3Bs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QPs70WvxXc

[Serena]

Trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Xr8Zk9_io

[Serena]

Entrevista!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSq8ppBOWVc

[Serena]

Otro trailer!!!

Stargazers @ Tampere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl3t3uzseUw

[Serena]

Más!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=392HEo99VVs

[Serena]

Being able to chat freely with an artist you respect is always an amazing opportunity, and this interview was no exception. I had the chance to talk to Floor Jansen about Nightwish, their upcoming live DVD “Vehicle of Spirit”, Raskasta Joulua, and vocal techniques. The fact that we almost went overtime because we got too absorbed talking about singing should be enough to demonstrate how passionate Floor is about music, and how much thought and effort go into this craft. This interview is filled with interesting antics about Nightwish, being on stage (or behind the stage!), singing Christmas songs and how personal development affects a musician’s journey from the very first vocal lesson to finding a teacher you can connect with. It’s overall an inspirational talk on crossing boundaries, which is eventually what makes metal music so special.

Hi Floor, welcome back to Femme Metal Webzine. How are you?

I’m fine, thank you!

We’re here to talk a little about Nightwish’s latest DVD effort called “Vehicle of Spirit” that features two different sets and shows: Wembley Arena in London and Ratina Stadion, Tampere. How was your approach during this two shows?

We wanted to show the whole face of the Nightwish World Tour, so we indeed have these two full-length shows, but also a whole DVD full of bonus material that we recorded all over the world. It’s very important to state that as well, because it really is about the total picture that we wanted to give. The show in Tampere is the first stadium show of Nightwish ever, in the band’s home country, with 23,000 people, with the biggest stage set that we’ve ever had. That was something we wanted to immortalize, show to the rest of the world. That was the “outside show”. The “inside show” is Wembley, where you have such a different atmosphere. Being the first Finnish band to headline in Wembley Arena also made it special. And then to even have Mr. Richard Dawkins join us… there were some special things that we thought were worth documenting!

The Wembley show sees the participation of Richard Dawkins. How did you convince him to take part in it?

Well, we didn’t need to convince him, actually! We asked him and he said “Yes” (laughs).

That was easy!

Yes! Above expectations!

The title came from a friend of Troy that has defined Nightwish as “a Vehicle of spirit that defies category”. In your opinion, how and in which way has Nightwish, during its 20-year-long career, managed to defy any possible category?

I think that Nightwish has never been afraid to really cross boundaries when it comes to genre. Right from the beginning a lot of styles were integrated and smoothly, throughout the years, this became bigger. To call it a “symphonic metal band” or a “pop band” would not be enough, it wouldn’t really do justice to also say that it’s folk music. In that sense it defies category and we’re not desperate to state this concept. Yes, it’s difficult to put us into some kind of box, and this is the most poetic description of this fact.

I think that’s what makes the music special. That you can’t really frame it in any way.

True!

Something that shines through from the shows (besides everything!) is that your stage presence is magnetic. I also noticed this as a member of the audience myself, but you have the incredible ability to deliver the song through your body as well as your voice and to convey your joy to everyone else, both on stage and to the public. As a long-time fan, but also as someone who has been studying vocal techniques for many, many years – I was at your advanced Masterclass in June – I always appreciated this since the very beginning, but I also wondered how your personal character and your professional training interact. Is there something that helped you in particular to achieve this, during your studies?

I would say yes and no, it’s the same as learning how to sing. You can learn it by taking lessons and by practicing, but you will never become a great singer if you weren’t born with the talent to do it. I don’t want to sound arrogant on that, but I think that for me a part of it came very naturally and a part of it came by studying. I had lessons, but that was many, many years ago. I also had a personal development of being on stage a lot, and then, by coming into Nightwish, I really found my spot there. That’s a natural thing that you also can’t really make, it either works or doesn’t. For us it really did from the get-go, and that also makes you feel more natural. I’ve had this natural connection to the music as well. All these factors come into matter on why it feels – cause it’s always more feeling than fact. But it’s a big compliment actually, thank you very much.

I had the time to give a glimpse to both the 3 DVD and except the third one that is a well-packaged collection of different live performances, the main visual difference that I can get between Wembley and Tampere show is that the first one was mixed in a more “cinematic” way. Maybe it’s only my point of view of how I perceive the show, but what can you share about the post-production and mixing of the recordings?

The whole thing has been a cooperation between the man who has been recording the footage and producing this DVD and who is the same man who did “Showtime, Storytime”, our previous DVD, Ville Lipií¤inen. He really knows how to catch Nightwish, and that goes in cooperation with Tuomas mainly, but also with the rest of the group. We all have been thinking about it, because there’s so much happening on our stage, so what do you want to actually show? You can think about a part of this before recording everything, but definitely as you say in the postproduction you can give it a cinematic element, take your time to stay on one person, don’t just shift the cameras every second because it’s more dynamic. It’s worth looking at someone just a little bit longer. Every step of the way came with a lot of thinking and feeling. Maybe the cinematic element comes from how we are on stage. There’s this theatrical link to it. It is a band on stage, rocking, but there’s more happening and it’s cool that that has been caught on this DVD.

I also feel that the bigger stage enhanced your space and your ability to do more on stage. The pyros and a bigger screen to project on… that also makes it more “bombastic”.

Absolutely, yeah! You wanna catch that, but you also wanna catch that smile on Emppu‘s face or Tuomas, you know, he has such a serious face but there’s a lot happening in his facial expressions that you would totally miss if things would go too fast. Also for me in a way, I do a lot but I don’t see anything when I’m behind the stage, so it was really fun to see so much of what happens when I’m not on stage or what happens when I’m on the right side and the other guys are on the left side, what happens on the screen… and even if you’ve been at the show, you might have been focusing on Tuomas and then Emppu just did this funny thing, or you were looking at the screen and these pyros went off on the other side. It was a lot of choosing in the end, but then it was cool to have all these different camera angles to really give it a very 3-dimensional image.

The next level is going to be virtual reality then!

Indeed (laughs)!

Back in 2012, you joined Nightwish. I know that probably it’s early for any balance, but so far how is this new musical adventure treating you? Is there something that you feel you learned by being in the band and something that the other members have learned from you?

It’s been four years and I’ve learned a lot. They are very experienced musicians, everybody is a bit older, everybody has been spending more time on this earth so I’ve been learning some life lessons there. What we’ve learned from each other is that we have regained trust in each other. To really trust one another in a band, we both – Nightwish and I – had our reasons to have lost our trust on the way, and to regain that trust, things just need to work between people. That partially goes automatic, or it doesn’t – which if it doesn’t, it’s really shit (laughs), but if it does then that’s what you really need to continue. It also comes with the effort of learning from one another, as any other relationship. I always call it a bit of the same as a marriage, when you’re in love things are all good, but it’s always work in a relationship. I think that’s what I learned: when there’s this natural connection with people, it’s worth trusting, it’s worth working on, and it’s a lot of fun! (laughs) And things like, how does Nightwish record? I had no idea! To see Marco work on the harmonies for instance, it was really inspiring. He has such a good ear for those things. To see Tuomas take the lead as a band leader without trying to control everything out of this scared need to be on top of everything. He can let go when it’s okay to let go. A good leader knows when to do that, and also knows when to say “Okay, guys, this is me taking charge right now”. That’s really inspiring. I’ve learned that even the chemistry between people is extremely important. When you see management teams, or teams of people who work in an office together for instance, the more and more they are formed so that the personalities match, so when there’s a leading personality, you also need a following personality. There are types of personalities that work or not work with each other. That’s a super important element in how things can be together. In a band where egos and adoration and all that crazy stuff that we have around us all day matters, it’s important that you know each other well. We know from each other that we’re down-to-earth people and it’s important to keep it that way no matter how big the band is.

Yeah, I was thinking about this, Nightwish has been on tour for so long. It seems, every time I read interviews or see some videos or live reports and you’re all together, I think “Aren’t they tired? They look like they’re having the time of their lives!” even if it’s been months and months.

And we were! You can’t fake that. That really has to do with chemistry. You have to have genuine fun, or it will wear you out. and there will be days that you are tired, or days where the whole band is tired. I know from myself and from the other guys, the shows are always lifting us out of the fatigue. The overall feeling has been so positive that when you have a few days you’re like “Phew, I should have slept a bit longer!”. You’ll get out of it really easily because of the chemistry and because the shows are always really fun.

You recently joined Marco on the Baltic Princess for Raskasta Joulua. This seems to be a traditional yearly program in Finland. Could you tell us a bit more about it and about your vocal approach to a different repertoire? How did you make these songs “yours”?

It has been now 12 years. It started with just a bunch of guys who wanted to make a heavy metal Christmas show, out of existing songs mainly. When they started it was two shows, I think. Throughout the last 12 years it grew into almost a month of touring. They do about 32 shows this year, so the show I was on was the very first of an entire tour that will all take place in Finland. Raskasta Joulua means “I love Christmas” in Finnish and the idea is to make heavy metal Christmas shows. So it’s Christmas songs all in a heavy metal style and either they are classics that fit into the theme such as “Ave Maria”, or songs they’ve written themselves. I think Marco has been with this project since the beginning. They only form for this occasion. A few months ago they asked me if I wanted to join, they’ve been working with Elize from Amaranthe and she’s been singing on a few albums. I only do 8 of all the shows and Elize will be on other shows. Then there is going to be one show in Helsinki on the 16th of December where all the singers on the project will sing. They have this band who plays every show, and a big group of singers who change every show. Marco is the only one who does all of them (laughs). To make it my own… some were easier than others. I have to understand what I’m singing, but with Christmas it’s always quite religious and that’s really not what I am, so I kinda need to follow the lead of the music to give it an emotion that is not necessarily mine.

When I talk to fans, or to other people who are studying vocal techniques like me, I feel that there is a lot of pressure on women to be a soprano, to sing really high, to be dramatic, coloratura etc. etc. In short, a lot of emphasis on natural abilities and so-called “talent”. However, singing is clearly much more than that. What is your opinion on these kind of stereotypes?

I come from a very free background, so I went to study music without having had any vocal lessons. I didn’t know anything about vocal techniques, nothing. When I had my very first vocal lesson, which was a Conservatory for rock and pop music, my teacher asks “So, what is it you want to learn?” and I said “Well, I want to learn how to sing!”. I was 17/18, so I basically thought, duh, what a weird question (laughs)! I didn’t know anything about registers, low or high, I didn’t really care, I personally did think that singing high was something special, that if you could sing high then you were a good singer. Now of course, being an educated musician, it doesn’t mean anything. Then there’s also the classical categorization of soprano, or mezzo, dramatic… all those things. I think it really depends on your background, what you think might be important, how you got influenced. But my personal opinion is that it doesn’t indeed matter. It’s nice to give something a name, like Nightwish wants to be put into a box by people who want to be able to describe it. That’s where the necessity of that might come in, but when it comes to personal development I would say, please don’t be held back by these kind of boundaries. Because once you put it in a box, it is a boundary in a sense. Don’t forget that vocal techniques are still very much in development. It is such a young thing, it’s decades old. Whereas, classical theories and classical training is centuries old. So now, all of a sudden, we have both worlds clashing. There are people who still say you can’t sing classical and still sing differently at the same time, if you’re a classical singer you’re not supposed to sing differently. The old-fashioned classical people will still say this. And then there are pop singers who don’t know anything about classical – clashing worlds right there! Slowly but certainly, I think there are more and more people who don’t care (laughs) and find their own way and the matching theories with it. That vocal method I recommended back at the Masterclass is the first one who, for me, really tries to cross the borders and just gives a total impression of what you can do with your voice and how to technically do that. How, when, what, doesn’t really matter: if you want to do everything at once, then by all means! Doesn’t mean it’s pretty, but it’s not about that. That’s in the end what you really think is best. But to find that out you really need to first do it, that’s why I gave you the example of how it was in the beginning for me. when you don’t know what’s out there, you don’t know where to begin. But you begin somewhere, maybe you start off with classical stuff – cool! Now you have a feeling of what that is, but you’ve been missing something maybe, you wanna investigate what’s more on the other side. Does this fit with me and does this fit with my idea of music? Maybe I’ve been listening to both Mozart and Mariah Carey and I wanna be able to do both, how do I do that? That’s where personal shaping comes in and that might take a while (laughs)! It’s nice to become a singer that “defies category” (laughs)!

What you said about clashing worlds, I also think it’s very valuable that nowadays we also have a lot of examples. There’s you, there’s a lot of singers who experiment, especially in metal. You see Alissa White-Gluz, or Simone Simons, and then you… it’s nice for people to be able to listen and think “Oh, so this can be done!”. It leads the way for other people to experiment as well.

Yeah, that would be great if it could work like that! Then it’s really hard to find the right teacher… but bits and pieces of different people might really be great to have. It is your personal path. I realized quite soon in my studies when I didn’t really match with my teacher, it’s such a personal connection that you need to have with this person that if it doesn’t work, no harm done, but find somebody else. And after you feel that you’ve reached a certain boundary with this person, you’ve picked their brain enough, then it’s time for somebody else perhaps. It’s hard to find somebody who matches exactly with your desires. But as much as I would love to continue talking, as you know I’m a vocal nerd, I have a next interview (laughs)!

Okay, so we can wrap it up (laughs)! Thank you so much, it’s really nice to have been able to discuss this more in-depth. Thank you for taking the time and all the best to you and Nightwish for your future adventures!

Thank you! See you in 2018 after our little break, but thank you for spreading the word in Italy and among female fans. All the best to you as well and see you very soon! Ciao!

 

[Serena]

Unboxing!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiL-7gKGmhk

[Serena]

Nightwish are about to drop a massive live DVD entitled Vehicle of Spirit. Containing not one, but two full shows as well as a lot of bonus material from around the world (a clip from the Sydney show this year is included as well!) it is the band’s most ambitious live release to date. Floor Jansen phoned me up on Thursday night from her home in Sweden to discuss Nightwish’s live show, the DVD, food, as well as the terrible band that is Slayer.

I was lucky enough to watch Nightwish with their full stage production in Copehagen last year, as well as in Sydney this year. One thing that really struck me is the fact that the band isn’t using the pyrotechnics and the fancy lights as a way to make life easier for themselves, the energy and musical brilliance was just as prominent in Copenhagen as in Sydney. I was curious to know if Floor sees it as a risk, that the band might start using the stage show as a sort of security blanket? 

“No, I’m not too worried about that! It’s an extra, it’s not a substitute for anything. I’d say we have more shows without pyro than with. We’re not bringing them to Asia, Canada, The US, South America or Australia. So we only do this in Europe, unfortunately, I’d say, since it’s great fun. But it’s not the main element of a Nightwish show and I don’t think it will ever be that way.”

Rumours have been circulating for a while now about 2018 being a special year for Nightwish. Most fans that know their basic math quickly realised that it will be the 20th anniversary of Oceanborn. Seeing as it’s become popular to do anniversary shows where bands play an album in its entirety, one can assume that this is the case. I didn’t expect Jansen to give anything away, but I had to ask the question anyway!

[laughs] “Well, as you might’ve known about these rumours, we haven’t been saying anything! We wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise!”

Having finished the band’s incredibly busy world tour about 90 days ago, I was curious to see what Jansen has been up to since arriving back home in Europe.

“I sang on Ayreon’s new album, I joined Evergrey for a video clip and one out of eight shows are done with Raskasta Joulua which is like a Finnish heavy metal band that plays Christmas music in Finland. So yeah, nice and busy!”

Having been on such an extensive tour, that spanned the entire world, I really wanted to know how she managed to keep her voice in such good shape for such a long time.

“Well, the voice is part of the body, and if the body is fine, so is the voice, for me. I’ve never had any problems with my voice. Of course when you get sick, things get more difficult but I haven’t been sick at all. So that’s been really good. The only thing that happens, and funny enough it only happen in the States, is when I get too tired. If I eat well, sleep well and regularly work out I’m good. So I need to really focus on that. That doesn’t mean that I can never have a glass of wine or go to bed a bit later. And over focusing on the matter is equally damaging as a cold could be. So I don’t do that, I just need to make sure that those ingredients are there. But I’m quite dependent on the food. And, you know, no input, no output, it’s very simple actually. There’s something in the American food I don’t seem to appreciate, my body doesn’t. I always get sick in the States, I always get exhausted if I can’t get enough vitamins or whatever it is out of the food.”

What’s your favourite food on tour?

“I don’t really have a favourite dish or anything, but I’m a vegetarian. So, I prefer the Indian kitchen because that’s usually the only kitchen that provides options for vegetarians. Some restaurants seem to be extremely satisfied when they offer you one possibility that doesn’t have dead animal in it. Which then brings you to no options, you can never choose. This is what we can do. When you come to countries where vegetarianism is still pretty new so then it’s like, “yeah, we can make you the same food without the meat.” So there’s no replacement. So a WELL made, tasty vegetarian dish will do it for me.”

Are you saying you DON’T enjoy a burger bun with just lettuce?!

“It’s extraordinary… But I think now, countries such as Australia and where I live in Sweden and Netherlands it is very possible to have a nutritious and tasty substitute. But that takes a little bit of the cook. Often in restaurants it’s a big problem, don’t try this in Brazil or China… China was perfect… [laughs] Also with the life experience, it’s very, very tricky sometimes! Troy (Donockley, pipes/everything) in our band is vegan, so we have two vegetarians and a vegan. Yeah, good luck!” [laughs]

In an interview I did with Tuomas Holopainen last year, he mentioned that he would love to see Jansen keep a straight face when singing the cheesy lyrics of Elvenpath. I naturally had to ask if she’ll be up for the task!

“Oh god! [laughs] No idea! Maybe not at first! It will be fun to practice at first. We’ll get it in the end with a healthy dose of humour!” [laughs]

Are there any fantastic memories from this tour that you’d like to share with your fans?

“Yeah, many! Of course the most fresh one because of the DVD is the moment when Richard Dawkins came on stage at the Wembley Arena and spoke his words and got the audience with him. That was goosebump stuff! During a show there can be a moment where you get the goosebumps, because it just hits you. It doesn’t matter how often you play, every show is different, or a reaction who just really felt it, you can see it on this person. That’s beautiful.”



Did you take part in the creation of the DVD, have you watched it?

“Yes, I’ve seen it! I’m very happy with it. We would not release something we’re not satisfied with. Of course there’s only so much you can say after the work is done in that sense. Was it good enough? Is it going to be mind-blowing? What is it going to be? If you say that we’re going to document our world tour, have two full length shows plus all the bonus material from all over the world, that’s a lot of material. I am super proud to see it. As a band we’ve established a certain level of performance. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I think we’re good. It looks good, it sounds good. That makes me very proud, that we pulled it off, and I’m super proud to present this to anybody, fan or not fan. This is who we are. This is what a Nightwish show is like. And of course, on a personal level, it’s a unique documentation of the time we spent together, imagine in 10 or 20 years from now, it will be fantastic to have this.”

When asked if she could describe some of the band members in three words each, Jansen broke the rules on more than one occasion. I didn’t mind though, it is evident that she’s really settled into the band at this point and holds great amounts of respect for each and every band member.

“There is Kai (Hahto, drums). He is always happy. Very professional and a magnificent boozer. He’s the band’s boozer! Then there’s Troy. He’s also always happy! He has the most fantastic mood. He is a great conversational partner and the loveliest man in the world. Tuomas (Holopainen, keys), I would describe him as very sensitive. That goes for everybody. Everybody is proud and professional in Nightwish. But it’s even more Tuomas’ baby. The pride shines of him mostly. If you see how he’s sort of conducting the show, he looks around on stage more than any other member. Not that by looking at us, anything will change, but he’s just on top of it. That’s his style and I appreciate it. Great company. Then there’s Emppu (Vuorinen, guitars). He’s the loner of the group. Very funny [laughs]. He’s got a great sense of humour. He loves playing, you can see it. It doesn’t matter where or when, it doesn’t matter how. He doesn’t care about any sort of details, he just wants to play and drink beer. If that’s sorted he’s happy!” [laughs]

When did you first listen to Nightwish and when did you first personally get in touch with them? And also, did you ever consider auditioning for the vocalist spot back in 2006?

“I think it must have been ’99. We toured together in 2002 so that’s when I got to know them. I went to their show in Belgium sometime in ’99 or 2000. But then I didn’t really meet them of course. So I got to know them in 2002. And  no, I never did that because I had After Forever. Which is also why they never asked me. They wouldn’t take me away from something well-established.”

You’ve been involved in a controversy within the last 24 hours or so. Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?

“It’s that Slayer thing, isn’t it?! I must have said it in an interview once. But the way it’s been torn out of perspective is quite pathetic. I didn’t know that Metal Hammer in a big country needs that, but, it’s the truth though. I think it’s a terrible band! So yeah, sorry! I don’t think they like us either!”

[Serena]

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCOxKVCejKg

[Serena]

Sale hoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8Xwr1kTEdk

[Serena]

Mensaje de Tuomas!!

It`s been roughly two months since we returned home from our 18-month Endless Forms Most Beautiful - adventure around the world. It was such a sudden and massive change of scenery that my mind`s been out in the sea of melancholy and relief, unable to think straight until the last couple of days. The vibe throughout the whole tour was on a different level in its positivity and intensity, and looking back at it I can`t but feel utter content and pride.
Even at the risk of entering a terribly cheesy territory here, I once more wish to extend my most sincere gratefulness to the members of the band, crew & management. Love is an often overused word, but not when it comes to describing how I feel towards all of you.
Our fans all over the world; The passion, sincerity and laughs you`ve given to us has been powerful and inspirational. Music is all about self-discovery, and seeing you contribute your personal verses along that path with us is something truly beautiful.
We`ll meet again in 2018! Happy thoughts & starlit skies to you all,
-Tuomas