t’s a fairly lengthy interview with Tuomas by Radio Metal. It’s in French, but Google does a pretty good job at translating it into English (much better than Finnish to English!). If any French speakers could translate it more thoroughly then that would be most appreciated.Here’s a brief summary of a few important points I picked up from the translation (hopefully they are accurate!):- Nuclear Blast told Tuomas that there would be no point to the DVD if it only contained a documentary, hence why the Wacken concert was recorded. Wacken was also the easiest festival to record at.- Tuomas felt the need to announce the introduction of Floor and Troy to the band now instead of next year when he was writing the credits for the DVD. It felt silly to write ‘Nightwish consists of [Tuomas, Emppu, Jukka, Marco]…’ without Floor and Troy in there even though they had already joined.- Floor worked perfectly with the band week after week, hence why they asked her to join. Tuomas absolutely does not want Floor to leave ReVamp and consulted her thoroughly as to whether joining Nightwish would be fully suitable in this regard.- Tuomas states that Anette was the right choice for Nightwish at the time and that: “When I listen to Dark Passion Play and Imaginaerum, I tell myself that no one else could sing these songs better than her. I mean it sincerely, and the rest of the group too.â€- Troy’s addition to the band gives Tuomas more tools as a composer, but he will not participate in all of the songs on the next album. Troy will also perform around six or seven songs on stage when touring.- The next album should be ready for spring 2015. Tuomas has three songs written already. It is expected that the album will be more down-to-earth, with a focus on ‘the core of early Nightwish’. Although, Tuomas does not want to want to remove the orchestra or choir.- Tuomas’s project ‘The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck’ only requires mixing now and everything should be completed in three weeks time. It is expected to be released in April.
NIGHTWISH - Going Dutch: "Floor Jansen Owns The Stage And The Audience"Hot FlashesPosted on Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at 18:15:20 EST By Carl Begai The day after it was announced that NIGHTWISH touring vocalist Floor Jansen (REVAMP, ex-AFTER FOREVER) had been made an official band member, BW&BK was given the opportunity to speak with keyboardist/mastermind Tuomas Holopainen about the band's forthcoming live/tour documentary DVD Showtime, Storytime. Good thing they took care of business before press began, because if they hadn't most of this conversation would have consisted of yours truly telling Holopainen he would have to be a special kind of insane to let Jansen slip away. But really, it's no surprise that Jansen was asked to stay considering her monumental efforts since coming on board at the last minute to replace the booted Anette Olzon back in October 2012. "I know it didn't come as a surprise to anybody," Holopainen says of the news. "We wanted to make it official at this point because we knew we were going to do a lot of promotion for the upcoming DVD. It's just easier to do things this way; we don't need to keep our mouths shut." The documentary portion of the DVD begins appropriately with footage from Denver, Colorado as Nightwish makes a mad scramble to put together some semblance of a setlist in the wake of Olzon falling ill. With their singer unable to perform and an audience willing to stick around for whatever the band can come up with, Nightwish enlist support band KAMELOT's backing singers Elize Ryd (AMARANTHE) and Alissa White-Gluz (THE AGONIST). The rest is a pretty amazing piece of history. Holopainen is caught on camera after the show stating that he'd never been as scared as he was two hours earlier. "That was the truth," he admits. "The whole day is just a hazy dream to me now. It was such an awkward moment. A big hand to Elize and Alissa... they were amazing. But that's what doing live shows is all about. Sometimes these things happen and it's really memorable stuff; a mass karaoke with those two lovely girls joining us, doing some instrumental stuff as well. It was something different and I don't think anybody left the venue upset or annoyed." Olzon, on the other hand, was genuinely upset and took to her official website to air her feelings. She made it clear she thought the band was wrong to go ahead without her. On October 1st the band released a statement announcing Olzon's departure and that Jansen would be filling in for the rest of the tour. "We got quite a bit of criticism for doing the show without Anette," Holopainen reveals. "Some people asking us how we could be so selfish and do the show without her. It was quite the opposite. We had to think about the 1,600 fans, the promoter, the crew, everybody. Seriously, if something happened to me or any of the other band members, I'd do anything to still make the show happen. We offered the money back from the tickets. We told the fans how the show was going to be, so of course if they wanted to leave they should get their money back. It was seven refunds out of 1,600 so that was pretty good." Nightwish haven't elaborated on the reasons for firing Olzon and it's doubtful they ever will, even as they move on with Jansen. "The split is like a divorce and nobody likes to talk about a divorce publicly. We released a statement, with Anette, and that should be enough for everyone." Suffice to say, there's a certain amount of bad blood still floating around. The documentary begins with a disclaimer stating that "due to the circumstances surrounding her departure, the former vocalist insisted that she would not be seen or heard in the documentary." "That's something I can clarify," says Holopainen. "It did come as a surprise to all of us. The documentary was about 80% finished and Anette was in it giving interviews, there was nice live footage of her, but in March this year we got an email from her manager saying that we needed to cut her out of the documentary, audio and visual. That's something we didn't expect, so we had to decide if the documentary was even worth doing anymore because it was an essential part of the tour. The director, Ville, told us to give him a chance. He wanted to take a few weeks to see what he could do with the editing. And now when I see the footage I've got to give it to the guy, he's a wizard. It's beautifully crafted. The drama is there, the beauty is there. Occasionally you might think 'Okay, where's the vocalist?' but when Floor comes in you can really enjoy it." Jansen has fronted Nightwish since October 2012 and has had a much easier job winning over the band's legion of fans than Olzon did. Take a cruise through the library of live footage on YouTube and you can watch her grow into the role of being front and center on the Nightwish stage. "I have to agree. The first couple of weeks that we did with her were good and she was really impressive, especially with the time that she had to prepare. Looking at her now - and I only saw the Wacken Open Air footage for the first time only two weeks ago - I'm thinking 'Wow!' Watch the DVD and you can see that Floor owns the stage and the audience." Asked if he remembers when the band came to the conclusion Jansen should be fronting Nightwish permanently.... "Yes I do. It was spring, about six months after Floor came in. We agreed that she was a lovely person and that she really could sing, but I was wondering if we really needed to be talking about all that stuff just yet because I was having such a good time on tour. It eventually got to the point where we said 'Why not?' It was after the Sauna Open Air Festival in Finland at the beginning of June, after the show in the hotel lobby, where we encouraged ourselves to go to Floor and ask her how she would feel about continuing with us in the future. She gave us an immediate 'Yes.' We didn't think it was going to be an 'of course' answer, though. We didn't take anything for granted, but she was really happy and really motivated. And right after that we asked Troy Donockley (uilleann pipes, low whistles, vocals) about joining the band as well. He said yes too, so it was a happy evening (laughs)." Donockley's confirmation as a full band member may seem odd considering he's "only" been a backing musician on tour. Holopainen will tell you different. "He's been part of the band for the past 18 years, not only because of his musical abilities but also because of his personality. What does it mean to be in a band? I think Troy is a prime example of that because he brings a lot of light and joy and musical abilities to the band, so why not make it official as well." Taking nothing away from Donockley, Jansen is the focus for the moment and has been since she stepped foot on the Nightwish stage. Her vocal range gives them the chance to perform old material from the Tarja-era, something that was hit-and-miss with Olzon up front. "There's definitely some potential to do that," Holopainen agrees. "When I listen to Floor sing songs like 'She Is My Sin', it's quite grand. I really like how she does the old songs, so yeah, I've been toying with the idea that we might dig up some of the older stuff on the next tour and see how it works. If it doesn't feel then we won't do it, but we could give some of the songs a chance. Maybe something from Oceanborn..." Bottom line is Jansen can sing anything from the Nightwish catalogue. "Pretty much so, I have to agree. At the same time I want to give Anette some credit because when you listen to Dark Passion Play and Imaginaerum, I don't think there's another person on this planet that could have done a better job on those songs. They still sound really, really good. But, like you said, Floor can do every song we've ever written so that they sound good at the very least (laughs). Usually they sound phenomenal when she does them. When Floor sings 'Ghost Love Score' and 'She Is My Sin', they're pretty out there." For the future, we'll have to wait until late 2014 or early 2015 for the next Nightwish album. The ball is already rolling, however, at least in Holopainen's mind. "From the begining of November on I'm going to go into very deep hibernation and work on new Nightwish material until next summer. It'll be about seven months of just staying at home and writing songs with a vacation in between. On July 1st we'll gather together in the Nightwish camp and start working on the next album." As to what direction the next record will take, it's anybody's guess. Go bigger than Imaginaerum (which would be a bloody epic task) or go back to vocals/guitars/bass/keyboards/drums basics? "The gut feeling I have at the moment would be somewhere in between those two places," says Holopainen. "It's never the purpose to be bigger and bigger and bigger. It doesn't need to be bigger as long as it's interesting and brings something new to the show. The 'being bigger' issue is just nonsense. We just do the things we feel and the way we want to do them. When we did Imaginaerum, we wanted to do a big orchestral theatrical album and take down the guitars and bass a little bit. At the moment, I and I think the rest of the band would like to take a step back and do things in an old school band-orientated way. That's how I would like to do things. We're never going to get rid of the orchestra or the choirs because they compliment the music so beautifully and we love that, but maybe the next one will be a bit more of a band album."
Nightwish will never admit as such, but recently-inserted singer Floor Jansen makes her Anette Olzon predecessor look meek by comparison. Whereas Olzon was diminutive in stature (and according to some, in voice), Jansen is the opposite – tall, domineering, and with a pre-approved reputation that came from her years slugging it out in After Forever. This begs the question: What if Jansen was the immediate successor to Tarja Turunen? Would there have been such a strong backlish? It’s almost like how Robert Trujillo has had a much easier time replacing Jason Newsted than Newsted had replacing Cliff Burton. The third guy (or gal) through always has an easier time…To coincide with the release of their Showtime, Storytime DVD, the band announced that Jansen, along with fife/pipe player Troy Donockley were now full-time members of the band. It’s the most obvious (and wise) move, putting an end to year-long speculation and setting the band up for what should be a momentous release in early 2015. For the time being, mainman Tuomas Holopainen seems to be willing to just revel in all sorts of goodwill, which frankly, hasn’t been this palpable since Turunen was in her prime. With that in mind, Holopainen phoned DR to discuss all of this, and Scrooge McDuck, because what screams “symphonic metal†more than a Disney character, right?Dead Rhetoric: Let’s backtrack for a second and talk about your “Flying Dutchwoman†Floor. I know you’ve known her for a while and did some stuff when she was in After Forever, but, what were your first impressions?Tuomas Holopainen: We did a tour together, I think it was 2003 or 2002, but over ten years ago. I’ve followed her since the first After Forever album, which came out in 1999, I think. I was actually a fan of the band, and still am, and was very impressed by her vocals. When we toured together, I saw her live and it was like a sledgehammer into the face. She had such charisma and was in the right place all the time.Dead Rhetoric: That’s what I was wondering – if you were able to sneak out and watch her during the tour. Was it also a word of mouth kind of thing?Holopainen: She’s a really friendly person, but she’s also quite persistent – she knows what she wants to do. She’s also very metal. [laughs] Genuinely metal, and that’s not the most common trait in a female, and I say this in a very positive way. There’s the contrast. She’s very feminine and very sweet…but you don’t want to fuck with her. She’s the Amazon; she has the size and the looks and she’ll punch you in the face if you say something wrong.Dead Rhetoric: We can always second-guess and wonder, but was she ever in the running when you had the make the singer switch the first time?Holopainen: To be honest, no. We never considered her because she was doing really well with After Forever at that time and we didn’t want to go into other people’s territory at the time. It didn’t seem like the right thing to do at the time.Dead Rhetoric: Another hypothetical: She doesn’t have the big shoes to fill like Anette did for Tarja – it’s easier for her.Holopainen: [pauses] I haven’t thought of it in that way, but we need to always remember to give a lot of credit to Anette – she did her job. I don’t think there’s anybody who could have sung those two albums better than her, but when Floor came in, the transition of the vocalist was unbelievable. It was practically two days she was with us and the fans were going crazy. We got a lot of really good support from them – there was a lot of positive feedback to us and to Floor. It went much better than we ever could have expected.Dead Rhetoric: You initially said you were going to wait until 2014 to mull over the decision and let the dust settle, yet you just made the announcement recently. Why do it now?Holopainen: Just practical reasons. We realized we were coming up with the DVD release soon and will be doing a lot of talking, a lot of interviews and promotion and it would just feel silly and awkward not to say things out loud. We knew what would happen already in June or July – we decided, so to be talking to you right now and you’d be asking about Floor, I’d just feel stupid. Because of this DVD release, we decided with the other guys in the band to go public with it.Dead Rhetoric: That was my next question, if you and the guys had a sit down to weigh your options.Holopainen: Yeah, but first all, it was two months ago that we would put out the news Christmas Eve morning. It would be a Christmas present for a lot of people that wanted her to stay. That sounded like a perfect idea. On 12/24/13 at 8:00 a.m., we would say “Nightwish has a new vocalist: Her name is Floor Jansen.†But because of this DVD, we made it earlier, just to make everyone’s lives a bit crazier.Dead Rhetoric: Well, I don’t think goodwill and good vibes around the band have been this high in quite some time.Holopainen: Well, we’ve had some really good times. Mostly ups, but some downs. For the past year, it’s been just super-cool in every sense of the word. Everybody seems to have found their place and it’s fun all the time. But, we are not taking anything for granted…to keep it like this is going to take some work.Dead Rhetoric: With Floor, you now have the option to really dig into the setlist. What kind of luxury does she afford you in picking songs you have done in a while, or fan favorites?Holopainen: When we were entering the festival [season], we asked her which songs she would like to do. We didn’t have too much time to rehearse, but we wanted to take a few more songs into the setlist. She was the one who requested “She’s My Sin†and “Romanticide.†And then I said, “How about ‘Bless the Child?’ We haven’t done that in years.†She said she could do that, and it was just perfect. There’s a potential there when the next tour comes that we might go and dig through the chest a bit.
Dead Rhetoric: Let’s not forget about the addition of Troy, and I remember you made a comment to me last year that “Marriage has ruined many a good relationships.†What then, made you add him as a full-time member?Holopainen: When we were thinking about it, whether to make it “official†or not – it’s not going to change anything since he was a permanent member of the band anyway, like mentally, and he’s such a nice person and big part of the band. But just to make it official and easier for people to realize, and we got a lot of feedback from the last tour, like, “Who is this guy playing only four songs in the set? You never introduce him, but he’s coming with you and bows with you at the end.†Just to clarify this, we needed to make it official as well.Dead Rhetoric: Do you see Troy’s role expanding?Holopainen: I’m not quite sure; maybe a little bit. I’m pretty sure we’re not going to use him so he’s on every song of the album, or from beginning of the show, to the last encore. It would be a bit too much, but I think the strength lies that he’s there part-time. Same thing with Marco’s [Hietala] vocals – I don’t want to use them all the time. They sound more powerful that way. Same thing with Troy.Dead Rhetoric: As for the DVD and the Wacken show in general, with 80,000 people present, what was the band atmosphere like?Holopainen: I did my very best not to think about it being filmed. [laughs] All the shows we did in the summer went really good and were really relaxed, and I wanted to keep that touch. I kept telling the other band members “Let’s just go there and have fun.†We pretty much succeeded in doing so. It was the biggest show we’ve ever done – I don’t think we’ve played for 82,000 people before. It looked just incredible from the stage.Dead Rhetoric: There’s an inherent risk with doing something like this on such a large scale. Did that enter your mind?Holopainen: Definitely did. When I heard about this live show idea, it was in June, because this DVD was only supposed to be the documentary – no live show. But then the record label suggested to us that we needed to include the live show as well. At that point, the only shows we had were festivals, and the biggest one was Wacken Open Air. My biggest argument against it was that we had only one shot. What if something goes wrong? What if there are technical problems? What if there’s a thunder storm? We took the risk and it was worth it.Dead Rhetoric: Prior to embarking on the tour for Imaginaerum, was it decided you were going to do a documentary?Holopainen: Yeah, it was decided in November 2011, two months before the tour started. We wanted to do a really good, interesting tour documentary so that the director would follow us during the whole 18 months through all the legs of the tour.Dead Rhetoric: When you started to have some “issues†for lack of a better term, did it make the shooting uncomfortable for the band?Holopainen: It was just an incredible coincidence and trust me – it was a coincidence that the director happened to be on the U.S. leg of the tour when all of this started to happen. It was not planned in advance. He had booked the flights months in advance and just happened to be there when all of the hulabalew went on. It was kinda weird, but it made a good drama for the DVD.Dead Rhetoric: We talked about being nervous for Wacken, but how about the Denver show when you didn’t have a singer. How nervous were you?Holopainen: It was like a dream, a bad dream. I hadn’t been that scared going on stage for a couple of years, but that particular night, it was like, “What are we going to do?†You see me and Troy going on stage telling the audience what’s going on and originally, I was supposed to say something, but I asked Troy because I was too nervous.Dead Rhetoric: I was going to ask you that, since you’re the unofficial band spokesman.Holopainen: Two reasons: The other was that I was so nervous; the second is that we were dealing with such a delicate issue that we wanted the audience to understand exactly what was going on so maybe to play it more safe that the announcement comes from a native English speaker.Dead Rhetoric: You wrapped the album cycle for Imaginaerum, so you must be glad to have it over. I don’t think you could have fathomed it going this way when you started everything at the end of 2011…Holopainen: There are always the two sides to the coin. In a way, I’m really happy it’s over. It was a wonderful tour from beginning to end, no matter what happened along the way. It was a fantastic thing to do. I miss the band and crew already; there’s always this “post-tour†blues that I get. But in another way, it’s really nice to be home for a while and absorb myself into writing songs. Then, I’m going to meet all the guys and the girls next summer.Dead Rhetoric: Perhaps with this cycle, it’s one of those “the best laid plans never come fruition†type of things. Is that how you see it?Holopainen: No, we never planned this. [laughs] It just went into this and we did everything we had to do.Dead Rhetoric: How’s the Scrooge McDuck project coming along?Holopainen: It’s coming along beautifully. We just got all the recordings done about a week ago, actually. When I get back home from this promotional trip, I’m going to go the studio for two weeks and get the thing mixed and it’s already to go. I think the album release date is set for April 11th of next year.Dead Rhetoric: So next up for Nightwish is convening next summer, right?Holopainen: Yes, next summer, once I get Scrooge out of my hands. We will get together on July 1, 2014. Everything is set up.Dead Rhetoric: Totally preliminary here, but will you tackle another concept album, or maybe try a meat and potatoes type of album?Holopainen: Meat and potatoes, I like that expression! I think something like that has a lot of potential. It’s really hard to say anything just yet, but the only thing I can say is that it won’t be a thematic album. The songs I’ve done so far – there are four of them – they all deal with different themes, lyrically. It won’t be a concept album like Imaginaerum.
Question:For the second time you play with Revamp at MFVF. What is that like?Answer:It's great. The organisation behind the festival supported and trusted us since the beginning of Revamp. So therefore I am glad to be here. Question:What are your thoughts on the line-up of the festival?Answer:It's a good and divers line-up. I don't like all bands, but I like Tarja for example. I am looking forward to the duet with her. But for me it doesn't need to be fully female fronted. I make female fronted music, but don't listen to it a lot. I prefer more heavy music and you can hear that within Revamp. (With a laugh she concludes the line-up could have been heavier.) Question:Tells us about your collaboration with Tarja?Answer:Tarja is a fantastic vocalist and I always wanted to collaborate with her. At this festival it was a great opportunity. We contacted eachother about what we are going to do, but we didn't really practice alot. We were convinced it would work out fine, because we know eachother. Question:What is your opinion about people comparing you and Tarja because of the shared Nightwish history?Answer:Everyone has their opinion, but people shouldn't talk about subjects they don't know anything about. Everybody has their good and bad qualities and vocally people are often different. So how can you compare? People should focus on subjects that matter or just to enjoy it and if they don't just let it be. Question:Can you tell me about working and touring with Nightwish and therefore also Troy Donockley?Answer:It was hectic in the beginning during the US tour, but they are nice guys and we had an immediate click. It's nice to tour with them, also with Troy! Question:The tour documentary is called Please learn the setlist in 48 hours. Did this literally occur?Answer:Yes you can say that again. I had to take the plane and had a limited time to memorise the lyrics. I did know the older songs because during my After Forever period I "studied" them, but I wasn't familiar with the newer material. It was a challenge, but the band said I did it very well. Question:How will you combine Nightwish and Revamp?Answer:I have confidence in making this work. When you look back Nightwish mainly works in blocks of two years. So when that ends I can focus on Revamp, so it's not non stop Nightwish. For example Revamp gets the number 1 priority now. In the summer there are the Nightwish recordings and starting from 2015 we will tour for about 2 years. Then I can focus on Revamp again. Question:Will you actively be writing Nightwish songs (lyrics or music) or will you leave that entirely to Tuomas?Answer:To be honoust I will let the boys write the songs. Tuomas has always done a great job. Maybe I will add some of my own vocal melodies, but that's all I want to do. Tuomas is a music genuis, so you dont mess with that and just let the magic happen. Question:Wild Card is a killer album if I say so myself. What were the reactions from fans and media?Answer:Thank you. The album gladfully was received well by media and fans. We got excellent support from our label Nuclear Blast, who distributed the album worldwide, so a lot of people can hear the album. Question:On the album Wild Card we can hear Devin Townsend as a guest. What other musicians would you work with within Revamp?Answer:For the next album I want to work together with Tarja or Angela Gossow. I would love to do some grunting with her. And do you know Halestorm? With Lzzy I also would like to sing together.
NightwishLoads has happened in and to Nightwish in the past couple of months. They did not only add two talented musicians to their family, but they also wrapped up the festivals, touring and the shooting of their new DVD. After I watched Showtime, Storytime (read my review in this edition!) I was still wondering about a couple of things. Because the DVD had come without subtitles and the commentary was almost entirely in Finnish, I was excited to hear about Tuomas side of the story. The interview was set up soon after, and so here I was on a rainy Sunday afternoon, waiting on his phone call. Within moments I find myself curled up on the couch, talking to Tuomas about the new line up, the DVD which will be released in a couple of weeks, his new project on Scrooge McDuck and whatever topic we can come up with.By: Melanie | Archive under gothic metalSo tell me Tuomas, busy day for you then?Yeah, it's been a busy couple of days. I started off in Paris and then London two days ago. Yesterday, today and tomorrow will be spent in the Nuclear Blast headquarters. A bit of a promo tour. Talking about the upcoming DVD, and new line-up, and all that.Loads of talking, I assume. Are you already bored of us?Absolutely not. Some journalists try to dig for the dirty stuff, though. That's something I don't fancy talking about, everything else is okay!Just to let you know up front, I don't care much for the dirty stuff, to be honest. No worries there.Thank you in advance!First of all, congrats on the new line-up! I think I speak for the entirety of the Netherlands when I say that we are thrilled to see Floor stay.Not as thrilled as we are! I'm super-super thrilled. We've been together for little bit over a year now, and it's going better and better. We all really like her personality, and her versatility when it comes to performance. Whenever I look at her on stage; it puts a big smile on my face when I see how much she enjoys what she's doing. So she's definitely born to do what she does. Originally you wanted to wait until 2014 to make a decision for the new singer. What changed your mind?One very practical thing. It happened about a month ago, when I was writing down the credits for the DVD booklet, together with the thanks list. Then I came to the part where it said "Nightwish is" and I just started to think about how to present Floor and Troy. Guest singer on this DVD sounded so silly. That's when I realised it would be better to give the news now; it would make everyone's life so much easier. We could then do the interviews and talk about this out loud. It's nice to have the worries off my back. The fans reaction to all of this could not have been better. I did not hear one negative comment. There was one person though, crying over how she could do this to her mates in ReVamp. That's just a matter of scheduling, I think. Everyone has their side projects. Anyway, it's not the death of any band. I'm sure she will figure that out, she's a smart cookie.(laughs) She will. And it's not like we forced her, she wants this. We already decided in June, after a festival in Finland. We went to her and carefully asked her how she would like to continue with us after the tour. She didn't have to decide right away, but she gave us a big smile, a big hug and a big yes! So that was already decided back then.You've done a hell of a job of keeping us in the dark then!I hope we did! We just wanted to tour, have a good time, not make any drastic decisions. During the spring time, it was already clear to us we wanted her to stay, we just didn't know how she felt. But since I am hyping so much about her, and about our feelings for her staying, I don't want to diminish our previous times. We all had our big glorious moments with the other singers as well. This doesn't take anything away from them. In Finland I recently read something about why it took us seventeen years to find the right singer, blah blah blah. I can't stand this kind of writing because Tarja and Anette were both excellent in their own ways, and it's just the most naive thing to say. I'm really relieved and happy to have Floor now, but this shouldn't have happened earlier. Things happen for a reason. Can you tell me a bit about working with Floor and Troy?Easy. The only thing we've experienced so far is touring, we've never done an album with Floor. The past year has been really smooth, and the chemistry is as good as it can possibly be. Troy for example lights up an entire room when he enters the place. He has this really positive and funny personality, and he's just a wonderful guy to be with. In addition to that his musicianship is magical. He's a talented musician so he's all fun to be around. Floor also, because she's so motivated and she feels at home. She loves what she does and of course she's unbelievably talented. It's balanced. The right attitude towards things. It all feels really good. You never know what the future will bring but we will do our absolute best to have no further line up changes in this band.What changes do you think Floor and Troy will bring to the band and to your music?We have to see when the songs get done. For the next six or seven months I will stay at home and write the songs with them in mind. Floor has such a versatile voice, she can do the clean stuff, operatic stuff. Though I don't think we'll go back to the operatic vocals, maybe occasionally. There's also the growling and the pop sounds, so endless possibilities. Same thing with Troy; he can play all the Celtic instruments from Indian pipes to low whistles. Also the flute and the guitar and he's a good singer as well! So there's some potential there as well, for the song writing. The DVD will be out in six weeks, can you tell our readers what to expect?There's a reason why the DVD is called 'Showtime, Storytime' and that's because it's a fifty/fifty release with the tour documentary and the live show. Originally, up until mid-June it was only supposed to be the documentary part. We wanted to do something a little bit different. A really good documentary. For a good reason, Nuclear Blast contacted us and said it wasn't enough and that we had to shoot a concert as well to go with the DVD. Initially I just said "no way". We only had seven festival shows left at that time, so it would have to be one of those. I didn't fancy the idea of shooting a live DVD from a festival, at all. But when I slept through a couple of nights I realised they were probably right. This release needs the live part as well. And then out of the festival we were doing, Wacken was the biggest one. It had all the fielding equipment already so it made it easier to shoot. It was the ultimate ending of the festival season. I had nothing to do with the editing process, though. I saw it for the first time about two weeks ago. We all gathered, except for Troy, and watched it with surround sound and I was blown away. It looked, and sounded amazing. It's not that I was against the live show, by the way. It just never was the idea. I wanted to do the documentary on its own. I would love to do a live DVD one time. Just our own show, and maybe a second show for the back filming. Maybe involve an orchestra or a choir, to make it even more special. So when they said they wanted a live part as well, it was too sudden. We had only one chance of succeeding. That felt wrong. It was a lot of pressure, but it was the right decision. The DVD is a lot better with the show in it. The documentary sure looks amazing, though I must confess I hardly understand a word of it because the subtitles aren't working.Yeah that's something I have heard about twenty times this week already. It seems as though every journalist got the DVD without subtitles. Sucks to be us then. But tell me what you were trying to tell others with this documentary?All the previous documentaries and deleted scenes were full of drinking, partying, fooling around; just comic relief. We wanted to do a bit more thorough with a bit more insight. Something that shows you what it is to be on tour. Also, we wanted to have a little souvenir for ourselves out of this eighteen months. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch this in twenty years. That's the reason why we wanted to do this. Also, when I think about myself being a fan of certain bands and artists, I love to see something similar from those artists. Something a bit different for the fans to see.Yeah, Floor told me that in an interview a couple of weeks ago. She said she didn't receive one single negative comment, which is rare because people can be so judgemental.I'll second that. Maybe it's to do with the fact that she's already got a reputation. She has a face and voice people recognize. She's a rather believable character and a singer.What does it feel like for you to be able to perform older songs such as 'Bless The Child' again?It felt good. When we renewed the setlist for a little bit, we actually asked her what songs she would like to do. She said she wanted to do 'Romanticide', and I wanted to take 'Bless The Child' back into the set, so that made a nice combination. I'm quite excited about the future because I think for the next tour we better up the chest and probably rehearse some of the older stuff as well.So now that the touring is done, are you guys having a break of some sorts?From touring, yes. I have a lot of song writing to do because we're entering the studio next summer already. It's quite soon. Actually, we're entering the Nightwish camp on the first of July, again. Rehearse the songs, and the studio is after that. The plan is actually to get the songs finished so it should be released somewhere around springtime 2015. Have you already figured out what you want for this album?Not really, I think I'll just let the mind flow. It's the same thing I do with every album; I don't try to think too much in advance. I'll see what happens so that the songs don't become forced. I have some lyrical themes in my head, and I feel extremely motivated to start. I can't wait to get home and begin writing. I mean, it's okay to talk to you...Oh well, that's a relief.(laughs) No really, I'm actually enjoying myself. Though I cannot wait to get home and start the process. Six or seven months just focussing on the songs. When are you going home?Friday. Well, I still have to mix my solo projects and that will take a few weeks but from the beginning of November; I'm free. Sounds nice! Your solo project is a soundtrack to the comic of Scrooge McDuck, right?That's right.Okay, tell me more, because it's sounds so intriguing and so completely 'you'.(laughs) I'll take that as a compliment. We finished recording everything about two weeks ago so it's all about mixing. I'm really thrilled about it and especially because mister Don Rosa, the artist of the comic, got involved. It's a bit thing for me. He drew the cover of the album, so it's such a thrill. He hasn't done anything new for the last seven years. He told me that he stopped drawing from 2007. He did this one for me and that was the most flattering thing ever. The cover looks amazing and also; he was in Finland for two days and we shot the music video with him. It's incredible times. I think he's one of the best story tellers of our times. This particular book, 'The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck', is my desert island book. It's the most beautiful love story ever written, full of moral lessons and funny as hell. Jus the perfect adventure. I don't ever think of them as ducks, when I read the story. I just think of them of caricatures of human beings. The last time we spoke was in Amsterdam, about two years ago. You told me the one thing you were still looking for, was balance. Do you think you are more balanced now than two years ago?Maybe. It's a slow process. Maybe when I'm eighty, sitting in my rocking chair, looking at the documentary part of the DVD, maybe then. Maybe I'll be balanced then.Do you feel you need to suffer as human being in order to be a good artist?No, I don't. You need to feel. Some of the best songs I have ever written were written in the ultimate state of happiness. Being content, thrilled about being alive. You don't need the suffering, you need the emotion. But being incredibly pissed off and fucked up and depressed, it helps as well. Can you tell me a bit about the future for you guys?All I know now is that we're going to gather up next summer, have a good time, try to get the songs finished. We're looking at an album release of spring '15, and after that: World tour. That's about it for the moment.You've made an appearance on the solo album of Kari Rueslatten's album. Tell me about that experience.I did not meet her for this experience. I did my parts at home. This particular song has a big meaning for me. It's one of my all time favourite songs, by one of my all time favourite bands. She knew that I was a big fan, so when she covered this song for her solo album, she contacted me and asked me if I wanted to play the piano and keyboards. I didn't have to think twice. Do you think your status as a famous musician changes the way you look at other musicians?That is a hard question, because yes and no. Sometimes I don't get the screaming fans, but when I met Don Rosa a couple of weeks ago, I almost fainted. So that was a good lesson for me. That was a fan boy moment for me. It reminded me how some people feel, no matter how foolish it seems to me. I have some off-topic cool down questions. Just give us the first answer that comes to mind.Bring it on.What's the poem you know by heart?I don't know any. Remembering lines is awful and hard. I'm really bad at remembering lyrics as well. What's your favourite cliche?Carpe Diem.What's your favourite hour of the day?Morning. Between six and eight am. The magic hour, dawn. I'm a morning person, I like to get up really early. Which book changed your life?The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I read it when I was in second grade and in a way; it did change my life.What's your guilty pleasure?Which one do I pick? (laughs) Cigarettes, whiskey, red wine, chocolate.What's your favourite villain?Hannibal Lecter! My time is up, so I'm going to leave the last words to you!Thank you to the fans, for sticking around and welcoming our new family members. Also, thank you for this conversation which I enjoyed! All the best to you! Thank yo - See more at: http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/en/interviews/view/id/4909#sthash.OPP0lSo0.dpuf
