Fugazi

I'm still hoping that as Floor recovers the setlist lengthens and they have a chance to play something 'new'... 🤔 Meanwhile at Wembley... London 2022-11-21: Noise Storytime Tribal Élan Sleeping Sun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhjX1wBk8NQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrXNvjRvsqg Dark Chest of Wonders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUyOf0taYzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepvsbOjSP4 Harvest I Want My Tears Back Nemo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaNh5r2phoc How's the Heart? (acoustic) Shoemaker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXAuLr5tiUo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiJdGZvBF2s Last Ride of the Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ICUXW0LXY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Mj8fZ6nr8 Ghost Love Score The Greatest Show on Earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokzB_0GgAw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymaB4DCehGA Ad Astra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHJl4nE-IQY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUmYcSkKuL0 Same songs, tomorrow night Birmingham. In other news, another Asian stop added in South Korea. And again no mention of any show in China, are those still happening?

Floor's new outfit (Antwerp 2022-11-20) has elements of both previous Human Nature outfits, plus some new cape 'extensions'? Not sure how the fabric wings on her arms should be called. Photo Tim Vermoens (Instagram) Edit: And it was confirmed this outfit was also designed and fabricated by Royal Black Couture and Corsetry.

Too early for details, but it would appear at least Harvest has returned to the setlist. It wasn't played during the festival gigs this summer, nor in South America. Perhaps this is also to give Floor a chance to rest between more demanding songs. More to come. Update: I'm not sure about the exact order, but these are the songs. A shortened 'festival' setlist, only with Planet Hell replaced by Harvest. Antwerp 2022-11-20: Noise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9guBp-d3tw Storytime Tribal Élan Sleeping Sun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y--VGnM0gtM Dark Chest of Wonders Harvest I Want My Tears Back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_6ng3kJIGo Nemo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT6oTT7yE88 How's the Heart? (acoustic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqwRmAv8IKg Shoemaker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keTnE_ezhXU Last Ride of the Day Ghost Love Score https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITQQYlk_Ze0 (partial) The Greatest Show on Earth Ad Astra Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaX-JP-lohRWTtJ5OHGLDZgUyPd8G2L-D From the comments on social media, Floor was holding back a bit which is not at all surprising given the recent surgery. On the other hand, I hope she doesn't overexert herself with the very demanding schedule they're on for the next few weeks. 🤔 Update: I like the new costume! Also, the final setlist is up. Songs were moved around a bit but all in all very similar to this summer's typical festival setlist.

A new drumcam video, this one is from Knotfest 2022-08-12, and it's a great choice of song: Tribal. 🤘

The 2022 European leg is about to begin, there's excitement in the air! 👀 Also expectations for some setlist changes are high, don't disappoint us! 😁

Soon available in most (Finnish) record shops! 😁 Link: https://www.recordshopx.com/artist/crewish/twice/#817323 'We Were Here', 2.15 minutes? That's the short version of The Greatest Show! 😄

New single 'Beneath' to be released on November 29, looking forward to it! https://www.instagram.com/reel/ClGqLwgIWPP/

Part 2 of Tarja's retrospective videos is up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meQ87CS7s4 Also, some versions of her best-of compilation will include a live recording from 2020, Circus Life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-beecPDZ4Q

A nice reaction from a voice teacher: Dr Marisan Master Singing - GLS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv1KBygoQkY

Something different, this American book reviewer on YouTube talks about the greeting card he received from Tuomas! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkSBgdP8Jdw

This is what everyone was waiting for! Tarja is back... with Tapio Wilska! 👀 Weird video, but has plenty of chests! 😁 For the record, Wilska sang on 'Devil And The Deep Dark Ocean', 'The Pharaoh Sails To Orion' and '10th Man Down'.

You probably noticed Floor's latest health update on her social media, news are good and spirits are high! 🤘 "Great news! I am cancer free 🤩 The surgery took everything cancerous out and it hasn’t spread! I’ll get local radiation therapy in February to make sure everything stays out. I’m getting my energy back after the surgery and feel a huge relief to know it was successful! I’m not back to a 100% but I have no doubt the shows will give me the power push I need to rock with all of you on the upcoming European tour 🤘🏻 Thank you for your amazing support and well wishes 🙏🏻🙏🏻"

And now 'Last Ride Of The Day' has been made available too, in support of the release of the Tour Edition today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3wa6DvcOdw

Tero Kinnunen (producer) posted the same on his Instagram, and the tag shows he was in Vantaa, Finland -- perhaps in the same warehouse where they recorded the virtual show? This could mean that the band met to rehearse for the European leg, perhaps shuffling the setlist a bit? 👀 https://www.instagram.com/p/ClBSz6_Kq97/ Also, many European shows are already sold out: 20 Nov - Antwerp - SOLD OUT 21 Nov - London - SOLD OUT 22 Nov - Birmingham - Less than 200 tickets remain 23 Nov - Dublin 25 Nov - Berlin 27 Nov - Amsterdam - SOLD OUT 28 Nov - Amsterdam - SOLD OUT 30 Nov - Paris - Less than 400 tickets remain

Eye Of Melian had a belated album release party stream on YouTube today, it can be found here if one wants to check them out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNS9jm_7R9k Some highlights: There are no plans for live performances right now Martijn is about to start writing new material for an eventual future EoM release There are no 'real' choirs or orchestra on the first album Lots of talk about what their favourite book/colour/song/bands are...

On the Nightdreamers Reacticide discord server, I found a complete translation of the original interview. It's an interesting read, and deserves reposting. The article contains recounts pertaining to depression, anxiety, and suicide. Discretion is advised. All Joy Was Lost Sanna Salo, Italehti 15.7.2022 Even when all hope was lost, Marko Hietala has managed to climb out of the pits of depression. Light now shines upon his life with the help of a new diagnosis and the coming of a third child. “It was December 2021. The Raskasta Joulua (Hard Christmas) Tour has arrived in Oulu. My heart was pounding. Sweat was pouring out. The anxiety was suffocating.” “Had a breakdown, gone on sick leave. It wasn’t the right time yet.” The interview request came at just the right time. Moments ago, Marko Hietala would not have been able to talk about that dark period in his life. For the first time since his departure, he gives an account of the events that led to his separation from Nightwish and his withdrawal from the public eye, and most importantly, what he has been up to recently. We will meet at Hietala's Tuska festival. Earlier in the day, the man had pulled an energetic performance within the ranks of the Northern Kings. Hietala, cheerful and laughing, warmly welcomes us and sits down for an interview. “It’s been a long time,” he sighs. Hietala was referring to performing at festivals, but that statement also applies here. At the beginning of 2021, Hietala announced that he was leaving Nightwish after almost two decades of being a member. During the past year and a half, Hietala has hardly been seen in public. In that time, he has not been on tour or undergone any interviews. Instead, he was going through the darkest time of his life. “The other battle has been deep depression and anxiety. The struggle inside my head got so bad that the thoughts started to turn suicidal.” “Sometimes I thought about walking from the backyard into the frozen lake and just disappearing”, Hietala recalls. Hietala shows how his hands start to shake as he begins telling his story. “Depression and anxiety have been my companions for years. Nightmares always woke me up in the morning. At the same time, I needed to work really hard in a career with the world's biggest Finnish band. Those mental health problems have also left their mark on the relationships within the band.” Hietala cannot name just one low point – there were several. “Of course, you learn to live with it in some way, to resist them harder and harder. At some point, forcing it won’t be enough. The longer these problems are neglected, the more toxic and heavy they become.” In 2019, Nightwish recorded their latest album Human. :II: Nature. At the same time, Hietala's solo career was in full swing. When the English version of Mustan sydämen rovio (Pyre of the Black Heart) was recorded, guitarist Tuomas Wäinölä almost had to force Hietala into the recording studio. “Everything that could have possibly brought joy was lost,” Hietala describes. Prioritising Survival The pandemic hit, and the world tour was postponed to the distant future. Hietala sat on the couch at home and went to therapy. In the fall of 2020, he competed and won as Tohtori (the Doctor) in the Masked Singer. The show was the highlight of the year: no one in the production was aware enough to be careful around a chronically depressed colleague. When the ongoing situation of the world started to ease and Nightwish started their machines again, Hietala realised that there was no going back to the way things were. “It was necessary to continue a more peaceful lifestyle, if you wanted to get into clear waters.” “My mind had gone to the point where I could no longer bear the thought of having to go out into the world for a month or a month and a half with the same conditions and sorrows.” “I realised that I have dark things I have to work on. It became a priority. If I had decided to do gigs at that point, I probably would have brought nothing but trouble, to others and to myself.” When Hietala announced to Nightwish that he was leaving, the band was not surprised. Hietala had always been open about his problems. “My condition must have scared the band members for a long time,” he states. A New Diagnosis During the year and a half of radio silence, Hietala visited numerous therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists. A home was also bought in Spain for the dark winter months: The darkness has always worsened the symptoms of depression. Along with the already existing mental health problems, a new diagnosis was made: ADHD. “There is no full-spectrum ADHD, but some degree of attention deficit disorder,” Hietala explains. Hietala had already taken medication for both depression and anxiety, but only the ADHD medication made a big difference. After three weeks, Hietala noticed that he was calmer and more determined. “Old resentments no longer screamed in my head in the middle of the night.” Hietala was finally able to sleep until morning. “From the accusatory voices since the divorce in 2015 and even before that, all the darkness of the past has subsided. I now know how to look ahead and live with a positive outlook,” says Hietala. In addition to the new medication, two things have helped in Hietala's recovery: his wife and their dog Nadia, who was brought to the family from Lithuania two years ago. “My wife has shown an absurd amount of patience. I've been flipping so much that at times things may have flown off the tables. She has had an absolutely insane belief in me that I am a good man inside.” Hietala adds that he himself had always believed in his own goodness. Faith in the rest of the world, on the other hand, had been lost. It was Cami, 35, who had pushed Hietala into therapy once more, when Hietala could no longer believe in their effectiveness a few years back. A New Baby and Grandchild As of late, a very special thing has brought joy to their lives: a new baby is expected to be born into the family in October. Hietala, 56, already has adult twin boys from his previous union. Hietala joined Nightwish at the end of 2001, when the first two children had just been born. Even though the musician had time to spend time at home with his children, it is much easier now that he no longer has to maintain an international career at the same time – especially with a third child on the way. “The situation is different now. I have had time to create a career – there are gigs and a secure livelihood. Since there will be a new member in the family, I will stay a little longer to watch over them too,” Hietala plans. The future child will be the first for Hietala's Brazilian wife. Her own baby has been a long-time dream of Cami. “Yes, I look at that happiness with great joy myself,” Hietala says about his wife. Hietala also remembers what his sons were like when they were little. “Children are great. Especially when they're little, when there's an immediate readiness for whimsy and strange things. Maybe for a person with an attention deficit disorder, a kids’ club sounds about right,” he laughs. The future child is not the only newcomer in the Hietala family. The musician also became a grandfather for the first time last summer, when one of the twin boys had a baby with his girlfriend. “They have a hilarious little friend,” Hietala says warmly about his one-year-old grandchild. A Return to Nightwish? After the announcement of his departure, Nightwish fans have feverishly wondered whether Hietala has left the band for good, or if the return of the beloved singer-bassist is still possible. When Hietala was asked about it, he did not have a clear answer. The core of Nightwish’s activities, music, albums and gigs have always been a source of pride for Hietala and will continue to be, however. The problems lie elsewhere. Business is demanding for a group the size of Nightwish: several people on top take their share of the profit, and those who wrote the song suffer the most. Long discussions with their management would be required. “I'm not waiting for a return request or a meeting invite. For years, I would get pissed off practically every day at some point. Dark thoughts came as soon as the opportunity presented itself.” “Even though the gang knows that there is depression, medication and therapy, I can't help getting tired. I saw it as necessary for both me and them to leave.“ If the band members would want to discuss things, Hietala would be ready for it, now that he is feeling better. “But it requires that those things really be discussed.” Above all, Hietala would now have the chance to thoroughly explain how he ended up in such deep waters. That's a story for another time, otherwise the interview would take the rest of the day. However, that conversation has to be had if Hietala were to ever go and participate in a project, either with new or old faces. Hietala has not been in contact with Nightwish since his departure nor followed their activities – The band has spectacularly returned to the stage and is currently on world tour. It is still too difficult for Hietala to look at the situation from an outsider’s perspective. Hietala does not know of Nightwish's current bassist, Jukka Koskinen. From the looks of things, however, the band has found a competent person for a demanding job. “I don't feel bitter that someone else is there. On the contrary, I feel relieved.” [Note: Koskinen became the official base player about one month after this interview was published] To Whoever If the reader were to remember one thing after reading this story, Hietala would like it to be the following: “One should not misunderstand a person who has been under too much pressure for too long. Depression is an illness that affects the behaviour of the sufferer. The old parable is true: you can't force someone with an amputated leg to walk or someone who is depressed to cheer up. Mental illness does not show on the outside.” One of the hardest things for Hietala to realise was how wrong someone may have interpreted his eagerness and darkness. “I had friends who took my depression and pain into consideration to the point where I became a dick about it, that the piss has gone to my head. When complaining about such things, one can’t help but feel even more worthless and inferior afterwards.” Hietala emphasises the word was. The moments when another person realises that something isn’t right are immeasurably valuable. Once on tour, Nightwish guitarist Emppu Vuorinen had offered Hietala a cigarette and asked how he was doing. The depression that had long accumulated erupted and Hietala crumbled. “I have good memories of people like that, where someone says that things are going to shit.” Hietala reminds that anyone may have a person in their workplace who is constantly gloomy and eager. It is not necessarily a permanent character trait, but something they live with. Another Disappearance? Hietala's summer continues with gigs in both his solo band and the Northern Kings. Last December, Hietala was supposed to participate in the traditional Raskasta Joulua (Heavy Christmas) tour. After the first concert, however, Hietala stated that he was not yet ready to perform. Social media then announced the singer's condition and wished him a speedy recovery. When Hietala went on stage for the first time in the summer after such a long disappearance, he was anxious. Little by little, performing started to feel like it did before: natural and fun. “In the future, I plan to focus on my solo career. On a smaller scale, it's easier to create your own rules and keep the strings in your hands.” When Hietala was asked if he may disappear from the public again at some point, he did not dare promise anything. Nevertheless, he hasn’t felt better in a long time.

Here are a few comments about the movie after a first viewing, and I'll try to avoid spoilers! Imaginaerum is good fun, perhaps confusing at first but the plot getting clearer as it goes. It's probably a movie I need to watch more than once to fully appreciate. It's likely inspired by the Tim Burton movies (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory...) as well as the animated The Snowman (the original 'Walking In The Air'). Considering the budget was tight, the photography and special effects are surprisingly good. I'm trying to figure out how much the general public, without an interest in Nightwish, would enjoy the movie. The transitions to band performances (Slow Love Slow, Scaretale) are perhaps a bit jarring and one might wonder what's the purpose of the band interludes in the big picture. I'd say if there's an issue with the movie it's that it's constructed around a playlist, and perhaps juggling the needs of the band/music exposure and the needs of the plot were a major challenge. But as a Nightwish fan, there's a lot to love. Apparently the movie was panned in Finland, and never really went anywhere internationally. I suppose that the band lost some money in the endeavour, but they might have still derived indirect profit from the hype surrounding the project. Anette was apparently unhappy about the movie, both the expense and the result. Looking back perhaps she was right in that the movie never made profit, but I think it was more a pet project for Tuomas and something he just had to do at least once. There will never be another Nightwish-inspired movie, so let's enjoy what we have!

A very interesting blog post about an American producer's journey to attend the Imaginaerum premiere in 2012: https://www.khimoo.com/news-blog/2022-11-10-imaginaerum-decade-anniversary As well as YouTube recordings of Marko and director Stobe Harju introducing the movie at Hartwall (Finnish only): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSRccuE3El0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFxY0SmH8zE

More festival dates 🤘 Sweden-Gävle-Atlas Rock-June 2-3, 2023 Norway-Oslo-Tons Of Rock-June 22-24, 2023

Another interesting collaboration from the Alchemy Project album: "Sirens - Of Blood And Water" — THE ALCHEMY PROJECT — HEAR THE SIRENS’ CALL AS ‘THE ALCHEMY PROJECT’ IS OUT TODAY! Today is the day we finally unleash The Alchemy Project – our collaboration EP featuring 13 guest bands, musicians, and… Sirens! For this special occasion, we present you with a music video by Patric Ullaeus for the hauntingly dark, “Sirens – Of Blood And Water” featuring the wonderful ladies, Charlotte Wessels and Myrkur. SIMONE REMEMBERS: “Charlotte and I go back many years, but we never really worked on music together. Since she started releasing her solo songs, I became an admirer of her work and reached out to her to create a song for The Alchemy Project. That collaboration resulted in the beautiful haunting song, ‘Sirens – Of Blood And Water’. We both have a fascination for mermaids, the fairytale from H.C. Andersen, and wanted to write a song from the perspective of the sisters of the Little Mermaid. I loved how our creative minds flowed into the song and having Myrkur, who happens to be Danish just like the author of the tale, add her unique voice to the song was the perfect match that we needed to complete the story.”

"Imaginaerum tells the story of an elderly composer, Tom, who suffers from severe dementia. As he has had the disease for years and has regressed into childhood, he remembers practically nothing from his adult life. His music, friends, all his past including the memory of his daughter are a blur in his fragile mind. All he has left is the imagination of a ten year old boy. As he drifts away into coma, it seems impossible to get back what he has lost. Or is it?" Directed by Stobe Harju Screenplay by Stobe Harju, Mikko Rautalahti, Richard Jackson Story by Stobe Harju, Tuomas Holopainen Produced by Neil Dunn, Jukka Helle, André Rouleau, Markus Selin Starring: Marianne Farley, Quinn Lord, Francis-Xavier McCarthy, Ilkka Villi, Joanna Noyes, Keyanna Fielding, Stéphane Demers, Ron Lea, Hélène Robitaille Cinematography: Benoît Beaulieu Edited by Mathieu Bélanger Music by Nightwish, Petri Alanko Production companies: Solar Films, Caramel Films Distributed by Scene Nation Release date: November 23, 2012 (on DVD April 23, 2013) Running time: 85 minutes Countries: Finland, Canada Language: English Budget: $3.7 million Box office: $190,819 (Finland, Russia, and Malaysia) Today is the 10th anniversary of the first screening of the movie Imaginaerum, after Nightwish's Helsinki show on Nov 10, 2012. It would be publicly released a few weeks later. Anette wasn't attending since she already left the band little more than a month earlier. So I thought this would be a good time to watch it for the first time myself! 😳 I'll let you know how it goes! 😁

I didn't know 'A Lifetime Of Adventure' was ever performed live. 👀 I can't figure out from this video who's playing the piano but it's probably not Tuomas.

Now I can't choose where I'd rather be next year, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean watching not one but two Nightwish shows in a row, or in Finland to see them on home turf with all the pyros and visiting the NW exhibition and stuff. 😲 It's probably a given Kitee will be a special show, either guests or a special setlist or fireworks, or all of the above! 😁 They did mention other bands performing, don't know it will be local or international bands.

Looks like you were right @Moondance! 🤘 But it will be the penultimate show. Time to play "Kiteen Pallo"! Nightwish announces home town show to Kitee next summer Arto Mäenpää - 8.11.2022 https://chaoszine.net/nightwish-to-play-a-hometown-show-in-kitee-next-summer/ One of the most successful Finnish bands of all time, Nightwish, will perform in their hometown Kitee in June 2023. Human. :II: Nature. -world tour concert will happen on Friday, June 16, 2023 at renovated baseball stadium of Kitee. The concert is organized by Kiteen Pallo, the city of Kitee and the event production company Nordic Live Productions. Nightwish has previously also announced another concert in Finland, which will take place on Saturday 17 June 2023 at Vaasa’s Lemonsoft Stadium. Kitee and Vaasa’s performances are Nightwish‘s last domestic concerts before the band takes a break to work on a new album. Nightwish‘s Kitee’s concert will be one of the biggest single events in eastern Finland during summer of 2023. Tuomas Holopainen, founding member and leader of the Nightwish band, is excited about the upcoming concert in his hometown: “The band let out a collective squeal of joy when we were told about the gig at Kiteen Rantakentä. It will be the last performances of the Human. :II: Nature. world tour, and for me the absolute highlight of the whole round. My hometown, its people, and people from all over the world are guaranteed to create a magical setting for the event . We’ll be waiting in our spots, see you there!” The group’s arrival in Kitee has been awaited for two decades The best-known songs of Nightwish, who play symphonic metal and were founded in Kitee in 1996, are e.g. “Nemo“, “Sleeping Sun“, “Storytime“, “Wish I Had An Angel“, “Amaranth” and “Noise“. In addition to the keyboardist and leader Tuomas Holopainen, singer Floor Jansen, multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, bassist Jukka Koskinen and drummer Kai Hahto will be seen on stage. Tommi Mäki, CEO of Nordic Live Productions comments: “Nightwish’s concert in Kitee, the band’s founding city, has been awaited for two decades. We are really excited that we will be able to produce a concert at the renovated Rantakentä next summer. We thank the band for their trust, and we promise to make the June 2023 concert a memorable and unique experience. In addition to Nightwish, the concert will feature a few other bands from the beginning of the evening, which will be announced later.” Nightwish is one of Kitee’s biggest pride The story of the worldwide famous band Nightwish is recorded in the Kitee Tourist Information – A Nightwish Story exhibition center, which opened in the center of Kitee in 2020. The exhibition presents the band’s journey from a small band project in Kitee to one of the biggest metal bands in the world. The exhibition, which has gained worldwide fame, features rare material that can only be seen and experienced in Kitee. Kitee City Manager Pekka Hirvonen comments: “A Nightwish Story exhibition center will be open around the clock between June 15 and 17, 2023. It’s absolutely amazing to have Nightwish, which has strong crystalline roots, perform at Rantakenttä. The renovated stadium offers an excellent setting for the event, and we, as a city, warmly welcome the concert guests.” Baseball stadium’s visitor record is expected to be broken The total capacity of Kiteen Rantakenttä baseball stadium is around 10,000 people for the concert. In addition to the 2,800-seat grandstand, which was renovated in 2020, almost the entire baseball field serves as an audience area. The concert is expected to be sold out, which would clearly break the stadium’s previous visitor record. The current audience record for Rantakkettä is 7,773 spectators in the 1996 East-West match. The local major baseball club Kiteen Pallo is strongly involved in the arrangements of the concert. Tommi Mäki adds: “We expect Rantakenttä’s capacity of more than 10,000 seats to be filled quickly after ticket sales start. At the same time, it would be the biggest event in the history of the baseball stadium. In the realization of the concert, we cooperate closely with Kitee city, Kiteen Pallo and other local clubs and organizations.” Kiteen Pallo also warmly welcomes Nightwish to Rantakenttä Kiteen Pallo’s Mikko Varonen comments about the upcoming show: “Nightwish is the brightest star in the music world of our region, and the event has a special meaning for Kiteen Pallo, as well as for all the club’s partners and fans. We believe that Rantakenttä’s audience record will be broken with a bang. Years of cooperation with the band members have been seamless, and the upcoming event also shows respect for our cooperation. We are very proud to be from Kitee, and we welcome all Nightwish fans to Kitee for the whole event week.” Ticket sales for the concert will start on Friday, November 11 Ticket sales for Nightwish‘s Kitee concert will start on Friday, November 11, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. at the ticket office. There are age-restricted tickets and K18 tickets on sale for the concert. In addition, various VIP tickets are sold for the concert.

The Story Behind The Song: Nightwish’s Nemo by Dom Lawson/Natasha Scharf (Metal Hammer), October 06, 2016 https://www.loudersound.com/features/nightwish-nemo-story-behind-the-song Tuomas Holopainen and Tarja Turunen look back on the song that broke Nightwish to an audience of millions Most successful bands can trace their rise to glory back to one particular moment in time. For Finland’s Nightwish, the undisputed champions of symphonic metal, that moment came with the release of Nemo, the first single to be unveiled from the band’s fifth album, Once. Although they had already established themselves as a major force in large parts of Europe and South America, it was Nemo, released in 2004, that proved to be the band’s major international breakthrough. As Nightwish celebrate two decades as metal’s most extravagant standard-bearers, we asked founder, creative driving force and keyboard maestro Tuomas Holopainen and former vocalist Tarja Turunen to cast their minds back to the song that brought them worldwide fame. Tuomas explains that it had a painful birth. “I remember vividly that Nemo is one of the most difficult songs we’ve ever done,” he tells us. “It was really, really difficult to get it to work. We worked with the arrangement for months, just to get the lyrics and melodies completely right. I don’t know why. It was originally two minutes longer and the music was faster, but it was Tero [Kinnunen], the recording engineer, who said, ‘This part is completely stupid. Take it away, and we need to slow this down by about 10bpm.’ We rearranged it again and again. I can’t even remember how it went originally. It must be on one of my floppy discs!” Many people assumed the song was some kind of tribute to either Disney’s Finding Nemo or Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s classic novel, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, but the truth is that it was inspired by the troubled emotional state that Tuomas found himself in at the time of its composition. “It was just about a feeling of not being sufficient enough, a feeling of being a terrible person and fucking up everything,” he explains. “We all get those moments every now and again, those weaker moments in life when you don’t really know who you are. You are without a name, without a direction. That’s where the title, Nemo, which means ‘no name’ [in Latin], came from. It’s basically a cathartic song about myself. I was just a much darker person then than I am now. I would never do a song like that again, but that was as honest as it gets. It was a page out of my diary, and I needed to get those emotions out. I felt so alone.” We now know that Once would prove to be Tarja’s last album with Nightwish, but today she has fond memories of hearing and singing Nemo for the first time, as the lavish and ambitious record was pieced together during the winter of 2003 and early 2004 “When Tuomas first played it to me, I thought that Nemo was an easy-to-understand song with a beautiful, catchy melody,” she recalls. “I really loved it. It didn’t immediately become one of my favourites, because I generally preferred the longer, more complicated songs in Nightwish, but this song obviously needed to be a single. I always tend to be a little bit more nervous recording a song when you know it’s a single, but the goal is just to get a good take and to make a great song out of it. I had a great time singing it.” While it seemed inevitable that Nightwish would continue to head onwards and upwards upon the release of Once, it was the release of Nemo and its sumptuous, melodramatic video that gave the band that all-important push into the global spotlight. Costing around €80,000 – a massive amount for a metal band in 2004 – and created in collaboration with Finnish director Antti Jokinen (who went on to direct 2011 thriller The Resident, starring Hilary Swank), the clip received heavy rotation from TV stations around the world. It was a vivid but melancholic portrayal of the band performing amid a snowy, mountainous landscape, Tarja standing out in a billowing red coat. The striking visuals, combined with the song’s irresistible melodies, elegantly augmented by the London Session Orchestra, ensured that Nemo had a vast impact. “The video was dark, but striking and colourful, and it was very gothic,” she says. “We got a lot of gothic followers after that video! I don’t think Nightwish ever considered themselves to be a gothic band, but we got a lot of appreciation. My friend is a Finnish tailor, and she’s still in charge of many of my outfits. We had this idea for the red coat, a very strong colour against the snow falling. If you think of symphonic metal bands with female singers, they’re usually dressed in black. I was always the weird girl with the weird voice, the operatic vocals, and then I wore this red coat, ha ha ha! I still see girls at my shows dressed like me, so I guess it was really powerful.” Not everyone was immediately bowled over by Nightwish’s opulent vision, however, as Tarja explains. “We had an initial ‘No!’ from MTV at the time, because they didn’t want to show a video that was in the snow!” she laughs. “We thought, ‘Why are you showing beach videos all the year round, but you don’t want to show snow falling?’ Some TV stations were not willing to show the video, but it was a big thing for us. Many new people got to know us through that song.” Released on April 19, 2004, Nemo was undoubtedly the chief catalyst in propelling Nightwish to the greatest of heights. The buzz surrounding the band was already undeniable, but the single’s conquering of the small screen and the then-rapidly expanding online world ensured that when Once was released just under two months later, it rocketed to the top of charts across Europe, and the Finns suddenly found themselves being heralded as 2004’s musical phenomenon. “I think the biggest news was that it was the best-selling album in the whole of Europe for two weeks,” Tuomas grins. “It was unbelievable. That’s when we said, ‘OK, now we know that something’s going on!’ I don’t really think it got into any of our heads in a bad way. We were just like, ‘Wow! Imagine that!’ There were all these huge names from all over the world and they were beneath us… I thought, ‘What’s going on? OK, let’s just enjoy the ride!’ It was just fantastic. Everybody felt really happy in the band and we’re talking about 2004 now, because 2005 was the worst year for us. But I remember 2004 was just beautiful, the whole year. Everybody was happy with the success and just being happy playing the shows. I remember we played at the Astoria in London. It was the first time we ever played there, and they had a sign outside that said, ‘Tonight! Nightwash!’ I will never forget that! Ha ha ha!” As Tuomas hints, the overwhelming success Nightwish enjoyed after the release of Once would eventually lead to an acrimonious split with their singer at the end of 2005. But with hindsight, it is clear that the impact of Nemo and its parent album were fundamental to the sustained popularity and commercial potency that the band continue to enjoy to this day. While they had worked extremely hard to realise their ambitions, the reality of becoming big meant that their lives changed at an alarming rate, and Tarja struggled to adjust. “Yeah, suddenly everyone wanted a piece of us, and it was weird,” she notes. “The venues were huge and that was great, but I don’t know if I got to enjoy that much about it. It was so fast. I don’t know if anyone could really enjoy that. We were in a wind tunnel, you know? We were still young and we’d worked really hard to make our dreams come true, but it was kind of scary at the time. For me to be the only girl on the road, in a way, I was always the one that everyone saw first and wanted to speak to, and the guys would always escape, ha ha ha! There was a lot of pressure involved. It wasn’t an easy time for the band. The success came, but it was hard to deal with it. If you ask me now if I enjoyed it, I can’t say yes, and that’s sad, isn’t it?” In suitably dramatic fashion, Nightwish and Tarja went their separate ways at the end of the touring cycle for Once. But now that more than a decade has passed, both camps are evidently proud of the music they made together and the longevity they have both achieved due to that remarkable shared success. Nightwish are bigger than ever in 2016 and show no signs of losing momentum, while Tarja’s career as a solo artist also goes from strength to strength. She still sings Nemo, and other Nightwish songs, during her live shows, which says it all about the enduring magic they created all those years ago. Meanwhile, Tuomas is happy to acknowledge that Nemo remains one of the most important songs he has ever written, and a glowing example of how music can change lives and make dreams come true. “It might sound corny, but you realise that these lyrics and this song are going to be heard by all these people, so in a way it’s sharing the pain and the frustration with the whole world, and that really helps,” he concludes. “When music is so honest, I think it helps the people who are listening to it as well, so everybody wins. That’s the beauty of art in its essence, right there.”