Fugazi

Everyone does! 😍 Check this out: Discussion here.

From Auri's Facebook: "We are excited to announce that the journey of AURI continues: the new album "II - Those We Don't Speak Of" will see the light of day on September 3rd, 2021. The cover artwork comes once again from talented Janne "ToxicAngel" Pitkänen. First single and pre-order start to be revealed very soon!"

Here's Anette's latest collaboration, with Magnus Karlsson. It's an easy listen but nothing really groundbreaking IMO.

https://www.kerrang.com/features/the-20-greatest-nightwish-songs-ranked 20. Shoemaker (Human. :||: Nature., 2020) 19. Ever Dream (Century Child, 2002) 18. Elvenpath (Angels Fall First, 1997) 17. Endless Forms Most Beautiful (Endless Forms Most Beautiful, 2015) 16. The Pharaoh Sails To Orion (Oceanborn, 1998) 15. Bless The Child (Century Child, 2002) 14. Dead Boy’s Poem (Wishmaster, 2000) 13. Escapist (Bye Bye Beautiful B-Side, 2008) 12. The Siren (Once, 2004) 11. The Islander (Dark Passion Play, 2007) 10. Nemo (Once, 2004) 9. The Poet And The Pendulum (Dark Passion Play, 2007) 8. Wish I Had An Angel (Once, 2004) 7. Wishmaster (Wishmaster, 2000) 6. Amaranth (Dark Passion Play, 2007) 5. Dead To The World (Century Child, 2002) 4. Ghost Love Score (Once, 2004) 3. Storytime (Imaginaerum, 2011) 2. Dark Chest Of Wonders (Once, 2004) 1. The Greatest Show On Earth (Endless Forms Most Beautiful, 2015) Some interesting choices, and it's a diverse compilation. I would have replaced Endless Forms with a more seminal track from EMFB such as Shudder Before the Beautiful or Weak Fantasy or two or three other... Also, DCOW in second place? Personally I would have saved a spot for Gethsemane or Stargazers, and also 7 Days to the Wolves. But overall a nice selection. What other song would be missing from your top 20?

From Napalm Records' Facebook page: "Finnish Black/Epic Metal Pioneers Darkwoods My Betrothed, Featuring Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish), Sign Record Deal with Napalm Records! After more than two decades of silence, Finnish cult black/epic metallers and pioneers of the scene DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED carve their long-awaited comeback in stone by signing a worldwide record deal with Napalm Records! In 2020, the old horde from the original line-up rejoined forces, now augmented by former session keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen as a full member of the band, bringing a significant contribution to the creative process, and Kai Hahto (both Nightwish) as session drummer. Founded in 1993 in Kitee, Finland, DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED quickly gained a cult status in the black metal underground. In 1995, they released their debut album, Heirs of the Northstar, followed by sophomore album, Autumn Roars Thunder (1996), and Witch-Hunts (1998). Shortly after, the pagan flame of DARKWOODS MY BETROTHED became but a fleeting glimpse in the nocturnal darkness of Eastern Finland. But it never faded away completely. Be prepared for an onslaught of melodic black metal and epic majesty!" Also from DMB's Facebook page:

If anyone's interested in a reactor's discussion/comment of the live shows (by TankTheTech)...

Does anyone have this book, Dark Passion Gallery? I was wondering if it's only pictures or if there's also a tour account.

WT are also doing a "virtual" streaming show, on the 8-9-10-11th of July. I'm almost tempted to buy a ticket to see how the experience compares to The Islanders Arms. https://www.within-temptation.com/

The band are catching some flak on social media for not having been open about pre-recording the show. The result is probably the same, but I can understand that some of the people who made sure to be awake at 3 AM to catch the second performance might have waited until the morning had they known it's not a live-live performance. I'm actually surprised they used the "wrong" visuals during Alpenglow, considering the team had time to correct any blatant mistakes. Perhaps the idea to add Alpenglow to the set list happened too late in the design process? Because I think the dark graphics of Tribal clashed somewhat with the tone of Alpengow. In unrelated thoughts, given how good the band performance turned out in the end without Marko, this could have been one of their defining live moments had Marko not left the band. Oh well.

Yet to watch this but... garage makeover? 🤪

It turns out you were right about pre-recording the shows, according to this interview with Jukka!

A new interview with Jukka Koskinen on KaaosTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KdHyIMZomk More of the usual stuff, but here are a few highlights: Wintersun is on an extended writing break, so there are no short-term plans for Jukka with his band. He was already familiar with NW music but never played any of it, so he had to learn 21 songs in about 2 months. Overall the technical aspects of bass playing in NW aren't new territory to Jukka, except for palm muting. The streaming concerts were pre-recorded a few hours before the online broadcasting, to allow for potential major technical bugs. However the shows were recorded in one go and no mistakes were corrected.

There's more from the same show, with a well known singer to boot. 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNRahGTlE6s

Here's an interview with John Two-Hawks published in 2006. John Two-Hawks visits Finland as a guest of Nightwish by Satu Reunanen http://www.rockunited.com/twohawks.htm Of interest: "The wonderful thing is, when Tuomas contacted me through King Foo Entertainment. He's the one who looked me up and he has a real interest in American Indian culture. He's spent a lot of time in America, read a lot of books and done a lot of research. So he's become really interested in our culture. When he composed the song Creek Mary's Blood, he wanted a Lakota, a flute player. As it was told to me anyway, he went to the American embassy and asked for the name of the best Lakota flute player you can find. Surprisingly they gave him my name. That's how it started and then my people talked to his people and worked all the details out and we flew over here." "Translating that poem was a pain in the rear end, and I say that with a smile, because it was difficult. English doesn't translate that well into Lakota. English is a language of words, Lakota is a language of concept. So the words in Lakota can mean many different things depending how you use them in the sentence or with other words. What was important for me to do, was to stay true to Tuomas' concept with what he was trying to say with his poem. So it says both what Tuomas wanted to say and what I wanted to say as well. I did my best, but there's always somebody who would've done it differently. Just like everything, we choose the different words and mean different things. I chose the words I thought were the best for this. It is what it is, it's done and it's meant to be that way." "Tuomas and I actually had a conversation about a possibility of doing something in the future. Maybe a whole album of some kind. It just depends on his schedule and mine, we're both pretty busy guys, so it might be hard to get us together. But we love the concept, it's never been done what we're doing, playing these ancient American Indian flutes, old chants and putting that kind of stuff with keys, guitars and orchestral sound. It's never been done really, but it's incredibly powerful. I think it makes a powerful statement, it has a lot to say and I think we've just scratched the surface of what we can do with it. So we'll see."

Perhaps little known is the fact that John Two-Hawks recorded a Christmas CD with Johanna Kurkela, of Auri fame and Tuomas' wife. Included is their version of "Walking In The Air". This was released in October 2015. https://www.johntwohawks.com/store/p164/Noel_Christmas_CD.html Not only that, but in December 2015 they toured together in the USA for the "Noel Concert Tour", playing cities like Fort Wayne, Muskegon and Eureka Springs.

And here's a long (2005-2019) but fascinating thread attempting to unravel the mystery of this man of many faces. http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=285.0

Most of you are probably familiar with John Two-Hawks (aka John A. Hill), the native-style artist that Tuomas invited to the recording of Once and eventually played during the End of an Era live concert. Some of you may also be aware that there has been a debate about the authenticity of the native lyrics he wrote for Creek Mary's Blood, and even about the authenticity of the artist himself. Basically this is a case of cultural appropriation, which has become a very sensitive issue in America nowadays but was perhaps not yet such a hot topic back in 2004. Anyways I thought I would lay down here some of the records available from the period, most of which are getting difficult to track as the various old sites are taken down or deprecated. Here's one article that basically summarizes the whole debate: Nightwish collaborator denies allegations that his Oglala heritage is false By Jacob Ovington (2013-01-17) John Two-Hawks issues a statement denying claims that his Oglala Lakota heritage is false. John Two-Hawks, an American flutist has issued a statement for the first time in response to allegations that claim he is a fraud. Two-Hawks has built his career on the premise of his Oglala heritage. This recently came into question when members of the tribe were introduced to Nightwish, a symphonic metal band he had worked with in the past. Upon listening to a song he contributed to, a young member of the tribe and fluent Lakota speaker found that the lyrics Two-Hawks supposedly wrote in the language were “nothing more than absolute gibberish.” This was later confirmed by David Little Elk, a certified Lakota language expert. In addition to this Little Elk stated that he was approached by Two-Hawks six years ago for lessons in Lakota, but declined to teach him because of his supposed false Native American identity and his refusal to pay. In his statement Two-Hawks defends himself saying “My full legal name is John Two-Hawks. It is a proud family name that goes back many generations. It is not unheard of in Lakota country.” The Oglala enrolment office which keeps records of all members as far back as 1800 was unable to trace the name Two-Hawks. The flutist claims to be well known and culturally recognised in Lakota Country. A Yankton Sioux responded to this saying "Sure, he's well known in Lakota country... as a fraud!" The inaccuracy of his lyrics sparked online discussion which Two-Hawks labelled slander, demanding all posts to be removed. http://www.dark-domain.co.uk/2013/01/john-two-hawks-denies-allegations-that.html

Here's a rare photo from one of those early shows, with Tarja, Emppu and Samppa Hirvonen. Found on Facebook, author unknown. https://www.facebook.com/nightwishpl/photos/a.313062348791110/704714702959204/ Edit: I actually found the source, it's a fragment from a picture published in the NW biography. Unfortunately the book provides neither credits nor details about the date or location of the performance.

For history's sake, here's a 2014 interview with Finberg, where he talks among other things about managing the NW tours. He was apparently involved with Re-Vamp too. Who is the Mystery Man Behind Nightwish North America? (Allie Jorgen, 2014-03-04) https://www.nationalrockreview.com/interviews/la-metal-scene-allie-jorgen-march-2014 A few highlights: "In the Spring of 2007, the Nightwish managers asked me to go to Amsterdam for a meeting where they asked me to partner with them and form the North American management company together, where we would manage the band in the US and North America. This gave me the chance to not only have input in more business decisions, but it made me even more motivated because now we were partners in a management company and it was the best thing for the band." "I was in Thailand and I saw a video of a [Nightwish] song on MTV Asia in my hotel room, back when MTV played videos and thought this is really good. So I emailed everyone I knew and asked if they knew who this band was and this guy who used to be my friend got me in touch with the manager. While I was in Thailand I reached out to the manager, and after only one email exchange, I was hired as their North American booking agent." "With Nightwish, when I go to Finland, I stay in a coffin at the keyboard player's house, an actual coffin in the guest room. I had heard about it for years that the keyboard player has a basement like a Haunted House with an actual coffin that you sleep in. I am always the first one to ask for the coffin. The second guest room has horror music playing from the 30's and 40's when you flip the light switch." "I did an interview prior to the last tour and I was asked my opinion about Annette. At the time, I gave my strong opinion that she connected really well with the fans. But Floor can perform the older material the way it needs to be sung. She has the ability to sing the newer material in a way that it sounds better. She can change her voice in a weird way, where it could be six different people singing in the band. If you don't look at the stage, you can almost think that it is not the same person singing all those songs. Her voice goes from A to Z – Compared to A to F – It is like A to Z and then some and she connects well with the fans."

So the second Auri album will be released on September 3, 2021. There's a teaser on Auri's Facebook, can't seem to find it on YouTube though. https://fb.watch/5TdWjfbuM6/

A more immersive, 3D virtual performance could be interesting. The technological challenge though! As software evolves and data pipelines becomes more robust, I can see it happen one day!