для мен все эти статьи просто удар ниже пояса в бархатной перчатке!!!!
когда же занятся их переводом.......
всем спасибо за статьи!!!

Ооо! переведите это кто-нибудь, пожалуйста!!))

Интервью с Туомасом, кажется, бэкстейдж Ruisrock'а, за перевод спасибо юзеру оффорума The Enigma

Question: You Tuomas have purchased a new hat, or is that like the previous one found in the attic? Like you told us you found the one you had in the promo pics.

Tuomas: I think I've had a fixation to hats in recent years; I like hats: You can't believe how difficult it is to find a top hat in a place as big as London. Especially a big enough for me, because I've got an enourmously large head. Years ago my student's cap had to be ordered from Denmark or someplace because they couldn't find big enough in Finland. The current one I use is like this now.

Q: You have had quite a busy summer again but I understood that you did have time to visit in Kitee at your cottage or at home. What will you do when you go relaxing at home?

T: My house is still in a phase, so it usually becomes a work vacation. I still need to find some furnishing, finish some details and seed more grass for example. All this relaxing common stuff.

Q: Have you had any chance to get rid of music and leave the piano alone for a while?

T: Actually I don't have any need for that: When I'm at home I have the stereo on all the time and I'm listening to music and playing the piano. I gather ideas for the new CD so I really don't have any need to get rid of music. But the need to get out of the hamster wheel for a while is real. It's very important for me to have time to visit home sometimes, like the three days last week: I had my batteries charged.

Q: About the cottage life. Your newest single The Islander must be the most played cottage song in Finland this summer. Always when I hear it I get an image of myself sitting on a cottage terrace waiting for the sauna to heat up and the grill sizzling beside me and myself grabbing a cold beer. Do you have any similar song like when you are at home you'd like to listen to repeatedly?

T: Not really. Well, maybe from the childhood summers at the cottage I remember that it was Popeda (an old hardrock band singing in Finnish, very popular since the late 70's until these days) always playing there. And every time I hear Popeda I get this summer-at-the-cottage-with-barbecued-sausages -feeling.

Q: What is the best cottage song of Popeda?

T: Let's see, maybe "Oodi makkaralle" ("Ode to the Sausage") -laughs

Q: When we think about the icons in Finnish rock music we'd recall Tuomas Holopainen, Ville Valo and Children of Bodom which right now enjoy the biggest popularity. If the gentlemen Laiho and Valo would put up a band together, what kind of material would turn up from it?

T: Hmmm... certain artistic visions might collide there producing some sparks in good and bad but maybe the result would be... gloomy and pompous Scandinavian country [music] (said with *very* serious face)

Q: Like you yourself are aware of, Nightwish enjoys great popularity. I did see you performing in Germany a few weeks ago and you said those were the biggest audiences you have ever played to. You really cannot go watching gigs when you perform on the stage. But can you tell me when did you last time got a feeling when watching a band playing live that... you were so assured that heck, if we could... if I could be able to do it like that? When was the last time you got that kind of feeling?

T: Definitely a couple of weeks ago when I was watching on my home theater Pink Floyd's Pulse live-DVD. It was ... If we could reach something like it some day I don't know what'd happen after it. It must be maybe the finest live DVD ever made.

Q: What is in it which gives the impact?

T: Not really the music... they have several awesome songs, but the whole setup, lights arsenal, lasers and everything there has been made to the top, in very innovative way, it really appeals to me.

Q: In what subject you'd wish to make a world record?

T: Hmmm... most likely in collecting Disney memorabilia.

Q: How much you have it at the moment?

T: One full room at home has been devoted to it. It's filled from the floor to the ceiling with all kinds of stuff. But there is still plenty of space in my house for more.

Q: What is the holiest of the holy in your collection, the one item you'd save first from a fire if you had to choose.

T: Probably it is the dedicated and signed copy of the book by Don Rosa: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck

Q: How many of these exist?

T: Must be thousands, it's not so rare but for me it is the most important.

Q: A personal question from my point of view, it's not about a Nightwish song. You made the song "While Your Lips Are Still Red" to the movie Lieksa! It's such an incredibly beautiful and fine song, it gives me chills, it is very important song for me and relates to what happened in my life. It is so tender that I cannot listen to it any more, I mean it is a good song because it makes me cry every time. Have you ever had such a feeling with any song, so that the song is too good which makes you scared of your feelings when listenign to it?

T: Thank you for that! For the luck we're not going to play it tonight, the DJ might choke again (laughs) We do play it once and then, actually it is one of my own favourites among our own songs currently, but tonight we'll skip it. There are a few song which will cause me a similar reaction; the original Walking In The Air which still makes my hair stand up, makes me feel bad in a good way.

Q: The tree questions we will ask from every guest in our program:
When did you fell in love for the last time and what happened then? It doesn't need to be a human [object].

T: It was about two or three years ago and it ended poorly.

Q: Is there a situation or experience in your life you'd like to repeat?

T: I'd like to watch The Village -movie for the first time in my life again. I have seen it like 20-30 times and the first time was so mindblowing and life shattering experience which I'd like to have again.

Q: It's nice that we agree with this, I love the move too. I would also like to watch it for the first time again, because a repeat isn't the same when you already know the plot. The movie has been criticized a lot, I can't understand why.

T: I think it was badly promoted, like Shyamalan has made a horror movie, but it has nothing to do with horror. I see it as the most beautiful love story in the history of moving pictures and there is an incredibly beautiful meaning in the idea of the movie. It is maybe the all time favourite movie for me.

Q: Is there any song for you you'd be ashamed of admitting you like it?

T: Not really, I can quite well tell in public that I like "Oodi makkaralle" without feeling ashamed. Any music has something good in it, there is no need to be ashamed of your taste.

Q: Do you comapare your iPods on tourbus and try to find out who has found the worst songs from somhwere in the web?

T: I don't have an iPod, so it's kind of difficult to compare. But for example, our drummer has quite an interesting taste in music. He's got all kinds of stuff. But we don't compare, everyone have their own.

Q: Reminds me about wierd tastes of music. This isn't quite relevant to Nightwish but some bands, mostly hard rock bands have these "funny" intros like one taken from a chldren's TV series or alike, this wouldn't fit to your music because it is so atmospheric, so enourmous that a children's show theme wouldn't work as an intro. But has it ever occurred to you that you'd put a joke song for an intro in your show?

T. No, never. Like you said already, it doesn't fit on our show. Even if we do this work with a suitable amount of tongue-in-a-cheek, and laugh to ourselves, it is about too serious things within the songs and within the Nightwish ideology to go joking like that.
I think it's really cool that our verbal moments between Anette and Marco are so humorous at their best. Close to earth. On purpose, that is, we intentionally try to break down the somewhat mystic felings which may raise from some of our more cryptic lyrics. Just to remind everyone that it's just a rock and roll band and ordinary people after all.

Q: I do agree about Marco's talks. They are awesome. Do you have any favourite or legendary excerpts of his talks from along the road.

T: There are so many. He never prepares anything, it just pours out naturally. Same with Anette, she sometimes delivers quite precious pearls and makes me laugh for good. A couple of times Marco has browsed himself in talking about politics on the US tours, the I have reminded him afterwards that better keep politcs out of it. We're not going to take that road any further.

Q: Has Anette's Finnish vocabulary enlargened lately? I have seen the band with Anette for several times and we heard this "kiva - kivempi - kives" joke and some other brilliances, but are there any new ingredients for legendary anecdotes?

T: Just today we taught her a sentence: "Turku on Suomen Tampere." But I'm not sure wether we'll hear that in public here tonight.
( = "Turku is the Tampere of Finland" - Ed. note: Turku and Tampere cities are supposed to be like cat and dog and Nw were just going to perform at Ruisrock in Turku where comaparing the city to Tampere might turn the crowd's feelings quite volatile)

Q: I hope we will hear that (laughs). Tell me yet to finalize this interview, if you culd take one of the bands performing here today to an after party, which one would you choose?

T: Let's see... of that triplet: Amorphis, Sonata Arctica and Ensiferum... I'd take Sonata Arctica.

Q: Will that party happen tonight?

T: We'll see.

http://www.yle.fi/extrem/audiovideofoto/video.php?id=151
А вот и видео запись интервью, перевод которого выложила Daring_Dream.

July 13. 2008

Interview with Tuomas Holopainen at Ilosaari Rock by Yle/Pohjois-Karjalan Radio



Tuomas: About a month ago we had a gig at Rock Am Ring festival in Germany which is one of the biggest maistream festivals in Europe and we got an awesome slot on the roster to play just before Offspring and Metallica and we all were on fire. It was the biggest audience of our career, 85 000 people watching and we had a huge charge built up, but sometimes it goes the way that the technics just fails, PA shuts off all the time and in the middle of our second song all power went off from the stage, nothing could be heard anywhere. We left the stage for five minutes, they came to tell us everyhting is OK, you can continue but the next song went on about 2 mins and it happened again. We left the stage again for seven minutes and the feeling while waiting them repair it and 80 000 people start shouting Offspring at full force, and you have to go back on stage accompanied by a storm of booing and start playing The Poet And The Pendulum, such an artistic work lasting only 15 minutes... it was really a wild moment. Actually our vocalist Anette was the only one who didn't panic. Myself, I had my eyes closed for 20 minutes because I didn't dare to look at the crowds (laughs)
Right at the moment I felt more pissed off than ever before because this had to happen just at the biggest gig ever. There is nothing you can do. It was the first time we had this kind of problem but it was a shame it happened right there. There was just very short moment of refurnishing the backstage afterwards when we let our frustration flow out, nothing too serious though. Now I can laugh at it, but unfortunately in this age of digital technolgy it is all on Youtube already. (laughs)

Interviewer: So we can go to see it all there?

Tuomas: Yeah, you can go there and find it if you like, I haven't seen it myself.

Interviewer: You got the gig finished after all...?

Tuomas: Yes we did in the end and got maybe some applauds of sympathy from the crowds when we left, but it was the first time I was about to loose my faith, I only wanted to walk off from there and forget it all. It was our vocalist who kicked our asses and told us not to make faces and keep playing the gig properly till the end.

Interviewer: Thats the way to go! Tuomas Holopainen, tonight you are going to play on the main stage of Ilosaari Rock after a long time. What are your toughts when the night is approaching.

Tuomas: Of the summer festivals this is the most important or should I say the most awaited for me. We are on our home grounds, it'll be a home gig for us. An awfully high number of friends and acquaintacecs will be out there. An extra charge will be on all the time. I'm hoping that nothing like happened a month ago will repeat tonight. (laughs)

Interviewer: How are you preparing for the night. There are a few hours to kill and you just arrived here in Joensuu a couple of hours ago. What will follow from now on?

Tuomas: Waiting and more waiting. Part of the band are going to watch Lauri Tähkä, I'd like to see his show myself too but I can't tell if I can get there in time. Also I'd be really interested in seeing Mike Patton but looks like I'll miss him too. Mostly this will be waiting an tuning in the mood. Perhaps a glass of red wine, a couple of cigarettes with going through the setlist in my mind.

Interviewer: That's the start for the gig tonight. Dark Passion Play was released last fall and you have toured with the new vocalist for almost a year. How has the reception been like?

Tuomas: Most of it has been quite uplifting but things are so big already that I feel like creating a monster which doesn't stay in chains and it has got loose... Awful pulse all the time and most people have liked it. It's been quite a race, we have made in the past nine months almost as many gigs as we did in the whole Once tour and I noticed in the end of May when we were finishing the US leg that one by one the guys began to drop, both in the band and in the crew and also in the managing department. It was understandable, our pace has been awful but for the luck this summer will be easier so we can load our batteries. Right at the moment the feeling is very good.

Interviewer: The new figures obviously caused pressure, now you've been touring and the CD has been out for a while. What do you feel about that now?

Tuomas: The fact that we survived the whirlwinds and that things have got air under the wings better than ever before does not only mean continuation for the band but it gives a pleasant feeling to see that this kind of crisis was solved so well. Right now things are better than ever.

Interviewer: Looks like you are doing good. The new CD has sold four times platinum [in Finland] and from abroad you ahve received a nice pile of gold and platinum CDs.

Tuomas: It has done really well. I think only Germany and Brazil are behind with sales compared to the previous CD after the same time from the release. But it looks that DPP will become the most sold of our CDs. Right now it has sold over 850 000 units globally and none of us imagined figures like this when we started making it.

Interviewer: A surprise?

Tuomas: A surprise indeed! Thank you to the loyalty of people and also to their open-mindedness.

Interviewer: OK, you have been touring quite a lot, also in North America you were able to do tours. Is it the most important goal now: conquering the America?

Tuomas: Nah, it's not the most important issue, but it's the most difficult market in the world and if we could achieve even something in there, it would be a double-awesome feeling. That's why we're putting a bit more efforts in it. It's really difficult there especially because we come from Finland, and we play somewhat experimental and more crossover material so it is a bit tough to break through in there.

Interviewer: Right, you have played gigs and will do again. A Bazil tour is on the schedule and another in the USA?

Tuomas: Yeah, in the end of August we'll be headed to the USA for five weeks with Sonata Arctica and another five weeks in South America will follow after that.

Interviewer: Tuomas Holopainen you will have a few weeks off after this gig, no need to travel anywhere. What will you do, do you have time to stay at home for a while?

Tuomas: As a matter of fact my summer vacation will start tomorrow, all days off until now have gone with producing Indica's new CD. I haven't had time to stay at home or have holidays, but now I've got ten completely empty days in my calendar. It'll be time to see old friends and arrange some shushi bacchanals and all kinds of sports from water-skiing to sauna nights.

Interviewer: That'll mean traditional Finnish summer entertainment. Your house has been under construction. Is it finished yet?

Tuomas: Yeah, it's fine for a human to live in already. (laughs)

Interviewer: What kind of equipment you have in there? I mean music instrumets, have you any?

Tuomas: No, it's my home, there isn't a studio or a training room or anything. My synth sits in the corner of my bedeoom but that's about the only music device there is.

Interviewer: You're not taking work to home then except in your head? Lately there have been some buzz around Anette's clothing style. Tuomas Holopanen, how does the band take this buzz?

Tuomas: We are laughing at it all, especially to the claim that "the band is not rock", I mean we have never been "rock", I don't even understand anything about rock'n'roll and Nightwish have never undersigned the ideology behind it. Our thing from the beginnig has been to do everything just as we please according to out own minds will we win or blow it or do we look stupid or not. I don't spend time watching myself in the mirror, I take the clothes that feel comfortable and Anette has made of her so called "mixed flavor" style a quite fine form of art.

Interviewer: Meaning that the band will let Anette choose her clothing style as she likes?

Tuomas: Yeah, once she had a dress which we discussed and judged it "quite interesting", she laughed and said that OK, it will have to go then.

Interviewer: Like said before the tour will continue in the fall and will end in the far hazy future. Do you have new material in you drawer already and how does the future look right now?

Tuomas: I'm constantly making songs and there is probably one full right now and my first notebook just became filled to the last page and I had to buy a new one with an image of Snufkin on the cover. It has a couple of pages text already and I do think new songs all the time in the idea level and as a matter of fact I have quite clear vision about what the next CD will become, how the whole will be. Songs of course are still on the idea level, I can't write songs on tourbus or in hotels, I need a few months peace in my own room to complete and finalize them.

Interviewer: Can you give any hint about what kind of CD it'll be, you just mentioned a few guidelines.

Tuomas: I won't... I don't know myself, I have huge pile of ideas and a general image of the CD... along the same lines, I think that the orchestra and choir will remain and a bunch of visiting artists and quite a lot of new things we haven't tried yet, at least right now it looks like this on the idea level.

Еще одно интервью из словенского журнала. Спасибо Nessa Elensar с оффорума за перевод на английский. Вот мой перевод на русский:

Вперед с новой темной страстью
Туомас Холопайнен, творческий лидер Nightwish, рассказал о будущих шоу, новой вокалистке, старых обидах, кинофильмах и своей потребности в мягких балладах.
Nightwish уже во второй раз будут играть symphonic gothic metal в Словении 4 марта в Tivoli Hall, в Любляне. Последние два года для группы были полны взлетов и падений. Сначала они оказались в центре болезненной публичной драмы с увольнением певицы Тарьи, затем они продолжили свою карьеру с новой вокалисткой Анетт, с которой записали Dark Passion Play. После первого шоу Европейского тура мы позвонили в 538 номер гостиницы в Варшаве, Туомасу.
Как идет подготовка к европейскому туру?
Вчера мы сыграли первый европейский концерт в Вильнюсе, в Литве. Сейчас мы в Польше и завтра собираемся в Чешскую Республику. Великолепно быть снова в дороге и еще лучше иметь полный арсенал пиротехники, который мы используем на наших шоу. Постановка гораздо масштабней, чем была в нашем прошлом европейском туре, когда мы тоже были в Любляне. Сейчас у нас постоянная команда в 55 человек.
Вау! Является ли причиной такой масштабной постановки также и то, что вы не хотите слышать упреки, что предыдущие шоу были лучше?
Да нет. Просто так мы любим все делать. Nightwish – это очень визуальная группа, так что нет причины не делать шаг вперед по сравнению с нашими предыдущим туром. Вы можете сказать, что это путешествующий цирк.
Прошлой ночью вы сыграли ваше первое шоу европейского тура. Какой была реакция публики на новую певицу?
Анетт очень нервничала перед концертом. Вообще-то нервничали все мы, но она справлялась с этим превосходно. Даже для нас небольшие изменения были маленьким шоком – особенно, потому что она не знала, во что себя втянула (смеется). Вы должны понять, что она заняла это место из полной неизвестности. Ботинки, которые она надела, были действительно большими. Анетт прошла через личный ад – хотя это милый ад, потому что это то, что она сама хотела (смеется). Слушатели приняли ее действительно хорошо. Конечно, были и те, кто покинули нас, потому что она не Тарья, но мы можем сказать, что реакция на 99% была положительной.
Эти негативно настроенный слушатели приходят на выступления? Вы слышали выкрики имени Тарьи?
Мы сыграли уже 16 концертов и только раз я слышал крики «Тарья!» – дома, в Финляндии. Так что процентное соотношение на нашей стороне (смеется). Те, кто не любят ее, не ходят на концерты. После нашего вчерашнего шоу я просмотрел пару форумов и было несколько комментариев о том, что она недостаточно “metal” на сцене. Что она слишком счастливая, все время танцует и улыбается. Лично я не обращаю на это внимание. Ты не должен быть настоящим metalhead, что бы производить впечатление.
Вы записывали Dark Passion Play 9 месяцев. Это долгий период.
Да, только микширование длилось 75 дней. Этот альбом забавно … большой. Слишком много всего произошло, и было настоящим вызовом сделать все правильно.
Анетт играла на гобое 8 лет, но мы не слышим этого на альбоме. Может быть, потому что это не подошло к музыкальному контексту?
Что–то вроде этого (смеется). Она не прикасалась к гобою 10 лет. Вообще-то, она не очень любит это. Мы оставили гобой и все подобные инструменты лондонскому оркестру, когда они играли в наших песнях.
На официальном вебсайте сказано, что Джек Воробей заставляет тебя смеяться. Ты когда-нибудь встречал Джонни?
Нет, никогда. Мы пытались пригласить Кристину Риччи сыграть в нашем видео, но это не сработало. Но я думаю, что Джек Воробей самый крутой персонаж в истории кино.
Джек почти мистический персонаж, который никогда не появляется без шляпы. У тебя есть какие-нибудь амулеты.
Я не суеверен. У меня есть некоторые амулеты, подарки от друзей. У меня есть одна цепочка и три камня, которые я всегда ношу с собой. Я ношу их не из-за того, что суеверен, а потому что они напоминают мне, что у меня есть друзья, которые думают обо мне.
На сайте также сказано, что твой худший кошмар – это снова петь на сцене. Ты не собираешься больше петь?
Нет. По двум причинам. Первая – я не люблю петь. Вторая – я абсолютно бесполезен как певец. У нас есть два хороших вокалиста – Марко и Анетт. Я не люблю свой голос. Я лучше буду играть на клавишных.
Ты поешь свои песни во время демо записи?
Нет, я только играю партии клавишных. Петь? Нет!
Три твоих любимых альбома – Gladiator, Black Album и Vulgar Display of Power.
О да. Это все классика.
Nightwish никогда не были такими брутальными, как, скажем, Pantera. Ты когда-нибудь хотел сделать что-нибудь более агрессивное?
На новом альбоме есть несколько более брутальных песен. Но в то же время есть более мягкие стороны моей личности, так что мне нужна порция мягких баллад.
Был ли шанс, во время прослушивания, отдать роль вокалиста мужчине?
Нет, никогда. Nightwish всегда была группой с женским вокалом и я хочу сохранить ее в этом виде.
Ты говоришь о Тарье с неохотой, но был ли у тебя шанс поместить свою злость и разочарование в лирику?
Все, что случилось, можно найти в новых песнях. Bye Bye Beautiful – это нечто вроде прощания с Тарьей, но в положительном смысле. Я надеюсь, что песня никого не обидит. Самое лучшее – это просто слушать лирику, чтобы легче все понять.
Кто самый неожиданный известный слушатель Nightwish, какого ты когда-либо встречал?
Я не много встречал известных поклонников, но я знаю, что Joey DeMaio из Manowar наш большой поклонник, потому что он говорил мне это много раз. Я также слышал, что Matt Scott, создатель South Park, наш фанат.
Может быть, вы, парни, появитесь в эпизоде?
Это будет большая честь! Я очень люблю сериал.
Как Анетт справляется с мужской частью Nightwish?
На удивление хорошо. Когда мы идем развлекаться она последний, кто станется! Но так как она единственная леди в мужской компании, мы должны быть осторожны, чтобы не обидеть ее нашим мужским юмором. Выручает, что она выросла в почти полностью мужской компании.
Как вы развлекаетесь вместе? Скандинавы имеют репутацию много пьющих.
Анетт не много пьет. Она совсем не пьет перед концертом, после концерта она изредка пьет пиво. Мы знаем ее год и за это время я видел ее абсолютно пьяной только однажды. Но когда начнется стресс … Ну, посмотрим (смеется).
Ты уже упоминал Интернет форумы. Какая шутка о группе твоя любимая?
Одна из моих любимых - это то, что я гей. Есть очень много сайтов, где люди спорят о том, что я гомосексуалист. Некоторые даже говорят, что знают моего бой-френда. Я не знаю, почему все так волнуются по этому поводу. Я не гей, я не имею ничего против геев! Но это звучит как большая шутка.
Во время нашего прошлого разговора, ты упоминал, что твое вдохновение часто приходит от эпических поэм в стиле Tolkien – Conan. Ты видел сериал Rome?
Нет.
А фильм Pathfinder?
Мне понравилась идея, там есть несколько очень хороших пейзажей… но фильм не тронул меня. Может быть, я ожидал чего-то иного.
Может быть он слишком грубый?
Нет, фильм не может быть слишком грубым. Я люблю агрессивные, грубые фильмы.
Ты упрекал Тарью в неуважительном отношении к музыке, фанатам и всей идее. И теперь она выпустила сольный альбом, который звучит очень похоже на Nightwish. Твои комментарии?
Я обещал ничего не комментировать, потому что все можно ужасно интерпретировать. Если это нормально для вас, я не буду ничего комментировать.
Я читал интервью с ней, и она сказала, что послала тебе рождественскую открытку. Это красивый жест.
Она послала мне SMS на Рождество, я послал открытку. Но мы не контактируем.
Последний раз мы говорили два года назад.
Какая, после 16 шоу, твоя любимая часть концерта в новом составе?
Моя любимая - Poet and the Pendulum, для меня это вершина шоу. Sahara также стала одним из лучших моментов шоу.
Будет ли Анетт, теперь, став частью группы, вовлечена в процесс создания музыки?
Я надеюсь она примет участие в аранжировках. За 11 лет у нас не было певицы, которая бы принимала участие в этой фазе. Я также предложил ей приносить свои идеи в группу, лирика – это единственное, что я хотел бы сохранить для себя.

Интересное интервью, спасибо Lana

Цитата:

Bye Bye Beautiful – это нечто вроде прощания с Тарьей, но в положительном смысле. Я надеюсь, что песня никого не обидит. Самое лучшее – это просто слушать лирику, чтобы легче все понять.

Только вот с этим конечно не соглашусь...но это уже в прошлом.

Lana писал(а):

Вчера мы сыграли первый европейский концерт в Вильнюсе, в Латвии.

Вильнюс в Литве

Lokhart писал(а):

Вильнюс в Литве

Да, конечно. Спасибо. Вот, что значит переводить и не сильно вникать в смысл. В английском тексте написано "Латвия"

Интервью с Туомасом (передача Ilosaari Rock на радио Yle/Pohjois-Karjalan)
http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/nightwish_fans/post81141102/

Очень интересное интервью. Обсуждается проблема «обожествления» музыкантов.

Rock Sound Interview - August 2008


Перепечатал -Rob-

Nightwish – mexican standoff

Having survived the fall out with their ex-lead-singer, Nightwish remain as insanely popular as ever. ROCK SOUND travel to Mexico City to bask in stupefying opera-metal adulation.

If you’ve never heard 3,500 Mexicans chanting, “Night-weesh! Night-weesh! Night-weesh!” you’ve obviously never been to the Vive Cuervo Salon to witness a Finnish opera-metal frenzy. On the first night of the band’s two-night stand in Mexico City, the venue is packed to the tits by 6:30pm – despite there being no support act – and even though Nightwish won’t go on for another two hours. At 6:35 the chanting begins. “Night-weesh! Night-weesh!”

Meanwhile, the members of Nightwish are hosting a backstage meet-and-greet for a dozen or so local contest winners. Heavily mascara’d keyboardist and lyricist Tuomas Holopainen poses uncomfortably for a photo with a teenage girl, while another gives singer Anette Olzon a homemade charm bracelet. A third fan presents Olzon with a gigantic black and gold sombrero, which she’ll wear onstage tonight when the band perform their hit single, ‘The Islander’. Two other girls weep as Viking-bearded bassist / vocalist Marco Hietala, drummer / bandana enthusiast Juka Nevalainen and diminutive guitarist / comedian Emppu Vuorinen look on. One fan asks where frequent guest vocalist (and former Nightwish roadie) Tapio Wilska is. “He’s not with us anymore,” Olzon replies. “He’s in heaven now.”
A couple of the girls gasp and cover their mouths. Olzon smiles, “No, no – I’m kidding.”
Outside, the chanting continues “Night-weesh! Night-weesh!”

After the contest winners are hustled back to the stage area, Rock Sound photographer Robin ‘Happy Hour’ Laananen takes the band out through a side-door for a brief photo session in a nearby alley. Just around the corner, directly across from the Vive Cuervo’s entrance, a sort of bootleg Nightwish mini-mall has been doing brisk business all afternoon. Tents full of unofficial Nightwish merchandise – ‘Mexican special editions’, as it were – line the street, offering everything from T-shirts to CD’s to imitation-pewter beer steins emblazoned with the band’s logo. “You just want to go and knock them down,” Olzon fumes. “Do you know how much money it is for us? We do this for a living. Of course they do too, but no – I cannot accept bootlegs. If I were allowed, I would take everything down and burn it up. I really would.”

When a few lingering fans realise what’s happening in the alley, we’re swarmed from all sides. Nightwish manager Ewo Pohjola abides a few more quick shots before ushering his clients back to the venue behind a phalanx of security guards. Back inside there is only one sound: “Night-weesh! Night-weesh!”

“It is confusing that our Tuomas could be that kind of obsession to someone. I think it’s really great to see their gigs, but Nightwish isn’t a religion.” Tuomas Holopainen’s mother, Kirsti Nortia-Holopainen, in an interview with a Finnish magazine, May 2007.

As it turns out, the fervent adulation of the Mexican fans isn’t particularly surprising to Holopainen – not the chanting, anyway, or the fawning multitudes converging upon Rock Sound’s photo shoot – not even the crying. “sometimes tears happen, yes,” Nightwish’s resident Jack Sparrow aspirant acknowledges. “In a way it’s very flattering and cute, but in another way it’s kind of embarrassing because you don’t really know what to say. These people are genuinely overwhelmed, and for them to feel that strongly about something is always good.”

Both Holopainen and Olzon confirm that Nightwish encountered an even more enthusiastic reception in Paris last month, but the keyboardist sees a geographical pattern at work , “There are fanatics everywhere, but when you go south on this planet, they get a bit more… loose, you know? Places like Mexico, South America, Southern Europe,” he offers. “It’s in their culture. They don’t mean any harm, but they’ll come right up to you and touch your hair.”

By the time this magazine hits the stands, the Swedish-born Olzon will have been Nightwish’s lead singer for a year-and-a-half. She replaced the band’s long time vocalist, Tara Turunen, in February of 2007 (although the announcement wasn’t made until May), and now that the seemingly interminable Anette vs. Tarja debate has been reduced to a handful of meaningless online pissing matches between dwindling batches of bitter teenagers and other assorted factional idiots, Olzon can get on with the business of being in Nightwish. It’s a job that has as much to do with recording, performing and being photographed, as it does with being idolised, worshipped and stalked. “It’s very frightening,” the vocalist says of her new found fame. “When I was three years old, I said to my mom, ‘I’m going to be a famous singer’, but when you’re that young, you don’t know what famous is. When I got this job I think I was quite naïve. I thought ‘Oh, it’s metal – it’s not like pop’, and it’s not, but there are elements. I’ve had stalkers already. I’m very friendly – I’m used to touching people, hugging people, but then sometimes you give a little bit too much – you’re a little bit too friendly – and someone misinterprets it, so then you have some crazy people on your hands. We’ve seen it and it’s not nice.”

Holopainen knows all about it, both he and Olzon received death threats after she joined the band. “I didn’t take them seriously, because I think they were from 14-year-old people who were really upset about us changing singers and were just taking out their frustration,” he says. “One letter was this big piece of paper and someone had written ‘Tuomas is a fucker’ 2,000 times in a row. There was no name on it – it was just signed, ‘Fuck you – die!’”
Letters, even death threats, are one thing, but turning up at someone’s house in the middle of the night – or at their parent’s house in broad daylight - is another. “My mom and dad were in Paris three weeks ago watching our show, and they had to give autographs for an hour,” Holopainen explains. “People are already noticing them. They were out in the audience and people were taking pictures of them. A lot of people come to my parents’ house because they think that I still live there. They live in the middle of nowhere in a small villa, so people just come and check out the premises and that’s not nice. My mom is handling it really well, but maybe that is what she meant when she said ‘Nightwish is not a religion’.
These people come to our house from Germany, from Brazil, and take pictures of my cats and start crying like it’s the Messiah’s palace.”

Unbelievably, Holopainen’s father has taken to offering his son’s acolytes something to drink. “I think my parents need to be a bit more ‘not-so-nice’, because they’re the nicest people in the world and they always welcome everybody,” the keyboardist offers. “One time this girl came who was a little bit loony, so they had to be really strict about her needing to go.”
More than a few Nightwish fans have figured out that Holopainen doesn’t actually live with his parents anymore. “I live by myself,” he explains. “During the past couple of months I’ve been getting some weird letters. I even got a letter from a girl who said she visited my house when I wasn’t there. It said, ‘I was checking in the windows, but you weren’t there. I just wanted to say, ‘Hi!’’ This is the kind of stuff that scares me a little bit. When I’m at home I want to be there naked, so I’d hate to think that somebody is lurking outside the windows.”
It’s easy for Holopainen to joke because he’s a single 31-year-old pretty-boy in a hugely successful symphonic metal band. The idea of groupies banging down his door to catch a glimpse of his pecker might not seem like such a terribly intrusive prospect on some nights, even in the post-Dimebag era. For Olzon, who has just turned 37, the stakes are considerable higher – she has a seven-year-old son back home in Sweden. “I have a child, a family that I protect very dearly,” she says. “When my son comes to the venue and people take pictures, I have to tell them to erase the photos. Of course, where we live people may know who he is, but he has a protected identity at school. I’m very overprotective, but he is my only son. He wants to be in the tabloids – he’s really pissed that he couldn’t even be in our tour book, but I think he should choose when he is older if he wants to be a celebrity too.”

Touring brings it’s own difficulties. For one, Olzon doesn’t feel comfortable walking the streets by herself. “As a girl, I feel very lonely because I cannot do all the things that the guys can do,” she explains. “I cannot walk outside in the evening – even the daytime, it’s sometimes dangerous. The guys can protect themselves, but I don’t want the guys to have to follow me around.”

Being onstage, where Dimebag Darrell’s ghost looms largest, offers little respite. “At a show in Canada there was a girl, maybe 30 years old or something, who was sitting on the shoulders of her boyfriend and giving me the fingers and shouting ‘Anette Sucks!’ They threw her out, but then her boyfriend screamed something at the end and I just said, ‘I love you too!’ The whole venue booed, but I was scared after that, because you think ‘Oh, they could throw something at me’. Every time I turn my back onstage, I think about it – something could happen.”
Rock Sound asks Olzon if she’s thought about the possibility of hiring personal security. “Yes, I have,” she replies. “We will see when, maybe South America? I have heard so many things – someone did something to Tarja there, I think. I don’t know. We will see, but yes, I have been thinking about it.”
Back at Nightwish’s hotel that night, another dozen or so fans linger outside the front doors. Obvious diehards, they even recognise the band’s manager. At the first sight of Pohjola’s blonde hair and bulky frame, the chanting begins: “Night-weesh! Night-weesh!” Unbeknownst to these dedicated and potentially psychotic super-fans, Pohjola surreptitiously sent the band in through a back door hours ago.

On the afternoon before the band’s second show, Pohjola informs us that representatives from the Finnish embassy will be attending tonight’s performance. As ambassadors go, Nightwish’s newest member has taken some of the pressure of Holopainen, but she recently made a foreign-relations gaffe while telling another UK rock mag about a festival the band played in Athens back in March. “There has been a big blow-out in Greece because I said that bands shouldn’t go there,” she explains. “It was a horrible festival and I was quite pissed when I got home. I wasn’t talking about the people who came, I meant the people who put on the festival. It was a bad thing to say because I didn’t mean to offend the whole of Greece – it just came out that way. The Greek people have been sad about it, so maybe I won’t go on vacation there.” She punctuates this last comment with a laugh and then continues: “I’m sorry about it, but we are human and sometimes we say things that are stupid, we just cannot hold it back. We are normal people and we have emotions too, but people take things so very seriously sometimes.”

Olzon will undoubtedly have at least a few more shitty gig experiences before the touring cycle for the band’s latest album, ‘Dark Passion Play’, is through. In fact, Nightwish plan to be on the road until September of 2009. “I think my body has proven to me that it can do it,” she says. “I’ve learned to take care of myself everyday, to eat and to exercise. It’s hard because I have to be away from the loved ones, but we have done the worst part. We will not do so many gigs in a row like we have done – we all agree that three gigs in a row is too much. We play for a long time every night and to sing this high for that long is hard. We think it’s better to give quality than quantity. If you pay £40 to see us, you should have a magnificent show. That’s the thing – if I have a bad day, I feel bad for the people. If there are 8,000 people and I suck, I could just go hang myself in my room. How can I let them down? It’s a really big burden to have on your shoulders, but you have to forgive yourself – that’s what the guys teach me.”

After a year-and-a-half with Nightwish, Olzon’s perspective on the band’s split with their former vocalist has changed. Today, she can see both sides of the story and the stress it created for everyone involved. “it’s a sad, sad story and now that I’m in the band, of course I can see things that made it happen,” she says. “I’m not stupid. Maybe it could have been worked out, and many times I felt that maybe I should just quit the job.”
Olzon says her doubts reached their peak around Christmas time, but for now she insists that she’s committed to Nightwish. “It’s a really hard job, and I’m a perfectionist,” she offers. “My voice is still trying to adjust to this hard life, and sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. Sometimes you just don’t know what’s happening! I’m not so young, so maybe I have some things in my life that are more important, but this is my job and hopefully I’ll be able to do it for a long time.”

Nia писал(а):

Rock Sound Interview - August 2008

http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/nightwish_fans/post81614008/ - кому интересно, вот перевод этой статьи.

Nightmail с Туомасом. Идиотские вопросы...(((((

Azure from UK:
Other than Finland, where in the world would you most like to live in?

Tuomas:
I love my country dearly, so it has never even crossed my mind to live anywhere else. But if I were exiled from Finland for some reason, Australia & Canada would be my first choices.



Janet from US:
What kind of music are you into / listening to right now?

Tuomas:
My top5 at the moment:

1. Indica: Valoissa
2. Mike Oldfield: Music Of The Spheres
3. Brother Firetribe: Heart Full Of Fire
4. Children Of Bodom: Blooddrunk
5. Amy MacDonald: This Is The Life



Sara from Los Angeles:
Do you scare small children when you go visit Disney?

Tuomas:
=) Well, once this little girl came to me with her innocent eyes wide open and asked "excuse me, but are you a man or a woman?"
Marco's beard was quite a hit among some folk, as well.



Lauren from Sydney, Australia:
What's in your pockets right now?

Tuomas:
There are no pockets in these Winnie The Pooh - underpants I'm wearing. It's far too hot in this hotel room for long pants.






Karan from UK:
What do you value most in other people?

x

Tuomas:
Goodness, politeness, loyalty, the ability to find happiness in the smallest and most simple things.



Jo from Suffolk, England:
If Dark Passion Play was a garden what would be in it?

Tuomas:
In the middle of the garden is a pond with dark water, no fauna, surrounded by rocks. There's a small arched bridge going over it. The rails of the bridge are covered in poison ivy.
The front side of the bridge is covered with cacti, sand and small rock formations. On the other side there's a tiny area with most beautiful orchids and one huge oak tree with a swing on the lowest branch.
But the orchids are near dying because I've forgot to water them. The oak stands tall 'n proud, though.



Dakota Brown from Michigan, United States:
Have you ever seen the misheard lyrics video of Wishmaster on Youtube? If so, what did you think of it?

Tuomas:
It's one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen! Great job, whoever made it.



Cathy from UK:
Do you write poetry in your spare time? (As in other than the lyrics to your songs) and who's your favourite poet?

Tuomas:
Not really, all of my writings end up being song lyrics, more or less. But for 1 album I usually fill 3-4 notebooks with text, so there`s plenty that doesn't actually end up being in the songs.
I was just browsing my old AFF-Oceanborn-Wishmaster - era - notebooks and found dozens of pages of unused celtic elegies, lyrics, ideas, etc. Also noticed that "Stargazers" was originally called "Aztecs" and "Dead Boy's Poem" as "Long-Forgotten". Maybe I'll return to those texts, after all, they were born during an era when everything was a bit more pure.
My favourite poet is Walt Whitman, especially his "Song of Myself" - poem.
From Finnish poets I love Eino Leino & Uuno Kailas.






Victor from Brazil:
You've played the songs "Higher Than Hope" in USA, and Marc Brueland's family was there. How was it playing this song live again? What about "Creek Mary's Blood" with John Two-Hawks?

Tuomas:
These songs are very special ones and we want to do them only so often. "Creek" only when John's around, and "Higher" only when the Bruelands join the show, or the occasion calls for it otherwise. These songs sail in such serious and dark waters that it's sometimes hard to handle them.
I don't think there are other songs to give me such chills to play live as these 2, besides "Poet And The Pendulum".



Aino from Oulu:
What's the best thing that could happen to you today?

Tuomas:
That a couple of people I know would come to me and say they they are doing much better in life now.



Oceanwhisperer from UK:
Out of all the song you have written for Nightwish, which one of them did you find the hardest to write the lyrics for?

Tuomas:
Sometimes it's hard to realize a great idea into a lyric that captures the essence of that idea or story. Songs like these are i.e. Dead To The World, Nemo & Whoever Brings The Night.



Eleonora from Sweden:
What is the first thing you do when you come home after a tour?

Tuomas:
Breathe in the fresh country air, put on the sauna, do some laundry, watch a crappy brains-off-movie and fall asleep doing so.






Emma:
Are you working on a new NW-album at the moment?

Tuomas:
On an idea-level, yes, all the time. I just bought a new cuddly Snufkin-notebook for the lyrics 'cause the 1st one is already full. =)
At the moment I have one complete song, many song concepts & songtitles and a pretty clear overall vision for the album. It's gonna be fantastic to start working with it full-time, sometime next year. But we need to survive and have a blast on this tour first!



Kora from Italy:
What do you especially like in Indica's music?

Tuomas:
There's something extraordinarily unique and genuine in those ethereal brownies that really appeals to me. Fantastic songs, big heart, great attitude, Never-Never-Land meeting personal diary.



same young fan from same place:
sorry, if your married!!!!!!!!!! but you're very strong, i like your muscles! =D

Tuomas:
This is pretty good... You are in the core of things.



Amy from California, USA:
At one of your shows my friends and I noticed you and the band playing basketball behind your bus. Do you play sports often? What is your favorite sport, to watch and to play?

Tuomas:
My favourite sport to play and watch is tennis. I played it a lot when I was younger, and have recently thought of reviving the skills. I actually played tennis two days ago for the 1st time in 10 years and it felt so good! Now I have a racket and shoes so the hunt for the lost skills can begin.
I'm not a sport enthusiast but I like to follow i.e. Finnish baseball, ice-hockey and big tournaments in soccer.






Heini from Kuopio:
Answer honestly, have you ever thrown away stuff that the fans have given you? And do you really read all the fan letters? (I don't believe it)

Tuomas:
I have all the gifts and letters safe & secure at home. Well, once a fan gave us a 1,5 meters high plant in a clay pot, which we just couldn't bring back home. Thanks for the thought anyway!
I do read every letter that reaches my hands.



Cristina from Wirkala:
Name a couple of things you do when nobody's watching!

Tuomas:
I check out 90`s disco hits from youtube, dip cold sausages into vinegar, talk to a campfire, and sing.
And write music.



jaime from perú:
How many times at a day do you get drunk??

Tuomas:
Whoah, guess I need to improve my public image just a little bit..



Phoebe from England:
Hi Tuomas, how are you?
What would you say is the weirdest thing about being famous?
Are you ever freaked out by how many fangirls you have, or by how they act?
You're awesome!!

Tuomas:
Hello Phoebe, I'm quite all right, thanks!
The weirdest thing must be how you sometimes feel like being everyone's property. I'm not sure if I recognize the fellow in the cover of Rocksound or a tabloid magazine anymore. Just bring me a cage and a banana.
Usually the fans I meet are very nice, polite and understanding. I've been freaked slightly a couple of times by some fans and some weird letters. To make it clear, I NEVER chat in the internet, I don't know anything about Messenger or Skype, and I'm not registered in this Facebook-thing. There are some "fake-Tuomases" out there and I'm sorry if these frauds have made some people upset in any way.






Calli from California, US:
Tuomas,
If you could live in any fantasy story or fairy tale, which one would it be?

Tuomas:
Any "happily ever after" -would do just fine.
On the way there I'd love to check out Duckburg & Moominvalley.



Helena ja Anni from Hämeenlinna:
Do you have nicknames for the songs you play?
We for example call the song Bye Bye Beautiful "Paipatus" =)

Tuomas:
Well yes, there are i.e. Keidenssi-Pentti, Döddödödöö, Sliippari & While Your Hips Are Still Spread.



MrMikkeli from Mikkeli:
Grandma-style doesn't sell... Sorry... Tarja back.

Tuomas:
The sales are fine by me.

Don`t listen to the siren писал(а):

Nightmail с Туомасом. Идиотские вопросы...(((((

особенно последний

44master писал(а):

Don`t listen to the siren писал(а):

Nightmail с Туомасом. Идиотские вопросы...(((((

особенно последний

если честно, я не понял о чем он переведите плз кто-нить, если не сложно

MrMikkeli from Mikkeli: "Бабушкин" стиль не продается... (т.е. стиль Анетт и она сама никому не нравятся) Извини... Тарью назад...

Туомас: А мне кажется, прекрасно продается.

Некоторые вопросы очень странные. Последний… хорошо, что Туомас ответил. Может быть, люди перестанут цитировать вымышленные интервью, в которых группа критикует Анетт.
Но в целом много интересных фактов (стихи, альбом-сад, новые песни).
Здесь полная версия перевода. >>

Nia писал(а):

Может быть, люди перестанут цитировать вымышленные интервью, в которых группа критикует Анетт.

И такое бывает? А что говорят?

Don`t listen to the siren, да что только не говорят. Ты зайди в любое сообщество малолеток, да почитай, что они там пишут