NAME: NIGHTWISHMEMBERS:
Tuomas Holopainen
Marco Hietala
Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen
Jukka "Julius" Nevalainen
FORMER MEMBERS
Tarja Turunen
Sami Vänskä
MEMBERS PROFILE
Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born December 25, 1976, in Kitee, Finland) is the keyboardist and main songwriter in the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has also played in the bands Nattvindens Gråt and Darkwoods My Betrothed. His current side project is gothic-doom metal band For My Pain.... He currently plays in the band of Timo Rautiainen.
BIOGRAPHY
Holopainen started to study in a musical college majoring in clarinet and minoring in piano. He played in several bands, including recording keyboards for three albums with the black metal band Darkwoods My Betrothed, before coming up with the idea of a band of his own, where he would write all the music. That was the birth of Nightwish in July of 1996, around a camp fire. He then asked Emppu Vuorinen and Tarja Turunen to join what then was but an acoustic project. After hearing Tarja's strong lyrical voice, Tuomas decided to turn Nightwish into a metal act.
Nightwish's first release, Angels Fall First, came in 1997, but it was in 1998, after the release of Oceanborn, that Holopainen's compositional skills reached full acclaim worldwide. Another four releases followed; Wishmaster (2000), Over the Hills and Far Away (EP) (2001), Century Child (2002) and Once (2004). In the last two, Holopainen took Nightwish to a whole new level by collaborating with symphonic orchestras from Finland and the United Kingdom.
The next Nightwish release is set for August 2007 with a lead-in single slated for May 2007, though without the vocals of Tarja, who was asked to leave the band in October 2005. No new singer has been announced so far, in spite of what some magazines have published.
Holopainen is said to be a fan of Disney animation, and enjoys visiting Disney parks in Florida. The album Wishmaster contains many Disney references.
EQUIPMENT:
Marko "Marco" Tapani Hietala (born January 14, 1966 in Finland) is the vocalist, bassist and songwriter of the Finnish heavy metal band Tarot and bassist and a second vocalist of the Finnish power metal band Nightwish and is easily noticed for his unusual facial hair. He joined the band for their 2002 album Century Child, following the departure of previous bassist Sami Vänskä. Hietala has also been part of the band Sinergy. Marco plays in Impaled Nazarene on album Suomi Finland Perkele (1994). He was a prominent guest musician in Delain, a project involving many members of the gothic/symphonic metal community. He is the bassist and lends his voice to a number of songs. He also participated in the recording of Invitation, by Altaria, providing backing vocals.
Since his arrival, several songs have been written to contain duets with the former Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen, allowing songwriter and band leader Tuomas Holopainen to take full advantage of Hietala's raucous voice to add a new dimension to the band.
During Nightwish's shows, Turunen would take a break halfway through the set. Before Hietala joined the band, they used to perform an instrumental song during this time. Since Hietala joined the band however, they have performed covers of well-known songs, with Hietala singing the lead vocal part in this break. The band has performed Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train", W.A.S.P.'s "Wild Child", Dio's "Don't Talk to Strangers", Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" and most recently, Pink Floyd's "High Hopes". Some of these songs have been put up for sale as well on various Nightwish album releases.
In Delain Hietala played the bass for the album Lucidity, and he was also the main male vocalist on the album.
Equipment:
- Warwick Infinity 2000 LTD Bass Guitar
- Warwick Pro-Tube IX Amplifier
- Warwick 410Pro 4x10 Speaker Cabinets
- SansAmp Tech21 GT2 Amp Modeler
The solo techniques of Vuorinen include short range tapping and minor to extreme, whammy bar use for vibrato.
As of 2006 one of his side-projects Brother Firetribe released their debut album, "False Metal", in Finland.
Equipments
Vuorinen originally used Washburn guitars for earlier albums (WASHBURN CS-780: white and purple guitars with golden hardware) but he has recently endorsed ESP guitars. He currently uses a custom made purple and white ESP.
Jukka "Julius" Antero Nevalainen (born April 21, 1978 in Finland) is the drummer in the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish.
He lives with his wife Satu, daughter Luna (born in 2003) and son Niki (born in December 2005) in Joensuu, Finland.
He spent his early years in the city of Kitee. His drumming career started at the age of eleven when his music teacher at school told him that a new educational program for music was opening, and he thought Jukka would fit in well as a drummer. He lacked a suitable place to practice so he made do at his home. He first band was "The Highway" but he joined his first real band at the age of 15-16. The band had a rehearsal place, but was restricted to practice only a couple of days a week. After he left that band, he joined up with Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen and they got a permanent practice place.
At the age of 17, Emppu had already been contacted by the songwriter and keyboard-player Tuomas Holopainen. Tuomas wanted to start an acoustic mood music project that would later become Nightwish and they needed a drummer, at which point Emppu suggested Jukka to Tuomas.
After the early years of the band, Jukka got a new, professional drum kit. He used that kit on the album Wishmaster to the end of the Once world tour in 2005. He is currently endorsed by Tama drums, Paiste cymbals and Pro-Mark sticks. He is famous among Nightwish fans for wearing a bandana on his head, and is also known for being a vegetarian. He also has a side-project; Sethian, but this band is almost completely dormant because of band members being busy with other bands.
Equipment:
DRUMS
FORMER MEMBERS PROFILE:
Sami Vänskä (born September 26, 1976) was a former bassist of the Finnish band Nightwish.
He started playing bass seven years ago as a private study. At that time he has played in a few bands which have been mostly from the metal genre. Before Nightwish he played in Nattvindens Gråt, just like Tuomas Holopainen. He joined Nightwish for their second studio album, Oceanborn. Holopainen asked the band's manager, Ewo Rytkonen, to tell Vänskä to leave Nightwish some time after the release of Wishmaster, when he felt that the musical differences between the two men were posing a threat to the band. He was soon replaced by Marco Hietala, former bassist of Sinergy. Vänskä has played in the jazzband "Root Remedy" ever since he left Nightwish.
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Cabuli (born August 17, 1977, in Kitee, Finland), is the former lead singer of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. She now devotes her time to her solo career. She married the Argentinian businessman Marcelo Cabuli in early 2003.
Turunen began to study music at age six, and moved to the city of Helsinki at 18 to study at the Sibelius Academy. She became a founding member of Nightwish in 1996 when her classmate Tuomas Holopainen invited her to join his new musical project. That year Turunen also performed with the Savonlinna Opera Festival. However, she did not become internationally famous until the release of Nightwish's successful follow-up album, Oceanborn, in 1998.
Turunen sang solo in Waltari's rock-themed 1999 ballet Evankeliumi (also known as Evangelicum) in several sold-out performances at the Finnish National Opera. She continued to tour and record with Nightwish through 2000 and 2001, after which she enrolled in the Music University in Karlsruhe, Germany. While there, she recorded vocals for Nightwish's 2002 album Century Child and for Beto Vázquez Infinity.
In 2002, Turunen toured South America, performing in the classical Lied concert Noche Escandinava (Scandinavian Night), again to sold-out houses. Following this and an exhausting world tour in support of Century Child, Nightwish took a hiatus and Turunen returned to Karlsruhe.
Finnish President Tarja Halonen and her husband invited Turunen to the President's Palace in Helsinki in December 2003 for the Finnish Independence Day Party, Finland's biggest social event, where the viewers of Finnish television station Yle named her the most impressively dressed lady, among honors given by several newspapers and magazines.
After the hiatus, Turunen rejoined Nightwish for the album Once and supporting world tour throughout 2004-2005, and embarked on a second Noche Escandinava tour in the spring of 2004. For Christmas 2004, she released the single Yhden Enkelin Unelma (One Angel's Dream), which sold gold in her native country, Finland. For the spring of 2005, she prepared a collaboration with Germany's Martin Kesici, the duet 'Leaving You for Me', also accompanied by a video. On October 21, 2005, Turunen was asked to leave Nightwish in an open letter by the other members of Nightwish [1], over a dispute that involved "a changed attitude" and increased financial interest. She responded through another open letter, which was posted on her website in both Finnish and English (although the latter can no longer be found on her website, it is available on a fan page [2]). In February 2006, Tarja's husband Marcelo posted a message to her website addressing the situation, and asked for anyone who had questions pertaining to the issues between Tarja and the rest of the band to email him [3]. Marcelo then posted a lengthy reply to many of the questions he had received in June 2006 [4].
In December 2005, she performed several Christmas concerts in Finland, Germany, Spain and Romania. 2006 was not a break year for Turunen, who has recorded a Christmas album and vocals for her brother, Timo Turunen's debut album. She will also be making an appearance at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Tarja Turunen's much anticipated first solo album is planned for release in 2007.
Band history
[edit] Angels Fall First (1996–1997)
Nightwish was the brainchild of Tuomas Holopainen, conceived after spending a night around a campfire with friends. The band formed shortly after, in July 1996. Holopainen invited guitarist Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen, who was a fairly new acquaintance, and vocalist Tarja Turunen to the project, as she was gaining renown around the school they attended for her excellent vocal skills.
Their style at the time was based on the experimentations of Holopainen with using keyboards, acoustic guitars and the operatic vocals of Tarja Turunen. The three musicians then recorded an acoustic demo album from October to December of 1996. There were three songs on this demo: "Nightwish" (of which the band derived its name), "The Forever Moments" and "Etiäinen". However, Holopainen decided that Turunen's voice was too powerful for an acoustic project and decided to add in metal elements.
In early 1997, drummer Jukka Nevalainen joined the band. At the same time the acoustic guitar was replaced by an electric guitar. In April the band went into the studio in order to record seven songs, including an improved version of the demo-song "Etiäinen". These songs can be found on the limited edition of the album Angels Fall First.
In May of the same year, they signed with the Finnish record label Spinefarm Records for two albums. Angels Fall First was released in November and reached number 31 on the Finnish album charts. A previously released single, "The Carpenter", reached number 3 on the Finnish singles chart.
Angels Fall First was not received well by critics. All Music Guide rated the album 2 out of 5[3] and sources like The Metal Observer stated that Nightwish's debut album paled drastically in comparison to their later work.[4]
December 1997 marked their first concert, which was played in their hometown. During the winter of 1997–98, the band performed only seven more times because Nevalainen and Vuorinen were fulfilling their obligatory military service and Turunen had not yet finished her studies.
[edit] Oceanborn / Wishmaster (1998–2000)
In 1998, bassist Sami Vänskä, an old friend of Holopainen, joined the band. After shooting a video clip for the song "The Carpenter", they released Oceanborn, the follow-up to Angels Fall First. This album was more technical and progressive than their first release in terms of songwriting and arrangements.[5] The album also featured Tapio Wilska (ex-Finntroll) on two songs ("Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean" and "The Pharaoh Sails to Orion"). It reached number 5 on the Finnish album charts. The first single from that album Sacrament of Wilderness, went straight to number 1 on the Finnish single charts. (sample).
The second single to come out was "Walking in the Air", a cover of Howard Blake's piece, part of The Snowman soundtrack.
In 1999, they recorded the single "Sleeping Sun (Four Ballads of the Eclipse)", for the solar eclipse in Germany. This single sold 15,000 copies during the first month in Germany. Oceanborn was a certified gold in August.[6]
In 2000, Nightwish participated in the Finnish qualification for the Eurovision song contest with the song "Sleepwalker". They finished the contest in second place. They won the public televoting, but the jury overruled (sample). In May they released the album Wishmaster which went straight to number 1 on the Finnish album charts, and remained there for three weeks. During those three weeks it was certified gold. Wishmaster was, despite long-awaited releases from Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi, which happened simultaneously, declared album of the month by the German magazine Rock Hard.
[edit] Over the Hills and Far Away / Century Child (2001–2003)
In 2001 Nightwish recorded a cover of Gary Moore's "Over the Hills and Far Away" together with a few new songs and a remake of an old one. This was released as the EP Over the Hills and Far Away. The record counted with guest performances by Tony Kakko (from the power metal band Sonata Arctica) and Tapio Wilska. They also released a VHS, DVD and CD with live material recorded in a show in Tampere, on December 29 2000. All of these were entitled From Wishes to Eternity. Shortly afterwards, Sami Vänskä was asked to leave the band by Tuomas, and Marco Hietala (Tarot, ex-Sinergy) joined the band, effectively leaving Sinergy. The bassist would, apart from playing his instrument, also perform male vocals.
In 2002 Nightwish released Century Child, and the singles "Ever Dream" and "Bless the Child". The main difference from previous albums is the use of a live orchestra from Finland on "Bless the Child", "Ever Dream", "Feel For You" and "The Beauty of the Beast", to get a more present feeling of classical music. An enduring favorite of fans, though, is the band's version of "Phantom of the Opera", from the famous musical of the same name by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Century Child was certified gold two hours after its release, and platinum two weeks afterwards. It set a record on the Finnish album charts as well; never before had the second been so distant from the first place. After the "Bless the Child" video, a second one was recorded, without any single support. The chosen track was "End of All Hope". The clip contains pieces from the Finnish movie, Kohtalon kirja (English: The Book of Fate).[7]
In 2003, Nightwish released a second DVD, entitled End of Innocence that tells the story of the band in Holopainen and Nevalainen's words for two hours. The documentary also features bits of live concerts, exclusive footage, etc. Tarja also got married during the summer of 2003, and there were rumours that the band was about to be dissolved. These rumours were, at the time, proven to be false, as the band continued on to play concerts for another year and released another album.
[edit] Once (2004–2005)
A new album entitled Once was released on June 7, 2004, along with their first single, "Nemo" (Latin for "nobody"), from that album. The single topped the charts in Finland and Hungary, and reached the top ten in five additional countries. "Nemo" therefore remains their most successful single release to date.
Once utilizes a full orchestra in nine of the eleven songs on the album. Unlike Century Child, Nightwish decided to look for an orchestra outside of Finland this time, choosing the London Session Orchestra. It is also their second album to feature a full-length song in Finnish, "Kuolema tekee taiteilijan" (English: "Death Creates an Artist"). Once has sold triple platinum in Finland, platinum in Germany, gold in Sweden and reached #1 in the Greek, Norwegian and Hungarian album charts. The following singles were: "Wish I Had an Angel" (featured on the soundtrack of the Alone in the Dark film), "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" (released only in Finland and Japan) and "The Siren". Besides the commercial success, Once was also accepted by critics, with many positive reviewers (such as Metalfan.nl[8] and RockReport.be[9]) drawing comparisons with Oceanborn.
- Nightwish's "Nemo" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- 24 second sample from Nightwish's "Nemo".
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
The success of the album allowed them to perform the Once World Tour, which enabled them to play in many countries the band had never visited before. Nightwish performed at the opening ceremony of the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, held in Helsinki,[10] highlighting acclaim the band has recently gained.
A "best of" album was released in September 2005, containing songs from their whole discography. The compilation is entitled Highest Hopes, also featuring a live cover of Pink Floyd's song "High Hopes" (from the The Division Bell album).
This song was the first in which Hietala performs the vocals by himself (sample). Besides High Hopes, a remake of "Sleeping Sun" (from Oceanborn) was put on the album, which was also released as a single. A new video for "Sleeping Sun" was shot, featuring a medieval battle, and can be found on the German release of the single and as a separate DVD released by Spinefarm.
[edit] End of an Era (2005–2006)
After the recording in the Hartwall Areena (Helsinki) on the 21st of October, 2005, of the new live DVD End of an Era (released June 2006), the four other members of Nightwish decided that it was best to continue Nightwish without Tarja Turunen,[11] a feeling they expressed through an open letter. This was due to the fact that they felt that her husband Marcelo Cabuli and commercial interests had changed her attitude towards the band. Tuomas Holopainen gave the letter to Turunen after the band ended the concert. The letter was later published on the band's website for all to see.
Meanwhile, many sources on the Internet have already begun to speculate who Turunen's successor will be. On December 6, "Lady Angellyca" of the Spanish band Forever Slave issued a statement where she said that she was one of the strong candidates to fill the vacant role,[12] but the band itself has put up a message at their website which claims that the media who spread rumours about a new singer should not be believed.
Turunen has responded to the incident, saying that her dismissal came entirely as a shock to her. She felt that the personal attacks on her husband were unwarranted, and playing the issue out to the public was "senselessly cruel". Turunen was not consulted or spoken to before this letter was given to her. She wrote a letter saying most of this to her fans and published it on her own website.[13] She was also interviewed by various TV stations, magazines and newspapers, stating her feelings towards the subject.
On September 15, the band posted a notice on their official website stating that the recording process for the new album had begun. The process is set to last around six months and the new album should be ready in the spring of 2007.
On September 27, 2006, the band updated their official web site to say that media sources in Finland have been spreading more rumours about the new lead singer. The notice also said that nothing should be believed unless posted on their official site.
On December 13, 2006, the band updated their website again, saying that candidates for the singer position should send their demos in before January 15, 2007.
On January 16, 2007, the band made one more update to their website to announce that the auditions for the new vocalist had ended. The new vocalist will be announced at the end of May 2007.
[edit] Recording the successor to Once (2006—)
On March 17, 2006, the band added an advertisement on their website for all vocalists who are interested in auditioning as the new lead vocalist for Nightwish. To the surprise of some fans, they are not looking specifically for a classically trained singer, but are open to a variety of styles and backgrounds ("…all kinds of styles and voices, natural and trained, from rock and pop to classical, and all that you can find in between"). They go on to say that any potential candidate should be "…prepared to sing with a lot of dynamics and versatility. From loud and high to very sensitive stuff.", seemingly indicating that Nightwish will stay on track despite the departure of Turunen. On August 16, 2006, the band explained through their website that the search was still on, having received approximately 1,100 demos since their request was uploaded to their website in March.
On July 20, the band revealed in the official Nightwish videoblog that the demo of the sixth Nightwish album was ready to be mixed, and that the band would spread out until September. Then, some ultimate changes can be made prior to the actual recording of the new album.[14]
According to their official website, the band entered the studio on September 15, 2006 to record their sixth full-length studio album. The process began with drum recordings, with guitar, bass and demo keyboards, followed by orchestral/choir recordings to follow. After those, the final synths and vocals will be recorded. The entire process is set to last around six months and the album should be available in August 2007 with the first single being released in May 2007.[15]
[edit] Influence
Tuomas Holopainen, writer of most of the band's lyrics and musical scores, says that he gets most of the inspiration for Nightwish's songs from film music. Songs like "Beauty of the Beast" (from Century Child) and "Ghost Love Score" (from Once) are examples of this influence. Other songs, such as "Romanticide" and "Wish I Had an Angel" (both from Once) have elements reminiscent of techno music.
On the other hand, Nightwish has also been noted as a source of inspiration for other bands. Simone Simons, lead singer of Epica, stated that she began singing due to Nightwish.[16] Ex-singer of Visions of Atlantis Nicole Bogner also admitted that Nightwish had greatly inspired them for their first album.[17] Sander Gommans of After Forever said that Nightwish "will certainly influence us in creating new songs".[18]
[edit] Musical style
A precise definition for Nightwish's musical style is disputed. The band has been suggested as being part of the genres gothic metal, symphonic metal, and power metal.
Some fans of Nightwish have argued that the band belongs to the "gothic metal" genre due to the fact that all of their albums have female vocals in them with a dark sound and gothic subjects. Examples are "Wish I Had an Angel" and "Planet Hell".[19] Other fans have argued otherwise, saying that they should rather be labeled "power metal",[20] based on the argument that they play more to that style and lack core elements of "gothic metal". The Metal Crypt also proclaim the band to be "power metal", or even symphonic power metal, a sub-genre similar to the style developed by Italian bands such as Rhapsody of Fire.
Tuomas Holopainen once described their music as "melodic heavy metal with a female singer".[21]
[edit] Line-up
- Tuomas Holopainen — Keyboards (since 1996), vocals on Angels Fall First
- Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen — Guitars (since 1996), bass on Angels Fall First
- Marco Hietala — Bass/Vocals (since 2001)
- Jukka Nevalainen — Drums (since 1997)
[edit] Former members
- Tarja Turunen — Vocals (1996–2005)
- Sami Vänskä — Bass (1998–2001)
- Samppa Hirvonen — Bass (1997) (only live)
- Marjaana Pellinen — Backing vocals and second keyboard (1997) (only live)
[edit] Guest vocalists
- Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica) — From Wishes to Eternity and Over the Hills and Far Away
- Tapio "Tonquemada" Wilska (ex-Finntroll, Sethian) — Oceanborn, Over the Hills and Far Away and From Wishes to Eternity
- Ike Vil (Babylon Whores) — Kinslayer voice on Wishmaster
- John Two-Hawks — Once and End of an Era
- Sam Hardwick — Dead Boy's voice on Wishmaster and Century Child
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums and EPs
[edit] Compilations
[edit] DVDs/Live CDs
| [edit] Singles
|
[edit] Cover songs
[edit] Covers only played live | [edit] Covers appearing on albums
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