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Interview : Nightwish Vincent Lefrançois
When and how was your band created ? In 1996 Tuomas was playing in some other groups and he felt that he qould like to have a project band which plays a little bit different kind of music. That's when the idea of Nightwish was born. He made some acoustic songs and at the end of 1996 those songs were recorded. In that time band was Tuomas - keyboards, Tarja - vocals and Emppu - acoustic guitar. That was the very first demo and the demo was called Nightwish -demo named after one song of the demo. When Tuomas heard the result he wanted to add drums, bass and electric guitar in his music and that's when band Nightwish got started. Where the name of the band is coming from ? The name comes from the very first demo. In that demo there was a song called Nightwish. What musicians or artists did have a major influence in your life / work ? I have always admired the working of Mike Portnoy. When I was starting to play in bands in age of 16 the biggest influence was definately Jörg Michael (Stratovarius). Nowadays I take influences from many different kind of music and actually I don't listen to heavy / metal -music that much anumore, so the influences come from very different kind of music than we play. What are the positive and negative aspects of being a musician / singer (in Finland) ? Positive is definately the silence. That might sound odd but it's very nice to come from a tour (which often are opposite of silence) and go to the cottage and just relax and listen to the silence. But negative aspect is definately envy. We come from a very small town and after we got success we have heard and saw many things that would had rather left unseen / unheard. How could you qualify your style of music ? This is always the most difficult part. Well, maybe in last album it could be defined as MovieMetal. Have you ever considered the possibilty to change totally your style of music ? If so, what style of music would you choose ? No. I'm definately always be playing music which has some heavy / metal elements. No jazz, no pop no reggae,... Of course there is many ways to play music which has heavy / metal element so propably I'll play some bands which are very different to Nightwish but there will always be this thin line which defines the music. What are stories/topics you tell/treat in your songs ? Tuomas would be right person to answer this but I guess he writes about common things like lust, fantasies, love, anger, loss, etc. He write lyrics that people can understand in the way they want. What is your favorite song in your repertoire and why ? It changes all the time but in this moment Beauty Of The Beast. This song was very good when heard it from the album, but we were very sceptical about how it would work live. But after we played it first time it became my favorite song to play live. I guess the reason is that there is so much emotion in that song. And the many different part of it makes it very interesting for the listener. Do you tour regularly ? Do you actually prefer performing your music live or in a studio? I definately prefer playing live. Before this year I actually hated playing in studio buut little by little I've learned to enjoy it and last week when I recorded a one project I actually had much fun. Nowadays we don't tour that much because of Tarjas studies. We just came back from 2,5 month world tour and there will be some time until next real tour. During the process of making an album, what is the moment that you prefer ? Hearing the final version for the very first time. We always gather with my friends in some place to listen to the new album and to celebrate. It's so nice to hear the songs mixed because it makes the song what it is. For the first time you can hear all the instrument in perfect balance and for the first time you'll get the whole picture of the song. What kind of music / What artists do you currently listen ? Too many to mention but a few examples: Celine Dion, HIM, Linkin Park What are your actual and future projects ? I play in band called Sethian. They will release debut album in next March from Spinefarm (same company as ours). It's really good music and it was very nice to record it. I guess the music could be defined so that melt Dio, QueensR?che and HIM together and you'll get Sethian. A stupid question but... what is among all the songs you've been listening in your life the BEST song ? Why ? Very difficult question!!! Very difficult question!!! One of the best is song called Gift from Kyyria (Finnish band). Internet is something interesting for musicians because it gives them the opportunity to touch a larger audience but it is also a threat for them (regarding the copyrights). What is your opinion regarding this medium ? I think internet should be guarded much better. Because distributing mp3's is illegal they should simply punish those people who do it. Do you use computers or home studios during the process of making an album or a song ? I don't use computer for making the song or album. I don't know how much computer is involved in recording and mixing of the album.
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