Anette will sing in duet with The Rasmus. The Rasmus will release their 15 years anniversary album "Black Roses", that will have bonus track with Anette, called "October in April".

Marco sings backing vocals on next Amorphis album, entitled Skyforger.

The best music video in Finland in 2008 is Nightwish's "The Islander" video, directed by Stobe Harju. The video was awarded a golden "Muuvi" in last evening's ceremony in Helsinki.
The Islander video

Tuomas and Anette were interviewed by the "Metal Eye" show on Z1 TV in Zagreb, Croatia. Watch the video.

Nightwish end their massive Dark Passion Play World Tour in Helsinki on September 19th 2009. The supporting band on the concert is Apocalyptica.

Concert:
Saturday 19.9.2009, Hartwall Areena, Helsinki, Finland.
All ages.

Tickets:
Pre-sale 46,50 EUR, from doors 48 EUR (if there are still tickets left).
Pre-sale starts on Monday April 6th. in Lippupalvelu network. www.lippupalvelu.fi




More Info:
Arranger: Finnish Metal Events Oy
Promoter: Outi Alander, outi(at)fme.fi
Media info: Tuula Salminen, 09 454 27140, tuulas(at)spinefarm.fi

Media:
NIGHTWISH – Spinefarm / Tuula Salminen, 09 454 27140, tuulas(at)spinefarm.fi
APOCALYPTICA – Tara Kojonen, 050 467 3269, tara.kojonen(at)welho.com

www.apocalyptica.com
www.finnishmetalevents.fi
www.lippupalvelu.fi
www.hartwall-areena.com

France fan club made an interview with Tuomas at Paris on 24th of March.
We thank to Nightwish France for their approval to publicate this interview.

Elise : With the hindsight, how did you like the first shows of this leg of the tour ?
Tuomas : Really good, really, really good. This tour has been the most relaxing and easiest in many ways. London was a blast; every single show of this tour has been really good. Mainly because we had a long break so everybody got a chance to build up their energy levels back to a normal state, and also we have a new set up onstage, some new songs and now we have Troy with us so it’s something really special for us as well.

Nicolas :  So no pressure ?
Tuomas : Pressure? Not anymore, no. A little excitement before every show of course but, you know, the fear of dying has passed.

Nicolas : About the new songs, can you tell us why you chose these? Was it a popular demand or your own choice ?
Tuomas :  It was our own choice. Actually, Romanticide is Anette’s favorite and that was her request, she wanted to do that and we said “ok, we’ll give it a shot”. Ghost Love Score was my personal favorite but she had prejudices about that song, she was scared because it’s so Tarja-related, but she’s doing it really well. And then, Escapist was a common decision, we all like that song and wanted to play it live. It didn’t fit the album but it’s a nice treat. And Dead Boy’s Poem is just for good old times’ sake. And the new intro it was an obvious thing because Troy Donockley has this song on his solo album, he has recorded Finlandia. Finlandia is almost a national anthem of Finland. It’s composed by John Sibelius, he’s our most well-known classical composer and it’s a song that everybody knows in Finland, it’s like a national anthem for us.

Nicolas : Why don’t you want to play the end of Dead Boy’s Poem ?
Tuomas : I never liked the ending, I don’t know why. That’s the only reason. I think it just works fine like that, and we extended the guitar solo. It’s just an arrangement that we all like.

Guillaume : Paris is the only city where you play two times in a row. Why Paris ?
Tuomas : Because of the popular demand, I guess. Yesterday’s show was sold out pretty quick so they wanted to have another day, that’s fine by me. If people want to come and see us we’re just flattered.

Nicolas : In an interview, you said you had plans with some side projects, can you tell us more about them ?
Tuomas : “Side Project” maybe is a bad term. I’ve been doing a couple of songs for some other artists in Finland, then I have this little movie project going on, this kind of stuff but they told me not to talk about them so I have to keep my word. But there are some little things going on beside Nightwish all the time as well. But nothing that big, I wouldn’t call them “side projects”. And also, I’ve been working with Indica for the past half a year: we’ve just finished the English album about a month ago and that has taken a lot of my time, but it’s a fun thing to do.

Elise :  You rearranged Vuorien Taa but did you rearrange other songs as well ?
Tuomas :  Yeah we took the old songs and rewrote them a little bit. Some songs changed quite a bit, some songs didn’t change at all. And for 4 songs on the album, we went to London, we used the same orchestra as we used for Nightwish, The London Session Orchestra and Pip Williams did the arrangements for the girls as well. And there’s the same choir and Troy is playing some pipes in one of the songs.

Elise :  Were there some songs that you rehearsed with Anette that didn’t make it to the shows ?
Tuomas : Actually no. At some point we tried Elvenpath but it just didn’t work, for some reason I don’t know, but that’s the only one. And there are some songs that we totally dropped out like we’re never going to play Bye Bye Beautiful again, that’s for sure. Because it feels so corny, because of the lyrical content of that song and we’ve played that song again and again so it’s dead and buried.

Elise : Is there any chance that you’ll play Erämaan Viimeinen with Jonsuu ?
Tuomas : Yeah there were some talks about that but I don’t know, we’ll see. There’s a possibility and actually she told us that she would like to do it.

Elise : What about tonight ?
Tuomas : No, we have never rehearsed it, we have never ever played it together so it would take a lot of practice but maybe. But it works so nicely with Troy as well, so…

Nicolas : And Anette doesn’t want to sing Follow Me with Pain ?
Tuomas : I don’t know, maybe she will at some point.


Nicolas :  Will Troy be there for the whole tour ?
Tuomas : Yes, for the whole European Tour.

Nicolas : Crimson Tide is over ?
Tuomas : Yes Crimson Tide is over for now.

Nicolas : Why did you choose to play it again because you used it for the Wishmastour initially ?
Tuomas :  Well this tour is called “European Déjà Vu Tour”, that’s why. That’s why we brought back Dead Boy’s Poem and the old stuff, and I still think it’s the best intro we ever had.

Guillaume : Did you choose to be the one in the boat, as the captain of the band ?
Tuomas : It was actually our pyro technician’s idea: “we need to put you into a boat”. And the whole idea of the nautical, the ocean theme, came from him: “let’s put an anchor, a boat and some rocks” but it was not my idea to be in a boat in the first place. I enjoy being there because I can always hide, when I go down, nobody sees me and I can drink my wine.


Elise: What are band members strengths onstage ?
Tuomas: Emppu’s always happy. I don’t know how he does it but he’s always happy. Even if he has a bad day he gets a smile and gives energy to the others. Anette is a perfectionist; she really really gives her everything and never leaves anything half-way so she’s really strict about her physical condition. I would say the same for Jukka, he’s always like that, he always has the energy. And Marco is a natural phenomenon because even though he’s sick, he has a hangover or he feels bad for some reason, he always puts it up perfectly. I don’t know how the hell he does it. I’ve never heard him sing a wrong note no matter how bad of a day he has.

Elise:  What are their strengths offstage ?
Tuomas: Just the best of friends, all of them.

Nicolas: What are their favorite phrases ?
Tuomas: A lot of Finnish and Swedish swearing and “what time should we open the bottle tonight?” which is agreed on 8:30 pm for tonight.




Guillaume: If you were in their shoes for a day, what would you do ?
Tuomas: I think that would be a really good chance to really see how they feel about being in this band, and how they feel about me as the band leader so I would really check their inner thoughts to find out because I honestly don’t know.

Guillaume : Would you like to play their instruments ?
Tuomas : No… I love my piano and my keyboard. I leave the playing to those who actually can play their instruments.

Nicolas : No singing ? =)
Tuomas : No ! (Laughter) Not ever. Actually I sang two lines on the new English Indica album, I sang background “oohhh”. You can actually hear it, it’s so loud on the album. But I don’t like to sing, I just don’t enjoy the idea of singing, that’s the problem.

Elise : What are their best feature and biggest flaw ?
Tuomas : For Anette I would say her perfectionism is a virtue as well as a flaw; she’s sometimes really annoying because everything needs to be perfect. Jukka is the hard worker of the band, he keeps this whole organization together, the financial stuff, which I could never ever do. His biggest flaw is that he’s also really strict and perfectionist. Sometimes it’s hard with him about that sort of stuff because he’s so “this thing needs to be done like this, that’s all”. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s a flaw. Marco is the most loyal person in the world and a really sensitive guy so if I need somebody to talk to in the band, it would be him, he’s the first choice. He has a big shoulder you can lean on. And his flaws…I don’t know. He’s getting old, I don’t know if he can take this for many more years (laughter). (In the microphone) I’m sorry, that was a joke! And Emppu: he’s like Marco, he’s the friend you need. He’s always the one who asks “are you okay? Everything’s okay ? You want to talk about something ?” so he’s really empathetic. But he’s also probably the most absent minded person I know. If we don’t practice some songs for a week he forgets them and he can’t remember what he has said the day before, he can tell the same joke again and again so he’s really absent minded, but in a cute way.

Elise : What about you? What are your flaws and best features ?
Tuomas : Erf, you need to ask somebody else ! I think I’m kind, I try to be good to people and I’m also creative, and empathetic. But I’m also really impatient: I want everything right here and right now, I can’t wait. And I’m also quite selfish for some things.

You can find full interview here.

Nightwish will appear at Greenfield Festival in Interlaken, Switzerland. They will play on 12.06.2009.
Greenfield Festival homepage

Nightwish will appear at Metalcamp 2009 in Tolmin, Slovenia. They will play on Friday, 03rd of Juily 2009.



Metalcamp homepage

Nightwish will appear at this year's Norway Rock Festival taking place from July 9th to 12th.
Norway Rock Festival homepage

Since Nightwish is on tour again, they are continuously updating their photo gallery with new live photos. Be sure to check them out, and also take a look at the very beautiful photos presented by Metal Hammer.

Nightwish photo gallery
Metal Hammer gallery

Starting today, and for a very limited time only, you have the chance to watch the entire "Made in Hong Kong (and in various other places...)" documentary exclusively on Nightwish's MySpace page.

Watch the documentary

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