Article by: Jake

The original plan for 'Nightwish' started in 1996, and was the idea of Tuomas (Holopainen) and Emppu (Vuorinen). It started off as an acoustic sound, with Tuomas writing the songs and lyrics and playing keyboards. They had no vocalist until Emppu suggested his friend, Tarja (Turunen).

Soon after, Jukka was invited in to play drums and Emppu switched to electric guitar, which didn't overpower Tarja's voice at all. In April 1997, seven songs were recorded and can be found on the limited edition of Angels Fall First. By May 1997, Spinefarm had showed interest and a contract was signed for 2 records. Four more songs were recorded, and 'The Carpenter' was released as a single which reached number 8 in the official singles chart in Finland. In early November 1997, Angels Fall First was released and at it's highest point, was at number 31 in the official album chart of Finland.

In May 1997 Nightwish signed a recording contract with Spinefarm for two records. In August Nightwish went to the studio and recorded four new songs. Before the release of Angels Fall First, a single called The Carpenter was released and at its best it was number eight on the official singles chart in Finland. Angels fall first was released in early November and it was at its best number 31 on the official album chart in Finland.

Their first live performance was in their hometown of Kitee, on 31st December 1997. During this winter only seven concerts were played because Jukka and Emppu were in the army and Tarja was studying. Their record contract was extended to three records.

The first video they recorded was for 'The Carpenter' and they started recording in April 1998. It was completed by early May, and was played in Jyrki. Tuomas and Tarja were interviewed (in late May). In the summer Sami (Vänskä), joined the band playing bass. Soon after this, songs for a new record were rehearsed and in early August they started recording. By late October this was finished. On November 13th Nightwish played another concert in Kitee and a video for Sacrament of Wilderness was filmed. The single was released on November 26th and their second album, Oceanborn, was released on December 7th.

This album reached number 5 in the official album chart in Finland and their single, Sacrament of Wilderness was the number one single for several weeks. In the winter of 1999, Nightwish did lots of live performances around Finland and also played on the Lista chartshow program. In spring, Oceanborn was released outside of Finland. During May there was more touring and they played almost all of the big rock festivals. Sleeping Sun was recorded during the time, it was writing for the eclipse in Germany. In August it was released in Germany and included the songs Walking in the Air, Swanheart and Angels Fall First. In Germany it sold 15,000 copies in one month. In August Nightwish discovered that Oceanborn and Sacrament of Wilderness had sold gold. Around the same time, confirmation arrived that Nightwish would do a full European tour with a German band called Rage.

At the beginning of 2000 the band began recording their third album. There was a slight break in recording when they took past in the Finnish qualification for the Eurovision Song Contest, the song was Sleepwalker. Nightwish went through the first round, but came second overall, despite winning the public televoting.

Their third album, Wishmaster, was released in May and the Wishmaster Tour started in Kitee. After the show the band received gold discs for Oceanborn, Sacrament of Wilderness, Walking In The Air and Sleeping Sun. Wishmaster went to number 1 in the album chart in Finland and stayed there for three weeks, and also reached the gold disk mark. Wishmaster was loved by fans and media alike, and was named album of the month by German magazine 'Rock Hard' in their June 2000 issue, ahead of awaited releases by Bon Jovi and Iron Maiden.

Wishmaster made it to the German and French charts, reaching number 21 in Germany and 66 in France. The Wishmaster World Tour, starting in Kitee also included the big festivals in Finland and they reached South America in July 2000. A three week tour through Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Panama and Mexico was very successful and a great experience for them all. Following this was shows at Wacken Open Air, Bieop Metal Fest and a headlining European tour with Sinergy and Eternal Tears Of Sorrow. In November they also played two shows in Montreal, Canada.

The next Nightwish project was a full-length concert DVD and VHS, with limited live album, only for Finland. The concert was recorded in Tampere, 29th December 2000. In April 2001 it was released in Finland, and worldwide in the summer of 2001. At the end of the show, Nightwish received platinum discs for Wishmaster and gold discs for their single Deep Silent Complete. In March 2001, Nightwish went into the studio again to record a version of 'Over The Hills And Far Away' by Gary Moore, with 2 other songs and a remake of 'Astral Romance' from Angels Fall First. This EP was released in Finland in June 2001, and the other version of this includes 6 live songs as well as the other four tracks. Early in 2002, Marco (Hietala) joined and replaced Sami on bass. Tuomas didn't get on well with Sami, and invited Marco to join them. In the beginning of 2002 recording for another album began, Century Child, which was released soon after the recording had finished.

Nightwish are now recording another album, due for release in June 2004. The band will also be touring extensively during the summer.