On the evening of July 15 2004 Oceanborn UK was invited to conduct an interview with Marco Hietala. We spent forty minutes chatting about the current tour, future tour plans, latest album 'Once' and much more.
Welcome back to the UK
Thank you.
How have you found the crowds over here so far?
Well, last year I think we had two excellent shows. The shows yesterday and the night before were really good as well. So, what can I say, it has been great.
Have you been surprised by the turnout at all?
Yeah yeah. Well, this time of course we knew that there is a real fanbase here because of the two shows we did last year. At that time we were really surprised. It was like “hey, this is going down really well”. Because I've always had the impression that if you are going to come into this native English language area, if you come to it from outside, it's always quite hard.
Would that be your theory as to why Nigthwish hasn't taken off in the UK before now?
Well, no. We can speculate, but I don't really know the reason. But I guess, well, some of the maturity of the band that has been more evident on the last two albums is probably the reason why we are getting so much attention also elsewhere.
One thing that has interested me about this tour is that it seems to be very much a last minute arrangement. It was only announced six weeks ago and then confirmed by the management around three weeks ago. Is there any reason for that? We originally heard you would be playing here around February or March.
I really don't know. I had the impression that the people here contacted the management to say now would be an opportunity and a good time to do them. So they really came as a last minute thing.
Do you know if there are any plans to return to the UK on this tour?
Yeah, the February thing is still in the works.
Do you know if there's interest in bringing the band to maybe Scotland , Wales or Ireland ?
Yeah for sure, I would like that.
Have you heard of any promoters interested over there yet?
I wouldn't know about that.
What about the setlists you play live. Who is it who has the final say on these? Is it Tuomas or do you all play a part in deciding?
He usually does the work, because with already that many albums behind the band it really can be a pain in the ass to figure out what to play and from what album. But he does it, and I'm satisfied.
What about the covers that you play during Tarja's break, obviously you sing them, but do you have a say in what you play?
Hmmmm, no. Well, the Osborne thing, I seem to remember that Emppu came up with that like ‘let's do it', and it was an easy one for me as I've done it before so ‘yeah, let's do it'. Then the WASP cover we played for a while was because, well it's a kinda funny song anyway! Megadeth wasn't my idea because we were like, trying to figure out a week before the first gig in Kitee, trying to figure out ‘hey, we've got to have a cover or something when Tarja takes a break and all that' so a lot of ideas, but nothing seemed to click immediately. Until I heard ‘hey, what about this Megadeth song. Tero had the album and he brought it over and ‘yeah yeah, this works, let's do it!'
So do you guys enjoy just being able to do that yourselves?
Yeah.
You seem like you have a lot of fun.
That's true, we have a lot of fun, during the whole f**king show!
Did you find yesterday better than Tuesday? People attending all three shows have said they felt Nottingham was far better for them than Bradford .
Yeah, I mean, of course always when you start doing gigs, both of them were really good shows, but the first one is always the first one you know, finding your stage legs there so usually when you get to do a few in a row it always gets better.
I've heard a criticism from a few people, which is the length of the sets that you play. Is there a reason why this kept to 90 minutes?
Mmm, yes there are reasons. One of them is probably that I personally kinda like the show to be, like, I really don't like overlong shows because then you have songs which will leave you bored and almost any show that I've seen which goes over 2 hours will have those moments, so I think an hour and a half is a pretty good length. And of course, then there's this thing with Tarja doing vocals and the extreme technicality that she has in that, and doing it with a loud metal band, doing the high voice and lots of it, is strenuous so we have to keep that in mind in order to keep her healthy. So we probably will not deviate too much from this one hour and a half.
Talking of Tarja, the red coat that she's wearing on stage at the moment. Is there any significance to that, for example many saw the white she wore last year as symbolising innocence, or is it just a nice coat?
I don't know. Probably it's just a nice coat, or maybe she's into Napoleon, I don't know!
Do you have any specific plans for where you want Nightwish to go in the UK ? Now that you've found a market here, can you ever see Nightwish making it to the top of the charts?
Well, hmm, not yet! I mean of course it would be great to do that, but I guess we would really have to have a killer album coming next or sometime in the future. Which nobody knows anything about, yet!
One band that is immensely popular at the moment is Evanesence. Do you feel that their success has in any way aided your popularity?
Yeah, I guess it might have opened the public to this thing more.
Also bands like HIM have gained in popularity over here recently, which may have opened a door for Nightwish to become more recognised in the UK .
Yeah, but it could be true in some ways. Of course the band and its music stands for its own.
Also, the charts over here are very different to the likes of Finland .
Yes, the metal scene is pretty good in Finland , there are a lot of people into it so yeah, topping the charts is not impossibility anymore, actually it was something we were expecting. One thing that really satisfied me in this chart thing is that they had a release of a ‘Finnish Idols' contestant, they had her album coming out the week after ours, but we still stayed there, we still stayed number one so these people and the BMG record company were like ‘what the f**k is going on.
What about the USA , you've got a tour coming up there next month. Is this part of a big plan for Nightwish to conquer America ?
Not really, but this is again probably the thing that, last year we were there for two shows and it kinda made the thing clear there is at least some kind of an underground cult fanbase going on, because the people at the shows were really into the band. They took us really well, so at that point in time I guess Ewo got some contacts to set this thing up and as opposed to a promoter there, feels confident to bring us over and do those shows. That is going to be interesting because, well this time it's going to be a real tour. First to Canada for two shows then to the US , different cities and getting through the continent with a tourbus. That is going to be interesting, basically I, don't really, like aeroplanes or stations or anything, I rather hate them. It's boring sitting there with no room to fit your feet. For me the tourbus is just a lot more relaxing.
I believe you're going to Australia as well.
It has been planned; there are some contacts now but nothing definite. But a few offers which we will see. I would like to go there.
The new album does sound quite unique, but there must have been influences drawn from somewhere. Are there any bands you can think of that Tuomas might have been into around the time of writing?
*laughs*
I guess well, the thing that he did was that he composed a lot of stuff with a guitar this time, and he says that he's a bad guitar player so the riffs must be simple when he writes them! But yeah, I know he's been listening to a lot of stuff. There's this one Finnish band that he likes a lot, he played keyboards on one of their albums it's called Kotiteollisuus and they have quite rough and simplistic stuff. So maybe some ideas have rubbed off from them.
The new album is more experimental than your previous releases. Were you worried that ‘Once' may not have been as well received than the previous records?
Hmmmmm, yeah a little bit, like some of the stuff might not open up immediately and some people might be turned off by I, but I mean hearing the final mixes and all that I wasn't that worried anymore. Of course there still is some stuff that has been hard for some people to get, but so far most of the reviews and all that have been really positive and really great so, I guess we did it right!
What about performing the material live? Obviously it's quite a complex album, how have you gone about reproducing it onstage?
Well, of course we had to use this minidisk system which has been used already for three tours that I know of. So it wasn't that hard for us to get the idea of how it might work, but of course there are some songs which will probably, hmmm. Well, we will try to bring Ghost Love Score to the stage as well, and that is going to be interesting to rehearse! But we will try it when the fall comes, when we start doing these US parts and probably also, if we get the February tour done here we will do it then as well. At least we'll try, we'll try it with the rehearsals and with the minidisk system and getting the click track into Jukka's ear.
You've obviously made a contribution to this album with ‘Higher than Hope'. Would you like to have more of a say in the composition?
Hmmm, no. I mean with the vocal stuff and with my writing I think the amounts are pretty good the way they are. Of course I write a lot of stuff. This time for instance, I had parts for something like four songs and I just recorded them at my friends little studio and gave the CD to Tuomas. And then he kinda asked if we had any stuff that would like to use, so I have him the CD, he listened to it and two of those things ended up being used. One is ‘Higher than Hope', which is mainly written by me. Tuomas wrote the bridge bit between the verse and the chorus and the middle part, I did almost everything else. Of course, the group arranges together. Then this starting riff to ‘Romanticide' which I didn't figure would end up on this album because it's kind of, thrashy metal, but then again he liked it so much he wanted to use it. You know ‘mmm ok, go ahead, if you get the song that fits it then we'll do it'. Of course, it doesn't reflect the whole album.
I guess Nightwish changed their sound a fair bit with Century Child, with the move away from the Power Metal sound and introduction of the film score elements. Is Once the culmination of this transition or will the next album go even further?
The next one, we really can't say what will happen. It's a question which has been asked a lot; are we kind of scared of how massive the whole thing turned out and can we top it? Of course it's a question that you've got to think about, but it's not something you need to worry about now. There's no reason for it because well, now the touring takes at least a year again, getting to every place where they want us so after that time we'll check out what kind of songs Tuomas has done, or if me or Emppu or anybody else has some stuff that would get through Tuomas' filter and would end up on the album. And after seeing what we come up with we will then make the decision about what kind of toppings we will put on.
So do you actually enjoy touring?
Yeah, I do. I mean, well like I said I hate the planes, they suck, big time! But playing shows and having good relationships within the band and with the crew and all that, it's like when you're at home. This is your second family. There are good vibes with everybody who's in the full product. And I really love doing live shows, so yeah, I enjoy it.
How did you feel about the technicality of the new album? Did you find it more of a challenge to play than Century Child?
No, not really. Well, I guess we play pretty much what we can play.
Would you say Nightwish makes the most of your abilities?
Yeah, in some ways it makes the most of our abilities. Some things are hard, but quite a lot is still quite basic. Sort of driving metal, punchy rock. Of course when you put on the vocals, Tarja and the orchestrations, keyboards and that, that will bring you immediately to say ‘this is Nightwish' when you get the atmosphere that comes from those elements. But the basic drums, bass, guitars thing is very much straight forward metal.
How would you rate yourself against other metal musicians in your field?
Some are better, some are worse. I mean, I don't think if myself as some kind of technical wonder or anything. I just aim to do what I do well.
Is there anyone you specifically look up to?
Yeah, I kinda like a lot these old school bass players. For instance, Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath and Bob Daisley who used to play with Ozzy Osborne. And also Rainbow, the Dio era. Then of course, Mr Ian Hill from Judas Priest because I really like solid, simple bass. Because, for me it's important that the songs have a certain groove and a certain drive to them and that is the way to go, so I'm not really any kind of a big Billy Sheehen fan!
What about the song writing process, what happens when Tuomas is writing? Does he lock himself away for a few months or does he ask the band for input and run ideas past you all as he writes?
Yeah, I guess he consumes quite a lot of red wine in his house and stands by the keyboard… *proceeds to do an impression of Tuomas playing keyboards and swigging wine*… or at least that's what I heard. He says it's the usual recipe for doing songs, to sit at the keyboard with the earphones on and having a bottle of red wine.
Do you find that the band usually agrees with Tuomas' ideas, or have there been occasions when disagreements have arisen?
Yeah, there have been some occasions. Of course, he is the leader and in some ways he puts his foot down and he wants some things to be done this way, but he listens to peoples ideas if they feel that ‘hey, I'm not comfortable playing this stuff like this'. That is usually because of the different techniques and different weights on different parts, you tend to perform better with the style you've got. So that is usually the case and he usually listens to it and if he hears that something is really sounding better with the change, then he agrees to it.
A quick question from a member of our message board about the promo photo's taken for ‘Once'. Now, there were some mixed opinions on these.
Yeah, that's what I read myself!
Were these designed to tie in to any specific song or were there any particular themes behind them?
No, not really. A lot of people have been asking, they even went so far as to say that the Stetson pictures were probably because we're trying to appeal to Americans, so if the Stetsons appeal to Americas then, well, I think we all should wear them! No, not really but yeah, that was a funny comment! I mean, it was just a little tongue in the cheek and I'm not taking it serious.
You also went for two distinct looks, with the glossy looking photos and the sepia photo's for Nemo.
Yeah, that was since the name Nemo brings up certain ideas to people's heads, we came up with the idea of ‘well, let's do something that looks like a movie poster'. And an old one at that!
Have there been any points when you've been listening to another band and you've thought ‘hang on, they've got that from us'! Do you ever hear Nightwish influences in the music of other bands?
Yeah of course. Well, you hear things that are similar to the stuff that the band has made and all that. But I guess when you start out, you can't help ripping other bands off, everybody does that at some point in time. But the further away you go from that, the more distinct styles usually develop. Every individual is unique and so are the bands that consist of those individuals. So in time all that will come, except for about a thousand Judas Priest copies from Germany !
What do you make of the comparisons people make between Nightwish and other bands, for example Within Temptation, After Forever or Tristania?
Well, people talk. Some talk bulls**t.
If I can just move on to something that a lot of people are talking about at the moment, the possibility of Nightwish doing a show with a full orchestra. Is this something that's just being talked about, or is it something that's definitely going to happen?
Somewhere in between. It's something we have talked about and also already planned for in the time schedule, but there is still the whole thing to be arranged and the right people to contact, because it will be one hell of a show! If it goes as planned, there will be somewhere close to ten shows in different cities and it would mean putting a lot of people on planes and in hotels and all that, feeding them and getting them paid and all that, so it's going to be a hell of a lot of work..
Would that be next year?
Yeah, 2005. Somewhere after the summer 2005 that's where it is on the timetable right now.
Would that be with the London Session Orchestra again, or would you be getting a different orchestra to play with you this time?
I really don't know, of course we have the notations and all that, so it could be a different orchestra as well. So far, we haven't contacted these people. There will be some accounting to do before that!
Would this be the basis of a new DVD perhaps? Are there plans to film one of these shows?
No, I don't know if the guys have had that idea, but it could be a good idea to do. Mmm, have to put it on the table somewhere!
So the rumour of two shows being organised in Finland for this year isn't true then?
I wouldn't know anything about that, so yeah, must be just a rumour. Either that or they haven't told me! But I'm just the bass player!
That was something I read on the UK Fanclub message board, but going onto the official message board on nightwish.com; do you ever have a look at that?
Yeah, I sometimes do go over a few topics there.
What do you think of the sort of stuff that's written there, obviously sometimes people seem to read an awful lot into things, what do you feel about that?
Yeah, they do sometimes. This thing for me was hilarious. There was some guy or girl from South America figured out that I had some kind of a cunning plan that I smoke onstage because I want Tarja to ruin her voice. So I smoke and I can step in and get to be the frontman of Nightwish, which really made me laugh!
So that's not true then?
Well, I may not be clever enough to plan something like that, but I'm clever enough not to admit it!
Do you think that any band members have taken criticism from there and then used it with regards to the songwriting or shows etc?
No, not really. The one thing you've got to keep in mind with the Internet is that those who complain are usually the loudest. If I check the message board and there are a few thousand messages there, and then you look at the sales of Century Child which probably are somewhere in the hundreds of thousands and compare it to the message board, well then you have hundreds of thousands of people who are not saying anything, who probably bought the album and are listening to it at home thinking ‘yeah, this is great'! But those people who complain usually have to have their say.
Do you feel that it's easier for people to say things like this over the Internet, presumably they wouldn't come up and say it to your face? Has anyone ever done that?
Some people have! Which is OK! They've said, ‘well I don't like this song that you've made' and well, we can't help it!
Sticking with the Internet, this is a bit of an old issue. Where do you stand on the MP3 issue?
Well, illegal is illegal. Now if somebody does that, I will not look at it in a good way. Some people are like ‘hey, we don't have the money to buy the album', but still they're talking about ripping off my work and that is not something I will tolerate and if I have a chance to stop it, then I will. I mean, with legal tradings that's a bit of a hard issue. That's a bit difficult to control.
If they're good live recordings, then it's a good idea to put them on your net site and have a few bonuses. With this other group, Tarot, that I play with, we put this live video on our net site and there's no some live stuff from different years too which has never been released. It's nice to give your fans some bonuses, in that way I think it's nice.
Do you have anything to say to the Official UK Fanclub members?
Well, big thanks are in order! For getting into the band, getting the albums and getting to the shows, without the fans there would be no band.
