Nightwish – Tuomas Holopainen

After the overwhelming success of their previous studio album, ‘Dark Passion Play’. Nightwish return with their latest magnum opus, ‘Imaginaerum’.

Metal Obsession had the pleasure to speak with main song writer and keyboardist, Tuomas Holopainen. We discuss the band’s latest captivating and story driven masterpiece, along with some personal insight into Toumas’ imagination.

Metal Obsession: I take it your quite pleased with the release of ‘Imaginaerum’ as its number 1 on the Finland charts at the moment?

Tuomas Holopainen: Yeah, its been great. It’s a really exciting time for us. The reaction from fans and the press has been really overwhelming. It’s something we didn’t quite expect to happen. Everyone in the band is really happy at the moment.

MO: What’s your take on the music industry at the moment. Do you believe its gotten any better since you started?

TH: I think the biggest concern for the future of music is downloading and the internet. What to actually do with that. Unfortunately, from my experience, a lot of band’s aren’t doing as many albums as they once did. I mean when you think about an album like ‘Master of Puppets’ by Metallica or ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson. There isn’t a single bad moment on those albums. Everything is thought over. Everything is detailed. The lyrics, the cover art…everything!

These days when I listen to the radio. I usually hear a pretty good song and think to myself “What is this?”. I then go out and buy the album and the rest of the album is crap. This is the kind of trend I’ve noticed lately and am concerned with. But there is no fighting the internet and actually wanting to change it, you can’t. In some ways you just have to adapt. You just have to find the best compromise.

MO: I’m guessing your not a big fan of downloading music then?

TH: I have never downloaded a single song from the internet. To be honest, I don’t use the internet. The only thing I use it for is to check my e-mail. [laughs]

MO: The previous studio album, ‘Dark Passion Play’ has been estimated at costing 500,000 euros on its production alone. Were the production costs of ‘Imaginaerum’ anywhere close to that figure?

TH: ‘Imaginaerum’ cost us 350,000 euros. We were able to cut down the costs quite a lot. We basically recorded most of the tracks at our houses and changed from going to Abbey Road Studios to Angel Studios in London. We used the same musicians and the quality of the music was exactly the same. However, the biggest change was Abbey Road Studios. It was that extra zero in the cost that got us. [laughs]

MO: Are you a firm believer in “If it costs more. It will sound better”?

TH: Nooo. No way! Why did the album cost so much, first of all? The orchestra and the choir was the most expensive part of the album. You can’t really mimic your instruments or your keyboard, no matter how good they are to sound like a real orchestra. The London Symphony Orchestra are the best players in the world and we wanted to use them. They’re the most expensive, so that’s where most of the money went too.

‘Imaginaerum’ was under production for roughly 9 and half months. So after some studio costs and engineering costs its not cheap. [laughs] We never put money into our albums to be vain. Everything has a purpose.

MO: Is there a set formula you work to when writing new material?

TH: Well, basically I write most of the songs and then I do a rehearsal take on my own for the other guys and Anette Olzon to listen too. Just with my keyboard I program a sequencer and set up a drum track, bass and guitar riff on top of that. Put them all together with the vocal lines and then we all listen to it and then head to the rehearsal room and start to “dress up the  song”, as it were.

MO: I was actually quite surprised with the variety of influences on ‘Imaginaerum’. There seems to be hints of Jazz, Celtic and even some Middle Eastern elements among others. It’s very diverse. 

TH: Well, its very theatrical and very diverse. That’s something we were after from the start. Its essentially like taking the weirdest roller-coaster ride across the world and looking at all different cultures, in terms of musical influence. That was really our aim from the beginning. To go from one place to another. One mood to another.

MO: Would you say its the most optimistic or open minded album Nightwish has released so far?

TH: Yeah. Optimistic is the kind of word that has a bad cling to it. But I do have to agree. It’s the most uplifting album we have done so far. I mean there is still sadness and melancholy in some parts, but still, the atmosphere of the entire album will put a smile on your face. There is much more light at the end of the tunnel on ‘Imaginaerum’ compared to some of our previous albums.

MO: Would you consider ‘Imaginaerum’ a concept album?

TH: No, I wouldn’t really consider ‘Imaginaerum’ a concept album. It’s more of a dramatic album which tells you stories from one song to another. All of the songs seem to deal with the same themes, which are our imaginations, memories and the beauty of this world. The more uplifting and good side of life. I’d consider it a 75 minutes roller-coaster adventure which takes you deep into our subconscious and is an exploration of our imagination and memories. That’s what the album is essentially about and the movie as well.

MO: I take it the story of Peter Pan has been a large influence towards you, personally?

TH: It’s actually one of my favourite stories of all time. Whenever I look into a mirror I always see Peter Pan in the reflection. The story of Peter Pan has been a big inspiration towards me and my music. I also love a lot of fantasy stories and even Walt Disney. They too have been a big influence on me throughout my life.

MO: Will the upcoming ‘Imaginaerum’ movie be a CGI movie or live action?

TH: Umm. It’s live action. It’s going to be, what we call a “fantasy-drama-musical”. It’s not actually a musical, but music does play a big part in the movie itself. The band members don’t have any major acting roles in the movie. We are just seen as a cameo role in the movie as the band playing in the background of the movie, in two scenes I believe. We are just in the background of the scene. This was actually something I was very adamant about towards the director from the beginning. That we didn’t really want to be written into the movie because we wanted to make something that was believable. We want to make a believable story. If you saw the band members trying to act, it wouldn’t be a very good thing. [laughs] We hired professional actors to do the main roles, but since its our movie the director wanted us to be there in those small scenes.

MO: You seem to have a never ending supply of ideas in relation to stories. Would you perhaps like to continue making movies in the future?

TH: Yeah, well there is an abundance of ideas. But I just have to find the right channel to get them out. This time it was a movie, but I don’t think we’d do another movie ever again after this. This is just a one time thing. But we just have to find a new hook for the next idea to come along.

MO: Will the ‘Imaginaerum’ movie be only available in Europe or is there a worldwide release coming?

TH: To be honest, I find it hard that a movie like this would have a theatrical release, because its so low budget and so indie. In Finland it will have a theatrical release for sure, but I think outside of Finland it will go straight onto DVD at some point. The main idea behind the story of the film is about an elderly man on his death bed and his reliving his entire life through his memories and his imagination.

MO: Do you believe its become harder for people to dream and express themselves through their imagination these days?

TH: [Long pause] I don’t know. It’s hard to say. A lot of people are trying to act as grown ups or as adults, but we never really grow up. Life itself changes, but we essentially stay the same.I guess what I mean is, we are all kids until the day we die. It’s just we put on an act on being grown up or mature, yet no matter what. We’re still children.

MO: Would you say that ‘Imaginaerum’ is a metaphor. Perhaps we as a collective losing our grip on our true desires and perhaps throwing them away for more superficial needs?

TH: I would agree with that. Definitely! I really hope this album will make a lot of people smile. I mean, like I said before its the most uplifting album we have done so far. It’s there to remind you there is good things in this world and there is also a lot of bad as well. But both should be embraced. We should be able to laugh at them both and not be scared of anything.

MO: How do you keep your imagination so bright and colourful?

TH: Playing music. By far. [laughs] It’s like creating your own little micro universe inside your head and being able to create characters and scenery within the music. That’s probably the one thing which saves me from a lot of the darkness in this world. On a more concrete level. I also watch a lot of movies and read a lot of fantasy books.I guess that makes me the happiest.

MO: Do you listen to a lot of movie or musical soundtracks?

TH: Yeah, that’s the thing I listen to the most when I’m at home. Film music and soundtracks. I also listen to a lot of metal, but soundtracks is really my thing.

MO: Who are some of your favourite composers?

TH: Vangelis, Hans Zimmer. I think Hans Zimmer is my number one composer. Then James Newton Howard. I think his soundtracks for the M. Night Shyamalan movies are just other worldly and are so beautiful. John Williams, his work on all the Steve Spielberg movies are just genius. There are dozens and dozens I could mention.

MO: I gotta say. I’m a huge fan of Jerry Goldsmith.I love the Alien soundtrack.

TH: Yeah, he’s amazing.

MO: Basil Poledouris. He did the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack (the original movie, not the terrible new version). That’s one of my favourites scores. 

TH: I like Poledouris as well. I enjoy a lot of Danny Elfman‘s stuff too.

MO: I’m quite a fan of the original Batman soundtrack that Danny Elfman did. I also love John Carpenter‘s music. He did Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York…

TH: Halloween? (hums Halloween theme)

MO: [laughs] Yes! 

TH: That one is such a classic. [laughs]

MO: Is this something you’d perhaps like to get into. Creating music scores or soundtracks?

TH: Well, that’s something I’d like to give a try at some point. But I’ve heard its not as fun as it sounds. You always have to listen to the director and do what he wants to do and go by the terms of the movie. At some point I’d definitely want to try it out and see how I go creating a full movie score for a movie.

MO: Nightwish have some tours coming up in America and Europe to promote ‘Imaginaerum’ next year. Have you and the other members in Nightwish discussed coming back to Australia for the ‘Imaginaerum’ tour?

TH: Yeah, we have. We all love Australia and loved it so much there last time we came. It’s actually one of our favourite places to tour and its actually my favourite place on the earth to visit. There has been some discussion about coming back to Australia at the end of 2012 or even early 2013. We are going to tour for about year starting next January and at some point Australia will be most definitely happen.

MO: Any famous last words, Tuomas?

TH: Ahh! This is always the hardest part of the interview. [laughs] I just want people to give ‘Imaginaerum’ a chance and listen too it from start to finish. Give it some time because you may actually like it. Hopefully after listening to ‘Imaginaerum’ it will make you smile and give you some inspiration.

Nightwish‘s latest album, ‘Imaginaerum’ is currently available via Roadrunner Records Australia and Nuclear Blast Records.

www.nightwish.com/en/| www.roadrunnerrecords.com.au | www.nuclearblast.de/en/