Dear Fans of Nightwish and Tarja: |
I would like to start these lines thanking all of you for sending several hundreds of emails from many countries with more than thousand questions. It took a very long time to read them all and to select them according to their subjects. As you can imagine, many questions were very similar, and the selection was in order not to repeat the subjects of the questions. I believe that I didn't leave any subject from your questions without reply. I wrote nearly 100 pages and replied more than 150 questions. It took much longer than I thought to reply them. Thanks for your patience. Most of the questions had also your personal comments and opinions that I appreciate and that I have decided to keep just for me. I have been asked about things that have nothing to do with Nightwish or Tarja. I did promise to answer your questions without conditions, but I meant only about Nightwish, Tarja and subjects related. I need to admit a mistake when asking your ID together with your complete name. In fact, many of you sent your ID, but I realised too late that in some countries the ID is some reserved information not to be disclosed. In the end, I decided to answer even the emails sent without ID. I am posting the answers only in English. Even though is not my mother tongue and for sure you'll find grammar mistakes in what I wrote, I think that is better to use the international language rather than use a translation that might change the intention behind my words. This
text before my answers was the last text to be written. At the moment I am aware
that Nightwish book has been published in Finland as well as End of an Era DVD
and CD. Before I start replying your questions, there are few things I would like to mention. It was a very hard decision to offer you the possibility to send me your questions. It was the best way I found to be able to express my opinion about some things. Some of you understood that I am answering in Tarja's name, but I am only doing it in my own name. Not necessarily my opinions are similar to Tarja's opinions about things. I know that there are many people willing not to hear about the band's problems any more. I also received many requests to clarify the situation around many of the things mentioned in the open letter the band uploaded in internet as well as many other things commented to the media in general and in Finnish media in particular. I thought that by offering the chance only to the fans to ask their questions and to express their doubts, I would give reply to the people that is really interested to know. Also, by doing it this way, I expect not to disturb the ones that are not interested. For that ones, I need to apologise anyway, but I honestly feel I was pushed to do this. Is in your hands if you'll read my answers or not. My decision to do things this way was based in the fact that the amount of people willing to know was much bigger than the others. If you decide to go ahead, it will be very important that you read all the answers in order to get a real picture of the whole situation. Many times questions needed extended answers that touch different subjects. I tried as much as possible not to repeat myself unless it was impossible to avoid. Tuomas expressed his opinion about some things. He did the way he understands and sees things with the information he has. This doesn't mean he is wrong and I am right. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth: who can say it knows the truth when a true is only in accordance with facts and reality? Can any of the band members say that they handled all the facts and the state of things the way they actually existed? Tuomas expressed already his opinions that I respect, but that I don't share. Unfortunately, most of the things that you have read or heard didn't come from Tarja's or my voice. There have been mistakes from both sides. I am sure that most of them could have been avoided. It has been very hard to succeed when it was no possibility to speak things openly. Most of you have asked about Tarja's future plans including her solo album and touring dates. There will be lot of information given about these, but I don't feel these pages are the right place to do it. After these words, I wish the band the best. I also hope they have the wisdom to find promotion through other ways than mentioning Tarja or me in the future. Knowing their music, I am sure they do not need that. For
the people outside of the band, but involved with them: just let them be. If you
are not trained and experienced in something don't pretend to be. With best regards, Marcelo
I
know that this question came to Marcelo but I wanted to intrude and answer myself.
I want to thank you Zaharie Filip, and in your name all the other people that have sent these questions, for being interested in the happenings of one of the greatest groups there was at the time in its own genre. Let's hope that we all will continue to make great music to fill the world with joy for a change. With
love, 1)
What is the truth behind this "non disclosure" agreement and why did
you want to take this step even considering the fact that the book is supposed
to be a Nightwish biography? (and not a Tuomas Holopainen book) I guess you were
informed about the book since even Tarja was interviewed.
These things are not in connection. Myself,
I have never mentioned in any media, anything about the book or the DVD or even
this non-disclosure agreement until now. Nor did Tarja. So what ever you have
read, heard or guessed, it just came from other people's comments, thoughts and
declarations. People that made declarations sometimes were not well informed. They were not checking that what they said was accurate. Unfortunately the fans, and people in general, cannot know if what they are hearing and reading is correct or not. In most cases, people feel that what is shown to them in writing, is correct. A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) also can be called letter of confidentiality (LOC). It is
basically a letter, a very short agreement. Two, three or more parties can do
this agreement. In our case, it was proposed that none of the parties were going
to be speaking negatively in public about the other parties. There is a big and very important misconception about this NDA and about how it works. It has not been proposed any kind of agreement where the band was not able to mention Tarja's name or my name. It is true that an agreement has been proposed where neither Tarja nor myself, the band or Spinefarm Records or the band's management either, were supposed to be speaking NEGATIVELY about the other parties in public. But it was never ever suggested that only the band and Spine should shut up. From my point of view this is a quite different picture compared to the image that has been published in the press. This also means that the band and the management and the record companies, all of them have always been able to mention Tarja's name or my name. We, Tarja and me, would have had no problem to sign a paper that would have prohibited us from speaking anything NEGATIVE about the other parties involved in public. For some reason, some clauses of this NDA were wrongly picked up from who ever started to speak with the media. The misleading excerptions gave a false idea of the NDA like it was planned as a way to stop the book and the DVD the band was about to release. Quite wrong - the NDA had nothing to do with the book and certainly not with the DVD. The reason to propose a NDA, was obvious, I guess, but I will still repeat it. After
the public letter (sacking Tarja) from the band, some members continued making
statements to all kinds of media. So
it was a surprise that once again, they went public with it. As we say in my land: sleep with kids and you'll wake up wet. So
in your question you are also saying that we have been informed about the book,
since Tarja was interviewed for it. Actually we knew about the book much longer
than that. The idea to write a book about the band has been there for many years
already. Mape is an employee at Spinefarm records. He was travelling sometimes with the band on tour and he was supposed to interview people that have been related to the band and the band members. This
is an interesting point: I have been accused of having a huge responsibility of
many things concerning the band. For good or for bad, nobody requested to make
an interview for the book with me. Even most strange was how the interview with Tarja was organized. The writer and band management insisted many times that the interview with Tarja needed to be a so called "in deep interview", not just a standard interview. Mape proposed to come to our home in Finland to stay there for a couple of days. He wanted to do a very long, extended interview to discuss with Tarja about all her memories with the band and about every album. It was very important for the book and for him to do it that way as it was told to us. The last tour was very long, and after every small leg of the tour we were returning back home just for few days. This long interview was scheduled with the writer for November 2005 (after Hartwall Arena concert). It was more relaxed to do it after the tour was over. The book was planned to be released during this year, but as we have been told, was definitely not in a hurry at all. There was not going to be any other release of the band rather than the DVD this year anyway. Suddenly, three weeks before the last concert, the writer contacted us and requested to do an interview with Tarja urgently. He explained that the deadline for the book changed and that he needed to do the interview right away. So he changed the plan of doing two days long and in deep interview with Tarja, into a telephone call in the middle of the night to our hotel room in Athens on October 1st 2005. Tarja or me, we didn't ask reasons for the sudden change. We just guessed that the change of this important interview needed to be done and Tarja did the interview. As it has always been done in the last couple of years with all interviews that Tarja was giving, it was agreed that the writer was going to send the interview and the parts where Tarja's quotation were going to be used. So far we haven't received anything. We are waiting. Hopefully before the book is available we'll have the chance to check it. The book was promised to reach before the last concert of the band and was promised to be about the whole history of the band. It was definitely never mentioned anything else. Mape Ollila proposed to me in person, and I accepted, that company NEMS Enterprises is going to be taking care of the translation and publishing of the book in Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries. Until today, I haven't heard anything opposite to that, so I trust the given word. So far I've been told that initially the book is going to be published in Finnish language and as soon as the English translation is going to be ready, they are going to provide it to me, in order to start with the translations into Spanish and Portuguese. What I have recently heard and read from direct quotes from the band members is that the book is going to be also about "something else". They have promoted it after the split, as their way to speak the truth. Then comes clear in the picture why the change was needed in the schedule of the interview with Tarja. If you sometime read the book you need to understand that Mape and the other guys new that Tarja was to be kicked out (or it had already happened) from the band at the time of their interviews but Tarja did not (and I wasn't even interviewed). So the book can only reflect their side of stories without any defence from our sides. This gives the book its distinctive flavour; the most quoted part of the book (from what I have been told) is not about Nightwish history, it is the remaining Nightwish people and hangarounds justifying their divorce with Tarja. The band had all the right to kick Tarja out in the first place but to make sorry badmouthing statements about the reasons of love lost is not very gentlemanlike behaviour, its petty behaviour. Anyway, until today, as I said before, we haven't read the book, we don't know what is in there and at the same time we don't have any reason to stop or try to stop the book release. It was never intended, it was never mentioned anything similar about it and still the feeling is exactly the same.
I have never wanted to halt the book and I have never changed my mind about the book, as I explained already. I first heard about the book long time ago at the time of End of Innocence DVD. Mape, the writer, offered me to publish the book in Spanish and Portuguese through NEMS Enterprises. He, together with the band's management agreed with me that as soon as a translation of the book was available in English, they were going to provide it to me to translate it into Spanish and Portuguese as I said. From my side nothing has changed so far and I am only waiting for the English translated version to start working with it. I have never been in public (or in private) saying anything opposite to what I'm writing at this moment here.
I would not say a book about us. A book about Tarja, same way that there is a plan that one day Tarja will take a part in a movie or that one day Tarja will have a role in an Opera. None of these things have been already planned. They are in the planning, actually, but none of these things are yet scheduled. This means that it can take 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, or in the end it will never happen.
Just to complete the previous answer, there is nobody in mind to write a book at the moment.
There is absolutely no problem with Mape, at least from my side. I know him as a Spinefarm Records employee and I also know he has been writing the book for many years. I have met him many times. The relationship has always been cordial from both sides, and that hasn't changed at least, as I said, from my side. He also helped by providing magazine covers for tarjaturunen.com so I have never felt that he is the kind of person that can smile in your presence and stab you in your back when you turn around. I have not met him recently but definitely I don't agree that we don't get along as you are saying in the question. I have no problem with him or with him writing the book.
It's obvious that I'm not trying to make it hard for Tuomas to publish the Nightwish book after my explanations from above. What is very important is that you can realize that this is what you understand after all you have read and after all you have probably heard, being from Finland. And that is the point. That is the bad thing. Your question is only your impression based in the information you have. Please, do not blindly believe in one-sided information. If you want to know my or Tarja's opinion, just believe what you hear coming from our mouths. Don't believe when the people are trying to make an interpretation of what they believe that Tarja or I might be thinking about something. If they're wrong informed or if they don't understand what is happening, then, all this mess happens. The book meant something different for Tarja at the time when it was explained to her what it was going to be about. At the moment, it seems the objective of the book has changed quite much.
You're asking about the future of the book, which I have already explained, but also about the DVD. So,
It's time to explain you about the DVD "End of an Era". At
that time, some rights to re record the songs should have been acquired from the
record companies, but the band's management did not consider that even though
I advised them to do so. Last meeting took place in Germany between all the record companies involved, band management and myself representing Tarja. Finally everything was agreed and now, luckily and happily, the DVD and the CD "End of an Era", will be available worldwide as it should have happened from the very first time. It has never been any intention, once again, to stop the DVD that NEMS Enterprises is also releasing in Argentina.
You
mention one word that is very remarkable: "unfair". Honestly, we tried to be very fair with all the parts involved by requesting everybody, including ourselves, not to speak negatively in public about the other members and the other parts. Only Spinefarm Records, band members or band management have been able to disclose to the media the contents of our proposal. There was no way that the media could find out about it without some of the mentioned parties announcing it. Unfortunately, whether it was done on purpose or not, the information they gave was not accurate. And then, a bigger mess was created. There is no link, no connection, between this agreement, the book and the DVD. The book is going to be out whenever the band decides. We're not more involved with it that than Tarja's interview as I have already explained. The DVD could not be released because of the legal issues around the re recording rights of the songs involved. Now that the rights have been cleared, there is no reason not to release it. So the book and the dvd are separate issues.
To
tell the truth, all the truth
It's
very sad that grown up people are making their thoughts and their minds from information
that is not totally correct or that they are not capable to understand. But
there are many, many details that should have never been exposed the way they
did: wrongly or at least misleadingly. I have myself focussed on trying to reply only to what has been asked. I am giving explanations that I consider necessary only in order to give proper answers. There are still many things that I am not explaining about the band, management and record company in Finland. I don't believe there is any need to do it now.
I might be sounding reiterative, maybe more than you like to, but your questions only show to me how wrong information you have received. Again, there is nothing to do between the Non Disclosure Agreement including Nightwish, Spinefarm, King Foo, NEMS Enterprises and Tarja with the DVD and the book.
I don't know if Tuomas wants to say bad things about Tarja. What
I know are the words he has declared to different medias and what he wrote himself
in the open letter. I'm
not afraid; that's not the word.
I
agree with you that without her there will be no book.
I never requested in public or in private to Nightwish, nor to the book writer, nor to the record company where the writer is working nor to anybody else not to publish the book. Neither did Tarja. That has never been anything like that so; it's very far from me to blackmail Nightwish about this subject or about anything else. I never had any problems to speak about things I don't like or that I don't agree with other persons, face to face.
The
DVD was planned long in advance, at the beginning of 2005. The DVD was planned before the band kicked Tarja out. On the other hand, the band planned to kick Tarja after the gig and not before.
Nothing that is on the DVD makes me want to stop the release of it. It was not the idea at the time when it was planned; it was not the idea after they kicked Tarja out, and it's not the idea now. I should add that at the time you sent this question I had still not seen the DVD, but even though then the idea wasn't to stop it. I believe that my words should be very clear now that it has been informed that the DVD will be available.
If that should have been a problem for me, I should have the right to request those images of me to be taken out. Nobody asked permission to use my images on the DVD. As you can see, I have no problem with it and actually one part is very funny. I
can be seen during an improvised signing session for Tarja in the hotel in Sao
Paulo. Caught by two girls that managed to convince me after five minutes to give
my signature in a poster of the band!! As I said I have no problem to appear in the DVD. Those images have really happened and this has never been a problem for me.
They were not friends in my opinion. This doesn't mean that they were only in a business relation the whole time as you are asking. There
is something in between that is a camaraderie feeling. Something like you can
find in a football or hockey team. People that need to be sharing time together
for a certain purpose. With comrades or in this case, band mates and group of people working together, you don't necessarily trust them your private life, neither you need to discuss only business.
I should make a very clear statement about this topic. We usually use the word "friends" in a very informal way. As examples: "I went to a bar with my friends" or "I play football every Saturday with a group of friends". Truth
is that if I went to the bar with one friend and a cousin of his brother that
I haven't met before, still the sentence is valid. I am sure that you wouldn't imagine a member of any band giving an interview saying something like: "We are only a group of musicians that barely know each other." Probably nobody will get into that details and then is much easier to express in the same way than in my examples that: "we are good friends." But
in this case about Nightwish, is important to see how deep their friendship really
was. Friendship is for Tarja and me a deeper feeling, a place for mutual trust and support. The way she keeps her relations with her friends is very, very far away from the kind of relation she ever had with Tuomas. I see her calling her friends very frequently. Even when we are in Argentina. Same way around. We
go out with our friends. We have projects with them. We plan how to have fun together.
A birthday of some of them is an event used to be together. We have gone to our
holidays with some friends and we will do it again. Also the way they decided to inform Tarja that she was not welcome any longer in the band. I am not even arguing if what they said was correct or not, but the way they handled it was not coming from friends. Unfortunately I can quote a few more examples of the same kind to complete the picture. We
got to know Marco's apartment only because the Tour bus stopped at his door to
pick him up one time. So to resume Tarja lived: 4 years in Kuopio, 1 year in Helsinki, 2 years she lived in Karlsruhe, Germany and 3 years in Kuusankoski. In the last 10 years, only one time the band's guitar player visit the place where Tarja was living. About the other "friends", nobody ever did. Can I ask then: if I have "spoiled" their close friendship during the last 5 years, who did it before?
20)
Did you and Tuomas ever speak before you were Tarja's manager
and was it because you are her manager he never spoke to you? Amie
UK During this time and until the end of 2004 I have been able to speak with Tuomas in very few occasions. Some times about business, but others I tried to get close to him and speak about other subjects. He
has been always very polite, but never asking back. I felt not interest from his
side, so I didn't insist myself any longer.
Money didn't change Tarja. I cannot speak for Tuomas.
Dear Lena, if Tarja said so, I think that she has her own reasons to believe that. I am afraid I need to give her more credits about her feelings than to anybody else.
I had no problem with Sami the time we have been together. We never got in a very deep relation anyway. He took part in one of my projects together with Emppu and Jukka. I met him once in Kitee a couple of years ago. We still exchange sms from time to time, like Christmas or New Year time. Marco
has always seemed more mature than the others. We have been talking a bit during
tours, especially about his nice family and music taste. He has been always extremely
polite and always funny. Jukka
has never been a person with qualities that inspired me to establish a friendship. Emppu
has been the closest one. Friendly and funny. The only one with whom I established
a relationship that exceeds my duties during the tours. I can say that even being
smaller than me, until today, I have never been able to put his back on the floor!
We both practiced Judo. At least he did
with me. Tuomas, I never reached him. He never reached me. We
can say that without the music that the band recorded together I wouldn't have
met Tarja and afterwards married her. So I like the music of Nightwish and I am very thankful to it. As it might happen with many of you, their music changed my life.
They never crossed any limits against me in my presence. They didn't behave improperly or extremely unkind. There were no relations to be adjusted after all.
When I started to date Tarja, she heard some negative comments about me, coming from the band side. Nothing that they told directly to her or to me. Even though that fact, I never felt they rejected me from the start. They were invited to our weddings and also we have been invited to theirs. Even Tarja sang at Marco's wedding by request of the wedding couple.
I didn't hear bad comments from them when they got to know about it. I hope I am allowed to tell here a funny story about our weddings without anybody getting angry. In our wedding, as a part of a Finnish tradition, a group of "relatives" kidnapped the bride. I needed to do some tasks to get her back. It was one of the most embarrassing moments in my life when I was forced to sing with Nightwish guys the song "Come cover me". They performed it live with some borrowed instruments and equipment and I tried my best (that is definitely not too much in this field) to sing. I can agree that if there has been a reason for the guys to hate me, this is it! I totally destroyed the song I am still sorry and ashamed about it.
Nor good or bad. He never tried to establish any kind of relation with me.
Is very funny the way you mention it, but I believe you are right about your second question. I think that Tarja probably outgrew the band members and they probably feel vice versa.
The feeling especially during the last years was in general not the best. I have already spoken about tension between them. Tarja's way to handle it was different than the guys: she never hide it to them. She explained her reasons and asked them to find a way, all together, to change that feeling for better. Is obvious today that Tarja didn't succeed.
I
think that the only "dangerous" thing here is the line they have crossed
with their words. I
didn't like that the band openly pointed at me as a wall in front of their purposes.
But I strongly believe there was no need to call me an Argentinean wall. The band members and some of their collaborators are the kind of persons that will happily pose in a photo with a foreigner with a hug and a smile on their faces. They did it with me as well, but seems that what they feel about it took longer to surface. I obviously don't have any problems myself with foreigners and supposed cultural differences. As a proof of it; I am married with a foreigner.
During a concert in Guadalajara, Mexico, in the first South American tour in year 2000, happened an incident that caused me a very weird impression of the band members. A fan came on stage from behind and attacked Tarja while she was performing. As soon as I could, I grabbed the guy, took him out of the stage and put him in the hands of the security. After doing this, I realised that the band was not performing any more. I run to the back stage area and I crossed the band members on their way out. Last
one in the line was Sami who asked me to stay with Tarja. It was very strange to me that the band members left her alone and asked me to comfort her instead of them. Me, who have known Tarja for not longer than 9 days!
I don't really know how it helps this story if I tell what are my feelings about them at the moment. They are just as they are. I made a mistake by believing they were different kind of persons.
You can say that old yin yang principle has been very effective in our case. No matter how bad things have been, something positive can be mentioned. Thanks to the band, Tarja and me, we are much closer, stronger and in love now than ever before.
I
met Tarja and the band at the same time in year 2000. In the South American tour in 2000, a Brazilian friend that worked with the band in the shows before I met them, already informed me that Tarja was always alone and that nobody was taking care of her. Tarja got sick in Sao Paulo and he needed to take her to the hospital. No band member or manager was with her at all. I
was able myself to see that during the remaining days of the tour since I met
them, it was a fact that Tarja was even going alone to walk during day time. During the tour Tarja already trusted me how bad she was feeling with the situation within the band. If I shouldn't have reminded about her great achievements with the band or discussed about what the future should bring for her, I do believe that the breakdown, as you called it, wouldn't have happened now, but already many years ago.
I believe that it has never been correctly understood how important it has always been for Tarja to take care of her voice. To take care of it and to stay as healthy as possible. It has never been clear for them how important is to have a body in conditions and a good feeling to perform. I
am sure that there are singers than can smoke and drink and that it works perfectly
well for them. I can imagine that some kind of singers can be very angry and transform
that negative energy into a remarkable performance. This is not Tarja's case. I do agree with you that a piece of the puzzle has been missing in all the stories told to the media so far.
I promised that everything was going to be answered. To cut a long story short, in October 2004 I needed to ask Tuomas to come to talk to Tarja and me in our hotel room in the middle of the tour. Even
though he knows Tarja many years before me, he never could achieve his goal. As usual he didn't speak much, but he said to me that nobody was going to be able to stop his love for Tarja. After this unhappy meeting, everything changed. The
guy that until then said in interviews that, without Tarja, that would be the
end of Nightwish, changed his message into: Nightwish is my band, my music, my
lyrics, the scenery of my soul. Tarja
never changed her thoughts about her position in the band. Nightwish lyrics are Tuomas' life diary, as it has been said. With this new information that I am sharing with you, please check once again some of them. We all can find amazing songs with beautiful lyrics full of poetry. Their meaning won't remain that uncertain any longer.
Tarja
never had any romance nor was ever in love with him. Other people than Tuomas also told me how much they love Tarja. There are many different levels of love and I have no problems with any of them as long as reasonable limits are not exceeded. Is
funny if you carefully check the cover of End of an Era (that Tarja didn't propose,
but accepted). The
title of the scene is "Nightwish - End of an Era".
Definitely we didn't see it coming. It has been well planned and hidden by the band members and their close collaborators. We didn't expect it even though the relation was tense. We thought it was caused, this time, by the long tour, but in any case it wasn't a new feeling. Forthcoming one year break, as it was planned, should have been time enough to adjust things in order to work properly and peacefully again. It was Tarja and my mistake that we magnified the positive things and didn't realise how bad the situation really was. We acted a bit naïve, I can say today. A letter smashed the feeling that things could have been better.
I cannot know what the other members of the band really think or if they were afraid to disagree with Tuomas' decision. Only I can say is that Tarja received a letter given to her by all band members and that letter Tuomas declared he wrote himself. It was signed by all band members.
I cannot justify a childish behaviour from a group of men because of jealousy. A man should act like a man. To me, jealousy is too thin wall to hide behind it.
I would like to remark again one point regarding the expression "not talking to each other". It was common that during the band's career, important issues were not informed to Tarja. If there was a problem, it was always hard for the band to discuss about it openly and together. This created a big tension as everybody had their own ideas, without sharing them with anyone. Tarja was never afraid to expose openly her thoughts, but nobody did anything to get things better. At the time of the last concert in Argentina things were not fine, but Tarja and me still believed that should be possible to sit down and discuss things to improve them. We even invited all crewmembers, band and management for a party at our home. Quilmes beer was a big temptation for them to refuse. It has been said by the band that Quilmes is the best beer in the world and the best thing from Argentina. After the end of 2004, even the casual chatting stopped with Tuomas, though it lasted longer with the rest of the band members.
No. I should say that very rarely, my relation with the band members was difficult.
He didn't have a bad relationship with me, because there was no relationship at all.
The self-esteem less band thought that without Tarja they were not able to continue. They needed to create a plan that will let the fans know that they have the intention to go ahead. Also they needed to show to the record companies that there are still fans interested in the band. With this purpose in mind they bought the biggest promotion and marketing campaign possible without spending one single cent. They
used the media to promote them for free. And the media did. Result: even my grandmother knows that Tuomas Holopainen exists and that his band Nightwish will record a new album as soon as he finds a new singer for it. If they would have given exactly the same letter to Tarja in private, how do you think they could have had such a massive promotion and who would have needed to paid for it? Every step was very carefully thought as the facts show.
The way the band communicated with Tarja was very odd indeed. Since I first met them. As
you also mentioned the crew, I can say that there has never been a problem of
communication between crew members and Tarja. They have always worked very professionally
and done their best in every show.
I believe that the band's relation was disintegrated after Wishmaster tour. I proposed a way of working to Tarja and Tuomas that both seemed to accept gladly.
First of all I am not angry that they kicked Tarja out of the band, maybe surprised. But I am mad about the way they did it and the badmouthing they have continued ever since. Such unnecessary behaviour is not acceptable. I can say I am extremely disappointed, sad, pissed of, annoyed, unthanked, disrespected, betrayed and at the moment very tired. Honestly what affects me more than anything else is the stress and suffering that band members caused to Tarja and to our closest friends and relatives. King Foo Oy and Spinefarm Records Oy are more than the legal denomination of two companies involved with the band in different ways. Many people work in these companies and it is very unfair that I drag down all their employees in a similar way with my thoughts. I don't need to mention any names. Each one of the employees knows if I have any reason to refer to them with my words. My highest gratitude goes to the other ones. You are asking me if my feelings are directed towards Tuomas or also to the other people. I cannot forget anybody... I can say that Tuomas has been the only one able to direct or to avoid such a complex plan. Nevertheless, I will never forget to be thankful for them, no matter what they have done. I won't forget that thanks to them I got to know Tarja.
I never mentioned anything about Tuomas saying "wrong" or "bad" things about Tarja. I said he has been disrespecting us in public. You need to understand that Tuomas didn't show any regard for Tarja's and my feelings, wishes or rights. I still think the same. I don't think everything he said was wrong. I remember him writing that Tarja's values don't match his. I am very glad about it.
What
I know about this discussion is that I was not present. It happened in an airplane and both parts were shouting to each other. I wouldn't like to make an interpretation of it, as Tarja herself does not remember the exact words that she or the other people used. What I know is that Tarja didn't leave the band with only 1 day warning. She actually told the band members, in person, her reasons not to continue any more with them. I am explaining about this episode in more detail in questions 144/5/6/7/8. That happened in December 2004. She informed that after next Nightwish album which was going to be released in 2007 and the shows to present the album, she was not going to continue any more. If you do some easy calculations, she informed the band between 3 and 4 years in advance what her plans were!
Both. I agree with you that you can't like everyone. I never really disliked him and because of that I tried to get closer to him. Tension as you mentioned was very big after October 2004's meeting.
Tension has been in the air since I met the band. Only
during Century Child recordings and promo for the album as well as the beginning
of the Century Child Tour, that tension seemed gone. Soon after that, the good feeling got spoiled again and never returned until these days.
I explained already my point of view about friendship. I can only add that the sad ending and the way it happened just show the kind of friendship they had.
I
have tried lots of time. In person, by email or on the phone.
The command chain is like this: Tuomas is "the band". Tuomas has his management, as we agreed, to discuss business in his name. I always tried first to go through the management. When it was needed, I put my emails on copy to all the band members for them to be aware of the situation. I
was not having meetings with the band to explain things to them. Only once in years the band asked her to join them in a backstage for a short meeting: a wordless meeting where they gave her the open letter in an envelope without saying what was it about.
I
hope you have followed the already given explanations. I cannot decide to whom Tarja should talk to or what she should talk about. If
Tarja should be a vegetal that doesn't understand anything, we wouldn't have been
married. Singing is her less developed skill.
No
conversations since then.
No. I haven't spoke with any of them in person since they posted the open letter. I have never been a part of Nightwish management.
No. They decided it to do it in an open letter saying that we are beyond the point where things could be settled by talking. So they left no chance to try anything after that. I tried very hard before.
The way I see things now leads me to two possible scenarios. First one could have been: not to be at all flexible from the beginning. I should have told things clearly for all the band members directly, without anybody else in between. Not only to Tuomas or to the band management. Of course I don't think that that should be the way in a situation where only one is the bandleader who is delegating to his management all business activities. After it was agreed that Tuomas would have his management, seemed ridiculous to request a meeting with all band members every time there was a doubt about a certain topic. I will never know how the band would have reacted to things if they should have had complete knowledge about everything from the very beginning. I
will never know if it would have made a difference at all. Second option would have been to raise my hands and to never get involved at all, if I would have imagined band's behaviour. In that case Nightwish with Tarja would have ceased to be at the end of 2000. Tarja's biggest mistake was not to try harder to open a line for communication with the band. Even though she tried many times and even though she was the only band member trying, it was obviously not enough. She should have never accepted the bad treatments from the band manager from the beginning. Trying to be flexible only gave the band members and management the idea that they could stay in their comfortable position of deciding things first and informing Tarja afterwards.
If you read again the open letter, he was not only blaming me, but also Tarja. Few days after the letter was published and with the first comments of the fans and media, probably he realized that to go openly against Tarja wasn't the best move he could do. Then the easiest option was to find a scapegoat without fans. That's me.
Can
I joke that some of them don't have respect at all for me? I have been able to look into band members and collaborators eyes so far, and I will do it again whenever the destiny will put them in my way. I don't know if they feel about doing the same.
Through reading the letter for the first time I remember that I was concluding, even with the hard allegations, that at least they were finally able to express what they had in their minds and hearts. I thought they were very kind to give to Tarja also a translation in English of it. I understood that they considered the fact that I don't speak Finnish so I was going to be able to follow their words with it. I instantly woke up from the illusion I was creating to fool myself when I read the very last line of the letter: "Ps. This is an open letter for everybody." I
understood the letter was only the beginning of a plan and that it was going to
be shared with everybody. I then realised how much they have carefully though
about the way to promote themselves.
At the time of Wishmaster when everything collapsed, it was thanks to me that she continued in the band instead of focusing in her solo career then. Around year 2001 Tarja received the first proposals for a solo career. Even though the fact that we openly discussed with all Nightwish related record companies about it, we made very clear that Nightwish was the priority. We started to search effectively a record company for Tarja solo career late 2004. The
first problem we had with all the record companies that were interested was the
schedule for her first solo album. This meant that few of the companies stepped away. I would like to thank those companies that were interested already then and the other ones that continued negotiating with us until we decided to go for Universal Music Germany Domestic Division. The situation with the band was so bad that Tarja was forced to announce to her band mates her will not to continue with them anymore. Even then, she kept her word to do one more album with them.
I didn't consider suing Tuomas for his open letter or comments in the days after the letter was posted.
Not that I know. After the last concert in Obras Sanitarias in November 2004 there was never a plan to perform again in Argentina with Once album.
If
you read again the open letter you cannot avoid finding not very respectful appreciations
about me, Tarja, our love, my culture, etc. There you will find how Tuomas and some other loose tongue collaborators have been giving their opinions. I
am not going to be the one to reproduce here those quotes, but I am sure that
as you have been so kind to send me your email and question, you'll have also
interest in researching what have been said in public so far.
Very good question. I guess that they didn't do it after the last concert of the tour because of the fans. Fans same as Tarja were told about it only with the open letter, but not when the decision was taken. We don't know exactly when it was decided, but 2 days before the last concert is not as bad as 1 month before it. How many concerts Tarja honestly gave for the people and how many her band mates pretended to? I have only read from Tuomas that it has been long planned. In my opinion, every day they waited since the decision was taken, means more fans were fooled. Every concert the band gave under that situation more fans were able to see them lying. One day it will be clearer when it was really decided. Then fans will be able to check if they saw Nightwish performing as a band or if they saw Tarja and the other band members with the plan in their heads to kick her out. There was no written agreement that forced the band to wait until October 22nd 2005 to kick Tarja out of it. I have some guesses myself about their behavior, but I believe you can guess yourself too without my help.
We
have never been informed about their motives rather than through the open letter.
She tried on her own and also through me to reach the people.
Tuomas is definitely not my problem. We disagree in our points of views about some things. That's part of life.
I never heard her saying that she would return to Nightwish if she'd be asked. What I have heard is that she cannot return if they don't ask her back. Anyway, I don't want to generate any false illusions as this is her decision only and I am just sharing my thoughts regarding the subjects you presented to me. We have heard that time heals and we also know that many world known bands have gone through similar situations with happy endings. What I know is that many things should change for that to happen in this case.
As
I mentioned before, I even got to the point to tell him that I was not going to
hit him if he would like to speak to me in my face.
This situation could have been avoided by having professional people working for the band. Then I wouldn't have needed to be in the middle of the band's business. In
my case, to work with my wife hasn't been a problem at all. It is a pleasure. It's a choice, but definitely not the only valid possibility.
I am sorry; I don't have any information about it.
When all the mess happened, even some newspapers put Liv in their cover in Finland as the new Nightwish singer only based in some rumors. As Tarja knows Liv, same as I do, we imagined the weird situation that she might be going through and we decided to call Alex and Liv. Just to give them our support and to tell them that there was no problem at all if the news were truth. But Alex was very surprised about everything that was happening, because nobody officially contacted them to make the invitation. I don't believe that Nightwish will select a professional singer with a husband as a manager
Let's say that their message has been clear and strong enough for you to believe what you have heard or read. Maybe you should question yourself if that is enough for you to make the right conclusion about it all. But just to make it clear; I have always ran an honest business to the best of my ability and I have nothing to hide or to be ashamed of.
Probably it was not easy for him to fire Tarja and his limitations we can see from the way he did it with an open letter without being a man enough to talk it face to face.
These kind of casual meetings have happened before the split and after that. Tarja is not a person that lives recluse at home, whether we are in Finland or Argentina. Hopefully you will have one day the chance to meet her in person and not through my comments that will be seen as partial. There are many anonymous fans that had that chance already.
This
was a decision that Tuomas and Tarja made. The idea was to keep the "rock"
look for Marco and the more "mystic" appearance for Tarja. They thought
that to achieve that idea, Marco should be speaking while Tarja should be more
reserved and just perform.
Good that you asked this. I won't only reply about UK, but also about the similar situation that happened in many places. As you are saying Tarja went to one of your meetings. We do not know how many more took place. Before
a concert, Tarja needs to prepare herself. Luckily she has 3 hours for it. Usually
she was ready in two. She needed to prepare and iron her clothes, warm her body
and voice and do her make up. Still to know it only two hours before the concert sounds very good for the other band members and they had usually no problem to take part of them. It was even fun to have something to do instead of looking at the walls. For Tarja, that was not the same. Even though that, you will find many situations where Tarja did join fan meetings and there are photos of them available in Internet. Not
in every concert a meet & greet was arranged either. I cannot remember any case where we have been informed of fans meeting that was not interfering with a concert or other already organized activity when Tarja has decided not to take part. I understand as a fan your disappointment in believing that Tarja just decided not to see you without any reason, but it has never been like that. In my opinion, meets and greets should have always been organized in a way that all band members should have been available for them.
I most likely interfered Tuomas' platonic feelings for Tarja. I have been running the business, openly in front of Tarja's eyes and she was able to realize mistakes from people close to the band. Until today, probably many things remain unclear for the band members. Tarja has been able to see and to understand by herself what was going on. To
understand and accept your own ignorance and limits is too hard to bear for some
people. As human beings we also had sometimes suggestions and ideas that did not
work out as planned, but Tarja and I, we always asked what we didn't know or understand.
Might be that these differences between them and us drove them to their final solution.
We exchanged some emails with the tour promoter about the band going to "Programa do Jo" before the beginning of the tour. In one of them dated September 8th 2005 I confirmed that it was fine for Tarja to go to the TV show to do a playback of one or two songs and an interview. This was nearly 20 days before the TV show. When
we were in Mexico and before traveling to Brazil, we discussed with the promoter
of the Festival about the TV show again. When the promoter requested us, Tarja accepted (this time in person) to go to perform with the band. When we were speaking with the promoter, band manager came and said that the band didn't want to do it; no matter what day it was going to happen. The
reason given was that to perform live or playback a couple of songs, the crew
should have anyway needed to build up a normal stage, same as for a concert of
the band. Tarja, as I said, confirmed it herself that it was fine for her. With the negative answer from the band, the promoter asked Tarja if she was at least willing to do an interview in the program. Tarja accepted for the third time. Unfortunately, when the promoter tried to fix it while we were in a taxi with him, it was too late as the production of the TV show had programmed something different. This is once again a good example of wrong inside information from the band given to some fans or friends.
To
be married or not to be, I don't think it changed anything.
No,
I didn't.
That interview you mentioned is another excellent example of how partial truth, enhanced with a very special appreciation of facts from the journalist, are creating a false image about something you do not know. The
interview took place in a very nice old church in Helsinki surroundings. He started the interview in a bench outside of the Church. Church is situated in the middle of a forest and its park has only one bench. I
remained standing, walking around and playing with a squirrel. Not even interrupting
or following the complete interview. What else was I supposed to do rather than
wait for the end of the interview? The sun went down and it got colder. As we had a car waiting for us parked near by, I suggested continuing the interview inside the car instead of finishing the interview and leaving. Tarja and the journalist sat behind and I sat in the front beside the driver's seat. Was I supposed to stay out of the car to freeze? I don't think so. At that time, the journalist made me a question, very informal. He never asked permission to use it or if I was interested to take part of the interview, so I answered him just as a courtesy, even though I was uncertain why he was suddenly asking me anything. The journalist then made his appreciations about things in the note as appeared in the magazine. Some of them might be fine, but not necessarily all. It was the first interview outside of a Church in a middle of a forest and also the first interview I have seen, finished in a car. Usually
this is not happening like that. To finish with your question, I am not sitting beside Tarja during all her interviews if that is what you would like to know.
Tarja did not refuse to rehearse with the band. There was not such a need to do it all the time. Again, this is also a case where the band has been working like this for some time. For
example, you will see in the documentary of the forthcoming End of an Era DVD
that the band was rehearsing the song Creek Mary's Blood with John Two-Hawks one
day before the concert. Unfortunately, those last two days were very stressful for everybody and Tarja was having flu, fever and her voice was gone. It was no need for Tarja to say that she didn't "want" to rehearse. It was obvious for everybody and she was told not to go at the very last minute. If you check properly, you'll see that even the band wasn't rehearsing the song for several hours, but just very shortly. During the tours, you don't need that many rehearsals, as the band is already playing and quite adjusted. It was not such a need for Tarja to take part of rehearsals all the time. When
Nightwish was starting a tour with a new album, Tarja was joining the rest of
the band to rehearse, no doubts about it. Tarja is a trained musician and a pro that didn't need much more than that. As I said before, also the band has always sounded very tight live and it has not been a nightmare for Tarja to join them, but the opposite. It was common that monitor engineer was telling to us if Tarja was really needed in a sound check. Usually not. Though some times Tarja felt herself the need to do it. During
long tours, for singers, best is to be as quiet as possible.
There was something else. Two times during Once tour we heard about a possibility for the band to go to perform in Russia. First time, I didn't receive the details about it, just a vague comment that somebody might be interested to bring the band. Second time it was not just an idea, but also a clear proposal to do 2 concerts (Saint Petersburg and Moscow) in September 2005. With same promoter that we have worked before without any problems and that was also releasing Once in Russia. Venues proposed and all information provided seemed good, also fitted the schedule we had at that time. Tarja and me accepted the conditions and informed the band management about it. Later on we were informed that the band decided not to go, afraid of the unstable political situation of the country at that time. Tarja will now offer two Christmas concerts in Russia next December 2006.
I don't consider that people should be more interested in my opinion that in Tarja's opinion. I definitely believe that Tarja's opinion, or any other band member's opinion, is much more important for the fans than my own.
When that will happen, she will probably decide what to do about it.
Unfortunately, you know who I am since you are sending me a question. I would love to get back to my previous status of not infamous. It has been a band's gift that I will carry with me, but only for some time.
How
much of the Nightwish sound Tarja represents? I have no doubt and any problem to mention that without the band's music and band members, Tarja wouldn't be in the position she is at the moment as a singer. On the other hand, is also a fact that for example I wouldn't have ever been interested, as a Record Company owner, in the band if Tarja wouldn't have been the singer. So,
Tarja needed the band as much as the band needed Tarja. Said this I should also say that she doesn't need to imitate what is also her sound. Paul
Mccartney is not imitating the Beatles when he is performing a Beatles song or
a new song. He was one of the Beatles. Then both parts will evolve. Tarja into her direction, different from the band's own direction. Tarja
has always mentioned that she didn't know much about rock/heavy when she joined
Nightwish. I am sure this is not the place to extend myself about how Tarja sees her own music and ideas, so better to let her explain it instead of me.
It
was proposed to the band to do 3 big festival concerts: Mexico, Brazil and Chile. After some time, the tour promoter decided to change the date in Chile for another date in Brazil. He was probably not able to confirm a concert in Chile with any local promoter or another show in Brazil seemed to be more profitable for him. The band management, instead of trying to make the promoter understand that the interest was to do one concert in each country, accepted the change without any complains. Tarja had no more choice than to accept it as well.
There
is sometimes in life that you need to be patient. This was one of those circumstances.
Being Tarja the undisputable front image of the band (according to Tuomas words) and having a solo career as well, I think that Tuomas has tried his best to get as similar fame as Tarja has. I cannot say that his talents are smaller or bigger than Tarja's. Is like comparing apples with oranges. They have definitely different talents.
I think he tried to excuse himself with the fans for kicking out Tarja. Seems he never had understood that choosing not to work with Tarja any more was not the problem. The problem has been the way he did it.
I
have never been the spokesperson for Tarja in front of her band mates. She always
spoke with them openly and without me.
It
was never in my plans to discuss about private things in public. Also too many things have been said about my wife and me in public, so I felt that was enough. I was forced to make this decision. Is hard to speak about damages at the moment. Tarja has a long career already and a clear line of conduct through the years. It won't take too long for the people to understand better the motives why the band had to kick her out the way they did. Also Tarja has a lot of plans and an even longer career in her future. Time will tell.
Tarja definitely believed that things were going to get better. There was no reason to discuss in public anything that happened inside of the band and those things should have been kept for the band.
I believe that as many other bands have done, Nightwish can also continue without the singer they had for the last nine years.
It is a fact that during Nightwish years, Tarja did two tours with her classical line up called Noche Escandinava. She made some recordings and live collaborations with other artists as well. She released a # 1 Christmas single in Finland and was supposed to release her forthcoming Christmas album while being a member of the band. Always, the priority was Nightwish and she was doing her solo activities during her free time. And we have to remember that all the Nightwish band members had their independent side-projects during the years.
Yes. She decided to take part of the recordings for the studio album after Once and informed the band about it in December 2004.
I believe that what Tuomas said, at least is truth for him. And for that I cannot blame him. He probably believes most of the things he has been saying. What information he has received to believe in that, is a different story. We don't have a competition here to determine who was the blindest one, Tuomas or Tarja. I think it is a senseless competition to start with.
I
have always tried, but that was probably the problem. At some point I believed that the band management was hiding the situation from the band. I was forced to think that the band members didn't believe even Tarja or me. I couldn't imagine that the band members were so blind to realize and understand basic concepts about touring, marketing and promotion, but above all, about respect. Even Tarja herself informed Tuomas what was going on. I also decided to start putting on cc all my emails with band management to all band members. After dozens of emails, I expected that the band was going to make some changes about the way the band management was not informing us. I expected also a change, when the band members were going to be able to see by themselves the level of bad language used towards Tarja and me. I hoped they were going to put a halt to that behavior. Unfortunately, nothing changed. I
was wrong in my appreciations regarding the band management's only responsibility
in their behavior. 106)
You've stated that Tuomas/Ewo could have spoken to you,
but did you set up meetings with them? I set up meetings many times and as I said, through emails I explained the situation many more times. You mentioned Tuomas/Ewo in your questions, but until this post I am doing, I never mentioned the band's manager before.
There were no topics that were not discussed face to face due to a lack of time. Time has been always something that we all had in excess during tours because of waiting for different activities at airports, venues and hotels. If somebody from the band side had liked to speak face to face about something, they would have found plenty of time for that. Very easily, the same way Tarja and me, we always found the time to ask for a meeting. We have to remember that during the last year or so we did not understand the amount of difficulties we now retrospectively seem to have had. The band had already made up their mind to kick Tarja out so they did not need any discussions with Tarja or me. They had no reason to want to smooth things out.
You want exactitude. I'll give you exact information. All
the communication happened via email. Few more details, even though not the complete information needed to confirm a concert, were sent more than two months after, on 27.7.2005. Between 29.07.05 and 1.08.05 some emails were exchanged to gather more information in order to decide whether to do the concert or not to do it. On
that day, 1.08.2005 I mentioned that there was no interest I should explain you now a lot about marketing, promotion and business in general for you to understand the reasons explained above. But is not the time to do it. This was my opinion until that moment and was still open to be discussed, and the most important is that until this point, I thought that the concert was still under planning. Same as with many other concerts, things were still under discussion. The fee for the concert was never disagreed from our side, what makes also clear that it was not a money issue from Tarja or my side to do or not to do the concert. But
it was that same day, 1.08.05 when I was informed that the reason to do the concert
was to avoid expensive flight tickets back to Finland: Anyway the shocking truth came only one day after. On the 2.08.05 I sadly received the information that "The Rockefeller is sold out, but I will tell the guys to cancel..." My
exact reply was: And
things continued to get worse when band manager Ewo replied: The words I chose at that moment for my reply, explains a bit more how things were. "Ewo,
things gets out of hands because you never asked. I (we) are definitely not running
the show neither willing to do so. After this, things cooled down until 12.08.05 when I was requested again if there was any chance to do the concert. Obviously nothing that was discussed before was even considered by the band management. Tarja decided that it was better to move forward and to do the concert. All mess was manager's fault, not fans fault or neither the promoter's fault. We
needed to change our plans for our free time that included rehearsals for Tarja
in Finland for her Christmas 2005 concerts. Not in every hotel there is a possibility to rehearse and sing for Tarja, unless they have a room where she wouldn't be bothering the other hotel guests. For the first time in the tour, we asked if it was possible to get an apartment with a piano or keyboard where Tarja could continue with her normal life. We were invited to spend those days in a local promoter's friend house. He was very kind to us and we spent beautiful days in Oslo and Tarja was also able to rehearse as planned. The
strawberry of the cake came 2 days before the departure for this part of the tour.
We received the schedule were it was informed that the band and crew were flying
back to Finland after the concert in Oslo!! It
was obviously too late for us, even to book flights back to Finland, so we decided
to imagine that everything was only a bad dream
Tuomas decided to have own management to represent his interests and the band members: King Foo. We agreed that business was going to be handled by them. So then I never expected Tuomas in person to detail me the touring plans or promo activities. When the information didn't reach me (and obviously neither Tarja), I informed Tuomas what was going on. I need to give him credit that he did his best to modify it. Unfortunately, when the problem persisted, Tarja or myself informed him again and again and again. After that nothing changed. Then I need to conclude that he lost the interest in trying to solve the problems that we were openly showing to him or that he let his people do things in purpose with the final result we all know today. I
am not here to judge Tuomas as a musician or as a businessman.
Unfortunately it was necessary at the time. You need to remember that after Wishmaster tour, even for Tuomas the tour was stressful and badly organized what caused a bad atmosphere in the band. So bad it was that he decided to stop the band. Neither
Tarja was willing to continue under the same conditions. Already at this point Tarja lost the trust in Ewo and Tuomas' ability to handle any business related matters. Even though that, she was still trusting the persons. As it has been explained before, Tarja asked Tuomas for a meeting in Kitee where we proposed and explained a plan to communicate and to be able to work from that point on. One very important thing to remark: Tuomas, as a bandleader and owner of the idea behind Nightwish, was able to refuse our proposal. This proposal was not the only way to continue, but only one possibility. Tuomas accepted it. There would have been another possibility. Nightwish was his band and he could have expressed that he wanted to continue with it under his rules. Meaning by this not to inform Tarja about things, deciding on his own about art and business related to the band. There
would have been nothing bad in it. Is just another possibility that many bands
choose for them and can be equally successful.
Since the first 3 demo songs, band gave the songs for Tarja when they were already done. Angel
Fall First worked the same way. Same procedure they kept for Oceanborn, Wishmaster,
Over the Hills and Far Away and Century Child. Only in the studio, Tarja and Tuomas (helped by Tero) were exchanging opinions about vocal arrangements. If you have a successful formula, why to change it? For Once, this changed a bit as for the first time, the band and Tarja did demo versions of two songs before getting in the studio for the definitive recordings. This is the way Nightwish worked for nine years. Nobody complained in nine years time and the formula proved to be effective.
Please read the open letter and words he gave to the media after the letter was posted. Not only the use of vulgar slang denotes insult.
Dear
Anca, I read your previous question and this one now. All the other times you might have seen me in the media, it was just because of what other people was saying about me or in my name. Though
I do agree with you that it's time to turn the page. 115)
In the statement you've given now you said that Tuomas has
had enough chances and possibilities in the past to talk to you about his plans
etc. regarding Nightwish. I think he should have talked with both of us, but I don't mean at the same time. All the things he made public regarding his feelings and beliefs about my person. He should have discussed about that with me. He should have talked with Tarja all the things he didn't like about her or her personality and of course about his plans regarding Nightwish.
I
agree with you that not only Tuomas created this scandal. It was a perfect symbiosis between band and media. Both have a mutually beneficial relationship. Outside of Finland, all this matter is not considered at all except in the specialized media. In Finland, due to the status of Tarja and Nightwish, it gained bigger proportions. Media only did their job. They communicated the information they received to the masses. They did it and they will keep on doing it as long as the subject sells. I have recently heard what a "big monster" Finnish media is. I don't think that way. I have never had any problems with it. They have respected my silence even though they have been extremely interested to have my opinion about things. I am not trying to defend anybody here. As we all know, like in other aspects in life, we will find good journalists and bad journalists. I have faced few that took advantage of the situation hided behind their supposed journalism profession. Most of the journalists from Finland have been respectful of our situation.
Nothing happened all of a sudden. Nothing happened in just one second. Many times Tarja needed to inform about the problems. Many times, during a long period of time, we have been telling what was going on. If there should have been a real interest to modify things, there were many things that Tuomas and the band could have done. There were many previous meetings and emails until Tarja decided that, as we were able to see, there was not going to be any changes. We are talking of a very long period of time: from end of 2000 to end of 2004. Enough time to try to do things to keep Tarja in the band. But that didn't happen. Tuomas and the band did some things at the beginning to improve the situation, for which we are thankful. But not all that was needed. Anyway Tarja stayed in the band as she had promised and did her part. It was the band who did not want Tarja to continue.
I will be very happy if that happens. Especially if he will use the same effort to let the fans know about it, as he has done now.
Tuomas is only the visible face. There is a lot of wrong information he has said that he couldn't know by himself. Some people close to him have been feeding him with wrong information about things. Unfortunately, there is not worse blind that the one that doesn't want to see. If Tuomas should have realized about this, we wouldn't have been facing this situation and I am sure that Tarja would still be in the band and happy about it.
To become materialistic means to consider material possessions more important than spiritual values. This is not definitely Tarja's case. I have seen the other band members buying brand new cars, new apartments, bigger houses, better equipments, even building houses. Is there anything wrong in this? I don't believe so. I don't have the information that any of the band members have made promises to get rid of all material possessions for spiritual reasons of any kind. Tarja is not an exemption for that. When she started with her career and needed to take the tram, she did. If nowadays, due to her work, she is able to drive a car instead, I don't see it myself as becoming more materialistic than before. For sure in her case, money is not coming first in her book of life. As well it is not in her book that she needs to be ashamed of earning money due to her profession. Difference might be that she is not telling in the media that the other band members shouldn't improve their way of life. If we would check which band member earns a lot more money than any other one in the band, you should be surprised. So live and let live.
By reading my answers, you can have a better idea of who is who in the band and people around the band. I am not going to make a social explanation here about Ono's role in the Beatles split, if she had any in a band where the 4 members where not happy together any longer due to many internal and external reasons. I can only see how words were silly chosen: to compare me with Yoko Ono, is to compare Nightwish with Beatles. After Beatles split, there was no band any longer...
I don't need to explain to anybody how I love my wife. As long as she knows it, is enough for me. And she does. To indicate me as manipulative is only speaking how less Tuomas knows me, what is obvious as we have never been close enough. If
I should have been a manipulative and greedy person, I would have requested from
him and from the band different things in the meeting we had in Kitee (I mentioned
it already in other answers). You have to understand that if I ever requested improvements for the band deals with third parties where such that they were for the benefit of every band member, not just for Tarja. For me to manipulate is not to give options for things. Just to dictate to others what to do. To control a person or group of persons unfairly. To be greedy is to have an intense and selfish desire for something, usually power or money related. If you can keep these last two things in mind, I'll tell you a short story I have heard from Tarja from the time when I still didn't know the band. With the release of Angel Fall First, the band members made a verbal agreement. Same kind than many musicians has done in the history of music. The music in the songs was a product of the involvement of all the members where each one was adding own touch and personality. It was then decided that songs were going to be credited to Nightwish while lyrics coming only from Tuomas, will have his credits alone. You only need to check the Angels Fall First album's credits. At the time of Oceanborn and after it has been recorded and released, Tuomas and the rest of the band members had a very ugly fight. The
reason for the fight was that Holopainen decided without any consult to the others,
to credit only himself for the songs in Oceanborn. Explained in that meeting that
the reason for the change was
only money and pride.
It
was an amazing experience to travel and see different places. I was not just traveling around to develop my skills as a devoted husband. I was there with a purpose. To take care of Tarja, on stage and out of it. The "out of stage duties" covered very many activities that can be judged not indispensable by some people. Is not the time to discuss about them now. The on stage duties and the things I needed to do before and after a concert were very clear. These duties were nothing I chose to do. It was necessary, as nobody was taking proper care of things. As examples, I needed many times to check if there was a changing booth in conditions for a concert. Changing booth is a small room or structure where Tarja could change her clothes several times during a concert. Instead of having this properly requested same way than a drum raiser or a keyboard stand, the booth seemed to be forgotten many times. Then, I needed to improvise one in minutes with the help of stage manager who also needed to take care of appropriated technical conditions for microphones and in ear system for Tarja. I helped Tarja with her clothes changes during shows. I was always near her on stage in case there was something she needed; from water, towel or set list to oxygen in Ecuador or Mexico. I worked as her security; many times that were needed during the tours and few times even during the concerts! I frequently needed to take care that the few things requested for the backstage were there in time: towels, water, tea, ironing table, mirror, and lights. Sometimes I needed to take care that there was a room in the backstage area for Tarja when we were arriving at the venues. On
tour, the band has different crewmembers with different activities. All of them
received a fee for their work. The band owes me nothing for that work I did. I want to make very clear that I never requested that payment or that it was never offered to me. I did it "pro bono". Even at the beginning I was sometimes paying for my own flights like in the USA tour the band did in 2004. My presence during the tours became indispensable for Tarja as she was less considered in her needs with every new day.
The different sex was one of the reasons. She preferred to change clothes alone, not in presence of the other band members or crew. As well Tarja was bothering everybody to request them out every time she needed to change clothes or get ready for a concert. Also, in band's backstage, to smoke was most of the time allowed what also is not nice for a singer. At least not for Tarja. Most important thing is that if there were no chance to consider having a separate room, she accepted. Like in Oceanborn tour or many times in Wishmaster tour. Luckily band's destiny changed and it was possible to have an extra room when the band started to perform in bigger arenas. Also
crew and management enjoyed the same privilege of having own rooms when that was
possible. 125)
Was it true that Tarja got know about NW-shows and contracts You cannot apply as a rule that for every concert the band performed we got to know the information only few days in advance. Though, in same unfortunate cases, it has been truth. The agreement we had was that we were going to receive complete information of every proposal to do a concert in order to agree with the band's management how to proceed. Only after each concert was agreed between me representing Tarja and band management representing the band, a show was fine to be confirmed to the promoter. Same way that I was not allowed to sell to any promoter a show of Nightwish without their management knowing about it, the band management was not supposed to confirm a show in Tarja's name without first asking her. How the contracts were taken care, it worked in a quite different way. At the beginning, I received as Tarja's manager several contracts to be signed. Unfortunately, I always found mistakes that I needed to request to be modified. Usually contracts that were proposed to the band were written to favor the other party, but not the band. Being
a record company owner myself, it was very easy for me to detect it while seemed
not so clear for the rest of people around the band. There was only one contract that NEMS Enterprises did not handle during the last six years in a direct way. The band's management handled that contract. It remains until today as the only contract with a record company still not signed and where royalties for the band haven't been paid in full. I
think that to admit mistakes is making a person a better person. It was mainly my fault that I wasn't able to handle alone the disorder around us. It was the end of a very long tour. The band was not precisely a "happy family" at that time. As it has been already said, band mates were not talking to Tarja often (in some cases at all). If you have heard many cases before, that usually nobody was taking care of Tarja except me, it was now worst than ever. The arrival at the airport was already chaotic, the departure even more. We expected to arrive to the hotel in Sao Paulo to have some privacy and rest after a long trip, but the hotel happened to be not as good as the previous times the band has been in Brazil. There was no security from the promoter of the concerts, but also none from the hotel itself. Definitely there was no privacy at the arrival to the hotel. Fans had the correct information where to find the band and the exact time as well. Only moment we got a piece of mind was inside the elevator as fans were in the small hotel lobby. The following days, this didn't change. Breakfast at the hotel restaurant meant to wake up with a crowd. Fans just wanted a "piece" of Tarja. Some of them, literally. I never got pissed with them. I do understand them very well. I did get pissed with the band management and local promoter. They were the responsible ones dealing with this situation and organizing a proper way for Tarja to be with the fans. She was not happy at all with the situation. Is very nice to be relaxed and in peace as it is to be sharing time with fans in a nice way where also Tarja can enjoy. And this is very easy to organize, but nobody seemed to care. It
was not only Tarja feeling like this. Also other band members, as we saw, were
spending most of the time in their rooms and not even going down to have breakfast. At least, one day I was able to organize at the lobby a signing session with Tarja for all the fans that were waiting. In an organized way with the help of the hotel security (that showed up after 2 days) we made it possible. During the concert days, requested elements were not available at Tarja's backstage room and as usual, I needed to explain why I needed an ironing table that nobody mentioned before to the people in charge of providing that kind of things. Let's say that after 150 concerts without management learning that they should have requested water, ironing table and mirror, Tarja was freaking out; exactly the same way the other band members were, if happened that the vodka was not available or cold enough. Anyway,
in Sao Paulo, the ironing table, that arrived some minutes before the show, was
only useful for one set of clothes of Tarja. In Porto Alegre, I needed once again to run to the stage in a middle of a song to take away one fan that decided to do a duet with Tarja! Security? Well thanks. They were watching a different concert. Nobody thought about minor details like backstage improvised as a tent. Nice lamp inside, but as many tents, no door So we needed to go back to the hotel immediately after getting of stage for Tarja to change her cloths and have a shower. So, yes. I admit I was quite tense and pissed of during those days, but not precisely with the fans. I don't blame the fans and I don't blame Tarja or the band members: I blame us, the people around Nightwish at that time, for not being professional enough to arrange it so that everybody would have enjoyed better. Definitely those were days with a lot of pressure for Tarja too with all the running around and disorder. Continuing the explanations of my previous answer, those were unfortunate days. I do remember very well the departure from Porto Alegre. It was definitely not a happy one. After the stress of the previous days and facing a long flight back home, we arrived to the airport where we found many fans. Too many. It was not a relaxed situation at all. Fans were screaming and running around Tarja and the others. When there are 3 persons trying to take a photograph is not a big deal, but this changes into something dangerous when there are many persons trying to do it at the same time without any order. It was very hard to take care of things and at the same time to take care of the luggage and to check in. Nobody
from the promoter's side was really there helping at all. I saw how one band member beside me (that wasn't Tarja) was very red and unhappy with the fans pushing him around. Even one crewmember at the check in line was keeping some fans away from Tarja when I was trying to do the check in for all traveling party. I didn't ask him to do it neither did Tarja. But believe me that if he understood it was needed, was because there was a reason for that. Probably the fans there were only expecting a photo or a signature and not realizing the way they were approaching the band. Same situation of fans willing to have a photo or a kiss or a hug from Tarja happened many times everywhere. It has never been a problem before or after. But at that precise moment, it was not happening the best way it could. Is very different if one young girl is approaching to ask a signature very quiet and with a big smile than if 5 persons are wrapping Tarja from her neck while shouting and pushing to appear in the photo, also with a smile. I never sensed at that moment that any fan at that airport was being hostile. Even though that, it was not safe any longer for Tarja. After that, we tried to get into the boarding as fast as possible. Once we were near the gate some people traveling to Europe that recognized Tarja approached her. Only few minutes after the chaos at the check in, Tarja was once again taking pictures, talking and signing autographs for them, but in a much more-relaxed way.
Probably he wants and likes to share his music with as many people as possible. I do agree with you that he didn't do it for free.
I do not know what disagreements to tour Latin America you have read about. I don't remember we had any disagreement about it. I haven't read myself any comments from Tuomas about it either.
I can hardly say that she will continue in Heavy Metal, but I can hardly say that she won't. She will continue with the music. Tarja
has never called herself Heavy Metal singer or Opera singer.
Many times happened that when we arrived to a venue, there were no conditions to do anything before a concert. Either Tarja did not have to set up her instrument at the stage with the technicians hours earlier. To warm up her voice and body for a show demands other kind of preparation that many times couldn't be done at a venue. Remembering that her changing booth was supposed to be ready at the time of our arrival and obviously a room for Tarja to get herself ready, but some times the local promoter didn't know that he should have organized or searched for a room for Tarja to warm up and change clothes. Often not even water was available until one hour before the concert. I
needed to tape windows and glass doors in Tarja´s "backstage"
to be able for her to get undressed. You
are from Germany and I should say that thanks to the company organizing the concerts,
it has been very relaxed and a pleasure to perform there. Funny
thing is that it was always random. You could never really know what to expect
at our arrival to a venue. In order to avoid all this confusion, running around and stress at the venues, Tarja and me decided to prepare everything at the hotels whenever that was possible. She was able to do her make up there, iron her cloths and warm up for the show. We were then traveling to the venue with a van or car or even taxi 30' before the concert. Whenever the hotel was too far away from the venue or there was no condition to stay there longer and prepare everything, we were then throwing ourselves into the unknown. If you have seen at anytime in a backstage of a Nightwish concert a stupid guy running around with towels, heaters, ladies cloths, mirrors or ironing tables; that was probably me.
What you mentioned are part of the things. The easier ones to take care of. What about respect? If you are in a band and people representing the band are not treating you with respect. What do you think that even though the band members were informed about this situation, they did nothing? Not to inform about things as it has been agreed from the beginning. Not to provide what was necessary for Tarja to do a concert in the best conditions possible. Not giving the information about things or deliberately distorting the information. We had an agreement that Tarja was going to be informed about ALL the activities regarding the band in order for her to make decisions together with the band. Instead she has been pushed to the situation where she was forced to accept conditions she normally wouldn't, only because band didn't provide the complete information in time. When you can see that similar things happen again and again, you ask yourself, how much the band really cares
Not
in a direct way. I was supposed to present her all the information the band management provided me in order for Tarja just to say "yes" or "no". Things soon started to get complex when there was no possibility to say "yes" or "no", neither to choose from other options. Let me offer you a silly explanation that hopefully can express the idea clear enough. If you hire a chef to cook dinner for you, you expect from him a meal. He can offer you between chicken with salad, barbecued fish with mashed potatoes or spinach pasta with tomato sauce. You can then choose the chicken, if you prefer. In our case, the chef offered us rotten wood with car oil. I needed to explain to the chef that we preferred to see other options. When we realized that the chef couldn't cook anything different, I tried to explain him how to boil ravioli Anyway, going back to your question, I never discussed directly with promoters. Only with the German promoter I was sometimes on copy in the emails he exchanged with the band management. Precisely with the German booking agent there hasn't been any problems and still today we are working together.
Of course I wouldn't even dream of going between Tarja and her friends or family; I wouldn't dare. Many fans have themselves requested to me if they could speak with Tarja when they saw me around. Is a nice gesture of respect from them. They think that is correct to ask me before approaching her directly. This is very fine for me and is the same I should do in a similar situation. But I have never told the fans to ask me "permission". Same way, I never told somebody approaching her directly in a normal situation to get away. I have done it with drunken people or with groups of people when there was no security. There were, of course, obvious situations like going to a stage to perform: that is not the right time to give an autograph or take a picture. There shouldn't be any people around the band at that moment, but this happened more than once. Anyway, if you have the chance to approach Tarja yourself one day, please go ahead.
That I should smile more!! But instead, you are asking me if I am pretending being particularly nice with fans to create a nice image from me Well I don't have a friendly face. That I know.
Many times recently, I have seen how partial true facts from the last years have been distorted deliberately, to show a bad intention or action from Tarja or my side. I'll give you a real example of it that also answers your question: In an email sent to the band manager I made a comment of what Tarja does in her free time. Check that I used the words "spare time".
This
was exactly one of those free days spot between tour days. To explain it in other words, if Tarja should have needed to rehearse or perform her solo concerts, I would have informed about it long in advance. Is in your hands to understand and decide if I was saying that Tarja wanted to cancel this show to meet friends and stuff as you have asked or if I was only saying that when Tarja has free time, she likes to go out with friends. And let's not forget the most important thing: this concert did happen! So Tarja privileged the fans that paid their tickets on top of her personal activities. By doing this, she also covered the band's management back from the mistake they made. Unfortunately, this didn't happen only once
This will be a long answer even though I will try to keep it as short as possible. There are things that I need to explain to you in order for you to be able to understand. After Wishmaster tour, it was a time that Tuomas decided to stop the band. Reasons were personal and also one reason was the stress caused by the tour. This info is in the DVD "End of Innocence". Tarja was also not happy with the way things were happening at that time. After a while, Tuomas decided to change previous bass player Sami with Marco and to continue with the band. Tarja decided to discuss with Tuomas how to continue with the band. For this purpose it was requested and arranged a meeting in Kitee with Tarja, Tuomas and me. I spoke alone to Tuomas about the changes that should happen in order to be able to continue. He introduced his wish of having a proper management for him and the band. The company King Foo Oy was then formed with that purpose of becoming the band's management. It was also agreed in that meeting that I was going to be Tarja's manager. Everything was accepted and agreed in good terms and the spirit of the meeting was: business through managements and art through musicians. After that Tarja came to the meeting and I left; with Tuomas they confirmed the agreement once again. Without this meeting we wouldn't talk about Nightwish the way we all knew it after that. Neither the albums Century Child nor Once would have ever existed. The most important points of the agreement were the length of the forthcoming tours, the length of the breaks between tours, general conditions for the shows and mainly a change in the way the band was communicating within them. From that moment on, Tarja was going to be informed about all proposed activities and plans for the band and that she was going to take part in the decisions of everything involved with these facts. Before this moment communication was a big problem that caused tension in the previous tour between band members. Just as a short reminder, even at the time I was not even knowing the band members or Tarja, the problems were already there. The meeting was very positive. And things started to get better. Much better. Communication between band and Tarja through band management and me worked fine. This is not in my opinion the best possible scenario for a band, but it was the best solution we found and the only solution proposed to the existing problems. After some time, with very good manners and smiles (I am not being ironic here), Tarja started to be requested, as exemptions to our agreement, to accept some things in a different way. She did. Later on, the smiles where dropped and the tension grew again. This time, worse than before since the good manners were forgotten. To make the tension and problems even harder, we need to remember that the fame and success of the band was much bigger than before. This brought bigger pressures for everybody. Now let's go back to your question about the cancelled USA 2005 tour having in mind what I have already mentioned before. Tarja and I got to know about the tour through some ticket sales in Internet. When I requested to have more information about it, I was informed that a complete tour has been scheduled. The band didn't consult Tarja about it, even though it has been agreed that before booking any shows, the band would always need to provide Tarja the complete information and get her approval. The band themselves proposed to Tarja in one of the meeting she asked them to have, not to tour more than 2 weeks in a row. The planned USA tour was 4 weeks long. The conditions of the previous tour in USA have been in some cases very bad. Worse than in other places I have seen. Things like having no food because the show was not sold out or no toilet at all in the non-existing back stage area. Anyway the first tour was the way for the band to try and to experience to tour in USA. There was not such need to experience another tour under similar conditions. At the time, there were also some open subjects with the USA Record Company that didn't contribute in any way to prepare a new tour. Some of those problems still persist until today. In your question you correctly mentioned that the tour was re scheduled. There was a reason for that to happen. Once we got finally the complete information about the proposed tour, dates and conditions, it was too late to attempt any modifications and to still go for it. We realized that later on that year there was a spot in the band's schedule when would have been possible to plan the tour again. We suggested to block that dates for this purpose. We requested that the conditions, as we have agreed before, needed to be seriously considered. We proposed that, after all changes in the conditions were provided, Tarja was going to definitely accept to tour USA again. The tour was re scheduled without Tarja or me knowing about it and tickets continued on sale. Unfortunately not a single thing changed from the proposed tour until the very last minute or the situation with the Record Company cleared. Tarja
has never accepted the tour at any time because the conditions have never been
the ones agreed. Then the tour wasn't cancelled from our side. The big mistake
was to make arrangements at the back of one band member as Tarja was, and then
force her to accept conditions that everybody knew were not the ones everybody
has agreed. You are very right asking why to tease the fans with a potential tour if it could not happen. We feel exactly the same. I should add to your question: why to tease the fans and one of the band members if the conditions are not the ones every band member agreed to have? For this question I have no answer. At last, you want to know if this could have been avoided. Answer
is yes! By doing things properly.
I think the band did a BIG mistake by confirming a tour without even informing their singer about it.
Tarja accepted to do the first USA tour even knowing that it was going to be not a profitable tour. It was obvious, even before doing it, except for the band members and management. Myself I paid my own flight tickets to reduce the loss of the band. The band was very excited about touring in USA, what was understandable for the first time. They had the image of the big bands in the past. Come to USA and conquer. What they didn't have in mind was that to conquer USA you need to have hits and a structure from a record company that supports the band. Tarja
accepted to do this first tour as an investment for the future. So
the problem with USA was not the money. Big
time problems were the conditions for the concerts. In order to do a second tour, we should have needed to improve these conditions a lot as well as we should have needed to reduce the tour to the amount of days that was agreed with the band long before for every tour. Unfortunately, band's management was not able to do it and considered that the tour was not possible to happen.
I don't agree that everything is spoken through me. Tarja made a press conference in Finland and a press day in Germany to express her thoughts. I never made any comments in public myself. I only made a post in tarjaturunen.com to inform that after the continuing disrespectful opinions from the band to my wife and to me, I have decided to give the fans like you the chance to ask me their doubts. That's it.
As you have been able to see, I have been accused of many things. I believe that I have the right to reply to those accusations.
I
do agree with you that Tarja is a grown up woman and that she can make her own
decisions. I am not controlling her or pretending to.
Even though Tarja has explained herself about this particular situation in press conferences and interviews, I realised through many of your questions that still it is a subject not very clear for you. I will try to give you some facts about it in a resumed way. Since 2000 until December 2004 (four years time) Tarja tried to continue working with the band under a different way. She wanted to be informed and respected, but that didn't happen as expected. I have already gone through these explanations in other answers. After four years of trying, she realised that nothing was going to change for better. In December 2004 during the tour, it was absolutely her decision and her decision alone to inform her band mates that she was not going to continue with the band any longer after the next studio album. Tarja was ready to do the remaining concerts for 2005 and to record the new album in 2006/2007. Also she informed that there wouldn't be any problem to promote that forthcoming new studio album and to do new concerts with it. Even during 2005 we proposed some ideas to the band management and German promoter about the possibility to do an itinerary Nightwish Festival during 2007/8, similar kind like Ozz Fest (to give you a similar image). Her decision gave the band enough time from December 2004 until 2007/8 to choose their next steps. It was never said by Tarja that the band should stop without her. She was even ready to help them in their new beginning without her. To confirm Tarja's idea to do the next album with the band, while we were on negotiations for her solo career with different record companies, we made very clear even against the record companies and our own welfare, that Tarja's first solo album wouldn't be released before the forthcoming studio album from the band.
Tarja planned to leave the band after the band's next studio album, not after her own solo album. Solo album was originally intended for 2008/9. She clearly mentioned these facts and the reasons for her decision to all band members, face to face, last December 2004 in a hotel room.
She
considered that she was going to be able to record one last album with the band
and to perform nice last concerts with them. But above all, it should have been a nice way to say goodbye to all her fans as the singer of Nightwish. It was only a nice idea. To answer once again about the last part of your question, she did inform all of them in a meeting she requested, without any managers or record company people around. Just 5 of them.
Your question is very important. In that meeting in December 2004 she told the band members that she was ready to face the media and to explain that it was her decision. She was ready to speak openly and clearly about her decision and to take away the responsibility from the band member's shoulders. But, Tuomas said that he didn't want to. Unfortunately, today we can understand why. Tarja accepted Tuomas' will (what as usually means also the band's will) not to inform her decision to the fans. And now we see how it turned around.
Of course it was not easy for Tarja to tell the band mates her decision and most of all, she was very sad about the reasons that pushed her to take that decision. That Tuomas could get upset was only one possibility. Tarja trusted her band mates' abilities to handle the situation in a good way. Better than the way they handled the unattended reasons that forced Tarja into her decision. The band had 4 years time (from 2000 to 2004) to change this sad ending. They didn't. This fact also upset Tarja a lot. She still considered her band mates when she offered to disclose it openly to the fans. Tarja was ready to take full responsibility in front of the people and media for her decision. Tarja was willing to explain to the fans the reasons. Tuomas and the band didn't want to. Sadly after that meeting, the band started to plan how to kick Tarja out of the band in the worst way possible. And we have to remember that the band did not oppose Tarja's announcement, they did not even try to discuss about it or ask for different timetable or resign her then. They just shut up, as usual, and made their moves behind Tarja's back at the same time. I don't think that the open letter and the badmouthing after that correspond to an upsetting feeling only.
I
understand from your question that you believe Tarja flew to the same destination
than the band, but in different planes, when leaving at the same time than the
band from the same city. When the band was also traveling by plane, we traveled all together. All the comments about the way the band traveled need to be explained clearly. The band, including Tarja, used to travel by touring bus when touring in Europe. Also the rest of the band flew to more distant destinations within Europe. The tour bus was not a possible way of transport to destinations outside of Europe. To travel in a bus, no matter how good the bus can be, is not fine for longer periods of time. Many people won't find a problem to sleep in a moving bus, but for Tarja that is still not possible. To do it once might be fun, twice still ok, but after 3 days without sleeping properly, traveling and performing, her body couldn't handle it. In
a bad bus you can suffer of getting cold because of not proper heating, or getting
too hot because of not air conditioning. To travel by bus takes too long between different cities. Sometimes 4 or 5 hours, other times more than a complete day. Many times, the days off between concerts were spent in the traveling what took away the chance to rest decently. I must say that in Nightwish case, no money was saved in the bus. Buses used in Europe were in general very good or excellent. Sometimes even having a sleeping room for Tarja. These buses (or nightliner as they are called) usually have DVD player and video games consoles. I should say, they are the dream come true for somebody on holiday. But Tarja was working and then the bus was still not the best traveling option for her. When the band started to perform for bigger audiences and in consequence also receiving bigger incomes, Tarja proposed to the band members that EVERYBODY should start traveling by plane. And I need to write EVERYBODY with capital letters. Tarja wasn't looking to save a penny in traveling cheaper by bus. She was trying EVERYBODY to travel in better conditions when you could arrive to your destination within few hours and rest after the arrival. But the band decided to continue traveling by bus! Money
was not a reason to avoid traveling by plane. So for the band was the perfect idea and they seemed to be very pleased with it: Tarja and Marcelo will flight and band will have the whole bus for parties! It was working also for Tarja and me as long as we were able to move fast, arrive and rest between concerts. At the end of the day, it was the band's decision not to take a plane. It was very funny though to see how many times the band management needed to do last minute arrangements to get flight tickets for the rest of the band when they suddenly realized how far away we were from the next destination! After all, sometimes, a bit of comfort seemed to be welcome to them instead of the so-called "rock n roll" life. Then we all flew together while the bus driver was driving the empty nightliner to the following destination, only carrying the luggage! I want to make perfectly clear that neither Tarja nor me ever requested business or first class flight tickets inside or outside Europe.
I never felt like you say in your question. The band itself decided not to travel with us, not the other way around. It was also hard to spend a lot of time with the band on tour beside the work, just in a social way. It was not as you might imagine that the band members were all the time "hand in hand". Most of the time during the tours, band members were alone in their own rooms. Few times we went to have lunch with Emppu. Lunch or dinner time, if not with a promoter or record company, was a spare time where all of us decided what to do separately. None of the other band members than Emppu ever invited us to have a beer with them. Even some crewmembers did and we also accepted it gladly. When we were drinking altogether, it was because we spontaneously joined them in a hotel bar. What is not bad for some occasions, but not the only option for your free time. I
can clearly remember when I met Tarja and the band in their first tour in South
America. It was not different then back in year 2000. In more recent times, same way than in 2000, it has been easy to cross in the streets of London a band member buying some stuff or just walking around. Everybody had his or her own social life during the free time. The moments the band members spent together without Tarja and me were: 3 hours before a concert when the band was already at the venue looking to the walls while Tarja was getting ready at the hotel, during several hours party in the tour bus travelling between cities and parties after concerts in bars, venues or hotel rooms. After the concerts, we usually went back to the hotel for Tarja to have a shower and rest. Drinking in a backstage after a concert when you are sweaty and especially if you are trying not to get cold and sick was not an option for Tarja. Why to wait one or two hours in the backstage when it was easy like hell to arrange a ride back to the hotel? After I started to organise it, many times even some of the band members joined us. Unfortunately, seems the band missed Tarja (I won't even joke that they missed me too) when she was not partying and drinking, but they never understood that it was an activity that can only happen time to time during a long tour, if she wanted to stay healthy. It seems they thought that if we were not there to party with them, was because we didn't want to see them What a narrow minded thought. They saw the tree, but didn't see the forest.
As said in some other answers it was not Tarja's decision to travel alone. And they did travel together a lot of times. But that is true that Tarja didn't spent all her free time partying with the band members. That might have had an effect on the camaraderie or chemistry between them. As it was not a question of some odd nights now and then, but a question of their profession and day to day life on tours, Tarja decided not party so often. Funny that she is criticized of that. Tarja did not complain about members' decision to party, she just did not take part of every time I guess that if they should have felt that the camaraderie was suffering because we were not traveling together, they could have traveled always with us or they could have requested Tarja to travel always with them, but none of these circumstances happened.
The
persons that really know Tarja can say if she is a Diva or not. My opinion is that Tarja is normal down to earth young woman with her own ambitions and fears. Apart from her professional life her needs don't seem to differ from the ones of other young people. She rides a bicycle, goes to the supermarket to buy food, cooks at home, cleans the house, and does the gardening. She is not hiding behind make up or fancy clothes for the daily life. As a singer she has had to take care of her instrument (voice) for the benefit of herself as well as for the benefit of the band. Tarja's concern about resting before and after concerts and taking care of her health (mainly when you plan a long tour as Once tour was) was understood as a sign of not being a part of the group of friends. This was not the case. But another thing is that Tarja created through the years in Nightwish a character, like an actor does in a movie, where she plays a role. That character fitted the band perfectly. Nightwish has been named as the combination of classical music (or opera) with Heavy Metal. No doubts who was bringing the "classical" and who were giving the "heavy Metal" characteristics to Nightwish. The band was very interested in the character Tarja created as the image of the band. They never complained about it, but endorsed it for their advantage. Unfortunately, we seem to have reached a moment when the band members themselves forgot that the Tarja they could see on stage or in promo photos, taking care of her make up or her several clothes changes, singing with an operatic voice and attitude, was only a character. They forgot the person behind it. To say that Tarja is a Diva, in the way it has been mentioned, is as ridiculous as it is to say that band members have effeminate manners because they use make up in their cheeks, nails and eyes
The only change that I have seen in Tarja in the last 6 years is the one of a person growing from a teenager to an adult. I was not responsible for that. I don't know the reasons why Tuomas wants to say these weird things about Tarja. To my knowledge Tarja has never asked for a penny of Tuomas' belongings and neither has Tuomas given Tarja anything of his own. Neither has she ever asked for "diva" courtesy from the band or anybody else. She has asked just for basic conditions where she can perform her best to the fans.
I am sure that with all the elements that I am explaining with my answers, you are going to be able to arrive to the correct conclusion.
To speak about economic interest or money is not a taboo. It seems now that nobody in the band ever cared about money at all. What I am sure is that philanthropists didn't surround me the last 6 years of my life. Is very hypocrite to induce the people to believe that money is not important when you have a lot of it in the bank or invested in properties. I can only believe words from a starving person in the street saying to me that love is more important than money. I will agree with you that money is not all. How useful is all the money you have if you cannot buy the feelings of the person you love? To be loved is more valuable than any amount of money. It is correct to say that Tarja likes to take care about her things, including among others, her economical situation. In any case to accuse Tarja of not being concerned about music is ridiculous. She started with music when she was a kid, chose music to study, later it became a profession and all the time has been a way of life for her. The
reason why she accepted to join the band was because she liked the music they
offered to her. One of the reasons why she continued with the band was the music. 156) Tarja really said that she was just a invited musician?? Tiago Neves Brazil
I can tell you few examples of the band's daily routine and then we can find out if "invited musician" or "guest musician" or "band + singer" could describe the relation between the band and Tarja. At
the very beginning of Nightwish, Tarja was approached with a 3 songs demo to add
her vocals to it. She did. Angel fall first happened in a similar way. Also Oceanborn
and so on. Tarja never requested to have a place in the composition process. Never the band offered her a place in the composition process. After Wishmaster tour, Tuomas stopped Nightwish and immediately informed about it to the record companies in Germany and Finland, but not to Tarja. Until today she has the same information that you can have about the reasons Tuomas had to decide stopping the band. It has been told in the End of Innocence DVD. Tuomas never explained his decision to Tarja. When Sami was kicked out, Tarja was living in Germany. Not to remark only that nobody consulted her about it, even worse, she received the news through a friend calling her to tell about a rumour he has heard in the streets of Kitee. Rumour that finally got confirmation from the facts. Until today, never Tuomas explained to Tarja the reasons he had to decide Sami's expulsion from the band. Nightwish grew as a band and we might be able to say that the interest of Tarja and the other band members for the music of Nightwish found a communion. Might be that also some goals were common for Tarja and the other band members. What has been always different, from the first day until the last, were the ways to reach those goals and the way of life of Tarja and the other band members. Tuomas never sat down to discuss artistic things with Tarja like album covers, video elections, musical direction, and image of the band or any kind of future plans. The band published a songbook of Once. Tarja was never asked her opinion about it or informed about it. The band never sent one copy to Tarja until today, even though I have myself requested to have it. Same story I can tell about a very nice limited edition of Once that Nuclear Blast released including a crystal ball. Even though I know that Nuclear Blast sent many of them to the band management, Tarja never got one. And yes, I asked for it more than once The Emma award is the equivalent of the Grammy for the Finnish record industry. I don't know how many Emma awards the band had the honour to receive through the last years. Unfortunately, myself, being the husband of the singer of Nightwish I have never seen one. Tarja never received one from the band. But if you believe this was an unintentional mistake, I should inform you that Tarja doesn't keep either any other prizes that the band has won in their career. We
are talking here about quality of the persons in the band and about the way the
band members behave with each other. When Tarja released her single Yhden Enkelin
Unelma, she was very happy to give one to each band member, crewmember and band
management. I have read how it has been mentioned that Tarja was never interested in checking artistic things from the band. I have seen myself how incorrect that is. Since we got to know the idea to use screens to project images during the concert at Hartwall Arena (same ones you saw at the concert and that you'll see in the DVD), we have requested to see the images prepared for that purpose. Even though I have insisted many times to the people in charge of it, it was only until the rehearsal day before the concert that Tarja was able to see only the images to be projected in one song. There was no time to see the other songs' images and in the best case, no time to modify anything in case she would have liked to During the concert itself she was able to see few more images, but not all for obvious reasons. Unfortunately she needed to wait until the DVD to see, same as you, what was happening behind her when she was performing. You are fans of Tarja and Nightwish. Myself I have also my favourite artists. Is very hard for me to imagine a band like Genesis where Phil Collins was not discussing with Tony Banks about an album cover. I cannot think that Mike Rutherford was not aware of the music style intended for the next album. Is unthinkable, isn't it? I wouldn't be surprised, instead, to discover that Elton John is not discussing with the bass player if he will use a white piano or a black one for the next video. But that's Elton John, not a band. Nightwish never acted like a band even though it was never supposed to be a solo project. I am leaving, on purpose, without mentioning the many things that Tarja was not consulted concerning business. Just to show you that not all the problems were business related as it has been distortedly shown to you.
I think we will never know the real motives. Motives rest in Tuomas, some close people and band members' hearts. Seems there has been at least very strong motives to kick out Tarja, specially the way they did it. Some of them might be the mentioned cultural differences that band members have in their minds and hearts with me, the non corresponded love from Tuomas to Tarja, Tarja's values that didn't match Tuomas and Tarja's maturity that didn't match Tuomas and the others, not compatible life styles between band members, different concept of friendship and responsibilities that comes with it, different approach to record business, the obvious problem to communicate within the band; just to name a few.
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