Interviews

Kerrang, October 2007

On October 21 2005, Nightwish issued and open letter to Tarja Turunen, their vocalist of nine years. In it, the band would suggest that the front woman had undergone a change in attitude. That she was no longer the person they once knew. Furthermore, it would inform her that her services were no longer required.

In the months that followed, her life would be turned upside down. Her family would be dragged into one of the biggest entertainment world dramas her home country of Finland had ever seen, while her former band mates began the search for her successor before the day's newspapers could even hit the stands. It was a situation, that, by her own admission, was a mess.

Today, however, Tarja Turunen is a picture of health and happiness. Sat inside a London office, she's eager to discuss her debut solo album My Winter Storm, chatting and laughing with infectious enthusiasm. It's an album that's taken almost two years to complete, an album that she claims she needed to make following the events of that fateful October day. More importantly, perhaps, it's an album she hopes will draw a line under her past once and for all.

What were some of your inspirations for the album?

"This is a very personal record for me. It's very emotional but also very positive. I've gone through some very heavy troubles in my life with friends, with family and obviously with my career, but the people around me have always inspired me. A Brazilian writer called Paulo Coelho [spiritual novelist famed for The Alchemist] has been a big inspiration as well. His way of looking at life is that you should always fight for your dreams, and that's something I'm doing with this album."

Why did you want to record it in several places?

"Sometimes you can listen to an album and say that it sounds like it's from Scandinavia or that it has a certain mood, but I wanted the album to be universal. One of the places where we recorded was Ibiza(?), and I fell in love with it. I had never wanted to go there - I thought it would just be this party island full of people dancing around, but I saw it differently. It was such an inspiring place that, myself and Daniel [Presley, producer] wrote six songs in one week."

What's the meaning behind the title?

"This actually came from a song called I Walk Alone, which is the first single. One of the lines is 'My winter storm holding me awake is never gone'. Straight away I felt so strongly about it. I saw the storm as this massive blast of energy. If you think about a storm it can be something that's really beautiful or something really scary, but it's always powerful."

Did making the album help you to heal after leaving Nightwish?

"Music is like a therapy, it's something that helps a lot of people, and I think that it's a way for you to let your feelings flow and be free. The Nightwish situation was something that was very sudden, but I think it was maybe something that I needed to go through. It took a long time to heal."

What kind of impact did it initially have on your life?

"In Finland, it was ridiculous. Everything was such a mess. It was all over the news and was something the people in Finland talked about a lot. I've always been a person that's kept a line between my private life and my public life. There are certain things that belong to me and there are certain things that I can openly discuss, but this was something that affected my family and friends. The press would try to talk to them and that's something I didn't like."

How did you cope?

"It was a very stressful thing. It was something my family had never had to deal with before and then suddenly they were pushed there. It's something I don't wish for anybody to have to go through. It's [fame] something that has been a big part of my life for a long time now, so it wasn't something that bothered me too much. I'd been in the band for nine years, so, of course, it was something people were interested in. I was more concerned for the people around me than for myself."

At the time, it seemed like you found out about the split at the same time as the public?

"I did. Actually one night before. About three seconds after the open letter was posted, my phone was ringing constantly. I could feel the puke coming up inside of me."

Did it feel like losing a loved one rather than leaving a band?

"I think so. It was really strange. Sometimes in life you lose people you love. I have lost somebody that I loved very much. It's something that, whether it comes suddenly or over time, is never a good feeling."

When I spoke to Tuomas recently he described the split as very messy. What do you think he meant by that?

"Maybe because it was done publicly. Or maybe because of how it was treated in the media. I don't know what he meant by that, but obviously it wasn't exactly something beautiful! (laughs)"

Have you spoken to any of your former band mates since?

"No. We are not in contact."

Would you like to be?

"I see that as a very far away boat, but let's see what time brings. Time is always something that heals in one way or another. In time perhaps I will learn to forgive, but I will never forget."

Is all this something you feel you may never truly escape?

"I will probably be facing these questions for a long time, but I've been very clear that now it's time to start moving on. Almost two years have passed and I'm not keen on answering private things about what happened between me and the band. They're private things that should have been kept private."

Do you look back at your time with Nightwish with a smile or a heavy heart?

"I am so proud of everything I did with Nightwish. So proud and so happy, but also very thankful for all the experiences we shared. It was something that taught me a lot, and even though we obviously had some bad experiences as well as good, for me, it was a great thing. I'm so glad I got to be a part of it."