NIGHTWISH Mainman Wants Fans To Give New Album A Chance

Metal Symphony recently conducted an interview with NIGHTWISH keyboardist/mainman Tuomas Holopainen. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal Symphony: How did you keep the Anette Olzon's (new singer) secret so well for so long? All these fans were looking for anything on the internet, any pictures...

Holopainen: "It was a lot of luck. We never went to the same hotel, we never were seen together publicly, she always booked in different hotels with different names, so it was like a game. And the reason why we did this was that we wanted to give the fans and the media something to listen to at the same time that we revealed her face. I mean, we could have said at the end of January, 'This is Anette, this is the new singer' and then people had to wait for months to listen to her because we had nothing to give to you by then, so people would have formed their opinions about her by what she has done in the past and what she looks like. We needed to give people 'Eva' [the first single] at the same time, that's why the hiding."

Metal Symphony: And also you had to change "Eva"'s release to some days earlier than you thought.

Holopainen: "Because it leaked, yeah. I don't know how it leaked though."

Metal Symphony: How's Anette getting along with all the band?

Holopainen: "It's really really good. I mean, she's a really open person, she brings some light into the darkness of our lives, us guys of the band. She has a really really good self-esteem, which is what she need at the moment. She's not afraid to much, she's really humble but she's not afraid of the future as many people would be, at least she's not showing it. I'm very confident."

Metal Symphony: Wasn't she a bit overwhelmed with all the people expecting her? I would be at least...

Holopainen: "Well, she was, but she's really smart, I mean, she's 36 and she has seen life, so she has a lot of life experience, and you can see that as well. She doesn't get easily shocked about things. And she has a very good sense of humor as well."

Metal Symphony: What do you expect from fans when they listen to this album? Do you think they'll give it a try, or they'll reject it because it's not old NIGHTWISH.

Holopainen: "I don't really expect anything so I won't be disappointed. I just want people to give it a chance, not listen to it just once, but three times or five times. I think it doesn't open up easily, it grows on you. It's a bit of a shock. Everybody that I have played the album to, like my friends or family said 'What the hell is this, it's too much, I can't take it, play it again' and this is the most healthy response that you can have."

Read the entire interview at Metal Symphony.