NIGHTWISH Mainman Says 'Greed' Contributed To Split With Singer

July 11, 2006

NIGHTWISH keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen recently answered a number of fans' questions via the band's official web site. A few excerpts from the question-and-answer session follow:

Q: Tell me honestly, were you ever in love with [former NIGHTWISH singer] Tarja [Turunen]?

Tuomas: "One misleading word now and I will be in tabloids once again...
Let's say that we had a special and emotional relationship without any romantic attatchments. The fire was burning between her voice and my songs."

Q: What do you mean by "cultural differences" [as having contributed to the split with Turunen] in your letter to Tarja as a reference to Marcelo [Turunen's husband]? Is there something wrong with him being Latin American?

Tuomas: "It was the band's letter, not mine. What we mean by cultural differences is that we see some things differently, because we learned them differently with our mother's milk. The way things are handled in music business in South America and in e.g. Europe, differ quite a bit. This has absolutely nothing to do with the fact of anyone being Latin American. I have lots of good friends from there, and I'm the least racist person in the world, if that's what you are implying. But if somebody (doesn't matter where he/she is from) comes along and starts controlling my creation and life's work, I want to understand why this happens and why there isn't a solution to the conflict. The answer is greed, and the fact that we see things from such utterly different perspective, even without any deliberate bad thoughts. Partly due to cultural differences."

Q: I've always wondered about your song making process... Which one comes first, melody or lyrics? Which one is easier to make?

Tuomas: "At first I always have an idea of the storyline of the song. After that it's all about painting that particular story/state of emotion with music. The lyrics usually come at last. For me the songs are short movies that you can see with your ears. Occasionally the music for a song can end up being something that was not planned, it doesn't tell the original story anymore. This happened in for example 'Stargazers' and one upcoming song. I consider myself a slow writer, and both music and lyricas are an equally hard task."

Read the entire question-and-answer session at this location.

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