NIGHTWISH's FLOOR JANSEN: 'It's Very Wishful Thinking' To Believe Life Will Be Back To Normal By The Fall

In a new interview with A&P Reacts, NIGHTWISH frontwoman Floor Jansen spoke about the band's touring plans now that most of the concerts and festivals this summer have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping the globe. She said (see video below): "I think everybody apart from scientists, and even the scientists don't really know yet. We have never had a pandemic on our hands of this size. We know that there is not gonna be a cure yet. And I would say as long as we don't have that, it's very hard to predict the future of a gathering of large groups of people — so festivals and bigger shows. Our European shows are from seven thousand up to seventeen thousand people that gather. At the moment, there are still so many people dying on a daily basis, and we're talking months.

"I would say it's very wishful thinking to think that in the autumn and the winter, we're just gonna be fine and life is gonna continue as it was," she said. "I don't wanna be the pessimist, but I don't really think it's possible, actually. And since we really don't know [what's gonna happen], the planning of a 'Plan B' is also very difficult because everything is moving [to a later date]. We should have been in China right now. In not too long, we should have jumped on a plane to Mexico for a Latin and South American tour, then it should be Russia. So there are already three parts of the world that we are pushing [back]. It is very likely that also North America is gonna be [postponed].

"But then again, most important — and I would really wanna stress it to everybody — is our health," she continued. "If we have the gift of good health, we cannot complain about anything at this time. It really proves the true values of life, and right now, that's keeping healthy. If you have your health, great. You cannot complain about [being] quarantined. It's, yeah, discomfort perhaps, but it gives us also time to do all the kinds of things that we never have time for. [It's] better to sit back and sit it out, and maybe even enjoy it for as much as you can, just by doing the things that you usually can do — learn a new language, or watch your favorite movie [again]. That's still a luxury compared to getting the actual disease or all kinds of other real horrors that can still happen.

"So I'd rather sit this out until next summer and know that everything is then gone and we can pick up life in good health and in good security for everybody than to rush it. And if that means that we need to wait with these kinds of things — the luxuries of concerts and shows — until we have a vaccine, then so be it. Because we can't say anything more sensible than that at this point, there cannot even be a 'Plan B' other than we really wanna play.

"It's frustrating beyond words to be stuck at home and not to play, but also from my personal [standpoint], I'll try to focus on the things that I can do, which is, in my case, hang out with my husband and kid way more than I usually can," Floor added. "We're home together, and that's something rare to enjoy. And I have time for other things here at home that I usually can't, and I think that's something special to focus on. Until we don't know anything more, we need to just sit back and hope that we don't get sick, and the ones that we love [don't get sick either]."

NIGHTWISH's new album, "Human. :II: Nature.", was released on April 10 via Nuclear Blast. The long-awaited follow-up to 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" is a double album containing nine tracks on the main CD and one long track, divided into eight chapters, on CD 2.

"Human. :II: Nature." was recorded from August to October 2019 at Röskö campsite, Petrax Studios and Troykington castle, as well as Finnvox Studios, by Tero Kinnunen, Mikko Karmila and Troy Donockley. The mixing was done by Mikko Karmila at Finnvox, with NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen and Tero Kinnunen. Mastering was done by Mika Jussila at Finnvox.

NIGHTWISH's new album marks the band's second full-length effort with Jansen, who has been touring with the group since 2012.