Marco Hietala - Nightwish (19/11/2013)
Marco Hietala of symphonic metal trope Nightwish is one of those people you could listen to talk for hours. The Finnish bassist recalls to me the many events leading up to the filming of their new documentary/live album Showtime, Storytime. Perhaps most notable of an event is the arrival of Floor Jansen as the group’s new lead vocalist after the departure of previous vocalist, Anette Olzon.
"When you look for somebody that can do these songs, you’ve got to find somebody who is serious about the quality. We’d already known Floor since 2002 when she was touring with After Forever and they were opening up for Nightwish in Europe for three and a half weeks, so we’ve known her for over ten years. When we had the situation that we were in we knew had to act fast. She was the first person who came to mind and she was perhaps the only one that could pull it off. So we gave her a call and asked if she could be onstage immediately, and she said yes."
Despite such a change within the line-up, Marco still feels that the quality of the groups work will remain as it always has.
"I don’t know if it’ll change that much. Tuomas Holopainen (keyboards) has always been the main man and he’d be writing stuff quite a lot but he’s also very open minded on whether someone’s got an idea for a song, like a riff or a melody or whatever, and it usually goes through his filter and then ends up on the album. It’s pretty much how we’d done it before, and it’s how we’ll still be doing it."
That being said, Marco most definitely believes the addition of Floor has elevated the bands live experience for the better, both for the band and their fans.
"As people can probably see from the live setting, it actually feels pretty good. I mean, with all the new energy and the new life in the band, it really works well with everything. We would like to think that it shows at the shows."
Showtime, Storytime isn’t just a documentary on the current state of the band, as also attached is the band’s fifth performance at Germany’s legendary Wacken Open Air festival. Marco speaks with great pride as he describes the joy he felt for Nightwish’s fifth arrival at Waken to be immortalised on film. He tells of how Waken was chosen for the live album, and how the live album came to be at all.
"We already had the documentary in the works, and it was supposed to be released around this time, and (the people at) Nuclear Blast asked us if we’d be willing to shoot one of the Summer festivals. So we started setting up and we thought that Waken, being one of the big heavy metal festivals there is, might be a good place for it."
This live performance is a numerous amount of firsts for Nightwish, with it sharing the honour of their first documentary along with the first recorded instance of Floor playing with the band. To Marco, this seems like the ushering in of a new era to the band.
"When we think back, it was a really good decision to shoot the live show, because we’ve got a lot of back catalogue, a lot of stuff from the olden days and now we had a chance to present it to a lot more people with this line-up that we have now. It’s kind of like an introduction to Floors work with the band. So now we’ve got it out, next year we’ll be moving on to new stuff."
Marco, being not only the bassist in Nightwish, is also the front man of metal band Tarot, and this hint of new content is too much of a curiosity. I ask what the writing process is for a renowned musician.
"Well, the writing process is something that I’m sort of prepared to happen anywhere, anytime. Ideas and inspiration are actually things I’m quite open about. You can normally go pretty far with the whole structure of a song, but sometimes you may have some bits and pieces that sound good by themselves but you don’t know how they fit. So, you present these things to the people you work with and then see what they come up with. With a band like Nightwish or Tarot you’ve got to like the sound, and everybody’s got to raise something so that they’re comfortable with what they’re playing."
Lastly, the conversation turns again back to the Waken festival. The festival is known throughout the world, with metal fans trekking from around the globe to Germany every year simply to claim attendance. To be placed amongst the line-up once would be an achievement, let alone five times. Marco is humble yet excited as he explains his experience onstage at this momentous event.
"It feels good, of course. It’s nice to just be yourself and matter to a lot of people and to matter to the people putting on the festival want you to play there and to be adored so much that you have 80,000 people watching. It feels rewarding most of all. After all, we’re doing music for the people while we do it for ourselves, and seeing it reach out to so many people is really goddamn rewarding."
Showtime, Storytime is out in Australia on the 29th of November.
Ben Spencer
"When you look for somebody that can do these songs, you’ve got to find somebody who is serious about the quality. We’d already known Floor since 2002 when she was touring with After Forever and they were opening up for Nightwish in Europe for three and a half weeks, so we’ve known her for over ten years. When we had the situation that we were in we knew had to act fast. She was the first person who came to mind and she was perhaps the only one that could pull it off. So we gave her a call and asked if she could be onstage immediately, and she said yes."
Despite such a change within the line-up, Marco still feels that the quality of the groups work will remain as it always has.
"I don’t know if it’ll change that much. Tuomas Holopainen (keyboards) has always been the main man and he’d be writing stuff quite a lot but he’s also very open minded on whether someone’s got an idea for a song, like a riff or a melody or whatever, and it usually goes through his filter and then ends up on the album. It’s pretty much how we’d done it before, and it’s how we’ll still be doing it."
That being said, Marco most definitely believes the addition of Floor has elevated the bands live experience for the better, both for the band and their fans.
"As people can probably see from the live setting, it actually feels pretty good. I mean, with all the new energy and the new life in the band, it really works well with everything. We would like to think that it shows at the shows."
Showtime, Storytime isn’t just a documentary on the current state of the band, as also attached is the band’s fifth performance at Germany’s legendary Wacken Open Air festival. Marco speaks with great pride as he describes the joy he felt for Nightwish’s fifth arrival at Waken to be immortalised on film. He tells of how Waken was chosen for the live album, and how the live album came to be at all.
"We already had the documentary in the works, and it was supposed to be released around this time, and (the people at) Nuclear Blast asked us if we’d be willing to shoot one of the Summer festivals. So we started setting up and we thought that Waken, being one of the big heavy metal festivals there is, might be a good place for it."
This live performance is a numerous amount of firsts for Nightwish, with it sharing the honour of their first documentary along with the first recorded instance of Floor playing with the band. To Marco, this seems like the ushering in of a new era to the band.
"When we think back, it was a really good decision to shoot the live show, because we’ve got a lot of back catalogue, a lot of stuff from the olden days and now we had a chance to present it to a lot more people with this line-up that we have now. It’s kind of like an introduction to Floors work with the band. So now we’ve got it out, next year we’ll be moving on to new stuff."
Marco, being not only the bassist in Nightwish, is also the front man of metal band Tarot, and this hint of new content is too much of a curiosity. I ask what the writing process is for a renowned musician.
"Well, the writing process is something that I’m sort of prepared to happen anywhere, anytime. Ideas and inspiration are actually things I’m quite open about. You can normally go pretty far with the whole structure of a song, but sometimes you may have some bits and pieces that sound good by themselves but you don’t know how they fit. So, you present these things to the people you work with and then see what they come up with. With a band like Nightwish or Tarot you’ve got to like the sound, and everybody’s got to raise something so that they’re comfortable with what they’re playing."
Lastly, the conversation turns again back to the Waken festival. The festival is known throughout the world, with metal fans trekking from around the globe to Germany every year simply to claim attendance. To be placed amongst the line-up once would be an achievement, let alone five times. Marco is humble yet excited as he explains his experience onstage at this momentous event.
"It feels good, of course. It’s nice to just be yourself and matter to a lot of people and to matter to the people putting on the festival want you to play there and to be adored so much that you have 80,000 people watching. It feels rewarding most of all. After all, we’re doing music for the people while we do it for ourselves, and seeing it reach out to so many people is really goddamn rewarding."
Showtime, Storytime is out in Australia on the 29th of November.
Ben Spencer