Marco Montreal.

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MU: Hi Marco, nice to meet you ! Welcome to Montreal !

Marco: Nice to meet you too !

MU: Are having a good trip so far ?

Marco: Yes, everything’s been great so far. We made good gigs with plenty of good people.

MU: Do you like Montreal ?

Marco: Let me think… I’ve been here only once before, but it was really great. Good gigs, cool people… went shopping and walking round, really enjoyed it.

MU: Maybe you don’t know, but the first Nightwish gig ever in America took place here in Montreal : it was during the Wishmaster tour.

Marco: Yeah, I’ve heard about it.

MU: Since that first time, you’ve conquered a lot of new fans. Tonight’s gig is sold, it’s kinda mad !

Marco: Yeah, I’m eager to get on stage !

MU: Ok, let’s start now. What can you tell me about Anette, the new singer ?

Marco: Well, Anette was one of the first to send a demo in fact. So she had to wait for more than a year since we had promised to listen to all the cds and demos during a year. We immediately saw that she was good, but we kept our promise to listen to every single of the 2000 songs we received. In the end, I suppose she was really happy when we called her to say : « Hey, get ready to have a lot of work ! » She is very nice, open-minded and straightforward. She seems to be quite a strong woman, and that’s kind of good : you have to be when dealing with a bunch of Finnish rednecks like us !

MU: What’s the main reason why you chose Anette ? Give me THE reason that made you say : « That’s her we need ! »

Marco: In the end, I think it’s simply her voice. We heard a lot of different singers but we were struck by her personality and the strength of her voice, and that was before even meeting her. That’s the main reason : strength is what you need in this business.

MU: Can you tell us about the recording of Dark Passion Play ?

Marco: The recording was smooth. We started rehearsals during summer 2006. The songs were already written, but we had no clue as to who was singing what. So we started with just the four guys. We rehearsed for six weeks and recorded demos with me singing, just to see if the melodic lines were working fine. Then we went back home for the rest of the summer, before entering the studio in september-october. There, we started to record some keyboard, drums, bass and guitar parts. After came the session in Abbey Road in London with the orchestra. The songs started to take shape, we were quite relaxed since it was not our first time in studio, so everything was ok.

MU: What are your favourite songs on the album ?

Marco: I like Sahara, Whoever Brings the Night, which is a song that many dislike but many other love, and The Islander is special to me since I wrote it.

MU: I’ve noticed a folk/celtic influence towards the end of Dark Passion Play. Is it a foretaste of what’s to come for Nightwish’s next album ?

Marco: No, I think it’s just a coincidence.

MU: Ok. I was rather surprised to see this style on the new album.

Marco: Well, as far as I am concerned, I have roots there. My father is an English teacher in Finland and has many celtic/folk cds, both Irish and Scottish, that I used to listen to when I was a kid. I’d like to have them, but he’s not ok ! *laughs* Later, I started to listen to Jethro Tull and others like this as well as the good old metal I was a fan of. So it was kind of natural for me to write a song like The Islander, all the moreso since I know Tuomas loves Irish music. It was just a question of common tastes and influences, it seems to right time to work on it !

MU: Now for a more intimate question. Is it true that the song Bye-Bye Beautiful is about Tarja ?

Marco: Yes, I suppose it was Tuomas’ way of saying good-bye. In fact, when you actually read the lyrics, you realise the song is not as hard as it first seems. You mostly see regret, and this is the way I see certain things too. Everything was ok, we felt like the kings of the world, reaching always higher. We were so proud of ourselves, of each other’s talent. But the greatest mystery is how could it come to that… How could we let things rot past beyond the point of no return ?

MU: And there you are now on top of the charts with a new singer !

Marco: Yeah, that’s true ! But we were quite scared to lose fans without Tarja’s charismatic personality. But if we had endured a situation where her husband was acting contrarily to what the others wanted, we simply wouldn’t have survived. It had to stop. And now we are on top of the charts with the new album, the critics are good in majority and some gigs are already sold out.

MU: Yes, your album entered right in 24th position in Canada and that’s quite an achievement for a metal band, let me tell you !

Marco: I believe you, I don’t doubt for a single second, that’s just great. And that relieved us all immensely. We were like : « Guys, we made it ! We made it once again ! » *laughs* Finally we can live again after all this shit !

MU: Do you intend to make a DVD from this tour with Anette ?

Marco: Well, in fact I don’t know. End of Era was quite perfect to show what the band can give on stage, so I don’t know if we’ll make another one soon. But we talked of doing a show with an orchestra and a choir, so if we do it, we’ll make a DVD. We’d also like to record some other little things we could offer the fans.

MU: What are the latest news about the third video from Dark Passion Play ?

Marco: I can’t give you the song now since the video is undergoing heavy digital reworking and won’t be out before March or April 2008 due to long editing. But I can tell you the settings were quite impressive. We were in Lapland, or the Devil’s Field as farmers call it : there’s nothing but rock and hills. It’s not just a stony place, it’s real rock ! Quite a dangerous place to wander in, with twisted trees and lots of fog… the ideal place for us !

MU: So we can expect anything for this video ? It may be the biggest Nightwish video so far ?

Marco: Should be impressive from what I’ve seen. If it’s really up to our expectations, it will be incredible. But our best video so far is the one for Sleeping Sun 2005. I love this video with the sword-fighting and all !

MU: And now that you have such success with Nightwish, it is sex, drugs and rock’n roll ?

Marco: *laughs* Well, sex is pretty reserved to my wife ! *laughs* Rock’n roll of course, but no drugs, sorry !

MU: Well, alcohol is sometimes considered a drug…

Marco: Yeah, ok for alcohol then, a little bit too often ! *laughs* We sure like to have fun in the tourbus !

MU: Has anything special happened since the tour began ?

Marco: We played in Tel Aviv and that was in fact more relax than I had expected. The place was very calm. We met people from the Finnish embassy and they told we could go around town and in bars but we had better stay in the hotel at night : the streets are badly lit and it can be frightening and dangerous for strangers. We were mostly afraid of the very religious way the people there live their lives, but it was really peaceful. We were a bit scared but had fun !

MU: Thank you very much for your time Marco. Do you have a message for your fans in Quebec and Montreal ?

Marco: Yeah ! People of Montreal and Quebec ! Nightwish is back with a new album ! Everything is going well so far and we are impatient to play tonight because the people are wonderful. We’re also happy to see new faces in Quebec in May ! Thanks for your support, see you soon !!