Nightmail October 2008 - Emppu

Papilon

Girl from Lappeenranta N.Y. from Islip, N.Y.:
Nightwish and Brother Firetribe keep you very busy.
Do you ever relax? What things in life relax you? Sauna? Tabacco? Athletics? Family? Love? Food?
Emppu:
Yes, it's true it's been pretty busy and I haven't had much spare time, but somehow you learn to use even what little time you have in the most efficient way. If we have like a week off between the tours, I try to have no obligatory duties during that time. On the other hand, I am not able to just lie on the couch for the whole week, so usually relaxing means hanging out in the studio, tinkering with something that has no set deadline, just recording my own stuff. Alternatively, I watch movies, play PlayStation, ride my motorbike, go somewhere to take photos, read books, meet friends and family, go to sauna — and yes, I occasionally eat, too Smile

. Just the regular "brain off" stuff. Playing in Brother Firetribe is also one form of relaxation. All the guys are skilled musicians with their own projects, but everybody wants to keep Tribe as this relaxation/hobby project, although we've slipped from that a bit lately. Very Happy

Summer from US.:
Ok everyone on the forum wants to know what song Döddödödöö is referring too. Any hints??? =D
Emppu:
Well, try saying "dead to the world" yourself when you're coming home from a bar at 4 AM, totally plastered, your mouth full of snack food, and somebody comes to pull your sleeve to ask about yesterday's set list. That's as much as I can remember. Smile

Joana Gato from Portugal:
Hi! How are you?
Jukka said in June's Nightmail that he plays the instrument of gods. What do you say about that?

Emppu:
It's a shame to shatter Jukka's illusions, but the guy is so wrong! Or maybe it's better to let him have his delusions, so he won't lose his lust for life and music. Don't you go telling him either!

Liza:
Do you remember the first fan who asked you for an autograph?
Emppu:
That's a pretty tough one. I think there was this one guy from my home village who came to ask me for an autograph just as a piss-take.

Anna Schenck from Düsseldorf/Deutschland:
Did you ever have to go to the toilet during a concert?
Emppu:
Sometimes. But usually I try to take care of such duties before the gig.

Marian from Berlin:
Have you ever destroyed a guitar?
Emppu:
Not on purpose, never. A couple of times I've dropped a guitar or they have fallen down from a guitar stand, but there's never been more damage than a few dents. During gigs they always seem to get some punishment, seeing how there's so many chips missing. Or then it's our guitar tech Antti who's carving tooth picks out of them to pass the time. Yeah, and a couple of times I've really felt like destroying my guitar, but I've always managed to restrain myself.

Chris from Texas:
Hey Emppu, Would you mind telling which models of the Mesa Boogie Rectifiers and the Marshall speaker cabinets you use? thanks for your time, best of luck to you and the band.
Emppu:
Hmmm... Well, on tour, I have a Dual Rectifier, but it's basically just a back-up if my regular rack dies out for some reason. I also have two really ancient Marshall JCM 800 cabinets that have toured with us almost since the beginning. I bet you could find better ones, but my whole amp and cabinet set up has been the same for such a long time, and 'cos it's so familiar and reliable and I'm such a lazy guy, I haven't had the energy to build a new set from scratch. Smile

Thank you, all the best to you, too.

Bill ''Crazy'' Grammenos from Greece:
Greetings from Greece!!!
When you told your parents you wanted to become a guitarist how did they react??? Did they buy you a good amp???
sorry for my bad english but i'm only 14
LOVE Nightwish man wish i could meet you one day
Emppu:
Actually, my brother wanted to play guitar when he was younger, and my parents bought him a small acoustic guitar. I strummed it, too, and eventually stole the whole thing. A bit later in junior high there was this guy called Matti, who got me seriously interested in playing. The money I got from my summer job next summer went into an electric guitar and a tiny amp, and it's been downhill ever since. But thanks to Matti! And to my parents for not discouraging an enthusiastic young kid right off the bat. That small acoustic guitar now hangs on a place of honor on the wall of my home Smile

Juan B from Mexico:
What is your favorite never-played-live Nightwish song?
Emppu:
Would be great to play Meadows Of Heaven sometime.

Sierra from USA:
What was the weirdest thing a fan has thrown on stage for you?
Emppu:
Hmmm... You get all kinds of stuff thrown on stage. Letters, cd's, flowers, fluffy toys... I think somebody once threw worn-out men's underwear. There's obviously nothing weird about that, either, but I would have preferred women's underwear — I mean, not women's underwear worn by some guy, but women's underwear worn by a female person!

Alex from Canada:
I heard you have a studio back home. What kind of music do u record on your own and will you create a solo album?
Emppu:
Yeah, we have a small workshop with our producer Tero, where we have recorded a lot of Nightwish stuff, too. Tero does some real work there, while I'm mostly occupied with my own projects, like Brother Firetribe, but pretty often I just hang out there, thinking of song ideas, listening to albums and drinking beer. When I have some spare time and I'm not busy with other projects, it's nice to work with my friends' bands. It's nice change, the only thing you have to do is press REC and yell: "Not good, do it again!" That's great. I have a couple of projects going on right now, but more about them later.

Charlotte from UK:
Do you feel more creative as an artist in Brother Firetribe?
Emppu:
Yeah, maybe.... In Tribe, everybody's free to do whatever they want. On the other hand, the music is also much more unfettered, and it takes a certain kind of twisted and dirty attitude to be able to play it. Without asking the other guys, I think that everybody feels so comfortable with that type of music that it's pretty easy to be creative. And everybody also trusts in the others' ability to come up with over-the-top stuff. Or maybe it's more like little Emppu is allowed to go alone to the candy store and told that he can do whatever he wants. Smile

Anon from USA:
What is your favorite dirty joke?
Emppu:
Even a bad dirty joke is still a good joke Smile

Terra from California, USA:
Do you come from a family with a lot of musical backgrounds?
Emppu:
Well, music's sort of a hobby in our family. My dad sings fluently off-key and plays a little guitar, while my mom sings fluently in key and used to play some accordion when she was younger. The children try to get on with the genes they have been given. Heh.

One memorable occasion was just a while ago, when my grandma died and my mom called me to ask if she could come to the studio and record a song for the funeral. Well, we did make some music together, I played the guitars and my mom sang. It was a great moment for mom and son to get a glimpse into each other's lives. It would have just been nice if the occasion wasn't so sad. I'd have preferred recording a song for a wedding or something.

A fan:
What happens when you turn 70? Will you still be as energetic as now? (:
Emppu:
Hmmm... You seem to have a lot of trust that I live that long Smile

. Thank you, thank you. I wish that I would have sort of an easy-going, peaceful life then. Or maybe it turns out that I just won't give up and my grandchildren will make fun of their crazy grandfather, who's rocking out with his guitar in the living room, chasing nurses, running off to town and local pub, not remembering who he is or where he comes from.

I could also turn into a grumpy old man who's always criticizing the youth and preaching how everything used to be so much better in the old days: kids honored their parents and didn't run around doing nasty stuff, and even music used to be so much better, not the kind of racket they listen to these days. Time will tell, let's keep our fingers crossed.

Joy from the netherlands:
What is the worst mistake/blooper you made on stage?
Emppu:
Well, off the top of my head, there's one thing that happened just a couple of months ago. My guitars have these springs on the back that tighten the strings so they stay in tune. At this particular gig, I was rocking out merrily on Tuomas' side of the stage, where I couldn't hear my own guitar so well. When I returned to my own side and stood beside my amp, I wondered how my playing suddenly sounded so weird. When the song ended, I went behind the screen to check out what was wrong and suddenly noticed that one of those springs had gotten stuck in my trousers and was dangling from my pants. Of course the tuning was totally shot to hell. I almost felt embarrassed, but what the heck, I just grabbed a new axe and went back to the ball. It was strange that nobody ever mentioned the thing. Maybe our mixer Kimmo, the intelligent man he is, turned down my guitar on the mixing desk. Smile

charlotte from england:
My mum looks like you. how do you feel about that? Very Happy

Emppu:
WOW! Could you give me her phone number? Smile

Sofia from Mexico:
what's the first thing you think when you put a step on the stage?
Emppu:
Hmmm...You always wish that the crowd would be wild and enjoy the show. It boosts you to give your best, 'cos there's always this interaction going on. In the early days you always hoped that everything would go well and there would be no blunders, but these days you sometimes even think that little bloopers add something special to the gig Smile

Ana from Brasil:
what do you like most in a woman?
Emppu:
Well, this one's easy: tits and ass! No, just kidding... the most important thing is what she has between her ears. "Not everything is gold that glitters!" Smile