Studio Diary - Tuomas 29-30.10.2006

Patty

I`m writing this while flying back to Finland from Hamburg, Germany. We spent the weekend there with Ewo & Toni (King Foo), meeting some people from the publishing company and Nuclear Blast. They wanted to hear some new Nightwish demo songs and make some preliminary plans for the year 2007. The meeting went really well, one broken sterosystem, due to listening to the new songs far too loud, and a bunch of happy big bosses. The feedback from them was very flattering, which naturally gave us loads of confidence.
We also chose the upcoming single songs.

The discussion went on in the evening in our hotel room. Posing in the cover of latest ”Talouselämä” (=Financial lives) – magazine, business – guru Holopainen decided to draw back from the conversation, since he didn`t understand anything of the jargon they were talking about. I`m happy to leave the money issues etc. to those smarter to me.
In a few moments I find myself in Clochard – bar, hammering nails into a wooden log, and drinks into my head. Kapanen, the legendary keeper of the Hamburg rock shop, and Ville of HIM are also there. Kapanen wins this extremely simple but addictive hammer-a-nail-into-a-log-game every time. But hey, he was the only one sober.

The journey continued into another bar, where Ewo and Toni also joined us. This girl, hanging from an aluminum pole, was having a birthday. Ville and I sang a Happy Birthday-song to her (Ville sang, I sounded like Evinrude-engine in distress), a gesture which gave us free drinks for the rest of the night. One way of making it cheap, I guess.

A couple of weeks ago I visited Emppu in his studio in Kerava, Finland, checking out his progress with the guitars he`s been recording for the upcoming Nightwish album. He had 13/15 done of the comp guitars. 4 comp guitars with 2 different sounds (Bogner + Engl & MesaBoogie + Marshall). In addition to these, he will record 2 more guitars here `n there with a special sound, plus leads and solos. This is pretty much the same way we recorded guitars for the ”Once” –album. Everything he`s done so far sounds simply fantastic, and played with utmost care. First Jukka`s better-than-ever effort and then this.
I feel very proud of the guys.

The very next day we tested another vocalist canditate. She came to the studio to sing some new songs. Sounded astonishingly good! She sang one of the new slower songs with such soul it made the songwriter bite his lip instead of producing.

Farewell to the girl and back to studio to listen through all the songs with Emppu. We marked all the parts with guitar leads and solos so he can go on with his recordings. It was a boring duty, so we ended up doing a whiskey-stenched trash-version of a legendary Finnish song; Tapio Rautavaara`s ”Rosvo-Roope”.
I`m still ashamed of that, some legends should stay untouched.

When I got back home I checked through all the new lyrics. 13 ready so far, 2 still under way. I felt content to realize this is the best I can do. 3 lines of the lyrics were cencored, though. I received a very polite note from London saying that these lines would be far too unappropriate to sing, since we are not doing another ”Exorcist”-sequel here... I got the point and rewrote the lines with a bleeding heart. The artist was again misunderstood.
Or actually he was understood all too well this time.

The album cover/booklet artwork is being done as we speak. Toxic Angel and his wife Gina (Highest Hopes / End Of An Era) will do the artwork again. Looking very good!
Across the Big Blue, in Los Angeles, Mr. Jussi Tegelman has just finished creating the additional soundscapes for the album. Instead of using samples from FX-CD`s, we wanted something tailor-made for these songs only, and luckily Jussi agreed to help. He`s doing sounds/effects for movies as a profession.

So this is where we stand at the moment. Once Marco has some time off from Tarot, we will record the basses, within the next 2 weeks for sure. Then pretty much all we can do is wait for the orchestral sessions in Abbey Road, London to begin, since it`s no use to record any keys, vocals or solos prior to that. Pip Williams calls me on a daily basis, to clarify some chords, notes or new arrangement ideas. He`s in fire, like the band, which can only be a positive thing for the album. Seems like the guestlist of the album will be the size of Kitee`s phonebook. Due to the orchestras and choirs, mostly. It actually feels like the process has spread in so many directions I`m soon out of strings from my fingers. But the trust in the pack is strong. We feel that when it comes to the atmosphere, this might be the most ”band album” we`ve done so far.

Writing chordmaps for Pip, working with the missing pieces of lyrics and rehearsing for the upcoming Kotiteollisuus-tour. These will fill my days in the near future.
There will be more to tell and we will be in touch soon!

Take care, all of ya,

Tuomas, 29.-30.10.2006

The most inspiring of the month:

Movies: Dead Poets` Society, Wolf Creek, The Notebook
Books: Walt Whitman: Leaves Of Grass, Robin Hobb: Fool`s Fate
Music: Tarot: Crows Fly Black, Kotiteollisuus: Iankaikkinen, Lady In The Water-Soundtrack, NW – demo, with `n without vocals
TV: Maajussille Morsian (A Bride for Farmer John ??!!)

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