Source: Bravewords.com
Sweden’s Helsingborg’s Arena opened Friday, November 30th with a magnificent gala evening, led by SOILWORK frontman Björn Strid and former NIGHTWISH vocalist ANETTE OLZON. Olzon performed two solo tracks, ‘Like A Show Inside My Head’ and ‘Watching Me From Afar’.
Check out more photos from the event at this location. Fan filmed footage of Annette’s performance can be seen below:
Source: Bravewords.com
Singer ANETTE OLZON (ex-NIGHTWISH) checks in with the following songwriting update:
“I just finished writing my new song that I’ve been working on for some weeks… This time I am doing the lyrics in Swedish and it was a bit hard but also challenging to do that, and now I’ve just sent it to my friend Fredrik Bergh to see how it will sound after the music is added. Since I don’t play instruments so well, I always need help with recording. That, and Fredrik is fast and really good at what he does.
The way we work is that I sing the song and record it directly in to Garage Band and set the tempo I want it to have. Then I write down the lyrics and also add little comments to Fredrik (on) how I have thought the song should be “built”. Then I send the song to iTunes and email lyrics and the song file to Fredrik and voila! – his magic can start working.
I love the technology of today, making it so easy to create music, even when we live far apart in the country!”
Olzon will guest on the upcoming self-tiled debut album from SAPPHIRE EYES – featuring ALYSON AVENUE Niclas Olsson and lead singer Thomas Bursell, to be released on November 30th via Avenue Of Allies.
Niclas and Thomas, who recorded the vocals for seven album tracks, are joined by two other male Swedish singers Mikael Erlandsson (LAST AUTUMN’S DREAM, SALUTE) who sings lead vocals on two songs and Mike Andersson (CLOUDSCAPE) who handles the vocal duties on one track. Anette Olzonand Arabella Vitanc recorded backing vocals for two songs each.
Guitar contributions on Sapphire Eyes come from Sven Larsson (STREET TALK, LIONVILLE), Rik Priem (FROZEN RAIN), Emil Knabe and Christopher Dahlmann. Mikey K Nilsson (NASTY IDOLS) also performs guitars and Göran Forssén does the bass.
The recording line-up is completed by bassists Thomas Löyskä and Mats Ståhl as well as Francesco Jovino (U.D.O., HARDLINE) on drums.
The album was produced by Niclas Olsson. It was mixed and mastered by Anders “Theo” Theander at RoastingHouse Studios Studio 1, Malmö, Sweden. All drums were recorded by Alessandro Del Vecchio at Ivorytears Music Works, Somma Lombardo, Italy. Executive producer was Gregor Klee.
Artwork for the album is below:
Source: Blabbermouth.net
According to YLE.fi, NIGHTWISH has declined all interview requests in the wake of the band’s split with singer Anette Olzon at the end of last month in the middle of the group’s North American headlining tour. NIGHTWISH keyboardist/mainman Tuomas Holopainen told the web site in an e-mail, “We are not doing any interviews at the moment, The press release that was issued [announcing Anette‘s departure] covers all the essentials.” Drummer Jukka Nevalainen added in a separate message, “We are concentrating fully on the tour right now. So no comments at this time. I’m sorry.”
Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen (REVAMP, ex-AFTER FOREVER) made her live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on October 1 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington.
In a blog post on her official web site at FloorJansen.com, Floor said, “It is now 10 years ago I joined NIGHTWISH on tour with AFTER FOREVER as their support act. We stayed in touch ever since and that made the whole situation so much easier and smooth.”
Olzon joined NIGHTWISH in 2007 as the replacement for Tarja Turunen after the latter was fired in 2005.
NIGHTWISH stated about the sudden singer switch, “In recent times it has become increasingly obvious that the direction and the needs of the band were in conflict, and this has led to a division from which we cannot recover.”
They added, “We are all strongly committed to this journey, this vehicle of spirit, and we are sure that this will lead to a brighter future for everyone.
“We forever remain excited about the adventures to come, and we are extremely proud of the two beautiful albums and the wonderful shows we shared together.”
Fan-filmed video footage of NIGHTWISH‘s October 5 performance at The Grove Of Anaheim in Anaheim, California can be seen below.
Source: Bravewords.com
According to Metal Hammer Germany, NIGHTWISH‘s decision to split with singer Anette Olzon was decided long ago.
Floor Jansen (REVAMP, ex-AFTER FOREVER) was hired a few weeks ago as a replacement for the tour and the band sent her text last Saturday saying: “How soon can you be in the US.”
Read the whole article HERE.
Anette Olzon
Floor Jansen
Source: Bravewords.com
On October 1st, NIGHTWISH officially parted ways with vocalist Anette Olzon, citing personal differences. The band has since announced the addition of substitute vocalist Floor Jansen from The Netherlands (ex-AFTER FOREVER, REVAMP), who will help the band complete their current Imaginaerum world tour.
Multi-instrumentalist and NIGHTWISH touring musician Troy Donockley (pictured at left), has posted the following update from Nightwish’s current North American tour:
“‘Keep Calm and Carry On….’. Oh yes indeedy. These were the famous words written on “morale boosting” posters by the British government at the beginning of WW2. Now, I am not for one moment suggesting that the first half of our US tour has been like the outbreak of the war, but those words are pretty bloody pertinent!
Oh how we love touring the states. It’s trite to say that the fans here are so brilliant (they are of course) because the fans are brilliant EVERYWHERE. But they have been particularly lovely to us; especially in light of the recent explosive events.
Yes, a split with the singer Anette occurred but it was really, really for the best. Believe me. The joy of this adventure was being wrecked and everyone was feeling very insecure… It was seriously interfering with our tasting sessions of the fine wines from the Napa Valley. Outrageous!
I mean, we never could have predicted that myself and Tuomas would find ourselves on stage, alone, asking an audience of over 1,600 in Denver to vote by a show of hands on whether the band should perform or not. Touchingly we were met by a sea of upraised hands; beautiful but how surreal.
Anyway, we have fully embraced the slogan from that heroic old poster, and we are all feeling a squillion times better. Our replacement singer Floor is simply majestic and we are having fearless fun. And on evidence of the ecstatic response to the last two shows, the fans seem to understand that this “vehicle of spirit” cannot be derailed so easily.”
Fan-filmed video of Nightwish performing ‘Nemo’ in Seattle, and a 22-minute overview of their Portland show is available below:
Remaining dates on the tour are as follows:
October
5 – The Grove – Anaheim, CA
6 – House of Blues – San Diego, CA
7 – The Marquee – Tempe, AZ
9 – Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
10 – Emo’s – Austin, TX
11 – House Of Blues – New Orleans, LA
13 – Revolution – Ft Lauderdale, FL
14 – House of Blues Lake Buena Vista – Lake Buena Vista, FL
Source: Bravewords.com
Yesterday (October 1st), NIGHTWISH officially parted ways with vocalist Anette Olzon, citing personal differences. Olzon (now Anette Olsson) has posted the following message on her blog:
” Just want to say thank you to all of you wonderful people who have written me so kind and warming words today. I have cried reading them and believe me, I will be back again, but I need a little time out before I decide how and where I will blog or show myself again. I don’t know if it will be this blog or a brand new one but I will let you know, I promise!
I got sad when so many of you got so sad I would stop blogging so I will think about it.
But believe me, I love you all and never think I don’t care about you cause I do!
Lots of love to you all and strength and honour!”
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 