Finnish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH have announced the news about their upcoming single:
“EXCITING NEWS! We are proud to announce the release of our first single called ‘Élan’, which will be out on February 13, 2015 via Nuclear Blast!
“Oh, while I live to be the ruler of life, Not a slave To meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me.”
– Walt Whitman
Commented NIGHTWISH keyboardist and songwriter Tuomas Holopainen: “This beautiful quote from my hero Uncle Walt was the starting point for writing ‘Élan’. The underlying theme of the song is nothing less than the meaning of life, which can be something different for all of us. It´s important to surrender yourself to the occasional ‘free fall’ and not to fear the path less travelled by. ‘Élan’ is a wonderful teaser for the full-length album, giving out a little taste, but revealing very little of the actual Journey of Grandeur to come…”
Vinyl:
Side A:
1. Élan (album version)
2. Élan (radio edit)
Side B
1. Élan (alternate version)
2. Sagan (non-album bonus track)
Nightwish Shop offers Élan as CDS, 10” MLP (four different colors) and also as exclusive CDS+shirt bundles. Preorder yours at: http://shop.nightwish.com
NIGHTWISH also revealed the famed evolutionary biologist and writer, Professor Richard Dawkins as a guest on their eighth studio album.
The yet-untitled new studio album will be the first one to feature Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen.
Longtime drummer Jukka Nevalainen will sit out on the recording sessions due to health issues; KaiHahto (WINTERSUN a.o.) will replace him.
Check out all previous “making of album 2015” trailers:
There is a saying that behind every successful man stands a strong-minded woman. You could also say that there is a good manager behind every famous performer; but what about teachers that support and nurture great musicians? They are the people that ignite a spark and love for music in every composer’s heart. Even though they are often overseen; like the sidelines in a play, or harmonies in a song, without them, you get nothing.
Today we were able to talk to a man who taught music to some of the most famous metal musicians in Finland. His name is Plamen Dimov. He is a Bulgarian who has spent most of his life in Finland, helping young musicians develop their talents. Plamen is also the person who discovered NIGHTWISH back in 1992, while he was their teacher.
He is known for telling his students not to be satisfied with what their teachers tell them. He encourages them to seek their own truths. Dimov formed and instructed more than 80 bands. Some of his students reached finals of various talent shows and competitions such as Idols and The Voice of Finland.
One of Dimov‘s many projects is “Nightwish Days” or “Nightwish Week”, a workshop for talented young musicians and artists from all over the world. This event will take place from 3rd till 16th July 2015 in Kitee, Finland. The first “Nightwish Week” was enormously successful, so we decided to learn more about this event.
Hi Plamen! What was your first big project?
My first big project happened in 1977. It was a tour with Big Band Plovdiv in Bulgaria where I was playing bass. As for Finland, I would say my big breakthrough was with the CD called Chameleon on which tenor sax was played by my dear student- Tuomas Holopainen (keyboardist and mainman of Nightwish). The CD was issued in 1995. How did you come up with the idea of organizing Nightwish Week?
I always keep in touch with thousands of fans through Facebook, so I thought about gathering them all together in Finland, especially those fans who are also musicians. One of the fans I got to meet was Dean Kopri from Croatia. He’s a fantastic musician, but not just that, he’s a good friend and a lovely person as well. His covers of Nightwish have been watched over 400 000 times on YouTube, and both Tuomas and his mother were amazed as to how he played the cover of the song Ghost Love Score. Next year (in 2015) he will be a music director of Nightwish Week.
I was told you arranged a little surprise for the participants…
Yes! They did not know that they will meet the band, so when the time came, I invited them for some drinks at a local bar where they were greeted by Tuomas, Floor, Emppu, Marco and Jukka. (Smiles) All of them (the participants) were very much excited and at the same time, nervous. There was a slight tension in the air in the first few moments, but after a couple of minutes, the band and our visitors started bonding and sharing their experiences. I was happy that my little group had the chance to meet their idols. Haha, Dean (whom you have previously mentioned), told me he was left speechless seeing Nightwish in front of him. He said that he was aware they were only humans like all of us, but at the same time he couldn’t stop being nervous.
I know! (Laughs) He had a good reason to be nervous. Nightwish and Tuomas gave him rights to use their music for one of his projects on that day; but, he’ll tell you more about it. (Winks) Oh wow! That’s a big thing! I will have to congratulate him. You know, his descriptions of Finnish people, nature, food, saunas, concerts, your visitors and of course, the band, made me decide to join you next year.
I’m glad to hear that! (Laughs) He’s a good P.R. That’s one of the reasons why I made him our music director for next year.
I’ve noticed that Tuomas’ parents play a big part in the Nightwish Week…
They like the idea, so they tend to participate in the event daily. They tell our fans stories about Tuomas, show them his house and room and help me introduce them to Nightwish’s life here in Kitee. It seems that everyone was overwhelmed by their warm welcome…
Yes, they are wonderful and modest people who are now trying to present Tuomas and Nightwish in a completely different and approachable way. They show us humans that stand behind musicians we all love. After all, they are the ones who know Tuomas the best. (Smiles)
Video of Tuomas‘ parents singing – Dimov was voted to be “the wisest man in Kitee”, and they congratulated him:
Who are the people invited to attend Nightwish Week?
There are two groups of people that come here. The first group is concert group and people involved with media. We’re talking about musicians, singers, journalists etc. The second group is made of fans, and visitors who come here to listen to our concerts, learn Finnish language and its culture, and who enjoy spending time in the capital town of Symphonic Power Metal. (Winks) Tell me a bit more about the program and the accommodation…
Everyone attending Nightwish Week pay for their own travels. The concert and media group is living here for free. The second group- visitors, pay 25 euros each day they choose to attend. These 25 euros cover 3 meals a day, a room, Finnish language course, and free tickets to all concerts we play.
I loved your slogan- Against racism, bullying and rapes with music. Who came up with it?
Huh, I’m not sure really. I think all of us attending Nightwish Week 2014 came up with the slogan together. These will be your third Nightwish Days; can you take us back to your first year?
The first event was kind of a “try out”, but it turned out to be very successful. We got over 1.7 million likes on our Facebook pages. We have more than 500 000 views on videos related to Nightwish and Nightwish Week on YouTube with Dean from Croatia holding the first spot. If you combine all the likes, comments and views on various Facebook pages, the number exceeds 80,000000, which blows my mind! We achieved all of this thanks to the young and talented people from all over the world. Dean Kopri‘s video for ‘Ever Dream’:
You have been teaching music many of today’s famous musicians. Who was your favorite pupil?
Definitely Tuomas (Nightwish). Maybe it’s because I knew him before the others from Nightwish. I met Tarja in 1992. She was a cute, ladylike, girl with a brilliant voice. The first song I did with her was Greatest Love Of All by George Benson. NGHTWISH in the early days with Plamen Dimov:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNRahGTlE6s Can you remember a funny anecdote involving members of Nightwish or something that makes you proud of them?
Yes! I was very proud of Tuomas when he came from the USA (where he has spent time as an exchange student). He was so much better at English than I was. See how many lyrics he has done since then? – Over a hundred I think.
As for the funny anecdote, there are just too many things to mention only one. The guitarist, Empuu, he’s a man of many jokes. You always laugh around him.
Since when have you been helping bands as a producer free of charge?
I began working as a producer in 1995 when Chameleon was released. However, I did get paid somewhat; but, the hard work I have put in my projects over the last 20 years means so much more to me than all the money in this world, and I like it that way. What was your favorite memory in your teaching career?
The historical moment when I met five young and talented Finns whom I’ve had the pleasure of lecturing music and later on in life, letting them fly away. As you can imagine, I am talking about Nightwish. Aside of you, who else is involved in the realization of the already mentioned event?
Basically, it’s me and our school in Kitee- Evangelical Folk High School of Kitee, and of course, some sponsors and domestic organizations. How do you find sponsors and media partners?
We write to them sending our references. Millions of people seek us out on the Internet, which also helps us get sponsors. Thank you! We hope to be your media partners for the next Nightwish Week and we would love to stay in touch with you!
Thank you! It would be my pleasure to meet you!
Awaiting the new album, hear how our beloved Nightwish sounds nowadays with ‘Storytime’:
Finland-based symphonic metal storytellers NIGHTWISH are currently working on their upcoming new album. The yet-untitled creation will be the first NIGHTWISH studio-record to feature Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen and is set for a release in spring 2015 via Nuclear Blast. Longtime drummer Jukka Nevalainen will sit out on the recording sessions due to health issues; Kai Hahto (WINTERSUN a.o.) will replace him.
Today the NIGHTWISH release the eighth album trailer. In this episode the band is visiting the rainy city of London to record the choir, orchestral parts and percussions for their new album at Angel Studios. Check it out here:
Commented NIGHTWISH keyboard player and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen: “This must be the sixth or seventh time we’re working with these people. We’ve realized what they can do during these years. So it’s really not a surprise anymore but it hasn’t ceased to amaze me. The level of professionalism is just unbelievable. But even more importantly, they clearly like what they’re doing. The guys we’ve worked with for over 10 years are still up for it.”
Added session-drummer Kai Hahto: “The professionalism is amazing. We were recording ethnic percussion yesterday. Some of the guys had played on Star Wars movies – and done Hans Zimmer soundtracks. I felt myself like a humppa drummer. It was pretty amazing. They know their prima vista. You give them the notation, and they’ll nail it in no time.”
NIGHTWISH also revealed the famed evolutionary biologist and atheist writer/leader Richard Dawkins as a guest on their eighth studio album.
Additionally the band announced their North American tour for April and May 2015. Check out all confirmed dates here:
09.04 USA New York, NY – Hammerstein Ballroom
10.04. USA Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
11.04. USA Worcester, MA – Palladium
13.04. CND Quebec City, QC – Capitole Theatre
14.04. CND Toronto – Phoenix Concert Theatre
16.04. USA Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
17.04. USA Cleveland, OH – Agora Theatre
18.04. USA Chicago, IL – Concorde Music Hall
19.04. USA Des Moines, IA – Val Air Ballroom
21.04. USA Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
22.04. USA Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
24.04. USA Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
25.04. CND Vancouver, BC – Orpheum Theatre
26.04. USA Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
18.04. USA San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theatre
30.04. USA Las Vegas, NV – House Of Blues
01.05. USA Los Angeles, CA – Greek theatre
02.05. USA Phoenix, AZ – Marquee Theatre
03.05. USA El Paso, TX – Tricky Falls
05.05. USA Dallas, TX – Bomb Factory
06.05. USA Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
08.05. USA Orlando, FL – House Of Blues
09.05. USA Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
11.05. USA Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Work
12.05. USA Louisville, KY – Expo Five
13.05. USA Charlotte, NC – Filmore
14.05. USA Silver Springs, MD – Filmore
SYNLAKROSS have released a surprising cover for NIGHTWISH´s “Wish I Had An Angel”, giving new life to the classic version of Nightwish, offering a little game to find the differences between the cover and the original song from the Finnish band. Check it out below.
After their debut album “Melodichrome” published in December 2013 few would expect that the band will been publishing a year later a version of one of the flagship bands of gothic / symphonic metal in recent decades, and to top it off considering that the Spanish band practices a style based on melodic death metal fantasy-themed.
Last November 19 the band announced via networks: “We are glad to announce that the song that we versioned is the hit “Wish I Had An Angel” from Nightwish. Are you surprised? We are also surprised to make this election at first, but we were looking for a famous metal song to explore and challenge ourselves and this song was perfect, because we also wanted to make a difference and show a different side of the band.”
The video features also Ricardo Martinez on keyboards and has been recorded and produced by the band at Novo Estudios en Valencia, Spain, where they already announced this summer that they had recorded a couple of new songs that mark a turning point in the career and on the sound of the band. It seems that they are keeping an ace up their sleeve. While they are giving the last concerts of the year on the “Melodichrome Tour” and when they still on the way of good reviews at every concert, SynlakrosS don’t take vacations, instead this, they continue to work to offer great songs like this one, that they have also put it on FREE DOWNLOAD on soundcloud: http://bit.ly/1zHTBcS
The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance has announced they will be holding a masterclass with NIGHTWISH singer Floor Jansen on the 8th December:
On Monday 8th December, the Institute is excited to welcome symphonic metal singer Floor Jansen to give an exclusive masterclass to Institute students; with a public masterclass being held the day before.
Floor started her career fronting the Dutch metal band After Forever, and now singing for NIGHTWISH and REVAMP. After graduating from one of the Institute’s International partner schools, Rockacademie in Tilburg, Netherlands, she continued studying music theatre and opera at the National Conservatory for two years. She has featured as a guest vocalist on many albums for artists such as Ayreon, Star One, Devin Townsend, and Mayan. She has also starred in live shows including Lowlands, Games in Concert, Christmas Metal Symphony, Epica, Doro and many more.
The session, for all singers, will focus on basic and advanced vocal techniques and song interpretation. It will cover techniques which are used to keep the voice healthy and strong as well as tools to make the story of a song come alive. Floor hopes to help the participants to learn more about themselves regardless of their experience and to help them to bring some new insights to their singing.
Floor has been teaching vocals since 2003 and has been running her masterclass entitled ‘Your Voice’ in the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland this year. The Institute is very pleased to offer Floor the chance to run a public masterclass on Sunday 7th December, followed by an exclusive free event for Institute students the next evening. About her London classes, Floor commented; “I am exited to work with singers who would like to challenge themselves to find their sound, to cross boundaries while stepping out of their vocal comfort zone, to inspire and get inspired!”
The last few tickets for the public masterclass and further information about Floor Jansen are available from http://www.floorjansen.com.
For more information on this event or courses at the Institute, contact us directly: www.icmp.co.uk
Finland-based symphonic metal storytellers NIGHTWISH have just released their seventh “Making Of” trailer for their as-yet-untitled eighth studio album, via Nuclear Blast.
Watch Episode 7, “Almost There” on the Nuclear Blast YouTube channel, check it out below:
“We are actually ahead of our schedule,” reveals NIGHTWISH founding member, composer, and keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen.“Incredibly, Floor [Jansen] has sung about two songs a day. Marco [Hietala] cut the final bass parts in 1.5 days and Emppu [Vuorinen] did the rhythm guitars in a week. I think it was because everything was so well-rehearsed this time. We’ve tried to work more like a band.”
“Tuomas challenged me, using everything I have to offer,” adds Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen. “High, low, soft, whatever, but definitely lower stuff and very soft and intimate things. Something that more by coincidence was something that I kind of missed doing. Something I haven’t explored much and Tuomas wrote parts where I have to use this completely, where I have to go into it entirely. I’m very happy with what came out there.”
NIGHTWISH members are in the wilderness of Hattula, Finland working on new music with producer Tero “TeeCee” Kinnumen. Evolutionary biologist, writer, and atheist Richard Dawkins will be a guest on the new album. Watch all previous album trailers at this location.
NIGHTWISH’s 27-date headlining tour of North America for 2015 launches in New York City on April 9th, hitting three Canadian cities plus Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, then closing out in Silver Springs, Maryland on May 14th. Direct support will come from Swedish heavy metallers SABATON; opening will be Dutch symphonic metallers DELAIN.
Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com; VIP Meet & Greet tickets (which includes early entry + an official tour program) are on sale at EnterTheVault.com.
Dates for the 2015 NIGHTWISH tour with SABATON and Delain are:
04/09/15 Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY
04/10/15 Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA
04/11/15 Palladium – Worcester, MA
04/13/15 Capitole Theatre – Quebec City, QC – CANADA
04/14/15 Phoenix Concert Theater – Toronto, ON – CANADA
04/16/15 Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
04/17/15 Agora Theatre – Cleveland, OH
04/18/15 Concorde Music Hall – Chicago, IL
04/19/15 7 Flags Events Center – Clive, IA
04/21/15 Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
04/22/15 In The Venue – Salt Lake City, UT
04/24/15 Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA
04/25/15 Orpheum Theatre – Vancouver, B.C. – CANADA
04/26/15 Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR
04/28/15 Warfield Theatre – San Francisco, CA
04/30/15 House Of Blues – Las Vegas, NV
05/01/15 Greek Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
05/02/15 Marquee Theatre – Phoenix, AZ
05/03/15 Tricky Falls – El Paso, TX
05/05/15 Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX
05/06/15 Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
05/08/15 House of Blues – Orlando, FL
05/09/15 Revolution – Fort Lauderdale, FL
05/11/15 Marathon Music Work – Nashville, TN
05/12/15 Expo Five – Louisville, KY
05/13/15 Filmore – Charlotte, NC
05/14/15 Filmore – Silver Springs, MD
Fans can purchase NIGHTWISH’s latest release – the live Showtime, Storytime Blu-ray/DVD containing the band’s entire live Wacken Open Air Festival 2013 set + a 2-hour documentary that includes “Please Learn The Setlist In 48 Hours” – and select back-catalogue from the Nuclear Blast USA Webshop.
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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There is a saying that behind every successful man stands a strong-minded woman. You could also say that there is a good manager behind every famous performer; but what about teachers that support and nurture great musicians? They are the people that ignite a spark and love for music in every composer’s heart. Even though they are often overseen; like the sidelines in a play, or harmonies in a song, without them, you get nothing.
Click image to watch the video
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 