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© 2006 - present, Sabrina

translation by Risto




Tuomas Holopainen from Nightwish will be 30 years old on Christmas, but misses the innocence of childhood.

The meeting with Tuomas has been agreed to a peaceful restaurant in Helsinki. I enter the place well in advance, but he is already sitting in the corner table. You don't have to wait for this star.

-I can place myself in someone elses position, he says about himself later.

The night before, he has returned from London Abbey Road, where the known arranger Pip Williams will begin doing the orchestral arrangements to his new songs. The new Nightwish cd is under construction and it will feature a symphony orchestra from London.

During 2004-2005 Nightwish rose to the peak of international success. The video made for the song Nemo kept playing on the sky-channels and the band toured over the world. Then the boys fired Tarja Turunen.

The interest from the media blew up and was aimed at Holopainen, usually at the background. He woke in the morning to an SMS from a friend "Don't go near the newspaper-stalls"

-The months after firing Tarja have been the hardest I've lived I have to gather pieces of me back together.

Especially some "revelations" done by certain magazines depressed Tuomas so much that he started to fear people.

-After last october, it's been twice as hard to go the store and feel the eyes on your back. I don't like crowds altogether, I ain't the most social guy in the world.

Surprising, but very sincere talk from a man who has played in England in front of 55000 people. On the other hand, the crisis help Tuomas to see things in the right measures.

-I've noticed how hooked I am on people close to me, even though I've always thought of myself as a recluse. I am so lucky to have the band and my family around. This world cannot be faced alone.

The experience also proved true the old adage: What does not kill you, makes you stronger.

-Maybe I am now a bit stronger person.

The succesful international rock-career and the tabloids of magazines seem to be left light-years behind when Holopainen starts to tell about his childhood and hometown, a 10 000 citizen town named Kitee in Northern Carelia.

-I am lucky to have a job that allows me to live where I want to.

Tuomas has bought the summerplace of his grandma, Airi Nortia and is currently building his own house on the same place, by the lake.

-I have a classic wish to be in my new home for Christmas. The last 10 years I've lived in hotels buses, and my parents spare bedroom.

The long stay at home has been succesful because the relation to his parents is quite ok. Kirsti Nortia-Holopainen is a teacher and Pentti Holopainen is a known man in Northern Carelia. Their lives do not only circle around the guy in the spare bedroom.

Tuomas has always got to enjoy support from his parents. Even in 1998, when after a year of studuing, he said he'd quit and become a musician.

My dad didn't say anything against it, but loaned me 10 000 markkas for a decent keyboard.

The relation to his mother is a close one, but it needs no long talks to get along.

-If I have something on my heart, I may mention it to my mom and we'll talk for 5 minutes. Overally, we don't talk much. I like being with myself.

Tuomas' granpa, Martti Nortia, was the head of Kitees Church in the 50's and 60's and his reputation still lives in Kitee. He was buried in Kitee in 1996, the same year that Nightwish was taking it's first steps.

-He was a really warm person. He was good in inventing things and always wanted to cheer us up. At the same time he was very spiritous. He seemed to suck everything from life on every moment.

The granpa also saw Tuomas' specialquality at a young age.

-I once decorated the Christmas Tree and my granpa stopped to look at it and said "this kid has talent in art.

All Nightwish lyrics are written by Tuomas. Biblical things come up all the time. In his early songs The Carpenter and Gethsemane he deals with hypocrisy and compares his suffering into that of Jesus. He also wears a prayer-ribbon when playing live. No wonder that fans often ask about his relation to religion.

Holopainen confesses to be a searcher and a thinker. Religions interest him. Christian values are a heritige from home but also the freedom to think for yourself.

-It's great when a person believes. I am somewhat envious if someone has a strong belief of something.

-I keep searching all the time but there are more questions than answers. Maybe it's good that way. I feel like a sceptic nowadays. I think everything is possible but nothing is for sure.

Holopainen thinks many religions have good tips for life. Yet he hasn't betrayed his roots.

-Christianity includes so great things, that I am not even thinking of signing out from church. "Do to others what you wish they would do to you" and "when someone hits you on your cheek, turn him the other one". These are rules I try to live by myself.

On the other hand, selling a belief to someone, and thinking of one religion as the only right one, gets his hair stand. The God of Holopainen is not a harsh and demanding one.

-I see God the same way I see my granpa. A bit fat, humorous and accepting. Giving you feed- back when things go over the top.

-I feel I am equal with my god.

Religious things can also be explained the Darwin way. Man is afraid of his own mortality and creats an illusion of a never-ending world. Holopainen thinks this is a too simple explanation.

-There are 2 things that make me think of divine-ness. The greatest tip to that direction is conscious. Why did I feel bad when I smoked cigarettes behind the corner as a kid? No one saw it!

-The other question is cosmological. Where is the Universe from and what's outside its borders? I am absolutely pro-evolutiontheory but keep thinking if there's a force behind this all.

He connects a will to keep together with his own with the evolution-thinking.

-Might sound rude but I want people close to me feel good, before helping African children. During the last few months, I've though of taking part in charity, having said the above though.

He doesn't, however, want to become the next Bono or Bob Geldof. And it's useless to search his lyrics for views of the world, he is the interpretor of private pain.

It's been said that the most private is the most common. The secrets buried inside connect us to each other. This partly explains the success of Nightwish as well.

-The Nightwish songs are about deep longing, grief and hopeless love.

Tuomas doesn't hide behind a fictional character but gives a permission to read his mind via the songs he writes.

-Sometimes I get asked why I give up so much personal things in my songs. It's true that I make songs of things that I can't even discuss with my parents.

-Music is my way to deal with things inside me. The biggest blessing and curse in my life is that I feel so strongly about everything. Making music offers a comfort.

Tuomas thinks that making music has to start by being totally honest to yourself.

-When making a song, you can't think of others, not the band, not the audience. A song is born from your brains, and needs no cencoring afterwards.

As a key-song, Tuomas says that Dead Boys Poem is the one. It sums up everything he feels and has felt.

-A great agony and also the will to live were battling inside me at that time. I am a poor talker when it comes to either thanking someone, saying sorry or telling someone to fuck off. I wanted to do it all in this song.

Success hasn't changed Tuomas' thoughts about himself. He thinks he has a low self-esteem.

-When I meet a new guy, I always think he is better than me. I don't know where it's coming from because I had a very happy childhood. But something good has also come out of it: I think I am a noble person in front of the World.

Nightwish is Tuomas' creation, his work of life.

-But to a certain point, we're just a band. I can listen to my old songs and laugh at myself.

Like in fantasybooks, also heavy metal deals with themes greater than life. Also in NW-songs you meet elfs and good and bad are batttling for hearts.

Tolkien-stories have accompanied Tuomas since he was a child. He still reads fantasy, David Eddings and Stephen King among others.

He feels being at one with very melancholic poems from Uuno Kailas and Eino Leino. Also Shakespeare and romantic poet Coleridge give something to NW-lyrics.

Holopainen also enjoys Donald Duck, still. He tells about a current visit to the magazine press.

-I was promised that Nightwish can be seen in the mag in some form in the future, he tells about a dream coming true. In the Nightwish-songs the longing for the past keeps popping up, something Tuomas connects with his childhood.

-For the first 12 years, I lived a happy, magic-like childhood. Everything was fine and everyone was friends with each other, and understood nothing about the evilness of the world The fact that there's no returning to innocence, hurts like hell.

-Genuine sensuality and kindness touch me when I rarely run into them. I wouldn't like to become too cynical.

To Tuomas,Christmas doesn't mean a religious party, but a flash from time once lost.

-To me, Christmas is the celebration of childhood innocence and joy arising from it. The Christmas magic and the peace and quietness of winter appeal to me.

When Tuomas looks to the future, he sees more music and new challenges. He wishes NW to find a new singer by the end of the year. Thousands of applicants have been listened to, and some promising ones have been found as well.

-Maybe somewhere awaits the biggest adventure, family! But the time for that is not yet I am having a stong "wanderlust" at the present time.

The urge to travel has taken Tuomas all over the world but his power to creat, gets loaded in the peace of North-Carelia. To end the interview, he shakes hands and tells "I am now going to Kitee".

After 5 hours in the car, the heavyman is home again.