NIGHTWISH's TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN: New Singer FLOOR JANSEN 'Brings A Lot Of Motivation And Devotion' To The Band

On February 12, FaceCulture conducted an interview with NIGHTWISH mastermind/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen. You can now watch the chat in two parts below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On what new NIGHTWISH singer Floor Jansen brought to the making of the band's new album, "Endless Forms Most Beautiful":

Tuomas: "She brings a lot of motivation and devotion. Before we even entered the rehearsal studio to rehearse those songs, she already knew all the lyrics and songs by heart, according to the rehearsal tape that I had sent her a couple of months before. So the passion for singing her parts and doing this album with us was really there, and still is."

On whether he had to alter his songwriting process to suit Floor's vocal style:

Tuomas: "The songwriting process didn't change at all. Of course, I had Floor's voice in my mind when I was doing those songs, in the same way that I always have Jukka's [Nevalainen] drumming and Emppu's [Vuorinen] guitar playing and Marco's [Hietala] bass playing and singing in my mind when I do the songs… Troy's [Donockley] pipes… all that. Floor, as a singer, she's as versatile as it gets, really, so I didn't have to restrict myself in the songwriting."

On how NIGHTWISH drummer Jukka Nevalainen is doing several months after he sat out the recording sessions for "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" due to health issues:

"He's doing much better. We are in contact all the time, because he still takes care of the band's business — merchandise, all that… And he's actually still a member of the band. That's what it says in the album booklet: 'Drums by Jukka Nevalainen.' 'Drums on this album performed by Kai Hahto.' But he just needs a long breather now. So in two, three years, we'll know about the future."

On how it was recording with a new drummer (WINTERSUN's Kai Hahto) after working with Jukka for so long:

Tuomas: "Weird. Really weird. We rehearsed for about a month with Jukka already, and then he just finally gave up, saying that, 'I can't do this anymore. We have a schedule to keep. We have to find a substitute.' Jukka insisted on us having a substitute [as soon as possible]. And the only person that we could really think of was Kai, because we go back a long way, we know how he's like as a person, he's a good friend, and, of course, a really professional drummer. So, good for us, he had the motivation and the time to be able to join the band and then save the whole project, I could even say. We only had six days to work with him to practice the songs and arrange them before entering the studio. So it was quite the hassle."

NIGHTWISH's new full-length CD, "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", will be made available on March 27 in Europe and March 31 in the U.S. via Nuclear Blast.

"Èlan" video: