Tuomas Holopainen founded Nightwish, writes most of their music and has been in every lineup the band has had. He says none of that makes him indispensable.
In the new issue of Metal Hammer, the 49-year-old keyboardist said Nightwish has always been more than the sum of its parts, and that the band could survive the loss of any current member.
“I honestly think at this point, if any member – including myself – left, the rest of them could continue. Any of us. Because we have evidence enough that this band can work with any combo,” he said.
The evidence he is referring to is thirty years of changes. Holopainen started Nightwish in Kitee, Finland, in 1996, and he and guitarist Emppu Vuorinen are the only members who have been there throughout. The band have had three lead singers: Tarja Turunen from 1996 to 2005, Anette Olzon from 2007 to 2012, and Floor Jansen, a permanent member since 2013. Troy Donockley joined permanently the same year, and Kai Hahto became the official drummer in 2019. Marko Hietala left in January 2021, and Jukka Koskinen of Wintersun, who first played with the band that May, was named his replacement in August 2022.
The most bruising of those changes was the first. Nightwish dismissed Turunen in 2005 with an open letter accusing her of putting business and money ahead of the music, an accusation she denied. Holopainen told Metal Hammer that the band deserved some of the criticism they received at the time.
“There was no future for us together. We were just operating in survival mode and plagued by these dark thoughts. We got completely butchered in the media – it was like we were these evil neanderthals who’d hurt our wonderful ex-singer. I got some really interesting letters, let’s put it that way,” he explained.
He describes his relationship with Turunen now as cordial but distant, and says a reunion will not happen.
“It was a divorce, and an ugly one at that. So I think we have our own lives now. Someone did say to me if we got Tarja and Marko back in, we could tour just South America for a year straight. That’s not gonna happen,” he said.
The band are currently off the road, and Holopainen wants a new album finished before that changes. He has seven songs written for what will be Nightwish‘s eleventh studio record, and pointed to 2028 as the earliest likely return to touring.
“Next year is too early to be going back on tour. The year after, possibly?” he added. “I want to do another album before any live shows, and that’s definitely happening.”
In the meantime the band will mark their thirtieth anniversary with The Greatest 30 Years On Earth, released on December 11 through Nuclear Blast. It collects live audio and video from their 2022 Amsterdam arena show and their 2023 homecoming concert in Kitee, alongside studio recordings, photographs and a new documentary centred on Holopainen. Their most recent album, Yesterwynde, came out in 2024.
Jansen will be the first member back on stage. Her second solo album, Hytress, is released on January 15, 2027 through REVAMP Music and Warner Music, and she tours Europe and South America with her own band that year.
