FLOOR JANSEN 'Would Love' To Join NIGHTWISH Permanently

In a recent interview with Ghost Cult Magazine, former AFTER FOREVER frontwoman and current REVAMP vocalist Floor Jansen — who has been performing with Finnish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH since last October as the band's touring singer — was asked if she would be willing to front NIGHTWISH permanently if she were asked to fill the slot.

"I've been asked to fill in for the current world tour and for a couple of festival dates, but what will happen after that is still unclear," she replied. "NIGHTWISH will take a break after the current touring cycle and they'll make a decision next year. Until then, everything is still up in the air."

She continued: "If they would ask me, I would be very flattered and I would love to do it. It will be a major overhaul in my life and my career as a singer, but then again, we're not rushing things.

"Both the guys in NIGHTWISH and I have experiences with previous band breakups and all emotions that come with it. It's almost like dating. Things feel good and it's going well, but we're not in a rush to tie the knot, so to speak."

Regarding how she looks back on her experiences as a stand-in singer for NIGHTWISH so far, Jansen said: "It's still too early for me to really reflect on the whole NIGHTWISH adventure, because there are still a couple of tour dates pending, including some summer festivals.

"What can I say? It's an incredible ride and it feels really good. Things went really well from day one. The timing was really awkward, because Annette Olzon just left the band and there wasn't really time to rehearse with the other NIGHTWISH members. Anxiety levels were running high, because replacing a female singer mid-tour is a hazardous experience, to say the least. They were running the gauntlet to make sure that none of the remaining tour dates had to be canceled. They were scared and so was I.

"Things went surprisingly well.

"It doesn't matter where you perform, YouTube will be plastered with movies of the gig the next day, so I really gave it my all. Everyone in the band and crew were really supportive and all the positive reactions and the warm acceptance by the NIGHTWISH fanbase was beyond my wildest dreams.

"Some people would rather see someone else fronting the band, but you can't please everyone."

Jansen made her live debut as the frontwoman of NIGHTWISH on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon.

NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen has known Jansen for more than 10 years already, having previously toured with her former band, AFTER FOREVER.

Asked about the reasons for Olzon's sudden exit from the group, Tuomas told U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine: "I'm sure it came as a shock to everybody. We came out with a statement [regarding the split], which pretty much says it all. It still is a private matter, and that's all we wanna say about it, like, ever. It was an amicable divorce, so to say, and made in good spirit, and we are just looking to the future. There really is no reason to go back into all the details and all that. I mean, this is not politics, this is a rock band."

Regarding whether there is a chance that Floor will become the official new NIGHTWISH lead singer, Tuomas said: "The way that we have decided is that we're gonna continue with her until the end of the festival season in 2013 — just have fun, just do the shows the best we can. I mean, the atmosphere in the band is so good at the moment, [we want to] just enjoy this what we have right now. They try not to think about NIGHTWISH at all for a few months. Everybody take a little vacation. And we already have the rehearsal place for the next album booked in 2014 — from July to September. So that's how far we have planned. But when we do the last festival show next August, after that, it's gonna be total nothing for a few months. So I would say everything is possible, but that's really not the thing that we want to be thinking about right now, because there's absolutely no reason to."