TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN Reveals His Favorite Thing About Each NIGHTWISH Bandmate

In a new interview with Bear Wiseman of Off The Record, NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen was asked to name his favorite thing about each one of his bandmates, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley, singer Floor Jansen, drummer Kai Hahto and bassist Jukka Koskinen. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "They are the only other people in the world that I think about when I'm writing songs, because it's really important that they would be inspired about the stuff as well.

"I've known Emppu for more than 30 years, and he's just an incredible persona in the way that everything's always good with him," Tuomas continued. "He's the easiest-going bandmember there is. He does his job — his guitar playing is as professional as anybody — but other than that, it's always, like, 'Yeah, whatever.' 'Yeah, that sounds good. I'm fine.' He's so carefree, I'm almost envious about that because I worry about stuff constantly. So to get into his mind every now and then would be something else. He's a wonderful character. Same goes with Troy. He's just the most positive guy in the world. An incredible musician. Every time he enters the room, the room is filled with light and happiness and comedy. Yeah, he has definitely realized something thorough about life. Yeah, wonderful."

Tuomas added: "Floor is the best in the world in what she does. Really passionate about music, really understands the core of NIGHTWISH. And for me as a songwriter, that's such a relief because I know that whatever I do, whatever I want her to do, she's able to do. And a good example of this was when we recorded her vocals for this new album [the upcoming 'Yesterwynde']. We hadn't rehearsed once because we didn't have a chance. And we went to her home studio in Sweden. We had reserved two weeks for the recordings, and she was done in six days. Incredible, just incredible in what she does. Then Kai, too, again, the most amiable guy there is. I think he has like 25 guests on every single show we do and he doesn't know half of them. Yeah, everybody's his friend. So easy to be with. Pro musician, of course, obviously. What a drummer. But just fantastic guy. And same goes with Jukka. I mean, I've never, ever seen him angry or even agitated. He's just, like, 'Yeah, things will be okay. Let's talk about this.' And yeah, just a grounding personality. When you feel a bit agitated yourself, Jukka comes to you and you're, like, 'Oh, okay.' And a great bass player, of course. So lucky to be surrounded by these wonderful people. I really am."

NIGHTWISH's new album, "Yesterwynde", will be released on September 20 via Nuclear Blast. It marks the band's tenth studio LP, following on from the release of "Human. :II: Nature." in 2020.

In 2023, NIGHTWISH announced that the band wouldn't stage any tours in support of its then-unannounced tenth album. In a statement, Tuomas and his bandmates explained that "personal" reasons were the reason for the live hiatus and clarified that it had nothing to do with Jansen's then-pregnancy. The singer gave birth to her second daughter in October 2023.

In an interview with Metal Hammer last month, Holopainen said that NIGHTWISH still have no plans to tour after the release of "Yesterwynde".

"The reasons [for the live break] are personal," he said. "We're not going to go into it, but it was something that had to be done for this band to continue. There's no bad blood between the members, nothing like that. We just have to take a long breather."

The follow-up to 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", "Human. :II: Nature." was a double album containing nine tracks on the main CD and one long track, divided into eight chapters, on CD 2.

In August 2022, NIGHTWISH announced the addition of Koskinen as an official member of the band. Koskinen, who made his live debut with NIGHTWISH in May 2021 at the band's two interactive experiences, had spent the previous year touring with NIGHTWISH as a session musician.

In November 2022, Jansen revealed that she was "cancer free" after undergoing surgery to have a tumor removed following a breast cancer diagnosis.

Photo credit: Tim Tronckoe (courtesy of Nuclear Blast)