TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN
Kitee is the moonshine capital of Finland. For years, the hooch industry was this rural backwater’s most famous export. “Say Kitee to any Finnish person, and the first thing they think of is moonshine,” says Nightwish’s keyboard player and mastermind Tuomas Holopainen, a lifelong resident of the town. A look of disgust crosses his face. “I hate the stuff. It’s absolutely horrible.”
He can savour the fact that his band have overtaken nuclear-strength grog as the biggest thing to have emerged from Kitee in the last two decades. What started out as an acoustic project dreamed up around a campfire in the woods in the mid-90s has become a symphonic metal juggernaut and the most successful Finnish band ever.
There has been turbulence along the way – most notably the acrimonious firing of original singer Tarja Turunen in 2005. They hit another bump at the start of 2021 when linchpin bassist and co-vocalist Marko Hietala announced his departure. “I was totally devastated for a few days,” says Tuomas of the latter. “I was almost completely sure that this was the end of the band.”
Clearly, it wasn’t. Not only have Nightwish recruited touring replacement Jukka Koskinen, but Tuomas has been working on material for the follow-up to 2020’s Human.:||: Nature. (he also managed to record the second album from his side-project, Auri, during lockdown).
“Nightwish is not some dream come true for me,” he insists of the 25-year journey that has
