Founder/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen contacted BW&BK; upon the completion of the demo for their still untitled follow-up to the nearly year-old Century Child, which just received a domestic, North American release.

“We have been working really hard on the demo of the new album. I think we’re working harder than ever. I’ve been in the studio every day, for the last month and a half, going in in the morning and coming home at night. It also tells me the whole band is more enthusiastic than ever, about the new material. There’s a real nice atmosphere, just hanging around with each other. We just made the final mix of the demo,” says the uncharacteristically upbeat Finn, “about an hour ago. The demo includes twelve songs. Now we can listen to it and make some changes, as we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks. One is entirely by Marco (newcomer/bassist Hietala). He gave me a demo CD with 3 or 4 of his songs and that one fit the material we are doing really well. The actual drum recordings start next Monday, so we have a few more days of intensive training, then we start!”
“Playing, is more fun than ever, but there’s still a lot of sad lyrics and melancholy on the new album. I think this will be the first album since OCEANBORN where you can really hear us having fun, being a teenager again, just having rehearsals with the band, without any expectations from the media. At least that’s how it’s been feeling in rehearsals. Today, we played for five hours, with the guys! I’ve always considered Nightwish a hobby with a schedule. It’s not really work, but it’s not a hobby (you can forget about for long stretches) either.”

Speaking of schedules, the next album is slated for completion by the end of March, for a May/June 2004 release. A string of European festival dates will commence, followed by a massive European tour in the fall and then (fingers crossed!) North America!

“I hear it’s going to be the biggest (world) tour we’ve ever done. It’s going to include Japan for the first time.”

Given the propensity for melodic metal in the Land Of The Rising Yen, it’s surprising the Finns have yet to cross the Pacific. The reason, however, has nothing to do with lack of time within their demanding tour schedule.

“We haven’t had much success there. The guys from Burrn magazine told us that Japanese culture is too conservative. They can’t look up to a woman. According to them, Japanese culture can’t handle that. I asked them, ‘What about Sinergy? They are selling really well…’ They said it’s down to two guitar heroes! Now Japan is calling, so maybe we’ll have a chance.” Their loss!