BraveWords scribe Carl Begai caught up with multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley (2nd from right) during Nightwish's recent European tour in support of their latest album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful. having worked with the band since 2007 as a session musician, Donockley was brought on board as a full time band member in 2013 when they announced vocalist Floor Jansen was the band's new singer.

Donockley understands any misgivings the fans might have about the band bringing him into the fold.

“I have lots of different roles in this band, really. I don’t mean that as actual quantifiable things, but I do have a lot of input. For want of a better word – and maybe I shouldn’t describe it this way – but it was a sort of spiritual thing for us. When they came to ask me if I would joing the band they came to me with the point that it already felt like I was in Nightwish, did I want to make it official? I did feel like a member of the band anyway, so I said yes, of course.”

Donockley is on board primarily to play the uilleann pipes along with an assortment of other instruments as required, but he hasn’t become an in-your-face update to the Nightwish sound.

“We consciously decided would be a bad thing to ‘Celtify’ every song now that I’m an official member of Nightwish. The power of an instrument like the Uilleann pipes in this kind of music is used sparingly, because that’s where the effect is at its most powerful. You can see it at the shows on this tour. When we kick in with the pipes there’s a definite lift because it’s unusual, it’s different. There’s no other metal band in the world that does it, really. There are few folk metal bands, sure, but not doing it like this. When we kick into ‘I Want My Tears Back’ the place goes bananas, but if we were to do that in every song it would become dull. I’m a serious musician and outside of Nightwish I’m doing all kinds of stuff, so as a consequence to keep me active – because I’m used to being very active on stage – we’ve expanded things and I’m playing guitar on a few songs. I’m not stepping on Emppu’s toes, but rather emulating cellos and violins. So now my input has gone beyond being The Bloke Who Plays The Pipes (laughs).”

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