Just one year ago there were a lot of rumours concerning Nightwish's future. Tarja wanted to concentrate more on her studies in Germany so the band announced that they gonna take a brake. Even though it has never been said that this is the end of Nightwish, the media startet to speculate about it. At the lastest since Nightwish played more than 20 shows this summer everybody should have recognized that we'll get more of this great Finnish band. The first thing will be their second DVD called "End Of Innocence" (already released in Finland) which is no Live-DVD like "From Wishes To Eternity" is. The recordings for the next album will start in November. Jukka (drums), Marco (bass, voc.) and Tarja (voc.) are now telling you more about the break, the DVD and the new album.

- In June you started to play gigs again… I was a bit surprised when I heard this 'cause I thought that the brake would take longer. Did you know from the beginning that you'll come back live so soon?

Marco: It was supposed to take a little bit longer but it got out of hands. We were meant to do a few shows during the summer... a few festivals.
Jukka: Well, they got more and more and now we had something like 22 shows.
Marco: It was kind of mistake...
Jukka: ...but a nice mistake.
Tarja: It is really very funny to think about the official "break" for one year, because actually there wasn´t any real break. When I decided to move back to Finland when my studies would be over in Germany the booking agency started to book shows. Since the beginning of this year we knew that we will be quite busy the whole summer. For us it has been great fun to play these shows all over the world and see the response of the people. Sometimes everybody of us needs some time for ourselves, so the break which didn´t last that long gave us already enough and it seemed to be good to move on.

- Let's come to the DVD: "End of Innocence" includes a documentary part. Of what is this documentation made of?

Tarja: After three huge tours in all around the world, we had an unbelievably amount of good off- stage and on- stage material for a new DVD. We still needed to have something very special for the documentary, so the answer was found when the Finnish music journalist Mape Ollilla, who has been closely working with us since the very beginning, asked Tuomas for an in-depth interview. The interview was made and filmed at his summer cottage in Finland with Nightwish members and crew. The result is the 204 minutes long End of Innocence, which tells the band's story with our own words from the beginning to the present day. It is funny, honest, maybe even shocking in some points but it is the real story of Nightwish, of these years that we have been going through together.
Marco: From what I've seen I can say about the DVD that it's kind of tragedy with a lot of comedy.

- I read that we can see something about the first gig that Nightwish ever did...

Marco: Yeah, you can see a part of the very first Nightwish show, which was played in Kitee in the year 1997.

- Do you remember how you felt before going on stage?

Jukka: Actually I do. It was kind of scary. We thought it would look a little bit better but it's some kind of comedy. You'll see...
Tarja: I remember that I was frightened and the rest of the guys were, too. It was a great fun but still a terrible thing to do. Before that day I had never thought of being a heavy metal singer and then there I was going on stage with a heavy metal band which didn´t even feel real! I had bought my first leather pants with my mother couple of days before!

- I guess when looking at all the material it was like a journey through your music life with Nightwish. Some funny things, some already forgotten things, some sad moments, too. What was it like for you to see all that stuff?

Tarja: Of course, it is touching to see it yourself. To see all our bad moments and to laugh about the happy and funny ones. It hasn´t been that long way and everything has happened in a very short period of time, so I just wonder how hard it has been to handle all this. Not easy at all but we have made it though!
Jukka: It was very nice to see what has happened through the years because there were parts that I had already forgotten. We could take a look back and see where we have gone.
Marco: For me it was a very good experience to see that whole thing, to see the progress, the work they have done and everything that has happened. It was definitely more real for me then. It made me feel like I am now part of something that has a real history.

- When you saw the material: Would you do everything concerning Nightwish the same way again?

Tarja: As I mentioned before, it hasn´t always been easy to handle things in the best way but still today I can say that Nightwish wouldn´t be the same now if we wouldn´t have gone through these things like we did in the past. I wouldn´t change anything I think. Maybe only from my side I should change the fact that I wasn´t enjoying that much of the good moments on our journey before. I should have done that.

- Whose idea was that whole thing by the way and who is responsible for what comes in and in which way it comes in?

Tarja: The idea came from the interview we did at the summer cottage in Finland. Of course, the story itself has been in Tuomas' hands: He decided how to edit the material. We checked it millions of times and were taking out the shitty material and leaving there the good ones. It has been a hard work because in the beginning we had over 50 hours of material!
Marco: We really had tons of stuff! One of the first versions of the documentary part was something like three hours long...

- As second part we've live material from Summer Breeze Festival 2002 and from the 4th of July in Norway.

Marco: Right. The concert in Norway was a club gig.
Jukka: It's just some extra stuff. It's not really professional recorded or anything. It's put there to have some live shots.
Marco: You get everything out of the sound but they are not really professional.


- Tarja, you moved back to Finland. So are you totally ready now with studying? What is it that you are called now that you have passed the exams?

Tarja: I have moved to Finland because I didn´t feel that good in Germany and my studies were in that position that I didn´t have much to do. I am still going to school, only taking some private lessons from my singing teacher on this autumn for a couple of weeks and the next year I´ll do the same. Then the final exam is still ahead and after that I will be a so called diploma singer.

- Let's now come to the next Nightwish album. On your homepage we can already read a studio diary. Is there a difference when working on the songs because Tarja is in Finnland now, too?

Tarja: There is not much difference because the way how we have been working hasn´t changed. Everyone of us in the band is living very far from each other, so the distance now is only a bit smaller than before. The recordings will start in November and for example I am going to be in the studio maybe only in February, so it takes time.

- Is there anything you basically want to make different in comparison to "Century Child"?

Jukka: I don't think so... I mean we don't think about it. We just make music and we wait what Tuomas composes and then put our stuff in it and see what happens... what comes out of it. The working process is pretty much the same as it was on the other albums. Tuomas makes the song, we go to the practising place and arrange them together.
Marco: From what I've heard about the stuff Tuomas has made I can tell you that it's gonna be a pretty heavy album.
Tarja: I guess it will be quite the same as Century Child was. But you'll find some new elements there this time, too.

- During the brake with Nightwish you guys were present in other bands. Now when it's going on with Nightwish... will there for some of you be in two bands? And do you think that is something you can manage... after all Nightwish isn't a small band anymore.

Jukka: Well, I am juggling between two bands but the other one of course isn't on that level of success Nightwish is. So it isn't that hard and actually we got the same agent, the same record company, same manager. So I don't have to worry about things getting crossed in any where.
Marco: Concerning me it is pretty much the same. Same label, same booking agent. All can be organized and of course Nightwish has precedence.

- You've been on tour in south America last year and it was a really successful one.

Marco: It was great!

- What is the difference between live gigs there and here in middle Europe?

Jukka: It's like paradise for bands there. They really got a nice attitude having a band come to play for them. They really go for it. Maniacs! It's a little bit different from here.
Marco: Europeans are a little bit more cool. They are more like listening to the music and enjoy it but people get crazy here, too. We are already waiting to get back to South America.

- Any plans what will come after the music business?

Marco: Taking it easily at the balkony on the seaside...
Jukka: If you still have the energy why not playing on stage when you are older? It could be nice. You don't have to think about it as a work because if you do so you gotta get tired of it. We all love this thing.

- What about going on tour with For my Pain, Sethian and Tarot?
Jukka and Marco: That could be a little bit too hard. It would involve a lot of drinking...