NIGHTWISH Vocalist FLOOR JANSEN – "I Hope Bands Aren't Mimicking Us; That Makes No Sense To Me"

On Novmeber 16th, Nightwish vocalist Floor Jansen and bassist/vocalist Marco Hietala caught up with Metal Hammer UK editor Alexander Milas on his radio show. They discussed the band including author Richard Dawkins on the band’s latest album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, inspiring other artists and making music in the wild. An excerpt is available below:

On inspiring a legion of bands that have adopted the trademark bombastic Nightwish sound:

Marco – “I know we’re at the helm of this thing called symphonic rock or whatever, but we don’t really think in terms of that, we’re just a band.”

Floor – “It’s wonderful if our music inspires people, but I hope bands aren’t mimicking us, that makes no sense to me. You have to go into music with true passion, you have to go in all the way, it would feel unnatural not to. When I joined the band the chemistry was there instantly, we had the same vision. Plus, I feel in love with the Finnish way of thinking, of being out in the woods with the band, that was perfect, that’s how I want to live life, sitting out by the camp fire with some music and you can choose to engage or not. These last few years of the band, things have only changed for the better.”

Go to this location for the complete audio interview.

Nightwish recently sold out their biggest UK show to date. They will headline the 12,000 capacity sold-out Wembley Arena on December 19th – making history as the first Finnish band to ever headline the venue.

Tuomas Holopainen comments: “The Wembley Arena show will surely be the most fantastic finale to this ongoing European tour. “Sold Out Wembley” -a phrase from every musician’s dreamland, THANK YOU!”

With the European leg of the Endless Forms Most Beautiful tour underway, Nightwish announce the release of a strictly limited (no re-prints), special tour edition of their current record, coming with a bonus DVD, out in North America on February 19th, 2016 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.

On October 30th, Nuclear Blast released the special tour edition of Endless Forms Most Beautiful in Europe. The set comes with a bonus DVD containing all 21 making-of episodes, which came along before, during and after the album release. Besides those, the DVD includes two new, unreleased live clips for “Yours Is An Empty Hope” and “Stargazers” as well as five special clips incl. documentary scenes for the songs “Planet Hell”, “Last Of The Wilds”, “Storytime”, “Arabesque” and “Last Ride Of The Day”. On top, there will be a huge photo gallery with more than 400 pictures, taken on the road and during the promotional period of Endless Forms Most Beautiful.

Check out the above-mentioned live clip for “Yours Is An Empty Hope”:

Pre-orders can be placed at this location.

The tracklisting is as follows:

CD
“Shudder Before The Beautiful”
“Weak Fantasy”
“Élan”
“Yours Is An Empty Hope”
“Our Decades In the Sun”
“My Walden”
“Endless Forms Most Beautiful”
“Edema Ruh”
“Alpenglow”
“The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula”
“The Greatest Show On Earth”

DVD
“Yours Is An Empty Hope” (live)*
“Stargazers” (live)*
‘Planet Hell” (special clip)
“Last Of The Wilds” (special clip)
“Storytime” (special clip)
“Arabesque” (special clip)
“Last Ride Of The Day” (special clip)
Making-of
– The Cabin
– By The Lake
– Inside His Head
– Summer Camp
– More Campers
– New Hometown
– Almost There
– London
– Mixing And Mastering
– Ready!
– Release Of The First Single
– The Theme Of The Album
– The Recordings For Floor & Kai
– Thoughts And Feelings
– The Release
– The Artwork
– The Tour Rehearsals
– The Tour Starts
– The Second Single
– The Upcoming Shows
– Troy
“Élan” (official video)
“Endless Forms Most Beautiful” (official video)
– Photo gallery

*Previously unreleased, 5.1 Dolby digital & stereo

Trailer:

Remaining 2015 Nightwish tour dates are as listed:

November  
20 – Heineken Music Hall – Amsterdam, Netherlands       
21 – König-Pilsener-Arena – Oberhausen, Germany      
23 – Halle Tony Garnier – Lyon, France    
25 – Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy – Paris, France     
26 – Zénith de Toulouse – Toulouse, France     
28 – St. Jakobshalle – Basel, Switzerland      
29 – Unipol Arena – Casalecchio Di Reno, Italy

December
1 – Zenith – München, Germany      
3 – Schleyerhalle – Stuttgart, Germany     
4 – Jahrhunderthalle Kuppelsaal – Frankfurt Am Main, Germany   
5 – Arena Nürnberger Versicherung – Nuremberg, Germany       
7 – Tip Sport Arena – Prague, Czech Republic       
8 – Wiener Stadthalle Halle D – Vienna, Austria   
10 – Romexpo – Bucharest, Romania     
14 – Arena Leipzig – Leipzig, Germany   
15 – Max-Schmeling-Halle – Berlin, Germany    
16 – Rockhal – Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg     
17 – Lotto Arena – Antwerp, Belgium     
19 – SSE Arena Wembley – London, United Kingdom