Tarja Turunen
The Beginning of an Era
2008-02-26
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Tarja Turunen’s career in rock music is about as dramatic as her harrowing voice. From 1996 to 2005, the classically trained singer was the primary vocalist for Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. However, after recording the band’s prophetically titled End of an Era DVD, Turunen was abruptly let go from the group—a decision that the vocalist said took her by surprise.
The breakup wasn’t a clean one—there were open letters and personal attacks—but eventually Nightwish moved on with a new vocalist, the pop-ier sounding Anette Olzon. And now, so has Tarja. My Winter Storm is the first solo album from Turunen and doesn't stray too far from her work with Nightwish. There are instances of heavy guitar work, dark atmosphere and symphonic passages; however, My Winter Storm also draws heavily from Turunen’s classical background and her fascination with film soundtracks. The nascent solo artist even had the opportunity to record at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control studios in Los Angeles, where she worked with arranger/composer James Dooley and Slamm Andrews recording and mixing choral and orchestral parts.
Synthesis.net caught up with Turunen over the phone, back on her home Finnish soil after spending some time on vacation in her other home of Buenos Aires, Argentina (her husband, Marcelo Cabuli is an Argentine entrepreneur) following a short European tour to warm up herself, her backing band and crowds to her new material. Turunen expressed a nervous excitement about unveiling her own material for the first time, but she was happy to report that thus far, she’s having the time of her life.
How did the crowds react to the new material on the warm up tour?
Very well. Absolutely very well. I have been very happy. Of course I was nervous—well not nervous. Nervous is the wrong word. I was excited to see how it would go. Coming from Nightwish, this is a completely different picture. I know that the album is not easy. People will really need to get into that, to listen to it carefully. It’s very emotional for me, because it’s my first album, and it’s the first time people will really get to hear me. It went really fine; the band—everything—was excellent. I’ve never really had such a good time on tour.
This is your first time as a solo artist. When you were writing the album, what kind of challenges did that present? You’d been working with Nightwish for about 10 years.
It was definitely completely different. In Nightwish, I was not writing the music myself. It was a big step to take. I didn’t just continue what I have done. Of course, I took some elements from before. I wanted harder guitar riffs and the bombastic orchestra. On the other hand, I had to take it from the perspective of, “This is me. This is what I can bring along with the classical music.” I wanted to bring all of those things together.
When you were in Nightwish, were you always writing your own songs on the side?
It was so hectic all the time. We were touring so heavily with Nightwish—touring and making music—so there wasn’t that much time to do things outside of Nightwish. Of course, I had my classical music, and my classical study before I graduated, but I was doing that in my free time outside of Nightwish. I needed a balance. It was so healthy for me to do something else and be able to do something else, because as a singer, I have had a very long education in classical music. But also, I love challenges. I love to learn all the time out of music, from the people I’m working with. There’s always something else you can learn.
Did you learn a lot about your own voice working on this album?
Definitely. In this album I was recording in a house. We set up a recording studio in a living room corner. I was singing, looking to the faraway sea. Seriously. We were in Spain, on the lovely island of Ibiza, at a vacation house. I was using different techniques. I was using different equipment than I ever had before. I had the freedom that if I got tired, I could go out, then come back and write some lyrics. I did some other things; I went diving, for instance, and when I came back, I wrote a song. I felt free—like a bird. Also, I could choose the keys myself, and I could do the harmonies myself. It was definitely not easy. It was not easy for me, because I did some things, and some mistakes that I probably only hear, but on the other hand it was very innocent the way it turned out.
Videos for the songs on the album [“I Walk Alone” and “Die Alive”] were very filmic. Are you interested in doing more film work? Was there a theme to the album?
I wanted to have everything [invovled with the album] connected. I wanted to make a very strong image. It’s not a concept album. It doesn’t have a story from beginning to end, but it does have a strong image. I don’t want to make music that’s just there, in the background. I need to really feel when I’m doing it, but also when I’m listening to it. I’m old fashioned in that way. I’m making music for real feeling.
One song on the album, the cover, the Alice Cooper song [“Poison”]…I was wondering why you chose that one.
It’s a very good tune. It’s a classic song. It was very important for Mr. Cooper himself in his career. The song, of course, brings me memories from my teenage times. I was having so much trouble selecting the cover. I wanted to do one cover [on the album], and it’s sort of a coincidence, but I was driving along in my car, and I was listening to rock radio, and I heard the song—and I’m not kidding—five times during that trip. It hit me like a hammer, and then I thought, “How should I do this song? Cello here, a spooky kind of feeling…” It was not easy, but I love the track.
The breakup wasn’t a clean one—there were open letters and personal attacks—but eventually Nightwish moved on with a new vocalist, the pop-ier sounding Anette Olzon. And now, so has Tarja. My Winter Storm is the first solo album from Turunen and doesn't stray too far from her work with Nightwish. There are instances of heavy guitar work, dark atmosphere and symphonic passages; however, My Winter Storm also draws heavily from Turunen’s classical background and her fascination with film soundtracks. The nascent solo artist even had the opportunity to record at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control studios in Los Angeles, where she worked with arranger/composer James Dooley and Slamm Andrews recording and mixing choral and orchestral parts.
Synthesis.net caught up with Turunen over the phone, back on her home Finnish soil after spending some time on vacation in her other home of Buenos Aires, Argentina (her husband, Marcelo Cabuli is an Argentine entrepreneur) following a short European tour to warm up herself, her backing band and crowds to her new material. Turunen expressed a nervous excitement about unveiling her own material for the first time, but she was happy to report that thus far, she’s having the time of her life.
How did the crowds react to the new material on the warm up tour?
Very well. Absolutely very well. I have been very happy. Of course I was nervous—well not nervous. Nervous is the wrong word. I was excited to see how it would go. Coming from Nightwish, this is a completely different picture. I know that the album is not easy. People will really need to get into that, to listen to it carefully. It’s very emotional for me, because it’s my first album, and it’s the first time people will really get to hear me. It went really fine; the band—everything—was excellent. I’ve never really had such a good time on tour.
This is your first time as a solo artist. When you were writing the album, what kind of challenges did that present? You’d been working with Nightwish for about 10 years.
It was definitely completely different. In Nightwish, I was not writing the music myself. It was a big step to take. I didn’t just continue what I have done. Of course, I took some elements from before. I wanted harder guitar riffs and the bombastic orchestra. On the other hand, I had to take it from the perspective of, “This is me. This is what I can bring along with the classical music.” I wanted to bring all of those things together.
When you were in Nightwish, were you always writing your own songs on the side?
It was so hectic all the time. We were touring so heavily with Nightwish—touring and making music—so there wasn’t that much time to do things outside of Nightwish. Of course, I had my classical music, and my classical study before I graduated, but I was doing that in my free time outside of Nightwish. I needed a balance. It was so healthy for me to do something else and be able to do something else, because as a singer, I have had a very long education in classical music. But also, I love challenges. I love to learn all the time out of music, from the people I’m working with. There’s always something else you can learn.
Did you learn a lot about your own voice working on this album?
Definitely. In this album I was recording in a house. We set up a recording studio in a living room corner. I was singing, looking to the faraway sea. Seriously. We were in Spain, on the lovely island of Ibiza, at a vacation house. I was using different techniques. I was using different equipment than I ever had before. I had the freedom that if I got tired, I could go out, then come back and write some lyrics. I did some other things; I went diving, for instance, and when I came back, I wrote a song. I felt free—like a bird. Also, I could choose the keys myself, and I could do the harmonies myself. It was definitely not easy. It was not easy for me, because I did some things, and some mistakes that I probably only hear, but on the other hand it was very innocent the way it turned out.
Videos for the songs on the album [“I Walk Alone” and “Die Alive”] were very filmic. Are you interested in doing more film work? Was there a theme to the album?
I wanted to have everything [invovled with the album] connected. I wanted to make a very strong image. It’s not a concept album. It doesn’t have a story from beginning to end, but it does have a strong image. I don’t want to make music that’s just there, in the background. I need to really feel when I’m doing it, but also when I’m listening to it. I’m old fashioned in that way. I’m making music for real feeling.
One song on the album, the cover, the Alice Cooper song [“Poison”]…I was wondering why you chose that one.
It’s a very good tune. It’s a classic song. It was very important for Mr. Cooper himself in his career. The song, of course, brings me memories from my teenage times. I was having so much trouble selecting the cover. I wanted to do one cover [on the album], and it’s sort of a coincidence, but I was driving along in my car, and I was listening to rock radio, and I heard the song—and I’m not kidding—five times during that trip. It hit me like a hammer, and then I thought, “How should I do this song? Cello here, a spooky kind of feeling…” It was not easy, but I love the track.
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