Interviews - English versions

Philippe: It’s nice to see you back in France again. We hope you’re enjoying the French part of the tour…
Heidi: We are!

Philippe: So let’s start with an easy question : How well is the tour running ?
Heidi: So far, so good.
Tuomas: Yes, we had a couple of cancellations, but so far as we did, it’s been great.

Emilie: Heidi, about your voice, lots of people were worrying about your health problems. Some concerts have been cancelled. Wasn’t it too frustrating? How do you feel now? Do you feel better?
Heidi: I feel better. The first two shows that we had to cancel, it was due to my... I wasn’t quite sick, actually. It was due to the dryness in my throat. And that’s why there were only irritating. Just like Simone actually, you know. So we had the same thing. So, that was a bad thing that it happened to both singers at the same tour. But that’s the reality...

Philippe: Next question is for Emppu. Do you still feel as a newcomer in this band?
Emppu: Not that much. Just a little, but I’ve started to feel really comfortable and I really like this band.
Tuomas: We have adopted him. He’s part of our family, yeah!

Philippe: Tuomas, Since now when you are on stage, you play the keyboards, do you miss playing the guitar on stage?
Tuomas: Yes, of course, sometimes. But I’m enjoying myself very much now when playing keyboards. I think, in the future, I’m going to play maybe one or two songs with guitar, but not on this tour. It’s quite different to play keyboards on stage, it’s quite new for me. So I enjoy it very much.

Emilie: So, it’s a question for every one of you. What is your best memory so far from this tour?
Heidi: The best memory... There are quite many of them... I think that in Vienna we had a really great show, in the way that we felt quite good about it. We were like flying there.
Tuomas: And in Toulouse also!
Heidi: And Toulouse. Yes.
Tuomas: Toulouse, very great show.
Heidi: And Barcelona!
Joonas: And Prag!
Heidi: And Prag! (laughs) - There is always something that is good for someone else and so that’s why they change a lot.
Tuomas: I think the best part for me so far is meeting those nice guys of Epica. We have so much fun with those guys, especially with Ariën, he impresses us (doing) different characters from different movies. Now he has learned some voices from Lord of the Rings. There are some very great that impresses us.
Emppu: And Coen is very impressive with his Finnish language...
Heidi: Yes. Yesterday we had a lesson. He is a quite good learner.
Tuomas: It was in Lyon or Toulouse, we went to that local zoo, it was very great.
Emppu: In Lyon.
Tuomas: This free zoo.
Emppu: We could actually meet Mr. Giraffe, there. (laughs)

Emilie: And by the way, you have been in many countries. Did you have time enough to visit them? Some places there?
Philippe: Could you visit anything?
Heidi: Some of us did, I haven’t. I didn’t visit anything on this tour because I’ve been sick, but anyway. But quite many [have]. I think Kasperi is the most outgoing. He always leaves really early and stays the whole day in the city.
Joonas: And we were in Venice...
Heidi: Yes, in Venice we were all day.
Joonas: That was lovely.
Heidi: we had a day off there.

Emilie: And I guess you will visit Paris...
Heidi: Yes, absolutely.

Philippe: Okay, now let’s talk about Amberian Dawn’s music. What’s your composing process? Do you come up with a theme or rather with a tune?
Tuomas: It changes very much. Every song usually has some kind of different techniques: sometimes I just hear some riffs inside my head and start to play and sometimes I explore different things. I just play it on the guitar or with guitar keyboards and something just comes up. It varies very much.

Philippe: And Heidi, how do you fit the lyrics into the tunes?
Heidi: hmmm... How...

Emilie: Is it difficult?
Heidi: It is difficult sometimes, yes. But sometimes it goes really fast. I don’t know how I do it, I just try to put the right words to the melody and also the rhythm. The rhythm is quite important. Sometimes it’s really hard and you have to figure out what word to use, and sometimes you just... There is no [right word] you have to change the whole idea because it doesn’t fit there in a lyrical way. But, so far, so good, nothing really hard.
Tuomas: The rhythm is also for me very important. In fact, when I’m writing these melodies for Heidi, I usually don’t consider her as a singer, instead I consider her as an instrument, and because of that, I usually come up with very difficult melodies to sing. But we are lucky that we have such a good singer, that she can manage to sing all songs.
Heidi: So far... (laughs)

Emilie: By the way, about the lyrics, are you going to find your inspiration from Kalevala for the next album?
Heidi: Yes, I think so. I haven’t started the process yet, but I have some ideas. There will be some Kalevala [stuff].

Emilie: Kalevala seems to be very important for you...
Heidi: Yes, it is really important, of course it should be important for everybody (Finnish people) but there are a few people who actually know it.

Philippe: Amberian Dawn’s music and Nightwish’s music have little in common. However, some people still compare you to them. How do you feel about that?
Heidi: It’s a curse! (laughs)
Tuomas: Of course, there’s some positive way to think about that because of course this is not so a great band and if someone is comparing us with Nightwish, it cannot be such a bad thing. But when we consider the music, I think there is so many different stuff that people shouldn’t compare us. Of course, it’s always about of how you hear music and you handle this stuff, it’s always about that.

Emilie: Can you define Amberian Dawn with one word?
Tuomas: I think everyone has one answer.
Heidi: But you can say your word.
Tuomas: (at Emppu) Do you want to start?
Emppu: “Dummkopf” (= stupid) (laughs)
Tuomas: I would say, it’s all about me, so I say life, it’s my life.

Philippe: And to finish, how do you see your fans, and more specifically, your French fans? What would you like to say to them?
Heidi: They’re the most active, I think. Of course, because of you, that’s why we appreciated really much the work you do. It’s a great thing to have fans, big fans.

Philippe: A last word for the French fans?
Heidi: Thank you!
Tuomas: See you on our next tour.
Emppu: Keep rockin’!

Emilie, Philippe and Thomas: Thank you!