Nightwish planned to split with singer Anette Olzon before the angry exchange that led to her departure this week.
Stand-in singer Floor Jansen, who was given 15 hours’ notice ahead of her first appearance, has revealed she’d been preparing to start the job in November.
The split came after Nightwish performed a show without Olzon, who told fans she’d had to go to hospital, then objected to the Finnish outfit having played on in her absence.
She delivered one last show with them on Saturday, September 29 – by which time they’d already decided to get rid of her. The official announcement came on October 1.
Jansen tells 3FM: “On the Saturday morning I got a text message saying, ‘How fast can you come to the USA?’ I packed everything as quickly as I could and booked a ticket.
“They had already asked me to join them on the road for the dates in November, December and January. I had been preparing for it a little, for a week. Since those plans changed I ended up only having a few days to get ready.”
No decision has been taken on whether Jansen will continue with Nightwish after the tour. Former frontwoman Tarja Turunen, who was sacked in 2005, recently said she had no interest in returning.
Meanwhile, Nightwish touring musician Tory Donockley says the split with Olzon was “for the best.” He explains: “The joy of this adventure was being wrecked and everyone was feeling very insecure. It was seriously interfering with our tasting sessions of the fine wines from the Napa Valley. Outrageous!
“We never could have predicted that myself and Tuomas Holopainen would find ourselves on stage, alone, asking an audience of over 1,600 in Denver to vote by a show of hands on whether the band should perform or not. Touchingly we were met by a sea of upraised hands; beautiful – but how surreal.
“We are all feeling a squillion times better. Our replacement singer Floor is simply majestic and we are having fearless fun. And on evidence of the ecstatic response to the last two shows, the fans seem to understand that this ‘vehicle of spirit’ cannot be derailed so easily.”
Nightwish’s movie Imaginaerum, based on the album of the same name, premieres on November 10.
-Classic Rock Magazine
You must log in to post a comment.