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Interviews : “A beautiful, enjoyable process” – An interview with Tarja Turunen

By on July 28, 2018

Tarja Turunen has had a long career in symphonic metal. From being Nightwish‘s genre-defining opera singer that inspired a generation of symphonic metal bands fronted by mezzo-sopranos to a successful solo career that has been capped off by her second live album Act II. I caught up with Tarja recently to chat about touring, songwriting and the process of producing an album like Act II.

“The process has taken quite a long time you know… I think the whole thing took me from January to the end of May,” she told me. “It requires a lot of work, but it’s fantastic in the end to see it.” The hard work certainly shows, as Act II is a first-class production from start to finish. While the CD focuses on the concert in Milan, Italy, the DVD features another unique concert that Tarja was excited to share with her fans.

“I think the most I enjoyed [was] the London metropolis studio concert, which is something completely different that I’ve never done before… it was exciting because having the hardcore fans like 20 of them right in front of you, breathing the same air and reacting to the songs for the first time ever. You know, we played the songs from “The Shadow Self” for the first time ever as a band it was so exciting, the whole atmosphere inside the little studio that made us work hard and we had a great performance and I think it’s one of the best concerts… it was really something so special and unique, so definitely one of my best moments so far.” This concert was performed for 20 lucky fans, an intimate and intense experience that is something different to what an artist of Tarja’s calibre would normally get to perform.

Even as an experienced touring artist, Tarja still keeps things fresh in her performances. When discussing how she puts together the setlist for her tours, she said, “I chose a setlist that obviously represents the new album, the new work of mine mainly, but also captures the songs that were not recorded on ‘Act I’ that was released after my two studio albums. I wanted the fans to have the possibility to, if they hold these two live records of mine in their collection of records, have the majority of my songs there. I didn’t want to repeat myself too much with the previous live release and the fact that I want to concerts to be powerful, emotional, an experience for my fans, for my public. You know, a majority of these kids, many of them are travelling all over the world to see my concerts. Seeing the hardcore fans that are very loyal to me, they’re seeing me in every kind of event so I also wanted to offer them an emotional show, you know? I have to enjoy it myself, but my public as well, together with me, we have fun and that’s important.”

Tarja also elaborated on the creative process behind such emotional songs, offering a rare glimpse into what can be an intensely personal process for musicians: “[It’s] definitely becoming [a] beautiful, enjoyable process for me, I’m really enjoying writing songs on my own today, more than ever before and I see that my songs are getting a little bit more progressive because I’m getting out of my ‘rules’ in writing, you know? … I usually write at home because on tour I cannot write, anywhere I don’t feel comfortable, I’m not writing music, it needs to be at my home in a place I feel free and happy. So, with the piano I play, I improvise, I usually record if there is anything good coming out, I record only with my phone, I have my phone always around to gather the ideas. Then, I change myself to my keyboard where I have my keyboard and my computer set up and start making the demos and all that. Sometimes, I only have a melody which I get down and create a song around that… Then I work with my guitar players, guitar riffing is important in my music, as important as the symphonic parts, so the riff needs to be right, the drive in the song needs to be right… I have learned enormously since my first solo record so that I can really work alone. In the beginning, I was not able to work alone, I was not. So all that process it’s been amazing to learn and to see that I’m capable of doing this.”

Although Tarja had some trouble naming many Australian artists (hitting the classics like INXS, Men at Work and Airbourne), it’s not for a lack of desire to visit the land down under. She impressed upon me her desire to return to our shores and her dedicated fan base here saying “The fact is that I would love to come over again it’s been way too long you know when I was there for the last time… I have a lot of fans there supporting me… so I get their feedback and support and I’m really super thankful for that but the fact is I need to find a promoter that is willing to bring me, to see me as an artist where I am at the moment. But there’s hope, and I’m really willing to come over, definitely.”

Indeed, she seemed very sincere with this, and it was with similar words that she closed our interview: “I just want to thank all the Australian fans that are there for me, thank you for the patience and thank you for the love and support. That is definitely an important message, please spread it through!”

‘Act II’ is available via earMUSIC. Click here to pre-order your copy on multiple formats.

Click here to read our ‘Act II’ album review.

About

Ben is a metalhead originally from Sydney, who has now moved to Hobart to pursue a PhD in Australian extreme metal. When not studying, writing about or playing metal, he can be found playing video games, browsing Reddit, knitting, fending off his cat or helping out at his local church.