STRAGO PRESS RELEASE: Tarja out of Nightwish!

[NeonVomit]

I really like Nightwish, but to be honest, I'm not too disappointed. It didn't strike me nearly as hard as the whole Strato situation last year, because let's face it, Tarja is hardly as irreplacable as Koti. TK never ceases to amaze me, while Tarja has a nice, but quite generic voice. Hell, there's girls in my music course here at university who have a far better voice than her. Plus, you never did get the feeling that she was contributing as much as the other guys to the band. Not one word or note in 9 years, while being the vocalist/frontperson of a band? Even Malmsteen had Joe Lynn Turner write lyrics on a couple of records. Jon Schaffer had Matt Barlow write lyrics on many things as well. If those 2 super-control freaks had their singers contributing to the music, then why on earth not Tuomas, who clearly had the others contributing?

I guess it's a good thing. She's not irreplacable.

[htcdude]

Ah well..life goes on...

[Dawn_is_Here]

Well, I've always liked Nightwish since Oceanborn, and even if they're not in my Top 5 fave bands, I travelled more than 30 hours by bus to see them live in Equador last year, and when I met the guys they all were kind and sweet with the fans. But when I asked Tuomas about Tarja, he told me "she's in her room and her husband doesn't want her to be disturbed" , so I never met her, and I felt Tuomas was pissed off about that situation too.

I hope they keep on doing great music, whoever new vocalist they choose for the future. The same luck to Tarja in her solo project.

Rock On!

[nepi]

I still don't know what to think about. very bad news for me 'cause Nightwish is a very big thing for me and Tuomas lyrics' has inspired me very strong!

I don't think the sound will change, Tuomas is still head of Nightwish and keeps writing lyrics and musics.

Not fair is that Tarja could nothing say about the situation. She received the letter after the gig and that's it. She couldn't say goodbye to all her fans on stage.

I even don't know the exactly background. I mean in such situations we have ever two sides and both are telling different things, but it really looks like her husband is very very jealous and envious to Tarja, the girl he loves and she is been loved by every fan worldwide (or near to this). Tarja, a good-looking girl who's travelling over the world and he has to wait beside the stage and has to observe the fans are sendig her kisses and scream for her... If you would be in such a situation?
So he took his arms to her as the fans begun to talk with her to give a sign: hey guys, this is my woman! It's normal but when it looks morbid, then the limit is passed

[Dragon]

i got this off their website
Here is a letter by Tarja:

Since last Sunday morning, I have been asked to express my position by magazines, newspapers, radio and TV stations, fan clubs and fans from Finland and from all over the world. So many in total that it is physically impossible for me to find the time to reply to them all individually. Hence I decided to put down a couple of words in this text to let my fans, family and friends and the public know how I feel after the recent events.

This is a moment of grief and pain and I find it very hard to speak.

At the moment I am in Argentina. I hope you can understand that after this shocking life change comparable to a divorce, I didn’t want to stay alone at home in Finland. My husband had booked his tickets to Argentina many months ago and I decided to travel with him at the last minute.

But the fact that I am in Argentina and the long distance should of course not be an excuse not to comment on the situation.

Last Friday 21st of October was a day the whole band had been waiting for a long time.

Practice started early in the morning. I was very sick and nervous because of the fact that I was not even able to sing during the rehearsals.

Also nervous because the concert programme was going to be longer than usual for a Nightwish concert. Furthermore we were going to have a special guest to perform with us, more wardrobe changes for myself than usual and for the first time big screens and bigger production on stage.

Not to forget that the concert was going to be recorded and filmed.

The five of us had finally made it to play Hartwall Arena.

Even though every one of us knew in advance that the concert was sold out, finally on stage, we saw that screaming, applauding and standing people took every seat. The feeling was unbelievable.

I will never forget how amazing it was to experience the Finnish audience’s gorgeous reception.

When the concert was over, I cried of happiness on stage. Happy tears because I was able to do my best as always even though I was sick. Happy tears because our long tour got the greatest possible ending and happy tears because of the best recognition an artist can get: applause and smiling faces.

At that moment I didn’t know that I was going to cry again soon.

After the concert, the guys of the band invited me backstage to join them and asked me to hug altogether. This felt strange as it was the same kind of hug we traditionally came together for before every concert. That tradition remained between us, even though the tension and increasing pressure already existed since a long period of time.

The immediate feeling in me was to thank them, which I did loudly but without any reply.

After this, they gave me a letter and asked me to read it the following day. The same letter that is now public.

I read it and was shocked.

I didn’t know what to say and still at the moment that I am writing these lines, I don’t.

I sense great anger in that letter and I continue to have very confused feelings about it, but I don’t want to reply to this anger with an even greater anger. Private matters should never be taken to the public.

I know this moment we are going through is very sad for everybody, including the guys.

While there would have been so many different possibilities and ways to express what they wanted to tell me with the letter, I remain unable to understand the way they chose to handle this. I am sorry that the guys got me so wrong. I don’t recognize myself at all from the way they described me.


They mentioned mean things about me, but the fact that they involved Marcelo, my husband, crossed the line. He is the man I love, my friend and has been my biggest support over the last years.

We have been band mates for 9 years, experienced good times and not so good ones. I thought I knew them, but I was wrong.

Still everything that has happened is not enough to make them evil in my eyes.

Now comes a time to calm down and reflect upon all of this.

I need to put my feelings together again and I promise to come back to public soon.
I will announce a press conference where I will be talking about my future plans. This doesn’t mean that you should expect this conference to be an instrument to attack anybody. It won’t.

The wonderful music we created together won’t be touched by recent events.

Thanks a lot to all the people who are supporting me during these sad times. My family, friends, colleagues, and the great number of fans. I love you and I really feel I have not failed you.

Tarja

[Dave]

where did you find that letter?

[Shurik]

Let the soap opera begin!

[browneyedgirl]

Now we know both sides.....Or, do we?
Do you guys feel a little de ja vu?

@Shurik, right! Let's see the ending of this one!

Pass the popcorn!

[Cristiane]

Do you guys feel a little de ja vu?

some sort of! super egos, money, people getting blinded by the lights... but this time we've got possessiviness and love involved.

About her letter, I think what I wrote in the koti forum:

Maybe the guys could've talked to her if she was in the backstage together with the guys instead of being locked in her room with her ownercofhusband...
I believe in what Tuomas says about her husband once all the statements I heard and read about his attitude here in brazil some years ago and also in the Live n Louder festival gigs said he kept controlling her all the time.
Nobody would start bashing him like that out of nothing, neither complaining about Tarja being such weak minded and letting him control her.

[Shurik]

What do we have so far:

Boys side - oh, she didn't care for the band, she only wanted the money and spent all the time with her husband instead of playing with us. Let's dump the bitch, write a book filled with our whining and get all the money we can until we reconcile and make a reunion tour!

Her side - oh, it was so unfair, they kicked me out of the band I cared nothing about, wrote no music or lyrics for, I should fly to the other side of the world, cry, cry some more, announce a press conference where I will cry even more and tell everyone to buy my solo stuff ...

Damn, some people should have no access to Internet or mass media ...

[Beast_Pete]

Damn, some people should have no access to Internet or mass media ...

That's true. We all know, that Internet is serious business!

[Jaakko]

Remember that Tarja was never really a part of the band, she was "a hired gun" from the beginning and considered quitting the band years ago for the first time. Then became big success and she stayed, not for the love for metal, but to get what she couldn't get without the music she wasn't able to make by herself. Any reasonable person would've done things the way she did, blaming anyone is useless. This is just the way things go. Nothing lasts forever and I hope the best for Tarja and the other guys and look forward to a new Nightwish album, thinking more about Marco's horrible bass sound to be fixed than about a new vocalist.

[neonlightchild]

thinking more about Marco's horrible bass sound to be fixed than about a new vocalist.

amen...absolutely true

[cliff]

thinking more about Marco's horrible bass sound to be fixed than about a new vocalist.

amen...absolutely true

I second that. Marco and Jari could create a "I'm addicted to Distortion effect" club
Still, who heres consider Marco as a "great" bass player ? He is a great vocalist and a wonderful frontman (and a great person as well), so who cares that he is a bassist who plays with an horrible sound, he is THE man !

[Dragon]

where did you find that letter?

it weas posted on the official Nightwish Forum.

[StragOvariuS]

We have been band mates for 9 years, experienced good times and not so good ones. I thought I knew them, but I was wrong.

[/quote]

After this part, there's one that wasnt translated to english:

"Toki tiesin jo minun ja mieheni suhteen alusta lähtien etteivät bändin jäsenet hyväksyneet häntä. Se oli helposti luettavissa jatkuvasti heidän kommenteistaan ja käyttäytymisestään. Mistä se johtui? Siitä, että hän on syntynyt Etelä- Amerikassa? Siitä, että minä valitsin avioliiton enkä jatkanut olemistani bändin omana tyttönä? Siitä, että olen ainut nainen bändissä eivätkä bändin jäsenet koskaan ottaneet minua vakavasti. Mieheni oli se, joka auttoi saamaan ääneni kuuluviin?"

"Sure I knew from the moment I started a relationship with my husband that the rest of the band did not accept him. It was visible from their comments and their behaviour. What was the cause? Because he is born in South America? Because I chose marriage and not stayed as their own girl? Because I'm the only woman in the band and none of the others newer took me seriously. My husband was the one that helped me to get my voice heard."

heh...its getting much more funny now.

[Cristiane]

My husband was the one that helped me to get my voice heard."

for then silence it by shouting even louder, just as he did in the hotel in Porto Alegre...
submissive women.. what a shame

heh...its getting much more funny now.

agreed!

[cliff]

"Sure I knew from the moment I started a relationship with my husband that the rest of the band did not accept him. It was visible from their comments and their behaviour. What was the cause? Because he is born in South America? Because I chose marriage and not stayed as their own girl? Because I'm the only woman in the band and none of the others newer took me seriously. My husband was the one that helped me to get my voice heard."
heh...its getting much more funny now.

i might sound rude, but I think this letter sounds like it was written by a little girl who has her first boyfriend, and is totally blind by him and has no personality (= "what my bf say, it's the best", "everyone is against MY MAN"...) !
And Cristiane, you have a really good point : how can someone "help to get the voice heard" of someone when he forbid this person to meet her fans, who cancel gigs because he wants to spend more time with her, and so on.

I think Tarja should have shut up instead doing that statement. She has no credibility.

[OceanSoul]

maybe there are much many reasons she's out of nightwish that we don't know.. and we actually don't need to know.. maybe her hasband was jealous with all these guys in the band..!
and ok, why blame her for the above statement, she loves her hasband and for me, it's more important to love and be loved than any kind of job. because it's a job, wether she loves it or not.! no one will prevent her from singing and, besides, still the band can stay friends with each other if they want..
But well.. once she's out, she's out! And we won't lose her, that's for sure! she's probably planning a solo carrer!

mplim mplom

[NeonVomit]

Whatever, both will be around. Let's just hope Nightwish's new album will be better.

[Painless_Cry]

didn't surprised me nor dissapoint me too much, Tarja it's amazing but I always said she's a little overrated, she's more known, that's all... there are a LOT of female singers in metal who right their songs and also participate in music.

I never liked the fact that Tarja only sings... but, don't get me wrong, she still amazing and nightwish won't be again the same thing it was before.

But if tuomas still in nightwish, nightwish still alive. because our dear tuomas is the brain of the band.

[StragOvariuS]

Soap Opera PERKELE!!!

The band does not critisize Marcelo as Tarja's husband, but as her manager and businessman, and how he influenced the band.

Marcelo's country of origin has nothing to do with the critique. However, the band still suspects his motives. Their view, that something's wrong, has been strenghtened along the way.

Tuomas wonders Tarja's comment, "not staying as the band's own girl". He says it's extremely ridiculous to say that jealousy had anything to do with it.

Holopainen says they have always taken Tarja seriously. They wanted to have her in the band because of what she was.

"We have tried to respect Tarja as the singer and as the icon of the band."

He says the band tried to be flexible: if she wanted to travel by plane instead of bus, it was ok. If she didn't want to do interviews, Tuomas did them. "That's how we tried show Tarja that we cared about her."

It pains Tuomas that 15 years of friendship was broken, but he and the rest of the band stands with the decision, the comments and the way the comments were published.

"It just would have been impossible to handle this in any other way."

Tuomas and Tarja haven't been in contact, and he thinks they won't be in the near future. He says that settling things seems like a distant dream. "I think that right now it's completely impossible."

http://www.iltalehti.fi/2005/10/26/2005 ... 9_vi.shtml

[NeonVomit]

This is gonna end up like a tennis match

[nepi]

end? I suppose it's just the beginning

I hope they find a solution for everybody, to kill the disappointment and rejoy the old friendship

[Aresius]

just wanted you to know that not all argentinian guys are like that ( marcelo is argentinian ). Well he is a buisness man so it doesnt surprise me that he changed tarja.

tarja is remplasable

[Aresius]

maybe there are much many reasons she's out of nightwish that we don't know.. and we actually don't need to know.. maybe her hasband was jealous with all these guys in the band..!
and ok, why blame her for the above statement, she loves her hasband and for me, it's more important to love and be loved than any kind of job. because it's a job, wether she loves it or not.! no one will prevent her from singing and, besides, still the band can stay friends with each other if they want..
But well.. once she's out, she's out! And we won't lose her, that's for sure! she's probably planning a solo carrer!

mplim mplom

Well i can see that you are a fan of tarja because of your post, what you are doing is ( in spanish ) " buscando la quinta pata al gato ". You dont have to wonder why she left, you have to see the facts and tuomas doesnt critizes him as a lover, he does as a manager. This doesnt have anything to do with love and blablablalba, this is because marcelo changed tarja's mind.

[Neorave]

Wow, that's interesting. I didn't know that Tarja was such a selfish person. I thought only "American Idol"-type people were like that, but I guess it can happen to anyone. Oh, and this:

This was in Finlands TV-news. Tarjas comment was.
"I'm shocked. The way they told this is sad and cruel. I'm also sad that my husband has been dragged into this."
Tarja is going to held press conference in November.
Tuomas told that there will be a new NW book in May, where he will explain everything.

In November? Why not NOW! Oh, I'm sorry, I guess we need to leave time for your personal life that you missed by being in the band then! This really makes me sick that musicians can act like this. It's a bunch of shit. I think their decision was a good one if this crap was happening.

[Stealth]

Neorave, like you said, the decision was good IF this crap was happening, but in spite of what we read, we don't know exactly what was going on and who's right and who's wrong. Besides, things are not always black and white; maybe Tarja is right in some aspects and the guys are right in other aspects.

[MaFiaBoY]

Neorave, like you said, the decision was good IF this crap was happening.

I'm pretty sure all this did happen. I mean, Tuomas doesn't seem to be crazy so he wouldn't have invented all this just to fire Tarja. And besides in her answer, Tarja doesn't deny anythig. If it was wrong, I think she'd have told it. Anyway, her answer it pretty much "talking to say nothing" as we say in french.

[Neorave]

Neorave, like you said, the decision was good IF this crap was happening.

I'm pretty sure all this did happen. I mean, Tuomas doesn't seem to be crazy so he wouldn't have invented all this just to fire Tarja. And besides in her answer, Tarja doesn't deny anythig. If it was wrong, I think she'd have told it. Anyway, her answer it pretty much "talking to say nothing" as we say in french.

Indeed. And I have heard from other sources that there was friction between Tarja and the other bandmembers.