Entrevista a Marco Hietala: Voice Heräämö 19.2.2010

Entrevista para una radio:

It’s Nivala, Elina and Marco Hietala in Voice Heräämö. Good morning, Marco.
- Good morning.

Our guest is the man with bifurcated beard. He’s known by Tarot and Nightwish and right now by Kuorosota which started two weeks ago.
- Yeah.

Marco, a few days ago tabloids wrote that when the Kuopio choir was going home, they were drunk and behaved badly. What exactly happened? Did the newspapers make it look bigger than it actually was or were the people too drunk on the bus?
- My answer would be so foreseeable that I'm not sure if saying it would be interesting to hear.

Was it like people having fun at the rear of the bus and nerds complaining at the front of the bus because they couldn’t join the party?
- Well, it may have been something like that, but I don’t want to comment this more. I think that they have made a mountain out of a molehill. Besides, the Joensuu and Kuopio choirs had already requested the production team to provide separate buses for the choirs. So, one choir acted and the other made it public. And the result is what both choirs wanted: separate buses in the future.

You told us that a headline surprised you on the Monday morning. What happened?
- I don’t want to comment it more. They’ve just taken a sentence out of its context.

I meant the story you told us before this broadcast.
- Oh, that was a funny thing. The journalists had already called me on Monday (and asked what happened in the bus) when we had rehearsals and filmed some inserts for the television show. So I was in a hotel in Kuopio and went outside to smoke. I looked through the frosted window and saw tabloid headlines. I couldn’t decipher the pictures, but I was able to read the large text “Mikko replaces Marco”. I was thinking “what the hell”. I butted the cigarette and went inside to find out what it’s all about: wrong guys!

So, the headline meant Marco Bjurström. You both just happen to spell your name with C. Which Mikko did you expect to replace you? What did you feel before realizing the truth?
- I was unsettled. I didn’t have time to think anything, because I realized so quickly that the headline isn’t about me. The same name but a different guy.

How will the Kuopio choir travel in the bus in the future? Will they just sit quietly and read the Bible?
- Yes, I’ve recommended them to do so.

(After the commercial break)
Marco Hietala from Nightwish, now known by Kuorosota. Kuorosota-Marco.
- Okay, you can call me that for now.

Or how about Kuorosota-Stir-Beard-Doublebeard-Marco or Kuopio-Marco?
- Everyone can choose the nickname they like the most, or the nickname they hate the most.

Nightwish’s album Dark Passion Play has sold five times platinum in Finland. You’ve been quiet lately, but you made a surprising cover song at the end of the last year.
- Yeah, it was the Jaakko Teppo tribute. I have to say that I and the other guys of the band are his big fans and when we were asked if we would like to participate in the tribute album, we told that “of course”. The Nightwish guys are from Savonia and Karelia, and Jaakko Teppo is from the same area. We all are born in a country village. So I like this gothic romantic tragedy.

And you made it even darker than the original.
- Yes we did.

Yesterday we had another musician as our guest: Mr. Ylppö. You’ve worked in the same studio, but not in the same room. Mr. Ylppö left you his greetings: “I wish you success and good luck. It’s not very “rock” to be in a choir show, but you are otherwise so “rock” that I will forgive you.”
- *Laughs*. Thank you, Ylppö.

The Voice Heräämö is on a vacation next week, but after the vacation we’ll have Kuorosota-Sebu as our guest, Kuorosota-Stir-Sebu. What kind of greetings do you want to leave to this young nice guy?
- Sebu has been a relaxed and talkative guy when I’ve met him on the backstage and other places during the television show. He’s a good guy, good singer. "I wish you all the best and hope that you can suck your cheeks even more inward."

Mr. Ylppö said that it isn’t very “rock” to participate in a choir program. Did you have to think hard before accepting the offer?
- I didn’t think whether it’s “rock” or not. I thought that it’s a challenge I’ve never before had a change to try. Like I’ve said earlier, anything in which you have a change to try something new and beat your limits will improve your live performance skills and may be useful in the future. Besides, every choir is doing this for a good purpose, because the prize money won’t go to your own pocket but to charity. Therefore it’s nice to be a part of this even if we were the first choir to drop. This entertainment will do something good anyway.

Have the Nightwish members or other artists twitted on you because you participate in this program?
- No they haven’t, but I called to Jukka Nevalainen yesterday, in order to talk about my music projects, and I told him that since he lives in Joensuu maybe I should pretend a drunken bastard.

Marco Hietala, you told that you always want to try something new. You’re known by your blond bifurcated beard.
- Yes, it’s an old beard.

You’re known by your beard, but when are you going to shave it? Can you think of any situation in which you would shave your beard?
- Yes I can, because I’ve got tired in maintaining it.

How much does it require maintaining?
- I used to shave the centre, but it required a lot of work in order to do it well. I’ve asked my wife if I could shave the whole beard, but she didn’t accept it and I have to obey her.

During long tours with Nightwish you won’t be at home for a long time. What does your wife and twin sons think about it?
- They aren’t happy about it. The boys are spontaneous and will manage when I’m away, but when I come back I see that they have missed me. And sometimes when I’m on the road and talk to them through Skype, they will say things like “I wish you were home”. The situation may be harder for my wife. The kids are persistent and live in the moment. But when I’m away, I’m working and we’ll live by the money I make. And it’s not a new thing that a man travels because of work. Sailors have done this already thousands of years ago.

Do you have some special means to compensate the lost time?
- Well, when I’m home it means that I don’t have to work hard at that time. So when I’m home I’m present. Of course, I will have side projects while Nightwish is on the break, but when I have free time, I will be home with my family.

You’re now in Helsinki, but when are you going back to Kuopio?
- The next time I’ll go to Kuopio on Monday. So, we’ll have the live performance on television in the weekend and the rehearsals continue on Monday, unless we drop this week.

We’ll see that on Sunday. Thank you for your visit, Marco Hietala.
- Okay, thank you too.

Please give our regards to your wife.
- I will.

buena entrevista con el gran vikingo

y, me encanta Marco