I really liked the ending but I felt so completely empty because I knew that this was it. I had been reading it for years, waiting for the story to go on. When it ended, I was sitting in a hotel room and when I read the last page I got the shivers. This was it. I felt really sad it was over although I liked the ending, I thought it was really good. I heard some rumors that they are making a movie out of it or like a mini series?

I've seen some of the comics. Just seen them though, I haven't read any. I think that The Dark Tower series is Stephen King's best work, one of the best stories ever written. That, The Talisman, and The Lord Of The Rings are all three on the same level for me.

You know, this was completely the record label's idea. I haven't sacrificed a single thought on this release and I haven't seen it, never heard it, I don't even know what songs are included. I've just heard that this kind of release exists, that's all I know about it. Really! Honestly, I don't know. It seems that record labels these days are putting out all kinds of stuff and when they asked us, it was "Ok, go ahead."

I detest digital stuff to the bone. Maybe it's the thing for the future and that is a scary thought. I don't even own an Ipod and I have never downloaded a single thing from the internet, I don't even know how it's done. I want my cd in my hand so I can see the cover and read the lyrics, everything. Just my opnion.

I think that everything you see and experience in life affects your songwriting on a subconscious level. But the fact that I've been living in the middle of nowhere in the woods all of the thirty two years of my life, that has certainly affected what I am as a person and that way to my songwriting. I'd like to think that the songs I do are quite organic. I take alot of inspiration from the beauty of the world, the beauty and the purity of nature which I have witnessed my whole life. If I was a city slicker I think I would be doing something like industrial metal. I think that there is a strong connection with nature in everything we do.

I have never completed a song anywhere else other than my own room in my house. I'm gathering ideas all the time wherever I am. Right now I have a notebook, actually, two notebooks because one is full already, and they are full of ideas, lyrics, riffs, melodies, little lines. Touring the world I get inspired all the time by people I meet, different cultures and experiences. I feel the world so strongly and it feels good. But it is impossible for me to find the mood to complete a song in an environment like this. [touring] I need my peace and solitude at home for a few months to be able to put it all together.

I don't have the time, but that's no excuse, I don't do it anymore. I used to do it alot earlier on but I don't do it anymore. To be honest I have seen my technique going down. Seriously! There are certain songs from Oceanborn like Pharaoh Sails To Orion or Stargazers that I still think I can do... but not so easily like I used to. I'm getting older and lazier. Just doing the technique, it's so boring. I would rather spend all that time and energy on the songwriting. But you do have a point. I've been thinking because I've seen when I play live that the technique is not like it used to be like it was ten years ago. I should get a hold of myself.

Oh I know, it's just I've been thinking that myself and I've noticed it so it was a good point.

Very, very much. I had a nickname, "The Lone Wolf" when I was in high school. The thing is though I was never bullied or teased, I was just different. I had some friends but I really enjoyed being by myself. I spent alot of time at home with just me, my mom, and my dad. I would read alot and I watched alot of movies, or I'd just go out into the woods. I really like to be by myself. It wasn't like I was an outcast though in that sense. I did really well in school, I had friends, and I had my hobbies.

It must have been one of the songs from the first album, Angels Fall First. When I finished with the song The Carpenter, even though it feels a bit corny to say these days, but I felt really proud of it because of the theme of the song and how it goes. That was also the first single that Nightwish released in 1997. Now when I listen to it I hear all the flaws but there is still something in there that I am really proud of. Of the recent doings, about a month ago, three weeks ago before we came on this tour, I got a song finished at home. Well, it's more like an interlude, three and a half minutes long, and it is going to be on the next album. I am just really, really happy with it. It's something really simple but I got the story that I wanted to tell into that song. This was song number three that I have got down for the upcoming album.

I like the whole concept of The Poet And The Pendulum. It's related to Edgar Allen Poe's Pit And The Pendulum and I put myself onto the altar with the swaying pendulum on top of me. I really got the shivers when I thought that yes, this idea can work. The Poet And The Pendulum, there's that word play but also it had alot of symbolism because of what happened a few years ago. I felt like I was beneath this swinging blade and that it was going to come down any minute now and split me in half. I was really excited with the whole metaphor and symbolism of that. That is still my greatest achievement in music so far I think. I actually got the idea to put myself into that song, there's actually the word Tuomas in the song, from The Dark Tower series. Stephen King wrote himself into Song Of Susannah and when I read that I thought, "This is so cool, I have to do this with Nightwish." It's such a wonderful idea and it's so crazy that it really worked. It was a bit of a rip off but that's where I got the idea.

I think that when you talk about aggression and negative feelings, it is much easier to start with the lyrics. I still have my notebook from the Century Child era when I was writing Slaying The Dreamer. There's a dozen pages of this written down [motions angry, hard, handwriting in the air]. alot of "f" words, I was so pissed about something that I wrote down all the stuff, pages and pages. After that I started to clean it up and it became the lyrics for Slaying The Dreamer. It's the same thing with The Poet And The Pendulum. When it comes to aggression the lyrics are far easier.

First of all, when it comes to music and Nightwish I have a huge dream and we are doing everything we can to fulfill it on the next album. I am going to be a bit mystical here because I can't reveal to you anymore, but there is going to be a big twist so to say on the next album. I just hope we can realize that because it is going to be the all time dream come true if we can pull it off. It is going to take alot of time, effort, work, and money. We will see what happens, I am really looking forward to it. Overall in life I feel really happy because I am living in my own house in the woods by the lake. It is a perfect scenario. When I go back home in about a week we are going to plant some potatoes, some vegetables, and all that and I am going to go fishing. My all time dream is to be able to live from nature so I will never have to go the grocery store again.

It was during the songwriting of Oceanborn in 1998, early on. I was studying in a university back then and when I was studying I was writing the songs for Oceanborn. I felt so ambitious and so good about it that I couldn't care less about the studies. I think at that point I realized that I really wanted to give this a shot to see how far we could get with the band. Angels Fall First had already hit the charts so there was some interest from people and we had done a few shows. It just felt so good and the studying thing felt so wrong. I quit everything and just did Nightwish as a full time job. I would say the first three months of 1998 was the crucial time.

By far my most favorite aspect is the songwriting process. The part where I get to be by myself at home and do the songs and then introduce them to the band and rehearse them. All of this, bringing the ideas together and creating music out of nothing. That is by far my most favorite part. Of course I like touring, I like meeting new people, being in different countries and seeing the sights, but that's secondary. The business part is by far the worst. I have taken a really naive approach to all of that. I don't talk about that and I don't want to hear about it because it takes all of my energy away. I am such a child when it comes to all this business stuff. People around me and even in the band, they criticize me a little bit that I should know where I'm going with the money and I just say that I can't deal with it, that's why we have the managers. We have two of them and our drummer, Jukka, takes care of all the business. I trust him completely. I have no idea how much we get for these shows, I don't know what the ticket sales are, I don't know how much money we are making and I don't want to know. It really gives me the creeps.

Yeah exactly. Because I know myself. And I know my limits. Not dealing with that stuff in a way helps me to make better music. It sounds corny but that's the way it is. I even quit my email so I don't even have that anymore. Whenever I would wake up and check my emails there would be twenty new messages and it would all be record label crap, money business and all that. I just can't do this, sorry. So we made a deal and I stay out of it. Let other people who have the understanding and the interest to do that do it.

Whenever inspiration strikes and it can happen at any time. But I have also noticed that mornings are the best time by far. The moment when you wake up, drink your morning coffee, and after that you sit in front of your keyboard. The next five hours from that moment are the best. For some reason this really works for me. I have talked about it with my colleagues and almost everybody in this business they say that night is the best time but it is the worst time for me. I don't know why, I get tired and woozied out. It's just not a good time for me, mornings are the best.

I know there are alot of grammar mistakes but I think that that is part of the appeal. I don't want it to be perfect because I am not a native English speaker. I guess it makes it a bit more charming even in a way. It is easier to write in English for some reason but I really don't know why. I try to avoid cliches to the maximum because I am writing about stuff that all the musicians in the world write about and that's love, dreams, hopes, fears, all that stuff. But you don't have to be so obvious. You don't have to go Bon Jovi, "baby I'll love you always, I'm just a man." That's crap. I mean it's a good cause because it's about love and relations but it's total crap. You just can't put it so direct there has to be some interpretation. That's what poetry is about, interpretation. It's giving you the images and not telling you everything straight.

One of my biggest inspirations, especially in the early days is the guy from My Dying Bride, Aaron Stainthorpe. I still adore his lyrics. As a metal music lyricist he is still my biggest idol. I read alot of poetry and lately I have found these old American poets like Edgar Allen Poe is one of my favorites and especially Walt Whitman. His book Song Of Myself has kind of become my personal bible. It holds a life philosophy that I can truly relate to. It is the greatest piece of poetry ever written and I think that this will show on the next album very strongly.

Please do.

I just counted that I've done something like eight hundred and fifty interviews during this past tour so almost everything has been answered. I love to talk about personal interests like Walt Whitman, Disney, movies, literature, and about music and how songs are made. I don't want to talk about the past of the band. I still get this every now and then. "Ok so here's Tuomas of Nightwish. Could you please explain to me the history of the band from the first album up to this day?" (laughs) And then it's just like," Oh fuck!" I couldn't name just one topic. Things that matter, that is what I like to talk about. This interview is a perfect example of that in every aspect. It's been a good talk about really interesting stuff. Stuff that matters, that fans want to hear, and stuff I like to talk about.

It's a really scary thought. I have thought about this alot in the past few months about the responsibility. It's an immensely scary thought. Some people have taken the songs that we do and the lyrics so deep into them and they are almost reading it as a bible. Sometimes you meet the fanatic fans and you see what it means to them and it's like... it is important, it is music and it's poetry but it isn't the whole world. That's something that I have a hard time coping with because I feel the responsibility on my shoulders and I'm not so sure if I can take it always. I've seen the effect that I or another band member can have on a fan. It takes one minute of your life to go and see somebody and take a picture with him or her, sign an autograph and chat a few words. And they live five years longer because of that you can see it in their eyes, it means the world to them. Sometimes you simply can't though, you don't have the time or the energy and you just can't do it. Later on you feel like "I could have done it." I have that power to influence people and make them feel really good or really bad by not meeting them or doing something wrong unintentionally and that I have a hard time coping with.

In a way I hate to say this because when you are a big fan of something you always say the older stuff was better. We get that all the time, "Yeah the new one is ok but the old stuff is really good." With Disney its the same way for me. I am not really into Pixar at all. I've seen some of the computer animated movies and they are good for a laugh, to see once but they just don't have the magic that I am after. I am still very deeply into the old stuff, Sleeping Beauty, Fantasia, even Beauty And The Beast. They did make some really good stuff in the nineties but after that they just didn't do the trick for me.