Interviewing webminstress for Tuomas-Holopainen DOT com;=)

A night inside the Maestro's castle


|Poochie|: Hello there! You are the admin for Nightwish' Tuomas official site - pretty fresh air for all NW fans in the world and you are big part of this event: it actually made me curious to learn that a lovely girl is running Maestro's site!
Let's start introducing yourself: Who is behind Tuomas Holopainens official site?
|T.H.official|:Hi there it's nice to talk to you. I'm Carol from the UK, most people know me as "Escapist" from the official website for Tuomas Holopainen which I run.

|Poochie| Let's go.....tell me how much far your journey begins... You run a very beautiful and well-updated, organized site. How did you come up with the idea? Was it yours or did you receive a request from Tuomas or what? Give us at least 1 piece of the whole cake...
|T.H.official|wow it was such a long journey from original idea to current date. I always wanted to do a site dedicated to Tuomas as he was my inspiration for so many years, and I first thought about doing something around 2002 but for many reasons I was unable to. So I did not actually "start" it till End of 2008 when his old official website stopped being updated. Fans I had made friends with over the years knew I was thinking of making a site, and they to were dissapointed the old official site had been abandoned or what seemed to look like abandoned. So they helped give me the push I needed to start.
The 1st draft went live beginning of 2009, it was successful from the start but I was never happy. At the time I was busy with other things and pregnant so I kept it updated with the view to work on it after the baby was born.
In August 2010 I started chatting with Ewo (Nightwish manager from King Foo Entertainment), and I started redesigning the site at the same time. It was discussed with Ewo about a competiton which he had some items he could donate to it. I finished the redesign and relaunched the new look site and the suggestion then came up to replace the old official site which was still lying dormant. Ewo agreed with this and then we launched it as official and I bought a new domain name in October, which is the current one we use.
Since then we have had so much interest we are now translating the website into 6 languages in total, and Tuomas has expressed his thanks to the translators for this personally.

It was my idea, it started life as a simple fan site. The popularity of the site grew and we had a huge amount of visitors to the site. The design is between myself and a friend of mine but the design will be getting updated in February when I receive some exclusive pictures for The Escapist to design the site around.

|Poochie|Are internet and websites like TH dot com your job today or just a hobby? We guess you'll be pretty busy from now till 2011 and beyond, now that NW have a new album almost ready.
|T.H.official|I call it my job as I have to dedicate so much time to it, but unlike a "job" I do not get paid to run it. The satisfaction I get from running it is enough for me.
As for 2011 onwards, I expect I will be very busy. We already have some plans in the pipeline which will start in February when I have a meeting with Tuomas, and of course we will cover as much as we can album related and tour related.

|Poochie|Tuomas is the leader of the famous finnish metal band Nightwish. Are you Carol a metal diehard? which are your fav band in and out metal?
|T.H.official|I have been a fan of metal for many years. It started when I first heard bands such as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Black Sabbath at a friends house. I've never looked back since. Of course for favourite band I have to say Nightwish but I also love other bands such as the amazing Metallica, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Rammstein and too many more to mention here.

|Poochie|How deeply do you know NW? How long you have been a NW fan yourself?
|T.H.official|I've been a fan since I accidentally came across a cassette my father's friend had which contained the song "Gethsemane", this was the very end of 1998 into 1999. So I've been a fan a long time.

|Poochie|Which was your reaction learning about the firing of Tarja?
|T.H.official|I try not to discuss this much being related to Tuomas' site, but like all Nightwish fans I was a bit shocked about it. But my passion for Nightwish mostly lies with Tuomas' creations so I did not take the decision to change singer too badly.

|Poochie|In 2007 the band introduced the new singer Anette Olzon. The world didnt know anything about the girl: what kind of impact did she have on you?Did you trust Tuomas instinct from the beginning?
|T.H.official|Oh of course you have to trust Tuomas' instinct with this kind of thing. I first heard Amaranth and It took a few listens for me to get used to her voice, but I was impressed from the very beginning.

|Poochie|Can you say NW is nowadays a more mature band after all?
|T.H.official|Mature can have so many different interpretations. I think they have grown as a band with the use of orchestras more for example, and in Tuomas' lyrics. I think Nightwish still has the initial spark they always had on their earlier albums. So Mature.. hmm maybe only in the age of the members.

|Poochie|From what you can see in the place you live is Tuomas band really welcome on the UK?How much crazily do the english fans react at NW gigs?
|T.H.official|Oh they are very welcome here. It's just a shame they do not get as much publicity here as they deserve.

|Poochie|Random free thoughts that come into your mind..
|T.H.official|Well my mind is very random but they main thing that comes to mind is to thank the fans for their loyal support with the creation of this website. I have a fantastic moderation and translation team working for us and they are so dedicated it's fantastic! I could not do this without these people and both myself and Tuomas have shown our appreciation towards them.
Also a huge thank you to Ewo, who initially helped me get this off the ground. Anette who helped promote and support us via her blog, and of course Tuomas. His constant inspiration over the years has now come to me running this website. I am extremely lucky to have this opportunity.
All I can say is we have some really exciting things coming in the beginning of 2011, watch this space. This is only the start.
Thank you

I.D. Card:
Carol Walker
Admin for Tuomas Holopainen DOT com
Songwriter, composer, producer and Nightwish creator
Date of Birth: 25th December 1976
Place of Birth: Kitee, Finland
Full Name: Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen
To see an in depth biography please visit Carols website at www.tuomas-holopainen.com


Carol, thanks for your significant collaboration and friendship.
Good luck with your project, you deserve the satisfaction you get from it;=)

Hope to hear news from you and NW very soon, all of us are looking forward to get the new album in our hands!! See you next time!

Interview by Poochie