By: Christa Titus

(Music that is referenced in this review is hyperlinked to Amazon.com for your purchasing convenience. If a product is not hyperlinked, Amazon.com did not offer it at the time of publication.)

If former Nightwish singer Tarja is having the last laugh, she’s keeping it to herself.

Well, maybe not quite. Her animated spirits punctuate our conversation with lighthearted giggling, her energy unflagging even though it’s past 6 p.m. and she’s been on the phone all day doing interviews. Her voice is so melodic she nearly sounds as though she’s singing; it softens the stiff constructions she sometimes makes with her English.

Tarja is elated by the success of her solo debut, My Winter Storm, in her homeland of Finland and elsewhere in Europe. When it was released last November, it entered the Finnish album chart at No. 1, the first record by a solo artist to debut atop the list. It’s now platinum there (30,000 copies), gold in Russia (10,000 copies) and nearly gold in Germany (100,000). Finland also nominated her for an Emma Award (the equivalent of a Grammy) for best Finnish artist, and Germany nominated her for an Echo Award for most successful newcomer. Since its Feb. 26 release in the United States, it has sold 4,000 copies as of March 17, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

After her firing from Nightwish in 2005—via an open letter that pulled no punches in accusing her of diva attitude and behavior—the reception for My Winter Storm probably feels doubly warm. The album wasn’t thrown together in a fit of revenge, as Tarja had already been making a name on her own doing classical/operatic concerts and making guest appearances on albums by such artists, even doing some Christmas and chill-out music. The artwork speaks of her investment in the record. Photographs depict Tarja as four characters: the Queen of Ice, the Dead Boy, the Doll and the Phoenix, each conveyed with elaborate costuming. The Doll is stiff, staring and waxen-faced under a mop of blond curls; the Phoenix is awash in golden-orange light in her multilayered gown. Tarja explains of them below, “They are part of me and my personality, and they are like a fantasy on the other hand.”

“Fantasy” is a good descriptor for My Winter Storm. The first deep orchestral notes of lead-off track IWalkAlone indicate that a grand story is about to unfold, one fit for the silver screen. Instead of sticking with Nightwish’s trademark symphonic metal, Tarja has moved in the direction of popera, combining accessible song structures with choral arrangements. The sound remains dramatic—whether she’s singing a requiem for a lost child in BoyAndTheGhost or letting notes effortlessly waver in the beautifully sad Oasis—but with less guitars and practically no drums. She traverses from the me-against-the-world stance of IWalkAlone to a dark ballet on The Escape of the Doll
/MyLittlePhoenix, then flicks the rock switch for the punchy, climactic DieAlive, alternating from mood to mood without a hitch. It’s an entertaining experience theatrical enough to warrant popcorn.

Promotion for My Winter Storm has Tarja touring Europe in May and likely again at the end of the year, as well as South America in July/August. She divulges, “I can’t tell you for sure, but hopefully I’m coming in September to U.S.A., which is a very big dream of mine. I would really love to go there.” She’s also planning a run of live classical dates with friends from her study group; they anticipate visiting Asia around 2010. “That’s a rough plan, but I do not want to forget classical music,” she says. “That is very, very important part of my life.”

Despite her packed schedule, Tarja is already working on material for a new album and anticipates it arriving next year. She says with a laugh, “It sounds crazy, because the new album just got out, but in a way, I feel very energetic and I want to keep on going . . . I feel that it’s very nice to start the process for the new album. I have lots of ideas already, [but] not to change that much the direction or anything like that.”

She adds, “I have been working very hard and I keep on working very hard, and that is what I’m really loving to do, and now it’s my time in a way to show myself and show my personality and my interest in music for the people for the first time on my own, so this means a lot to me. And of course, all kinds of little success and all kinds of little positive things that happened of course makes me like . . .” She inhales deeply. “ ‘Ahhhhh! This is great!’ Because everything that I am facing every day, there are new stuff and I’m learning so much out of them, so I’m very happy.”

The Killing Words: On your Web site you mentioned you had a lot of songs to pick from for My Winter Storm. Do you think any of the ones you didn’t use will end up on the new album?
Tarja: Yes, I will work in these songs that I left out now for the first album. I will work on them a bit more. I didn’t have that much time to really concentrate. They have a certain feeling that is really touching me and they have this kind of message that I want to come up with, but they were not good in that time [when] I was really deciding which songs I definitely want to put on the first album.

TKW: You do concerts with classical pianists and other singers and you sing with symphonies, so you had already started to build your name as a solo performer, but was it more in the opera world that you were doing it?
Tarja: Yes, I have been touring with kind of a classical lineup and on my own before. I have been touring in South America, but basically doing only classical music and also in Europe, so yes, people knew me in that direction already and of course they knew me from Nightwish. But in a way, now, with My Winter Storm album, it’s my music now for the first time.
Seriously speaking, I love classical music, that is one side of me, but that doesn’t tell the whole story about me and my interests in music. So yes, I have done things before. I have been performing in musicals. The variety of people that have listened to me, the ages of the people, of the circumstances or the places or the situations, they have been very different. I have been going through situations that I was performing in a rock festival the day before and then next day I was in a church concert . . . so I have [laughs] been kind of doing interesting things, but that has been the biggest challenge for me, which I really love that, that I can do that. I makes me healthy, it keeps me going.

TKW: What is it that you enjoy about opera, and what do you enjoy about doing rock?
Tarja: They are so different situations, and of course, in both of them, music speaks, and that is for me also very important. The music touches me. I love that feeling and I love to flow with the feeling and emotions. So when I’m singing opera, I can be myself in a way that everything is going to be heard. There are no microphones, there are no amplifiers. There’s me and my voice . . . I love the difference when I go to rock concert or metal concert and performing there. It’s a show, there are many things that people can see and follow and yes, I can play around so much more with my voice. I can like, have so much fun. So, different situations. But they are very hard to compare. What is the thing that I really love most, or are there some similarities involved? Yeah, the music is, and the feeling is, and the performance itself in this case is, but, very, very different situations.

TKW: Was this your first time writing material for a record?
Tarja: Exactly. Seriously. Yes. I have been doing some songs for some other artists. For example, there is chill-out artist Schiller from Germany. I have been making songs with him. Small things here and there, but nothing seriously like album-wise or for myself. This is the first time for me to make songs and I got help from many other songwriters on this album.

TKW: How do you feel about being the person in control of the whole project—not just the songwriting: the artwork, the performances. You’re in charge of the band that’s with you.
Tarja: Yes. Yes. Yes. I wanted to see if I could do this because so many things, as you said, there’s so many new things I need to face, even though I have been in the music business, for God’s sake, for over 10 years, and I’m very happy that I know so much about it already, how the business is going, how things are working.

TKW: The album isn’t a complete concept album, but there are some loose concepts going through it?
Tarja: Yes. I can’t call it a concept album, no, but the image and the music itself, they are very much connected, like story-wise and music-wise, they are connected. When I was writing the songs and I was [with] other songwriters, when they were offering me songs, I was in a way directing them, “OK, I have a story for myself that I want to change for the people to listen, even though there is not such a story in the album you can really truly follow.”

TKW: What can you say about the four characters that are depicted in the album artwork?
Tarja: They are part of me and my personality, and they are like a fantasy on the other hand. All these kind of things, I have been writing like a painting of pictures and thinking about the nice images and that way I could go connect it because they were really inspiring me. And you know, where I got these four characters, they came from the first of hundreds of hundreds of songs that many, many songwriters were giving me . . . [when] I said, “OK, I’m gonna make a first album,” so many songwriters approached me and gave me their songs. And from those lyrics I read through hundreds of times and I listened to their songs many, many times. I got an inspiration and I took those characters. They just appeared there and it was for me a nice way of having a story, in a way . . . I took the idea from that then to make a video, and I gave the directions for the director of the video that I want to have this kind of story, and then the artwork and all the pictures that I’m appearing in these characters there. It has just been so much fun. I love movies, and this is for me a kind of a movie, you know? [laughs] A soundtrack of my life.

TKW: Which would you say out of those for characters is the most similar to you?
Tarja: I think I’m the Phoenix more than anything else, yes. I think it’s for me, in this case, is a very strong character, it’s very delicate character, enjoys of all the beauty in the world in a way after seeing lack of these things in life or after going through a struggle or something like that. And in my life, I have gone through those kind of things, in my personal life, in my career life, so it’s a good thing. I’ve been like more connected into this.

TKW: Besides songwriting for the first time, what were the biggest challenges in getting the record together?
Tarja: The whole organization of the people, getting everybody involved. That was the kind of the biggest thing, and maybe even more challenging was making people to understand what I really was looking for sound-wise for the album. When I started to speak about cineomagraphic sound, as I told you before, I’m a big fan of films, so my goal was to approach a kind of a cinematographic sound.

TKW: You having done many different things musically. What other kind of musical ambitions you have?
Tarja: To be honest, my wish would be to explore a bit more film music . . . That would be lovely, because depending on my mood, I’m listening a lot of film music nowadays, and it gives me goosebumps. I just love to relax with film music or instead of film music, classical music, but really too, I feel that I would be able to do music like that myself because I’m so much, I’m a very emotional person. I feel lot when I’m listening to music, I always get very, very emotional with the music, so it is something that I have already tried out. But seriously, I would love explore a bit more if there would be a chance.

TKW: What would you say music brings out of you emotionally?
Tarja: I’m very emotional person, so depending on the music and my mood, what kind of music I put on my CD player. [laughs] Very different. I’m listening to rock or metal, of something very energetic in the mornings if I feel tired [or] that I am not ready for the day. I listen [to] that kind of music, make me feel more powerful or happier or ahhh! And then if I want to relax, [it's] with something more quiet without any words and just orchestra music.

TKW: Considering that you’re working to get established on your own, do you think you’re going to be doing any Nightwish material?
Tarja: Yes, I have been doing already, I have for sure. I wouldn’t see any reason not to. [laughs] I was touring already in Europe in so-called warmup tour last year in the end of the year and I was doing Nighwish songs, of course. Yah, it’s for me, it was a very important part of my life, Nightwish and their music—and our music. It was really, really important part of my life and I do not see any reason not to take some songs out of our repertoire. We had many, many albums done and I was part of them and I’m really proud of those years. So yes, I will be doing some, but it’s basically anyway my own concert and I’m very happy about my own material, so [laughs] definitely there will be some [of it] somewhere there, but mostly it’s about my music now. [laughs again]

TKW: Can you address anything about your leaving Nightwish? How do you feel about it now as opposed to when it occurred?
Tarja: Yeah! Yeah! Well, time has passed by. If I go back into that time when it happened, I got that letter from the band and all the media hassle after that, and it took weeks in Finland. It was really not [an] easy period of my life at all. I would say that it was a terrifying, terrifying month in a way, only that one month, that I was trembling the whole month. I was really having a bad time of my life and it was not easy . . . that public pressure that was so big and never expected . . . But on the other hand now, I have been growing as an artist, as a person, also a lot after those times, and I have seen life from the different perspective . . .

TKW: Do you think there might have been something that gave them the impression that they had, even if that was not the impression you were trying to give them, or do you not see anything like that? Do you think they misinterpreted things you were doing?
Tarja: Oh, that is something that I will question all my life, I think. [laughs] There were many, you know, I can’t just think that all of this happened because of me, that there was so many problems in the band already for several, several years, and we were never able to communicate between the band members, you know. There were always lack of communication, and the way they decided to have its end, so it’s very, very difficult, difficult situation and I still don’t understand, but the thing is that, I leave them as the subject is, I leave it as it is. I don’t want to get into that because it was enough difficult for me, so, I believe that time tells.

TKW: Have you spoken to any of them since that happened?
Tarja: No. No. We are not in contact now, not at all.

TKW: I couldn’t help but noticing with your mentioning of the Phoenix character and its song, and IWalkAlone on your album, if they were drawn from what had happened.
Tarja: No, actually not. There is not such a song at all about what happened between me and my band before, because I didn’t wanna go into that any more. I was, of course, it’s about me also. As I said, I’m writing about my own person and what has happened to me in my life and my interests and my personal things, but the thing is that IWalkAlone song talks about my fans and that is the most important [thing] . . . I didn’t write [the song] myself. It was a song that was written by a couple of Swedish guys, and I discovered even the whole title from my album My Winter Storm through that song. [The album] began through that very important song for me, as when the record company said this could be the first single, I really agreed with them because My Winter Storm is my fans, and they have been really keeping me going.

TKW: What song on the album best represents where you are in life at this point?
Tarja: I have to tell you that the whole album as it is, it’s very personal, and if I should only pick up one song from the album that could represent me right this moment, maybe, still I would say, lyrical-wise, maybe that is TheReign. It’s very beautiful story of going somewhere new in life and still I am heading to somewhere new. Like in a way, everybody of us is heading to somewhere new and unknown. I’m also doing that, so let’s see what will happen. [laughs]

Tarjaturunen.com

By: Christa Titus

(Music that is referenced in this review is hyperlinked to Amazon.com for your purchasing convenience. If a product is not hyperlinked, Amazon.com did not offer it at the time of publication.)

Remember that straight-faced gospel reading the Rev. Jesse Jackson gave Dr. Suess’ Green Eggs and Ham on “Saturday Night Live”? The following five songs were picked with the idea of Queensrÿche letting down its hair a lot more while recording Take Cover and noodling on top 40 hits for shits and giggles. Consider the band, ironically or not, giving these hits the Ryche treatment. Each song is paired with another that The Killing Words would actually love to see Queensrÿche cover (hint, hint), along with suggested production tips for a plan of attack.

For laughs: Oops! . . . I Did It Again by Britney Spears
Strategy: Rectify Brit’s diva bragging—and the saccharine production—by scrapping the arrangement and completely recasting it as a regretful ballad, because this song has as much testosterone potential as a convent.
Biggest challenge: Dignifying the lyrics.
For real: Bravado by Rush
Strategy: Rush is one of Queensrÿche’s long-ago heroes who has since become a peer. This soaring piece on being humbled by Pyrric victory is tailor-made for the Rÿche with its strolling guitar lines and complicated patterns—especially Scott Rockenfield, who counts Neil Peart among his personal influcences.
Biggest challenge: All Rush material requires great TLC, lest millions of devotees riot.
Keep an ear open for: How Rockenfield would pace his drums.

Scott Rockenfield (on drums) and Geoff Tate.
Sept. 8, 2007, at Jones Beach Ampitheater in Wantagh, N.Y. Photo © 2008/Christa Titus.

For posterity: White Lines (Don’t Do It) by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel
Strategy: Either let it ride, or turn it into a warning call like “Empire.”
Biggest challenge: Singer Geoff Tate loathes rap.
For real: Master of Puppets by Metallica
Strategy: Throw themselves into this headlong like it was a drunken bet on which they accidentally wagered everything they own.
Biggest challenge: Reaching the speed threshold.
Keep an ear open for: How guitarist Michael Wilton would live up to his nickname of Whip.

For crossover: Brick House by the Commodores
Strategy: Forget any attempt at giving the song any depth, and have bassist Eddie Jackson bring the funk.
Biggest challenge: Keeping a straight face while performing.
For real: Face Down by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Strategy: The song’s composition is broad enough for Queensÿche to follow pretty straightforwardly. The guitar squeals can easily convert to metal, and the lyrics are a message the group can get behind.
Biggest challenge: Not letting emotion get in the way of performance. (The Ryche is parent to quite a few daughters.)
Keep an ear open for: How the band balances Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’ pop aesthetics with the song’s outrage.

Eddie Jackson.
Sept. 8, 2007, at Jones Beach Ampitheater in Wantagh, N.Y. Photo © 2008/Christa Titus.

For Seattle locals: Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana
Strategy: A combination of the attack for “Oops . . . I Did It Again” (reinterpretation) and “Bravado” (reverence). A good start would be following the lead of Patti Smith’s shuffling rendition, but build it into an explosive crescendo.
Biggest challenge: Giving both guitarists enough to do throughout the song.
For real: Teenagers by My Chemical Romance
Strategy: Let the thinking rock band wag its finger at teens’ homicidal quirks, but stick with the camp attitude. The rollicking licks should let QR relax into their groove like a rocking chair. Add audible fingersnaps to the verses. Bonus points if the band records it live with a crowd singalong and Tate vamps it up as much as Gerard Way.
Biggest challenge: Keeping it from sounding preachy.
Keep an ear open for: How guitarist Mike Stone would freewheel with the good-time party vibe.

For a curveball: Bye Bye Bye by ‘N Sync
Strategy: Boot the fuzzy synths. Extract the bubble gum from the vocals. Swap the programmed beats for a huge wall of percussion. Instead of this song waving buh-bye, it needs to flip the bird.
Biggest challenge: Giving this tripe balls.
For real: Separate Ways by Journey
Strategy: Follow it exactly, right down to the last note, except for Jonathan Cain’s keyboards. Have Wilton handle them as the rhythm guitar as Stone does the soloing.
Biggest challenge: Rocking it harder than the original without going over the top.
Keep an ear open for: How Tate would hit Steve Perry’s money shots.

Geoff Tate.
Sept. 8, 2007, at Jones Beach Ampitheater in Wantagh, N.Y. Photo © 2008/Christa Titus.

When rock critic Mick Stingley isn’t hanging with Type O Negative or unironically waving the flag for Pink, he whips up irreverent satire in the wee hours of the morn. Tasty soufflés of his spot-on wit can be found at yankeepotroast.org and rashofstabbings.blogspot.com. The following rumination of “Rock of Love” ringmaster Bret Michaels espousing his choice for the presidential hopefuls originally appeared on Yankee Pot Roast (yankeepotroast.org). It’s been published with permission.

Well, first of all, the only party I’m affiliated with is the one that’s happening in my pants! So when I’m looking over all these candidates, I don’t think to myself, “Democrat or, you know, uh . . . well, whatever the other one is.” I think about who’s gonna rock my vote!

Now it’s almost Super Duper Tuesday and we’re pretty much down to six people: There’s John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. I know there are some other ones out there, or at least I think there are, but these six are my VIPs.

I don’t really know any of them, but I’d like to get to know them. Maybe if we spent a little time together, just hanging out at my place. But the way things are there just isn’t time to really spend time. So I’m kinda winging it here. You know, I’ve sold 25 million albums, I’ve toured all over the world and I’ve banged some of the hottest women in the world. Being in a rock band is great, but it’s also hard work and you have to be ready for anything. Maybe the amps are blown, maybe you break a guitar string, maybe the microphone fails . . . anything can happen because rock’n’roll is a monster! You have to be able to make a decision on the fly and you use your best judgment. Like if I’m playing an arena to 20,000 screaming fans and I say, “Hit it, C. C.!” and he doesn’t hit it . . . well, that’s when I have to make an important decision. I can either stand there like a complete idiot or I can start working the crowd until C. C. remembers what song we’re playing. That’s about making a tough decision, and it’s either going to work out or it isn’t but you bring your A game or you’ll be booed off the stage. The stage of life. That’s what I’m looking for in a candidate.

Now, I heard that Mike Huckabee is a musician and plays bass or something. That’s awesome! But already I’m thinking he’s not gonna make the cut because he has such a terrible name. Huckabee. It just doesn’t rock and he should have realized that a long time ago and made the decision to change his name. You look at guys like Elton John, David Bowie, Axl Rose . . . C. C. DeVille. Those guys all had terrible names, made the decision to change ’em and look at ’em now! So Mike Huckabee, I’m sorry . . . but you don’t rock my vote and I wish you all the best.

Mitt Romney is a Mormon and I’ve played Salt Lake City a thousand times and the girls there are incredibly hot! But as a Mormon AND the governor of Utah, you would think he might have taken advantage of his status and found a much hotter wife . . . or three! Not a good decision. Also, for the same reasons as Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney doesn’t rock my vote. But I wish you good luck and Godspeed on all the wonderful adventures I’m sure you’ll have in your life.

I think John McCain is pretty cool. The guy’s a war hero: He stayed with his men in Viet Nam when he could have gone home. That says a lot about a guy. He seems like the kind of guy you could have a beer with or go to a strip club with and that’s the kind of guy who would probably be a good wingman. And if we went to a strip club, I bet he would stay with me until I got a hot chick with some nice DDs. John McCain definitely rocks my vote!

I really dig that Obama. Sharp guy and young, too. So I think Barack Obama would rock my vote because he’s probably the only candidate who knows my music. Cool name, too!

I like Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman, and I love women! Not hot, but maybe if she had a boob job and wore heels. Still, I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to suck face with her all night because she seems committed. Plus I’d like to meet her husband; I bet he’s nailed more groupies than I have! And Hillary made the decision to stand by her man and that’s awesome. She rocks my vote!

John Edwards. He seems like he’s always around, but I just don’t know what he’s talking about. He’s kind of like, you know how if you go out and meet a hot girl who’s out with her friends, there’s always that one sort of fat girl? And she’s always talking? That’s what Edwards reminds me of. Like I’d want to talk to the hot girl, but there’s Edwards talking about reforming government or something. I’m sorry, John, but we don’t click. I really hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for and get to reform all sorts of cool things, but you didn’t rock my vote.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Hopefully soon I’ll really get to spend some time with each candidate and maybe up the ante on the competition. Maybe we could all go hang-gliding or snowboarding, do some shots and just, you know, hang out. Then I’d really have a better feel about who’s gonna really rock my vote!

Mick Stingley’s writing regularly graces such outlets as Metal Edge, the Hollywood Reporter and knac.com. His “Notes On How My Irrational Fears Of Organ Harvesting Have Been Killing My Chances Of Random Hookups In NYC” (rashofstabbings.blogspot.com) is utter brilliance. Mick Stingley and Celine Dion will both turn 40 on March 30, 2008.

Mick Stingley, left, with photographer Evelyn Duncan and Burton C. Bell of Ascension of the Watchers/Fear Factory; Feb. 18, 2008. Photo © 2008/Christa Titus.