Year 8, Day 189

Hey guys. Today's song is While Your Lips Are Still Red by Nightwish.

Nightwish is new to me, but I have heard the name before so clearly they are very well known. So Nightwish is a Finnish band (give it up for Finland!) active since 1996, with current members including Tuomas Holopainen, Emppu Vuorinen, Troy Donockley, Floor Jansen, Kai Hahto and Jukka Koskinen and past members being Tarja Turunen, Jukka Nevalainen, Sami Vänskä, Marko Hietala and Anette Olzon. The group was the brainchild of Holopainen, and he along with Vuorinen and Turunen started the group off the their demo in 1996, with the name spawning from their first song together.  Their sound developed into what they are now with the addition of Nevalainen in 1997 and the introduction of electric guitars instead of acoustic. The released their debut album, and started performing with some live members to fill in the needed instruments before asking Vänskä to join. They released their second album in 1998 in Finland only, but after much success it was released internationally in 1999. They released another album in 2000, followed by an EP in 2001. Tensions were rising with the members, leading to the group almost breaking up, but in the end they got a new manager, Vänskä was asked to leave and was replaced with Hietala who played bass and sang. They released a fourth album in 2002, followed by another in 2004 which led them to a World Tour. In 2005 the group penned an open letter firing Turunen based on commercial interests and her husband changing her attitude about the band. Personally considering that reading through their history they had to do guest vocals for a bunch of stuff because she didn't want to sing...I see why they would fire her as the singer of the band, regardless of the other reasons. The band found a replacement and went into the studio in 2006, but didn't reveal until 2007 that Olzon was the new addition so that they would have music to showcase with her on it. Their next album was also released in 2007, then spent the next couple years touring for it. They started teasing a new album in 2009, releasing it in 2011, then in 2012 during their tour Olzon couldn't perform and due to that and other issues was dismissed from the group, replaced by Jansen for the rest of the tour, becoming a permanent member in 2013, along with Donockley who had recorded with the band previously. In 2014 Nevalainen stepped down from recording and touring, being replaced with Hahto for their next album released in 2015. They took a break in 2017 while Jansen was focusing on her first child, but came back with a compilation album and tour in 2018. In 2019 Hahto became a permanent replacement, and the group released an album in 2020. In 2021 Hietala left the group, citing depression and disillusionment form the music industry (which is pretty common actually) with Koshinen taking over for their tour performances, which should last into this year with an upcoming album planned for next year. This song was released in 2007, written by Holopainen and Hietala, and performed by Holopainen, Hietala, and Nevalainen for a Finnish film called the Matriarch. It was also released on their 2007 album, but is not officially a Nightwish track. Vuorinen and Olzen would wait backstage when this song was performed, but in more recent iteration Jansen and Donockley would join the others with performing this song onstage. I chose this one because I like it and it's a good way to transition into the more classical stuff that I'm going to showcasing, so hope you enjoy it.

Peace.