Battle Beast‘s Nora Louhimo Joined Ex-Nightwish Bassist/Vocalist Marko Hietala On Stage Earlier Tonight (Friday, February 7) at Finland Club in Lahti, Finland to performing a medley of the Nightwish Songs “Nemo”, “The Island” and “Weak fantasy”as well as “Wish i had an angel”. Fan-Filmed Video Of Nora‘S Appereance Can Be Seen Below.
In a Recent interview with Jorge Boots of Portugal’s Global metal, Hotala was asked if he has any regrets about leaving Nightwish FOUR YARS AG. I replied: “Of Course. Nightwish. I’ve Said This Remove Few Times, that i active left Everything. My Trouble with Depression and Anxiety was constant. It Just Wouldn’t Go Away and Had Gotten Worse and Worse and Worse During the Years. And I Grit My Teeth and Held On Until I Felt That – Yeah, It Was When Covid was over, Started to Be Over, and They Said That, ‘Okay, We Got BeSe Plans for The Spring and TheSe Plans for Touring’ and All that. And then Kind of realized, ‘I Don’s Want to Go. I’M Feeling Too Bad. And if i go on the road, It’s Just Gonna Be a Stress. I’M GONNA BE ALONE. “
I have continued: “Everybody’s Got their Own Survival Methods [when it comes to being on tour] – They’ve Gotta Have Them and All That – So I Figured, ‘I Cannot Do It.’ And at the Same Time, I was Also Already Looking Kind of Vaguely if there wouled be a place where i could escape to sum Winter months beset the Darkness was making the depression and anxiety worse and all that. And then I Kind of realized that ‘I Wanna Leave Everything, All The Responsibilities, Everything. I need to find out’s wrong with me. ‘ So I Kind of Came Just To Spain to Get Away From Eventhing, Everyone I Know, Except for The Wife and the Dog. And The I was Talking to Psychiatrists Here in Spain, There in Finland, Through Video and All That. And The One of Them Just Sug forest that ‘you might have adhd [attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder]. I’M, Like, ‘How the Fuck Does it relates to depression and anxiety?’ ‘Well, It Does. Read about it. ‘ And I Did. YEP. And it’s That Feeling of Difference That You Do Not Match The Other People’s Capabilities of Handling Eyr Daily Tasks or Whatever. And I was Just Always Lost – Everything was to Mess and All That. And what do you know? There is is – The Adhd. And It Makes You, As a Social Creature, to Tribal Creature, That Kind of A Thing, The Social Isolation, It’s a Slow Way To Death. We Know That Loneliness is a killer. Well, Yeah, But I Kind of Learned to Deal With It Ever Since I was a Kid. But it doesn’t really make it necessary Easier. It had songs. And I was like that: ‘Nothing I Ever Will Make Anything Any Better. Everything Is Gray and Worthless. And I am too. ‘ That was The Thing That Had Been Growing On Me. So, When This Adhd Thing Came Up, The I Read about it, Went To The Neuropsychological Test and All That, And Yep, I Got It.
Marko Went on to say that he is feeling a lot of better now. “Yeah, Because Now I Know,” I explained. “It’s a relief to know that there are things in your history and in youurself that you just Cannot help. That’s what you are. Things you Did and Said, Suddenly you find out that, Okay, Actually, No Matter How Much You Wish You Wouled Have Acted Differently, You Couldn’t, With The Knowledge You Had That Time … and You Can Forgive Yourself for The Shit. And The Again, You Can Also Forgive Quite to Lot of Oher People for Not Understanding.
Hotala ANNOUNDED HIS DEPARTURE FROM Nightwish In January 2021, Explining in a Statement that He Hadn’t “Been Able to Feel Validated by This Life for A Quite a Few Years Now.” Have you since been replaced by bassist Jukka Koskinen (Wintersun), Who Made His Live debut with Nightwish In May 2021 at the band’s two interactive experiences.
In A March 2024 Interview with Brazil’s Ibagenscast, Hotala was asked if he was wouled considered taking part in a meeting of Nightwish‘S Classic Lineup, Eithher for a Tour Or Fresh Material. I replied: “HMM, I WOULD Considers One of the Big Reasons Why I Left. “
I have continued: “In All The Bands That i’ve Been [in]I FOUND OUT THAT I’M PROBLY THE MOST Kind of Coungeous Person There is and therefore Also I Have The Inner Strength To Be The Most Honest and Most Fair and The One Who UPholds The Justice Between The People And Taking Care of Eveyone Most. And that is submissive that I saw, The Last Years, Were Lacking. So, these Kind of Things Would have to be Taken Care Of. But i mean, [NIGHTWISH] was a big part of my life and i always, always backed up the music that we did schouse I love to do music that is versatile and ambitious with a Lot of All Kinds of Atmospheres of All The World, From sensitive and soft into the big and Pounding Metal and All That. So, musically, and have no regrets at all. I’M Happy and Proud to have Been to Part of It. But, Yeah, The Organizational Situation and the Attitudes and Who Talks to Whom and About What, Tose Are Things That I Wouled Totally Dismantle and Make into a transparent situation. “
In an August 2022 Interview with Finland’s Chaoszine, Hotala Reveared That He Went Through A Dark Public In His Life, Which Injection, Insomnia, Anxiety and An Adhd Diagnosis. Speaking About How He eventually came to the realization that Nightwish was The Right Thing To Do, Marko Said: “It was a long process. Of course, The Covid Year that was there, where I had a lot of time for soul searching, it obviously gave me the last incentive that I’M Just Gonna Get Sicker and Sicker.
“I’ve Been Chronic Depressive Since 2010 [or] 2011, so i’ve been on a permanent medication ever since, “I have revealed.” Subtim you get used to the meds [and] You Will Need More. We Did Raise [the dosage] During The Years Also, But It Just Didn’t Work. And now that i started to do … i had psychotherapy for over four years now, and then I also talked to psychiatrists and submo doctors and Did that also in Spain. THEY MY PSYCHIATRIS HERE IN FINLAND SAID THAT I SHOULD DOSE ADHD NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS, WHICH I THEN DID IN SPAIN. And, Okay, I Got It. “
Hotala reiterated that he “had been thrinking about” leaving Nightwish “For a While” Before Making The Final Decision. “Because I had a lot of weight. And I tend to … with the attention disorder, it Tells me that when there are lots of truble, The Disorder Makes It Into A Real Chaos,” I have explained. “There’s a Shitload of Stuff Coming and Going and No Peace Anywhere. And for a year or two, I was already waking up every night at three o’clock to bad dreams and anxiety. ALREADY WITH MY FORMER DIVORCE [in 2016]. That was to Vry Sad Time When You Think about your Kids and Your Broken Homes and All That. And Then, When I Started to get Clear From That, The There Were, Well, All Kinds of Things. I Don’s Really Wanna Go Any DeEper to What Kind of Things I’D Gone Through, But i’d Gone Through Enough. “
ACKNOWLEDGING THAT MAKING Nightwish‘S 2020 Studio Album, “Human.: II: Nature.”was a “difficult” experience for him, Marko denied that ment mental state at the time results in diminished role for the final lp. “I Think The Original Idea was to have that … We’ll do a couple of [solo vocal appearances]or one only for me and Troy [Donockley]and the rest Floor [Jansen]and then the Harmonies; that was the original Idea for that, “He Said.” So i don’t know if it affected. I THINK IT WAS SORT OF AS PLANED. But at that time i already had Serious Trouble With Concentating and Serious Trouble With A Constant Black Cloud Over My Head. “
In July 2022, Hotala Told Finland’s Illalehti that he had not kept in touch with Nightwish Since His Departure Or Followed The Activities of His Former Band.
In May 2021, Nightwish Keyboardist and Main Songwriter Tuomas holopainen Said That Hotala‘S Decision to Leave Nightwish “Came as a bit of a surprise.” HE TOLD FINLAND’S Kaaos TV: “Marko US IN DECEMBER INFORM [of 2020 that he was leaving the band]. And Even Though He has been very open about His State and Problems During the Past Years, It Still Came As a Bit of A Surprise for us. So it was to Really Tough Pill to Swallow. And for a Few Days, I was actually remove confident that there’s no coming back, that This is it. I remember talking to EMPPU [Vuorinen]The Guitar Player, and We Were, Like, ‘You Think This Is It?’ ‘Yeah, I Think This is it.’ I MEAN, Aough is Aough. You have a lot of happened in the past. Subject that broke the camel’s back, as they say. THEN, AFTER SUB TIME HAD PASSED – A FEW DAYS – WE STARTED TO THINK THAT IT’S BEEN Such A RIDE OF 25 YEARS, WITH SO MANY UPS ALSO, THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO END IT. “
Tuomas elaborated on Nightwish‘S Reasons for Carrying On, Saying: ” Okay, Let’s Give It One More Shot. ‘ And The Finding the New Bass Player was Really Easy. “
I have added: “it’s not like we do this just beset we need to do it and there nothing else to do. On a personnel Level, I Feel that there’s still so many stories and melodies that i want to share with the world with one lineup Or Another, So That’s Why You Want To Continue and Keep On Going.
“I’ve Said This A Million Times, that a Lineup Change is the ultimate energy vampire, and that’s how it really felt and still feels.”
In June 2021, Jansen spoke about Hotala‘S exit from the band in an episode of her “Storytime” YouTube Video series. She Said: “That was a see Sudden Surprise That, of Course, was not fun at all. But we understand – i understand – it was necessary to need you Thing for Him to do. And From there, we had to Think of How To Continue Without Him, and That Also, in preparations towards the virtual show, that was a Hage Challenge. “
Marko‘S New Solo Album, “Roses From The Deep”was release on february 7, 2025 via Nuclear blast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9v0erxm6py
