February 18, 2013 15:19

Member of Finnish metal band Nightwish working on Scrooge McDuck-inspired album

Keyboard player Tuomas Holopainen reveals unlikely influence on new project

Photo: Disney/Youtube

Tuomas Holopainen of Finnish metal band Nightwish has revealed that he is working on a solo album inspired by animated character Scrooge McDuck.

Holopainen spoke to Metal Hammer about his unlikely muse, saying that reading the Life And Time of Scrooge McDuck comics as a child gave him the "strangely familiar feel of home" and that he thinks of McDuck as a "relentless, honest and complex character".

"It all started with a story called Last Sled To Dawson, which was published in a Finnish Donald Duck magazine in the late ’80s," Holopainen explained to the magazine. "It instantly became one of my favorite Scrooge/Donald stories and also introduced Mr Don Rosa to my Disney universe. This story is not part of the actual 'Life And Times' opus, though, but ‘a companion story,’ set in between the chapters #8 and #9. Then when the massive 12-chapter piece was released in mid-’90s, I was completely and utterly hooked. It was similar to reading The Lord Of The Rings as an 8-year-old, or seeing Raiders Of The Lost Ark for the first time. Adventure, fun and the strangely familiar feeling of home.

"With Scrooge, there was also a much deeper level hidden between the stories and the gags. This is a book about life itself. What an unfathomable privilege it is, what are the things that truly matter during our existence. It’s about the immense beauty of the world and its possibilities seen through the eyes of a very relentless, honest and complex character. It’s about love and family, gain and loss, darkness and rebirth."

Holopainen continued: "And on top of that, well, it’s just your good old-fashioned storytelling fun. I have been twiddling around with certain themes for some months now and have an idea for five songs, but I will start working on this project 24/7 after the Australian leg of the tour, in February 2013. The demo recordings are scheduled for May 2013, just before the festival season starts and we’re off with NIGHTWISH again. The actual recordings then start in August-September and should be finished by the end of the year, making a release during the first half of 2014 a possibility."

Nightwish released their latest studio album 'Imaginaerum' in 2011.

The world's greatest music magazine is now available as a digital edition! For exclusive content you won't find on NME.COM, download here on your iPad/iPhone and here on your Kindle Fire or Nook.

Share on Facebook