Интервю с New Proscenium – румънският Nightwish Tribute

I`ve never considered tribute bands as something rather serious and worth listening to. Maybe it`s because most of those bands are just aimless copycats and struggle making some money on someone else`s back. Or just because they look (and sound) extremely stupid in their roles under the lights of the stage. I don`t really know why. But it`s a fact that a good and proficient tribute band do exist. They really succeed in turning their idol`s music into something fresh, something of their own. The last band I saw doing that is the Romanian tribute of one of the most significant bands of our days – Nightwish. They are comming to visit us again in the end of this week. And it turns out that Mare Stelian (guitar), Barabas Katika (drums), Sili Niki (bass), Simon Ors (keyboards, vocals) and Melya Andra (vocals) know what they are doing and have a clear view of what the future is hiding. Find out more for that and for the Romanian music scene in the lines below.

Hey guys. After meeting you here in Veliko Tarnovo in January, tell me more for your band. Was that your first visit in Bulgaria?

Hello mate. Yes. This was our first coming to your country. And, yeah, we had a lot of fun, we really liked the audience. And this time it’s going to be even greater. We will offer a greater sound because we are already much better equipped.

I noticed a lot of lineup changes, what is the reason?

Well, the band was formed in 2012 with other members. The only founding members present are the guitar player and our drummer girl. Over time, changes became necessary. And our singer is quite new. See, finding good, competent, reliable, and passionate musicians are not easy. It is not enough only to be good. You have to have a greater plan. A long-term passion. A wish to be famous and big. And the perseverance to see it through no matter what. Some of our ex members didn’t have the big picture in mind, only finances.

Hm, interesting, are the finances big when you play in a tribute band in Romania?

I can tell you – they aren’t. Yet. There is a certain „tribute“ level which pays relatively well, but it’s really hard to reach. And it takes a lot of time, effort, and investment. Generally, it solely depends on YOU GUYS. The more the public, the better the pay. But the financial part seems better when we play in Bulgaria. And I don’t have to tell you the instrument prices, right? Plus cables, sticks, picks, etc. Every concert has a necessary investment. It either comes back, or it doesn’t.

Tell me more about the tribute band life in Romania?

Romania has a lot of bands, tribute and others. Maybe the most important thing is that here, as a band, if you want to have concerts, it is extremely useful to have a manager. We`re happy to have one, who is not a musician. She organizes the stuff and does everything she can to get concerts for us.

Are there many tribute bands in Romania?

Ah, yes. There are a lot of tribute bands in Romania. And some of them are quite famous. Unfortunately Romania is not a very fertile soil for musical advancement. YOU guys are MUCH better. The Bulgarian people are really awesome and both clubs were packed where we played

Do you aim for a certain Nightwish period to sound like, or you love all of the band`s eras?

Well, our favorite era is of course, the “Tarja Turunen era”. Most of the songs we play are the soprano stuff with her. But we do play a few newer songs too. There is a musical creativity, and metal-sound in Tarja`s Nightwish, which I find is lacking in newer songs. And now we are in the process of composing our first album.

That was my next question. I can recall you played one of your own songs back then.. it sounded to me close to the early days of Nightwish..

The idea of an album is of course in our minds for a long time now. Every small band dreams of getting albums to future fans, but for it to actually take shape, we had to wait a long time. The crew had to be right; the moment had to be right. It is going to be a great concept, not just 15 random songs. It’s going to have a theme, filled with wizards, warriors, dragons, war, love, betrayal.

An own concept album from a tribute band you say. Interesting…

Yes, definitely. We are still in the composing phase. We will record our first singles this year and if everything goes as planned the album should be ready by 2019. It takes a long time to do it properly BUT we will introduce more and more New Proscenium songs on tours and concerts.

How many ready songs do you have composed by now?

Four are composed so far. As for playing them we are in the process of cleaning and perfecting them. So they are not quite ready for stage yet.
Especially with our last lineup change – the brand new singer. We need to practice them really well before we can play them.

Awesome. Can you introduce her to our audience?

We are really excited to have her in the band. Yes, her ancestor had her pro’s, either BUT Melya is a talent of her own. She has a will which we never had in a singer before. She not only sings well, but she is excellent in marketing and advertisement. She is energetic and young. Brings an energy which was lacking so far and has an attitude towards our music, on which we can finally build a future. I can honestly say, in a mixed, all-round perspective she’s the best person on the job yet for us.

With Melya`s voice you will concrete yourself as a band on the soprano vocals I guess?

Yes, but since she is young, she is still flexible, willing to try new things. With her we can have a broad range of soprano, but still sound as the modern style.

And how hard is the transformation from a tribute band to a full-blooded one?

Bloody hard. Playing tribute helps you perfect your musicianship
and the band’s cohesion. You become a better musician technically. Writing songs and learning them, perfecting them – well, that is a whole new level.

When do you feel better onstage – playing Nightwish or playing your own music?

Well that’s a difficult question. It all depends on the crowd. How the people respond to a song determines how we feel on the stage. It is very difficult with new songs. We worry about how they will be received
so… for the moment, playing Nightwish is a lot more secure for us. It’s easier.

I really cannot understand the people that go to tribute shows they always sit down when the band plays anything unfamiliar…

I find it understandable. Noone can headbang to a song they don’t know.

Maybe, but I`d like to see tribute bands playing something of their own, to challenge themselves.

I really hope there are many people like you. Our future depends on that quite a lot. We plan as soon as we record our own songs to „leak“ a few of them out so they can be listened in a few clubs we visit. That way the people can get to know them and recognize them easier live.

Maybe a little controversial question to a tribute musician but – do you hate being compared to Nightwish players every time?

Hehe. No, I actually consider it an honor. My favorite singer is Marco Hietala. He was one of my greatest idols in voice, composing, and style
If someone compares me to the Viking God, that just makes me warm.

You know, I`ve always said that Nightwish would have been a better band if Marco was the only vocal in the band after Tarja left, haha..

Yes and no. Marco has (or had, unfortunately) his own band, with his own music, creation, voice – you know, Tarot..

I love Tarot…

Yes. And keeping him in vocals would have mixed the two together too much and let’s be honest, the „night“ in Nightwish has a certain magic which only happens with the involvement of a female voice. I myself like the „femme metal“ thing. I like the combination of voices, the idea that the „whole is better than the sum of its parts“. If in a band you can have cool male AND female voice then why wouldn’t you? It just makes the music more colorful, more interesting. Although I could have imagined a better female replacement, to be honest. We all could have. This will sound egotistic, but we (as small as we are) intend to learn from that mistake.

Which replacement would you love?

Hmm…from the known, famous ones? I would have loved another opera-like really deep, mystical soprano voice in their newer stuff. With that soprano-tenor combination everyone is missing.

What do you think of Annete Olzon and Floor Jansen, compared to Tarja? And why was Annete picked then, obviously being not-for-that-band?

I think the reason is Tuomas`s desire to RADICALLY change the band’s direction and create a whole new sound. His will to differentiate himself from Tarja was just too great. I think Anette was not really suited for that style of music. Deep down, Tuomas is hurting the most from Tarja’s departure. Anette was a sort of…burning the bridges and showing the finger. She became the casualty of Tuomas’s rage. And Floor is great, that I have to admit. She is sort of a bridge between old and new. Being capable of singing soprano and throat-voice, it was definitely a step towards the better. After Anette, it was redemption. She is quite good. A gold mine.

I sometimes explain it to myself the reason is that just the Dark Passion Play album had to sound softer and more-easy-to-go, easier to listen…

Not many people know, but DPP was written and recorded BEFORE Anette was chosen.

I know that, this is why they needed Anette exactly…

Some songs have Marco versions, so she was just a pawn for change.

But still the songs in it really demand more of rock-oriented, softened voice…

She doesn’t have a softer voice, more of a poppish one. Which sounds great in alt metal bands, but not Nightwish. Here is something I’d like people who read this to know. As musicians, we see a great decline in the inspiration and complexity, „metal-ness“ of newer songs of theirs so in fact this is the base of what our style would be. We would like our songs to be hard, but delicate, inspired, easy to understand, but still elaborate in instruments. And my greatest wish is that someday, some fan after hearing one of our songs will say „hey, I actually never heard that kind of a cool thing in a soprano metal, like Nightwish before“. Nightwish were that kind of pioneers, which deserve paying tribute to.

Nice. I`m so thirsty for that early-Nightwish sound we used to have with Tarja onboard. And I don`t find it anymore around.

Ok. Now imagine a Nightwish-like sound, with the brutality of Epica and a little bit of complexity from Dream Theater. This is what we plan to sound like.

Does that mean that you will have also a male vocal?

Clean male backing, and completing vocals. What I do now as a Marco-replacement. Primary is always going to be female. There is a mix of styles which we love and is not explored before.

Melya, how does she feel as a front woman of a Nightwish tribute band and what is her aim for the future as such?
She started singing because of Nightwish and Tarja specifically; she opted for classical training only because she fell in love with everything related to this fabulous band and is honored and humbled to be able to give to others what I felt back then.

And why you love the Bulgarian audience more than the Romanian one?

Well, learning from the January experience your enthusiasm is fabulous, very different from Romanian. Metal-heads in Bulgaria are MUCH more enthusiastic. It has been a long time, since I saw latex, leather, and other extremely metal-oriented clothing on people at concerts. As we saw it, you guys LOVE music, attend concerts, STAY AFTER, drink, and have a good time. You represent that audience we all miss here in Romania. Girls here rarely dress up gothic anymore . And less and less people attend an event just to listen to live music.

This is sad…

If I’m honest, I see us being successful in Bulgaria MUCH sooner than at home. So it ALL depends on you, metalheads, come to concerts, and have a good time

Maybe it`s because of the fact BG has more Nightwish fans than in RO. Final question – what do you expect from Sofia and Varna dates?

I would really like the venues to be full. To be able to play for many people and get new friends and fans. We want to establish a „Bulgaria-presence“. A number of cities and clubs, in which we can on on regular dates and give you the best we can. That’s certain. More metal fans in all. In the end of our talk we`d like to invite everyone to our next planned dates in Bulgaria – in Veliko Tarnovo and in Stara Zagora. They will happen in February 2018, with details to follow. We`ll keep you posted. See you there.
You can see New Proscenium performing in Bulgaria on:

• 24th of November – Sofia, ADAMS bar club
• 25th of November – Varna, Varna Live Club