Former members, and other stuff:
The idea of Nightwish was "born" in July 1996 at midnight when Tuomas was spending a night with his friends around campfire. The first three songs, which were acoustic mood music, were recorded between October and December 1996. At that time the band had three members; Tuomas, Tarja and Emppu. After that we wanted to try what the music would sound like if drums were added (Jukka came to the band) and an electric guitar was used instead of an acoustic one. After a couple of weeks of training we went to studio in April 1997. At that time we recorded seven songs which can be found on Angels Fall First -limited edition. In May 1997 Nightwish signed a recording contract with Spinefarm for two records. In August Nightwish went to studio and recorded four new songs. Before the release of Angels Fall First, a single called The Carpenter was released and at its best it was number eight on the official singles chart in Finland. Angels fall first was released in early November and it was at its best number 31 on the official album chart in Finland. Nightwish played their first gig in Kitee on the 31st December 1997. After that Nightwish played only seven gigs in the following winter because Jukka and Emppu were in the army and Tarja was busy with her studies. Nightwish and Spinefarm extended the contract to include three records instead of two. In April 1998 the filming of the first video, The Carpenter, started. It was ready in early May and was played in Jyrki. Tuomas and Tarja were also interviewed on that show (this happened in late May). In the following summer Sami Vänskä, who plays bass, joined the band. During the summer songs for the new record were trained and the band went to studio in early August. The recordings were finished in late October. in November 13th Nightwish played a gig in Kitee and in that gig a video for Sacrament Of Wilderness was filmed. A single of that song was released in November 26th and the new record called Oceanborn was released in December 7th.
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