Nightwish split with bassist, guitarist, and backing vocalist Marko Hietala after nearly 20 years in 2021. Now in a new interview with Ibagenscast, Hietala said it wasn't the music or his bandmates that caused him to go his separate way – it all came down to the business side of the band.
"Hmm, I would consider it. But I think that the organization there would have to be looked very carefully into it and some of it would have to be dismantled. Because the business side and how the people there work, they are one of the big reasons why I left."
Hietala elaborated, saying he has no regrets about his music in Nightwish and that a lot of the tension arose from the business portion of the band.
"In all the bands that I've been [in], I found out that I'm probably the most kind of courageous 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 everyone most. And that is something 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 because 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, I have no regrets at all. I'm happy and proud to have been a part of it. But, yeah, the organizational situation and the attitudes and who talks to whom and about what, those are things that I would totally dismantle and make into a transparent situation."
Hietala has since teamed up with his former Nightwish bandmate, vocalist Tarja Turunen, for a new single "Left On Mars". Check it out below.
