Nightwish mainman Tuomas Holopainen says he’s not planning to start work on a follow-up to eighth album Endless Forms Most Beautiful for several years.
He believes the band will take a break when touring duties are completed, rather than starting work on a ninth studio project straight away.
**_Endless Forms Most Beautiful _**is their first release since vocalist Floor Jansen and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley were confirmed as full-time members, with drummer Jukka Nevalainen stepping back for health reasons.
Holopainen tells GuitarMania: “It’s going to take a bit of time. Endless Forms Most Beautiful was quite the effort, and this tour’s going to be quite the effort. I think we’re going to take a little breather after this tour.”
He adds: “I haven’t really had the spark for even thinking about another album in the past few months. It’s all been about touring and other things.
“So it’s going to happen at some point – but it’s going to take some years, I think.”
The band’s 20th anniversary takes place this year, but Holopainen has no plans to mark the occasion. “We’re saving that for the 25th, 30th or hopefully 50th year,” he says. “Who knows?
“By accident, we have this show in Finland on August 20, and that’s almost, to the week, 20 years since Nightwish was born. So in a way, you can call that an unofficial anniversary show.”
Nightwish’s North American tour starts on February 19.
Nightwish 2016 tour dates
Feb 19: Sayreville Starland Ballroom, NJ
Feb 20: Hartford The Webster, CT
Feb 21: Montreal Metropolis, QC
Feb 22: London Music Hall, ON
Feb 24: Pittsburgh Carnegie Music Hall, PA
Feb 25: Columbus Express Live, OH
Feb 26: Royal Oak Music Theatre, MI
Feb 27: Milwaukee The Rave, WI
Feb 29: Minneapolis First Avenue, MN
Mar 01: Winnipeg Burton Cummings Theatre, MB
Mar 02: Saskatoon O’Brian’s Event Centre, SK
Mar 03: Edmonton Winspear Center, AB
Mar 05: Calgary MacEwan Hall, AB
Mar 06: Missoula The Wilma Theatre, MT
Mar 07: Seattle Showbox SoDo, WA
Mar 08: Boise Knitting Factory, ID
Mar 10: Reno Knitting Factory Concert House, NV
Mar 11: San Jose City National Civic, CA
Mar 12: Anaheim City National Grove, CA
Mar 13: Tucson The Rialto Theatre, AZ
Mar 15: Colorado Springs City Auditorium, CO
Mar 16: Kansas City Uptown Theater, MO
Mar 18: Oklahoma City Diamond Ballroom, OK
Mar 19: San Antonio Aztec Theatre, TX
Mar 20: New Orleans Civic Theatre, LA
Mar 21: Birmingham Iron City, AL
Mar 23: Tampa The Ritz Ybor, FL
Apr 12: Beijing M Zone Center, China
Apr 14: Shanghai QSW Culture Center, China
Apr 16: Taipei City Tech, Taiwan
Apr 17: Hong Kong Kitec Rotunda, Hong Kong
May 16: Yekaterinburg Divsw Arena, Russia
May 18: Nizhniy Novgorod Ds Profsoyuzov, Russia
May 20: Moskva Crocus City hall, Russia
May 22: Minsk MKCPK Arena, Belarus
May 27: Munich Rockavaria, Germany
May 28: Gelsenkirchen Rock Im Revier, Germany
Jun 03: Pilsen Metalfest Open Air, Czech Republic
Jun 05: Vienna Rock In Vienna, Austria
Jun 08: Rome Postepay Rock In Roma, Italy
Jun 12: Donington Download Festival, UK
Jun 18: Dessel Graspop Metal Meeting, Belgium
Jun 30: Seinajoki Provinssi, Finland
Jul 02: Norrkoping Bravalla Festival, Sweden
Aug 06: Montreal Heavy Montreal, QC
Aug 20: Jamsa Himos park, Finland
Aug 25: Zyrakow Czad Festival, Poland
