Nightwish bassist and vocalist, Marko Hietala, has announced that he has quit the band, citing depression as the key reason. In a lengthy post he’s also thrown fuel on the fire by labelling tour promoters as hypocrites.
After two decades with the symphonic metal band, Hietala took to social media to share the news of his departure.
“Dear people. I am leaving NIGHTWISH and my public life,” he began in the post.
“For a quite a few years now I haven’t been able to feel validated by this life. We have streaming company big guns demanding 9/5 work from artists of inspiration while unfairly sharing the profits.”
“Even among the artists. We’re the banana republic of the music industry. Biggest tour promoters squeeze percentages even from our own merchandise while paying dividends to Middle East. Apparently some theocrasies can take the money from the music that would get you beheaded or jailed there without appearing as hypocrites. Just a couple of examples here.”
“This past year forced me to stay home and think.”
“And it’s even in my book that I’m a chronic depressive. It’s dangerous for me and the people around me, if I continue. Some of the thoughts a while back were dark. Don’t worry, I’m fine. I have my two sons, a wife, the rest of the family, friends, a dog and lots of love.”
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“And I don’t think that I’ll be gone for good.”
He ended the post with an apology: ”I am so sorry about this.”
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With an upcoming world tour on the cards which was slated to begin March 12, 2021, it seems as though the band will still be going ahead, just with a temporary bass player. They released the following statement about Hietala’s resignation:
“Marko’s resignation has left us with some difficult decisions and choices to be made. After much thought and consideration, we have, in mutual understanding, decided to perform the upcoming ‘Human. :II: Nature.’ world tour as planned, but with a session bass player. The live line-up will be announced at a later date.
“We respect Marko’s decision and wish him all the very best. We will not comment any further.”
