Quick Facts
Biography
Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bass guitarist and songwriter. Internationally, he is most known as the current bass guitarist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic metal band Nightwish. He is also the vocalist and bassist as well as composer and lyricist for the heavy metal band Tarot.
He is also a member of the supergroup Northern Kings, and portrayed one of the main characters in Ayreon's 2013 album The Theory of Everything.
Biography
Marco Hietala was born in Tervo, and is the youngest child of the Hietala family. Hietala lived in Tervo until the age of 15, after which he moved to Kuopio to study classical guitar, vocals and musical theory in high school. In 1984, he and his brother, Zachary Hietala, formed heavy metal band Tarot under the name Purgatory. In 1986, Tarot received a deal for their first album and went on tour. Before becoming a full-time musician, he worked as a live and studio sound engineer.
Hietala joined Nightwish in 2001 when Tuomas Holopainen and the band's manager called him and said that there would be a place in the band for a vocalist and a bass player. Century Child was his first Nightwish album, following the departure of previous bassist Sami Vänskä. He was a prominent guest musician in Delain, a project involving many members of the gothic and symphonic metal community. He also participated in the recording of Invitation, by Altaria, providing backing vocals. Hietala has also been part of the bands Sinergy and Northern Kings.
Upon his arrival to Nightwish, several songs were written to contain duets with then Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen, allowing songwriter and band leader Tuomas Holopainen to take advantage of Hietala's distinctive raucous voice to add a new dimension to the band. A famous example is Nightwish's cover of "The Phantom of the Opera," from the album "Century Child."
During Nightwish's shows, Turunen would take a break halfway through the set. Before Hietala joined the band, the band would perform an instrumental song during this time. Since Hietala joined the band however, they have performed covers of well-known songs, with Hietala singing the lead vocal part in this break. The band has performed Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train", W.A.S.P.'s "Wild Child", Dio's "Don't Talk to Strangers", Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" and most recently, Pink Floyd's "High Hopes". Some of these songs have been put up for sale as well on various Nightwish album releases. Following Turunen's departure from Nightwish, Hietala was much more involved with the production of Dark Passion Play, which was released in September 2007. He sang some songs, completely, and wrote the music for the song "The Islander", on which he also plays acoustic guitar instead of bass. Hietala is also credited alongside Holopainen for co-writing the song "The Crow, the Owl and the Dove" from Nightwish's 2011 album, Imaginaerum.
In Delain, Hietala played the bass for the album Lucidity and was also the main male vocalist on the album. He is also featured as vocalist in two of the songs on Delain's second album April Rain.
In March 2009, Hietala joined the band Sapattivuosi. They cover Black Sabbath songs in Finnish. In this band, however, Hietala does not play bass; he only performs vocals.
On 1 April 2010 it was said that Hietala would leave the band to concentrate on a choir career. This was identified as an April Fool's joke, but was also a reference to his participation in Kuorosota (the localized Finnish version of Clash of the Choirs) in 2010. Hietala was the master of the Kuopio choir in the program's second season. He came second in the contest, losing in the finals to the Joensuu choir, headed by pop rock singer Ilkka Alanko. Tarot's single "I Walk Forever," from the Gravity of Light album, was performed for the first time by Marco, Tomi Salmela and the Kuopio choir during Kuorosota 2010; other songs performed included "The Phantom of the Opera," which Hietala has covered with Nightwish as well.
In June 2010, Hietala joined the heavy metal supergroup HAIL! on two occasions, performing Black Sabbath's Neon Knights with Ripper Owens, Andreas Kisser, James LoMenzo and Paul Bostaph at two of their shows in Finland.
On 14 August 2013 Hietala was the first singer to be confirmed by Arjen Lucassen to guest on Ayreon's new album The Theory of Everything.
Equipment
Hietala uses Warwick basses, particularly Infinity NT (birdseye maple top) and Vampyre NT (flame maple top) 4-string models tuned D Standard (DGCF) and Drop C (CGCF). He also owns a Warwick Buzzard JE with a rusty finish equipped with a detuner (Used, among others, in the music videoes for Elan and Endless Forms Most Beautiful), and a Kramer bass. He uses Warwick's Hellborg amplifier and cabs. After joining Nightwish he used a SansAmp GT2 distortion pedal for some time. ¨¨
Marco also uses a custom made Warwick/Framus doubleneck bass/electric guitar, based on the Warwick Infinity.
From Century Child until the End of an Era Marco used Infinity almost exclusively for live and studio applications. Later, Vampyre became his axe of choice (almost for the whole period with Anette as Nightwish's vocalist). The first time he can be seen with a Vampyre is the Bye Bye Beautiful music video. From the Imaginaerum tour going forward Buzzard became his preferred brand, but occasionally he still can be seen with an Infinity.
Influences
Hietala has stated that the biggest influence on him as a bassist is Geezer Butler and Bob Daisley, while Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford are his biggest influence as a vocalist. He has also stated that he listens to wide array of music ranging from "really sensitive stuff to a lot of really hard stuff", saying that he "tend[s] to soak up almost everything" which "somehow ends up being used" when he writes his own music.
Personal life
Hietala has a wife Manki and has two children, twin boys Antto and Miro. He and his family currently live in Kuopio, Finland. When he is not touring, he enjoys reading books, playing video games, and watching movies. He especially likes fantasy, horror and science fiction books as mentioned in the official Nightwish website.
Discography
Nightwish
- Century Child – 2002
- Once – 2004
- Dark Passion Play – 2007
- Imaginaerum – 2011
- Endless Forms Most Beautiful – 2015
Tarot
Northern Kings
Sapattivuosi
- Ihmisen merkki – 2009
Sinergy
- To Hell and Back – 2000
- Suicide by My Side – 2002
Raskasta joulua
- Raskasta Joulua – 2004
- Raskaampaa joulua – 2006
- Raskasta Joulua – 2013
- Ragnarok Juletide – 2014
- Raskasta Joulua 2 – 2014
Conquest
- Worlds Apart – 1999
- Slave to the Power: The Iron Maiden Tribute – 2000 (on the song ”The Evil That Men Do”)
As guest/session member
1990
- Warmath - Gehenna - (backing vocals, keyboards)
1999
- To/Die/For - All Eternity - (backing vocals)
2001
- Gandalf - Rock Hell - (backing vocals)
- To/Die/For - Epilogue - (backing vocals)
2002
- Dreamtale – Beyond Reality - (vocals on "Heart's Desire" & "Where the Rainbow Ends")
- Virtuocity - Secret Visions - (vocals on "Eye for an Eye" & "Speed of Light")
2003
- Aina – Days of Rising Doom - (vocals)
- Altaria - Invitation - (backing vocals)
- Charon – The Dying Daylights - (backing vocals)
- Evemaster - Wither - (vocals on "Wings of Darkness (Tarot cover)")
2004
- Shade Empire – Sinthetic - (vocals on "Human Sculpture")
- Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus - Kylmä tila (vocals on "Älkää selvittäkö" & "Samarialainen")
2005
- After Forever – Remagine - (vocals on "Face Your Demons")
- Turmion Kätilöt - Niuva 20 - (backing vocals on "Stormbringer (Deep Purple cover)")
2006
- Amorphis - Eclipse - (backing vocals)
- Defuse - Defuse - (vocals on "DIB")
- Delain – Lucidity - (vocals on 5 tracks, bass guitars)
- Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Before the Bleeding Sun - (backing vocals)
- Stoner Kings - Fuck the World - (backing vocals)
- Verjnuarmu - Muanpiällinen Helevetti - (backing vocals)
2007
- Amorphis – Silent Waters - (backing vocals)
- Nuclear Blast All-Stars: Into the Light - (vocals on "Inner Sanctuary")
- Machine Men - Circus of Fools - (vocals on "The Cardinal Point")
2008
- Ebony Ark – Decoder 2.0 - (vocals on 5 tracks)
2009
- Amorphis – Skyforger - (backing vocals)
- Delain – April Rain - (vocals on "Control the Storm" & "Nothing Left")
- Marenne – The Past Prelude - (backing vocals)
- Elias Viljanen – Fire-Hearted - (vocals on "Last Breath of Love")
- Turmion Kätilöt - Lentävä KalPan Ukko - (backing vocals)
- Turmion Kätilöt - Verkko Heiluu - (backing vocals)
2010
- Erja Lyytinen - Voracious Love - (vocals on "Bed of Roses")
2011
- Grönholm - Silent Out Loud - (Vocals on ″Vanity″)
2012
- Delain – We Are the Others - (vocals on two bonus live tracks on the Digipak version)
2013
- A2Z - Parasites of Paradise - (acoustic guitar on "Nightcrawler", "Caterpillar" & "Praying Mantis")
- Ayreon – The Theory of Everything - (vocals)
- Turmion Kätilöt - Technodiktator - (backing vocals on "Jalopiina")
- Lazy Bonez - Vol.1 - (duet with Udo Dirkschneider on First To Go - Last To Know)
2014
- Delain – The Human Contradiction - (vocals on "Your Body is a Battleground" & "Sing to Me")
2016
- Avantasia – Ghostlights - (vocals on "Master of the Pendulum")
As producer
Amorphis
- Far from the Sun (2003) - Producer
- Eclipse (2006) - Producer
- Silent Waters (2007) - Producer
- Skyforger (2009) - Producer
- The Beginning of Times (2011) - Producer
Conquest
- Worlds Apart (1999) - Engineering
Nightwish
- Imaginaerum (2011) - Engineering
- Showtime, Storytime (2013) - Mixing
Tarot
- To Live Forever (1993) - Producer
- Stigmata (1995) - Producer
- For the Glory of Nothing (1998) - Engineering
- Suffer Our Pleasures (2003) - Producer
- Crows Fly Black (2006) - Producer
- Gravity of Light (2010) - Producer
Warmath
- Gehenna (1990) - Producer
- Damnation Play (1991) - Producer