There are people in Finland who play the bass (or guitar, with transferable skills) and who could do Marko's material. The problem is that that's not the route the band wants to take, and instead they want to go back to the year 2001, when there were male vocals on the albums but if you want them live, you have to call a friend. Unless they're straight up lying to us now about not getting a singing bassist, that's what's going to happen. Guess all that talk around the release of the new album about how they loved doing three-part vocal harmonies the most was for nothing, we're down to one voice and one backing vocal at best.
Can you tell I'm a little salty? Marko is the reason why my interest in the band survived the Anette era. It was like, yeah, she's spotty live, but he's there. If we're going into yet another era where a major part of what's on the albums is missing, I'm going to... well, idk what I'm going to do, because I've been listening to this band for half my life and they're only coming over closer than a 7 hour drive this year, so I'll have to go see them. But I'll sulk!!
Having said all that, I'm not mad at all at him for leaving. While the statement is rushed and clearly not proofread by someone for clarity, if you read interviews with him, you can understand that whole statement pretty easily and it's all valid. The 9-5 bit refers to the statement the Spotify CEO gave to the media, where he said that you can't expect to make a nice living from streaming by delivering one album in two years, which leaves bands like Nightwish who only work when they're inspired waaaay behind in the dust. The Middle East bit refers to the Live Nation thing - they would not be allowed to play in most of those countries due to their strong lyrical content, but rich investors from those countries are allowed to take money from the gigs they play around the world, which is massively unfair. He has a working class background with strong left ideals and I guess his break has allowed him to see the incongruity between what he believes in and giving up his blood, sweat and tears to the suits. It's not about not making enough money, NW probably makes more than most metal bands nowadays, it's about working way too hard to leave way too much of it on the table for people who don't deserve it.
Anyway, Marko played
"Children Of The Grave" and "Isäni ääni" at the closing of Henry's Pub in Kuopio, with the house band and his brother on guitar. Looked great, sounded 15 years younger.