Sami Vänskä

Sami Vänskä (born 26 September 1976) is the former bassist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish.[1]

Sami Vänskä
Born	26 September 1976
Origin	Finland
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Bass, drums
Years active	1994–2008, 2016
Associated acts	Nightwish, Nattvindens Gråt, Root Remedy

Background story

Vänskä started playing bass as a private study. He has played in a few bands which have been mostly from the metal genre.

Nattvindens Gråt

Vänskä started his career in the band Nattvindens Gråt, with Tuomas Holopainen. He made 2 albums, A Bard's Tale (1995), Chaos Without Theory (1997) and a demo, Där Svanar Flyger (1995), with them.

Nightwish

Vänskä joined Nightwish for their second studio album, Oceanborn. He played on the following tour, on Wishmaster and on the tour afterwards. He also played bass on Over the Hills and Far Away right before Tuomas Holopainen, band leader, song writer and keyboardist, asked the band's manager, Ewo Rytkönen, to tell Vänskä to leave Nightwish, when he felt that the musical differences between the two men were posing a threat to the band. He was soon replaced by session member Marco Hietala, the bassist and lead vocalist of Tarot and a former member of Sinergy, who also sings male vocals. Marco Hietala became a full-time member sometime during the recording of Century Child.

On August 20, 2016, he joined his former bandmates on stage to perform "Stargazers" on bass guitar.[2]

Root Remedy

Vänskä has played in the blues band Root Remedy after leaving Nightwish. He recorded three albums with them, Medication Time With, Root Remedy and The Crawler. He quit the band in 2008.

Discography

with Nightwish

• Oceanborn (1998)
• Wishmaster (2000)
• From Wishes to Eternity (2001)
• Over the Hills and Far Away (2001)

with Nattvindens Gråt

• Där svanar flyger (1995)
• A Bard's Tale (1995)
• Chaos Without Theory (1997)

As a session musician

• Barilari (Barilari, 2003)
• Barilari EP (Barilari, 2003)

References

1. Huey, Steve. "Nightwish". Allmusic. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
2. Beebee, Steve (5 November 2016). "Nightwish – The BIG Uber Rock Interview Exclusive". Uber Rock. Retrieved 13 February 2020.

Bibliography

• Ollila, Mape (2007). Once Upon a Nightwish. Deggael Communications. ISBN 978-952-99749-2-4.
• Isoaho, Timo (2018). Nightwish – We Were Here (English ed.). Latvia: Deggael Communications. pp. 340–341. ISBN 978-952-99749-3-1.