Interview of Timo Kotipelto (from Kotipelto forum)

[Stratofanius]

Here is interview from Kotipelto forum:

About 1,5 year ago the future of the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius was all but certain. A mentally ill Timo Tolkki and a drunk Jens Johansson on stage caused a lot of bad publicity and nobody - even everyone in Stratovarius - knew if the band was still together or not.

With new understanding about Timo Tolkki's mental illness, Stratovarius agreed to get at it once more. Jens Johansson and Timo Kotipelto where on a promotion tour in Europe, this time in Amsterdam, where I spoke to them about Stratovarius' latest masterpiece, simply called 'Stratovarius'.

Congratulations on the new album! I really like it.

Thanks a lot. I'm pretty satisfied with that considering everything.

So what do you think of it? Are you proud of it?

I am very proud of what we did, because it was so fucking difficult to do this, considering all the stuff that's been going on the last one and a half year. I'm actually amazed, escpecially what Jšrg did, because he was recording all the drums by him self. Jens tried to help him, but he didn't know the songs. But right now it's hard to say, probably it's not the best album. But to me it sounds like it's the best album in the years of the band, because now that I look back I wasn't such a big fan of Elements Pt. 1 or Pt. 2. Some of the songs were good, but some of the songs to me were a little bit too long, too progressive, too boring, there was too much of everything there. And some of the vocals were a little bit too high... I can sing high, but it's not easy to get any emotion when you're singing extremely high falsetto. The new album is actually closer to the stuff I want to do. A bit slower and a bit more rock. Although this album is actually heavier than other albums.

So that's the reason why there aren't really any doubble-based songs?

That's one of the reasons. We've done so many double-bassed songs. Of course we're gonna play them live, but to compose some more is quite easy. The trick is to compose some more interesting songs. Maybe on the next album - if there's going to be a next album - that's gonna be different. At least we tried to do something new, but not to forget our past, to combine some new Stratovarius with some old Stratovarius. I think this was the only way, because I see this album as a new beginning for the band. A new start, and if we would have done something like Elements Pt. 3 that wouldn't be really original and just would make any sense. We been doing 9 or 10 studio albums and we've done everything that can be done in power metal, basicly. We were one of the bands who were there in the beginning of the power metal scene (at least in Europe). The first album was released in 1989 and I joined the band in 1993, so we've done quite a lot of that stuff. Of course when we go touring we can apply a hell of a lot of old songs. I mean, I really love some of the old songs.

Where the last 1,5 years an inspiration for the lyrics? Seeing as Maniac Dance starts with "This year has been a nightmare" ...

Exactly. I only wrote the lyrics to some of the songs, Timo wrote the rest. For maniac dance he wrote the lyrics. And to be honest it was not the easiest job to sing those lyrics, because they were so open. He was telling directly about his sickness. For me it took some time and it was the most difficult song to sing on this album, especially because we started with that song. He tried to tell me what tone I should sing. The first day we didn't record anything, because we tried the new approach. In the beginning I was a little bit sceptic about how I sang this song. It just wasn't me, I didn't want to sing like that... with a distortion voice. But he convinced me and now I'm happy he did, because now there's a lot of variety on the album. There's a real distortion/angry sort of vocal, but there's also this song "Land Of Ice And Snow" on the album... which to me is like the national anthem of Finland. It's like: "We're from Finland! We drink!". But some of the lyrics were kind of difficult. Also this "Back To Madness"... when I heard the final mix it was quite frightening, especially the end.

I find the album actually quite refreshing. The slow pace of the album, slightly lower vocals. It's a good thing, especially because I think falsetto all the time is quite tireing to hear.

I think so too. Actually the vocals are still high. Some of the vocals are very high in chest register, but it's more difficult to sing full chords in chest register, than singing vocals in falsetto. I sort of agree with you. That's what I did on my own album. The vocals there are a bit lower already, but there's still some falsetto there, because in a way falsetto is kind of my trademark. But I like it more in the chest register, because it's more powerfull.

So how do you feel about the band being back together?

Now it's pretty good, but it took more than six months for me to even have a meeting with Timo. Of course it helped a lot when Jens - he played with me on a few shows in Kotipelto in Finland - said to me: "why don't you call him and talk to him?". Because in the beginning when he started all this fucking mess he was very offending towards me. Especially on the Finish press he said a lot of bad things about me, but I didn't comment on that. But it was really stressfull to me to read all his stupid interviews. I thought he was an asshole, of course he was, but I didn't understand he was sick. And that was the biggest step for me to try to talk to him. We understood that he was sick, he had this manic depression. Especially when he had a mania going on he was so impulsive. People who have this mania don't listen to anyone. If someone says something against him, he's still totally convinced he's right and you're not. When he was doing those things it was just him and nobody else. When I said something against him, he said "Fuck you, I do it my way anyway." and I was like "aha". And of course the final thing before all this happened, I read from this press that he was saying that some people might leave the band. I called him and said: "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" and he said: "Well I've been thinking..." and then all hell broke loose. After that he went to a mental hospital for a few days where he totally broke down, but still it took more than six months for me to even talk to him. Then he finally came to my place and we talked for about six hours. It was bizarre... even though we were in the same band together forabout 11 years, we never really knew eachother like a friend knows somebody. We always had this love-hate relationship... mostly maybe a little more hate. Then of course he apoligised and I said "I understand that you are sick, but in the future try to take care of yourself." and now everybody in the band knows that he's got some problems and that can cause some problems between everybody else as well. But now we can deal with the problems better. He is still in a mania face, because he's producing a band in Italy right now and he can call me and say "hey, I've got this idea..." and now I say "OK... I'll call you back tomorrow, maybe it's a good idea", now we think about it instead of "Fuck! What are you doing?". It's easier this way. In the past he was ruling the band basicly. We were 5 members and he was making all the decisions. The only decisions he can do now are the musical decisions. The other decisions are made by everybody. We all agreed that this is a good thing. He doesn't have all the power anymore, which is good because sometimes he doesn't know what he's doing.

Do you think Stratovarius has got a long future ahead?

I can't see into the future but right now it looks pretty good. Then new album should be out september 5th and then we're gonna start a 3 month tour. First we're gonna go to the US and Canada. We're gonna be there for about six weeks. After that we're gonna tour six weeks around Europe with Hammerfall. Then next year january maybe new zealand, korea and some other countries. Now it looks good, but we have to be prepared that some plans might change. Nothing is certain in this band anymore. We have to adapt to eachother. We have to be prepared to change the plan. If a plan should fail, we just won't do it and do someting else. But it's hard to say how many albums there are gonna be. At one point in 1998 Tolkki already wanted to split the band, so... but now he can't do it himself anymore. I think this album is like a fresh start, but then again it's sort of a life-or-death album for the band. If it goes we hopefully can continue. If people think it sucks then I can go do something else.

So if, for some reason, Stratovarius dies, are you gonna focus on your solo project?

At least, yes. I'm already supposed to compose some songs with the guitar player and bass player. But we've postponed it. Maybe we can get to it in 3 weeks. I'm gonna compose some song. But right now Stratovarius is my priority. As long as we're still active with this band, that's for sure. The same goes with everybody else. Except Jšrg, because he promised to do one last tour with Saxion, because he was a member of Saxion in the mean time. He stays loyal to the band and he's gonna do all the festivals.

What about the still mysterious Miss K? She gone after some photoshoots?

I don't think so, because I think Timo really has some plans for her. But then of course he maybe wasn't prepared for the reactions from the fans. They didn't except the female singer at all. I think he's composing some other stuff for this girl. Maybe it didn't feel good to let her be in the band and do nothing. So maybe he's trying to help her out, I don't know. I've never heard her singing, so I don't know.

That's about it I guess... thanks!

No problem, thank you! So if you like you can see the new video...

* goes watch new Strato video *


Interview by Jurriën Stutterheim

[CottonCandy]

Great Interview! That should shut the pessimists up, I think!

[Stratofanius]

Great Interview! That should shut the pessimists up, I think!

Yeah, but I think that this has done before Jari's leaving and other "problems"...

Anyway, good to know that Kotipelto has planning to do some new stuff to his solo project (sometimes)...

[IceBreaker]

Great Interview! That should shut the pessimists up, I think!

Yeah, but I think that this has done before Jari's leaving and other "problems"

That really was a good interview. It revealed a lot of things which were confusing earlier.

But, please read well the answer to the question: "Do you think Stratovarius has got a long future ahead?"
>I´m not so sure about shutting up. Everything is still open, I would say.

[fifthtea_sausage]

Great Interview! That should shut the pessimists up, I think!

Never.
Besides, he said nothing about the Jari situation, meaning this interview isn't 100% up to date. Who knows what he's thinking now that Jari left/what changed in the band philosophy.

[CottonCandy]

You guys have a point but, isn't this band ever up to date, then?
I'm beginning to think this band is very shifty, and unstable. I still love their music, though and I'm not going to throw them to the dogs!
But, there are gonna be hard times, temptations, and things going on while they are touring long-term. Can TT handle it, and can the guys get along this extensive period? Let's hope so.

[Aresius]

its a great interview, to bad that it says nothinga bout jari

[Stratofanius]

At one point in 1998 Tolkki already wanted to split the band, so...

Some reasons it's good that Tolkki didn't do that, but some reasons that could were (my shitty english needs to repair someday ) clever idea... because after Visions, Stratovarius has only "move down the road", unfortunately
But there are still many songs in Infinite and few good tracks in Elements albums. But because new album looks pretty good, we have still hope. And maybe in the future there will become their best album... (it's very hard because Visions and Episode are so big masterpieces that nothing can stop them...).

[Aresius]

well ill say that because episode and visions are so big masterpiece that doesnt mean that the other albums are not good, they are exelent albums but its preatty hard quick getting better after this amazing master pieces called episode and visions...

sory for my english

[Patricia]

Hi everybody!

Here you can find another interview from Timo Kotipelto when he's come to Paris with Jens Johansson for the promotion of the new Strato album.
The link is:
http:www.kotipelto.net/index_main.php

Click on "Interviews" (it's translated in english and french).

Rock!

[Stratofanius]

Hi everybody!

Here you can find another interview from Timo Kotipelto when he's come to Paris with Jens Johansson for the promotion of the new Strato album.
The link is:
http:www.kotipelto.net/index_main.php

Click on "Interviews" (it's translated in english and french).

Rock!

That is better interview

[CottonCandy]

its a great interview, to bad that it says nothinga bout jari

I think the interview took place a couple weeks BEFORE the "Jari-incident" commenced!

[fifthtea_sausage]

From the other thread about what Jorg said, I think you can see that there is really no situation. He just..left. I wouldn't think too much of it.
But there is still a chance that something more sinister is going on...

[MaFiaBoY]

In France, we’re playing definitively after them and maybe a little bit more longer

So I can go to the gig without having to leave in the middle, that rocks :p