Stratovarius Community

Hello all,

I was always wondering, why did Strato change their logo ever so slightly from this:


to this:


around 2005?

And really the only noticeable difference was that the U didn't have that angle thing anymore. Personally I thought the old U looked more badass than the less old U. Every time I see the new one I keep thinking it's some sort of hasty photoshop, but then I realize it appears on the background of every concert with both Tolkki and Porra in it. And I honestly have no idea why one day Tolkki just woke up and decided to change a single letter in his logo. And maybe the R too I guess.

SentineLEX wrote:Hello all,
I was always wondering, why did Strato change their logo ever so slightly from this:

I'm always surprised when people imagine that we (people in bands) often have a super formulated strategy / clearly thought out plan for these type of things. Especially in this band it can get a bit chaotic sometimes, that was true then and it's still a little true. What happens is that some pieces fall where they may and then you reconcile everything to accommodate whatever the facts on the ground happen to be.

The general idea was to make a slightly new look to go with the new musical direction which was planned to help conquer the world.

The detailed decisions were made by the graphic designer, with a bit of feedback from the band. I remember being delighted by the slightly more menacing looking lily myself at the time.

What happened with the world domination part? Sometimes even sketchy plans can go awry, that's another story entirely

.. a long one which has been told over and over. One big piece was the record coming out about a year later than planned. By that time, short sighted decisions at the label, and the London stock exchange plus some commercial banks, caught up with them. And us. Nothing stupid or ridiculous we ever did as a band can compare to the folly and hubris of the Sanctuary top management at the time.

Some other factor was probably that record buyers, I mean even the ones that did know about the release, didn't seem to fully be able to take the record to their hearts. For a few different reasons I suppose.

What I think is more interesting is that the graphic artist (a quite talented Swedish guy called Mattias Norén) randomly put little polaris-looking compass thingies in the O and the U. Spooky...... some sort of a premonition?

JensJohansson wrote:

SentineLEX wrote:Hello all,
I was always wondering, why did Strato change their logo ever so slightly from this:

I'm always surprised when people imagine that we (people in bands) often have a super formulated strategy / clearly thought out plan for these type of things. Especially in this band it can get a bit chaotic sometimes, that was true then and it's still a little true. What happens is that some pieces fall where they may and then you reconcile everything to accommodate whatever the facts on the ground happen to be.

The general idea was to make a slightly new look to go with the new musical direction which was planned to help conquer the world.

The detailed decisions were made by the graphic designer, with a bit of feedback from the band. I remember being delighted by the slightly more menacing looking lily myself at the time.

What happened with the world domination part? Sometimes even sketchy plans can go awry, that's another story entirely

.. a long one which has been told over and over. One big piece was the record coming out about a year later than planned. By that time, short sighted decisions at the label, and the London stock exchange plus some commercial banks, caught up with them. And us. Nothing stupid or ridiculous we ever did as a band can compare to the folly and hubris of the Sanctuary top management at the time.

Some other factor was probably that record buyers, I mean even the ones that did know about the release, didn't seem to fully be able to take the record to their hearts. For a few different reasons I suppose.

What I think is more interesting is that the graphic artist (a quite talented Swedish guy called Mattias Norén) randomly put little polaris-looking compass thingies in the O and the U. Spooky...... some sort of a premonition?

Well that pretty much settles it. Thanks Jens, you might dominate the world yet, don't give up hope

And I noticed the little stars but I never made the connection to Polaris. Intredasting...

I think many bands change their logo throughout their lifespan. My son's club band has changed their logo I think 3 times since 2005, hopefully the one they have now will stick for awhile. Logos are kinda a recognition factor--people see it and its like symbolism for the band, or something.

Fucking hell mate!! Does that mean I have to get the "U" fixed on my strato ass tattooo now?

I always believed this one

was their best logo. It's modern, sharp, the lily looks great and it fits the band for me.

rikkertje wrote:I always believed this one

was their best logo. It's modern, sharp, the lily looks great and it fits the band for me.

anyone has this logo with high resolution?

rikkertje wrote:I always believed this one

was their best logo. It's modern, sharp, the lily looks great and it fits the band for me.

I like the sharpness, lily, etc. but I still feel like if they kept the U it would reflect some of the arcane quality Strato had between Destiny and Elements 2. Yes, Jens said they were going for a different sound and the U had no place there, but judging by the RR demo (and the New Era album afterwards), the U would've fit the theme.

And with both the sharpness and the U, all you would have to tell your tattoo artist to do is just add some triangles on your ass for the R's, T, etc. and you won't have to get a micro-liposuction to fix the U.

SentineLEX wrote:

rikkertje wrote:I always believed this one

was their best logo. It's modern, sharp, the lily looks great and it fits the band for me.

I like the sharpness, lily, etc. but I still feel like if they kept the U it would reflect some of the arcane quality Strato had between Destiny and Elements 2. Yes, Jens said they were going for a different sound and the U had no place there, but judging by the RR demo (and the New Era album afterwards), the U would've fit the theme.

And with both the sharpness and the U, all you would have to tell your tattoo artist to do is just add some triangles on your ass for the R's, T, etc. and you won't have to get a micro-liposuction to fix the U.

To me the old U looks rather celtic.

The RR demos/songs/whatever didn't exist in any way shape or form. In either case Matias N just ... did something different.

With tattoos it's always the safest bet to just tattoo a band member's face instead of any logo. Not so many people get plastic surgery forcing you to change your tattoos.

http://www.yngwiemalmsteen.com/pixx/fanartwork/yy1.JPG

http://www.metalinjection.net/wp-conten ... Yngwie.jpg

JensJohansson wrote:

SentineLEX wrote:

rikkertje wrote:I always believed this one

was their best logo. It's modern, sharp, the lily looks great and it fits the band for me.

I like the sharpness, lily, etc. but I still feel like if they kept the U it would reflect some of the arcane quality Strato had between Destiny and Elements 2. Yes, Jens said they were going for a different sound and the U had no place there, but judging by the RR demo (and the New Era album afterwards), the U would've fit the theme.

And with both the sharpness and the U, all you would have to tell your tattoo artist to do is just add some triangles on your ass for the R's, T, etc. and you won't have to get a micro-liposuction to fix the U.

To me the old U looks rather celtic.

The RR demos/songs/whatever didn't exist in any way shape or form. In either case Matias N just ... did something different.

With tattoos it's always the safest bet to just tattoo a band member's face instead of any logo. Not so many people get plastic surgery forcing you to change your tattoos.

http://www.yngwiemalmsteen.com/pixx/fanartwork/yy1.JPG

http://www.metalinjection.net/wp-conten ... Yngwie.jpg

Didn't they exist? Kotipelto singing about fornicating in mooonlight on "Last Night on Earth" was fabricated this whole time? Or are you saying there was simply no logo planned for RR? Or something else I'm not understanding...

Also I just realized/found out Matias N did the cover as well as the logo. The gilded lily on that album does look amazing.

As for tattoos of faces, maybe it depends on the member. Everyone in the Episode lineup looks about the same as they did in the 90s, for example, except maybe Timo Tolkki. And maybe that's just his hair. So a tattoo of any Strato member of those 5 would probably last for life very well since it's very recognizable even today. On the other extreme, I'd hate to pick a face for a Beatles tattoo...