Stratovarius Community

So, the US has been pretty shafted by many of the past Stratovarius tours. I know they aren't super popular in the US, but there is still a very loyal fanbase! If I recall correctly, the one US tour Stratovarius did (I didn't attend, sadly) was sold out pretty much everywhere.

But my question is, if the next Strato album results in a huge success and a world tour, would you guys consider coming to the US? Or considering the weird circumstances involving the legal issues, Tolkki, etc., are you just thinking about playing it safe and sticking close to home and the countries that you are really popular in until the band picks up steam again?

I was devastated initially hearing the "break up" announced by Tolkki. I had never gotten to see my favorite band live. Then, when I heard Jens and the gang would be going on without him, my hopes skyrocketed! I hope the US sees Strato once again! If not with this album, hopefully with the next!

Yes! Come to VA to have some FUN!

After the whole "stunt", you wouldn't believe my elation when I saw that Strato was "rejoining" to do their first tour of N. America! It might be a little too early to ask them to come to the States, but they can definitely count on me to come out and support 200% percent!

The US presents some pretty heavy thresholds logistically for European bands on this level of ticket sales.

There are the flight costs for long transatlantic flights. These apply to American bands coming to Europe as well of course. One way to try to mitigate this is by combining the US with South America.

There are visa costs. It used to be only expensive, now since 9/11 it's expensive, time-consuming and complicated. Yet dealing with this cannot be skipped. Someone getting caught trying to sneak into the US is inadmissible to the country for 10 years. You can't fuck around with people about stuff like that and say, "hey, come on, let's go play the US without work visas".

The fees are small, and the venues are far from each other, at least in the West. This means high travel costs and low income. There has to be at least zero profit for anything to get off the ground. Negative profit doesn't work (except if you're on Wall Street perhaps). You can't go to Lufthansa and say "I want twelve transatlantic air tickets, here's minus 5,000 euro"

Lastly .. the US has a substantial cotton importation trade barrier. So bringing T-shirts to sell is complicated and less profitable than in Europe, where most european bands print their shirts of course.

I'm just mentioning this so you can get a sense of how the decisions where to play are made.. and a bit of the tedious practical matters of bringing live music to people hearts ..

Ok, the plan is to apply the band for a federal bail out or find some wealthy supporter of the band for patronage purposes. In the mean time we can use local methods to help support the band and help build up a fan base. Time to work on creating the greatful stratovarius heads.

Hmmm... that may be up there in the US, but for us we pretty much don't give a shit who enters here so feel free to bring your family, friends and obscene amounts of alcohol when you tour around El Salvador

Well, sad to say it, but I know better than to beg them to tour in my neck of the woods. The closest venue would possibly be Nashville, Tennessee, or Birmingham. The most we can hope for around here is Lynrd Skyrnd or Thunderpussy. Oh, I think Steppenwolf and Alice Cooper came around once, back in--er-err-about 1974?

JensJohansson wrote:The US presents some pretty heavy thresholds logistically for European bands on this level of ticket sales.

There are the flight costs for long transatlantic flights. These apply to American bands coming to Europe as well of course. One way to try to mitigate this is by combining the US with South America.

There are visa costs. It used to be only expensive, now since 9/11 it's expensive, time-consuming and complicated. Yet dealing with this cannot be skipped. Someone getting caught trying to sneak into the US is inadmissible to the country for 10 years. You can't fuck around with people about stuff like that and say, "hey, come on, let's go play the US without work visas".

The fees are small, and the venues are far from each other, at least in the West. This means high travel costs and low income. There has to be at least zero profit for anything to get off the ground. Negative profit doesn't work (except if you're on Wall Street perhaps). You can't go to Lufthansa and say "I want twelve transatlantic air tickets, here's minus 5,000 euro"

Lastly .. the US has a substantial cotton importation trade barrier. So bringing T-shirts to sell is complicated and less profitable than in Europe, where most european bands print their shirts of course.

I'm just mentioning this so you can get a sense of how the decisions where to play are made.. and a bit of the tedious practical matters of bringing live music to people hearts ..

So I take that as a no for now, at least until the band gets back up on its feet?

JensJohansson wrote:The US presents some pretty heavy thresholds logistically for European bands on this level of ticket sales.

There are the flight costs for long transatlantic flights. These apply to American bands coming to Europe as well of course. One way to try to mitigate this is by combining the US with South America.

There are visa costs. It used to be only expensive, now since 9/11 it's expensive, time-consuming and complicated. Yet dealing with this cannot be skipped. Someone getting caught trying to sneak into the US is inadmissible to the country for 10 years. You can't fuck around with people about stuff like that and say, "hey, come on, let's go play the US without work visas".

The fees are small, and the venues are far from each other, at least in the West. This means high travel costs and low income. There has to be at least zero profit for anything to get off the ground. Negative profit doesn't work (except if you're on Wall Street perhaps). You can't go to Lufthansa and say "I want twelve transatlantic air tickets, here's minus 5,000 euro"

Lastly .. the US has a substantial cotton importation trade barrier. So bringing T-shirts to sell is complicated and less profitable than in Europe, where most european bands print their shirts of course.

I'm just mentioning this so you can get a sense of how the decisions where to play are made.. and a bit of the tedious practical matters of bringing live music to people hearts ..

If you guys had a good agent, you could work out a deal importing T-Shirts, or visa costs. Possibly, you could get the governments to give you a deal on the grounds that your popularity and impact on music could allow you to aid ailing venues with increased sales.
Talk to Sonata Arctica, In Flames, Children of Bodom, or Nightwish, all four of them have had successful North American Tours with stops in the Detroit Michigan area. Bodom and In Flames first toured with Megadeth on the Gigantour tour, then again seperately for their individual albums, Nightwish and Sonata Artica toured together.

Dream Theater has an album being released next year, and although you guys have already stressed you're not moving towards a Dream Theater sound, I'd imagine you have a somewhat similar fanbase. I also understand that you were a candidate for the replacement to the band's original keyboardist Kevin Moore, before you joined Stratovarius.

Is it then possible that you could not (For a leg of the tour at least) Tour with Dream Theater for publicity, and with your newer (non Tolkki) sound, even if the profits for the tour were not huge, the Tolkki sound was never quite as popular in North America as other power metal bands like Sonata Artica, Nightwish, and (admit it, they completely ripped off your style Jens), Children of Bodom. However, Dream Theater is immensely popular in metal circles in America, you might be able to reestablish yourself by attracting the MASSIVE shows that Dream Theater does, you could possibly draw some sales for "King of Nothing", or whatever you decide to name your next album. Plus, I know a few Strato nuts in the state that would LOVE to see you guys play. (I have to thank their pressure to what got me into my first metal band, Stratovarius).

There are several T-shirt providers, such as American Apparel (They use domestic labor, instead of sweat shop labor), their T-Shirts could be made in the Americas, and you could have them delivered to your first venue, or each venue thereafter.

browneyedgirl wrote:Well, sad to say it, but I know better than to beg them to tour in my neck of the woods. The closest venue would possibly be Nashville, Tennessee, or Birmingham. The most we can hope for around here is Lynrd Skyrnd or Thunderpussy. Oh, I think Steppenwolf and Alice Cooper came around once, back in--er-err-about 1974?

'74??? That was the last tour with the original Alice Cooper band, Muscle of Love, was it not?

JensJohansson wrote:The US presents some pretty heavy thresholds logistically for European bands on this level of ticket sales.

There are the flight costs for long transatlantic flights. These apply to American bands coming to Europe as well of course. One way to try to mitigate this is by combining the US with South America.

There are visa costs. It used to be only expensive, now since 9/11 it's expensive, time-consuming and complicated. Yet dealing with this cannot be skipped. Someone getting caught trying to sneak into the US is inadmissible to the country for 10 years. You can't fuck around with people about stuff like that and say, "hey, come on, let's go play the US without work visas".

The fees are small, and the venues are far from each other, at least in the West. This means high travel costs and low income. There has to be at least zero profit for anything to get off the ground. Negative profit doesn't work (except if you're on Wall Street perhaps). You can't go to Lufthansa and say "I want twelve transatlantic air tickets, here's minus 5,000 euro"

Lastly .. the US has a substantial cotton importation trade barrier. So bringing T-shirts to sell is complicated and less profitable than in Europe, where most european bands print their shirts of course.

I'm just mentioning this so you can get a sense of how the decisions where to play are made.. and a bit of the tedious practical matters of bringing live music to people hearts ..

Marcel Schirmer (Destruction) wrote:In other countries people travel days to see shows. It s a sad thing that in Europe you can t play at the beginning of the week anymore. Maybe this is our last Euro club tour, don t miss your chance ... we are not gettin any younger!

Most people don't know that touring means loosing money for most artist today. With the petrol going up and up again, tour - busses are getting priceless. Fees are droping cause of to much traffic in the clubs. Too many festivals are killing the normal touring situation. Worlds economy situation won't help. We'll have a lot of shows till the end of 2009. After the 25th anniversary tour we'll see if we will be able to go on. Hopefully our fans will support us well on this important tour... this band is my life, I wanna do this till the end of my days. So see you out there!!!

Rebel wrote:Talk to Sonata Arctica, In Flames, Children of Bodom, or Nightwish, all four of them have had successful North American Tours with stops in the Detroit Michigan area. Bodom and In Flames first toured with Megadeth on the Gigantour tour, then again seperately for their individual albums, Nightwish and Sonata Artica toured together.

I wouldn't be so sure about Sonata Arctica in USA. Megadeth hasn't been huge band in USA since mid 90s.

Artist/Event: STRATOVARIUS, INTO ETERNITY
Venue: Richard's on Richards
City/State: Vancouver, British Columbia
Date: Oct. 5, 2005
Gross Sales: $3,571
Attendance: 158
Capacity: 500

Artist/Event: STRATOVARIUS, INTO ETERNITY
Venue: House of Blues
City/State: Cleveland, Ohio
Date: Sept. 27, 2005
Attendance: 233
Capacity: 600

Artist/Event: STRATOVARIUS
Venue: House of Blues
City/State: Chicago, Ill.
Date: Sept. 28, 2005
Attendance: 351
Capacity: 1,300

Artist/Event: STRATOVARIUS, INTO ETERNITY
Venue: Ascot Room at The Quest
City/State: Minneapolis, Minn.
Date: Sept. 29, 2005
Attendance: 161
Capacity: 400

Rebel wrote:Is it then possible that you could not (For a leg of the tour at least) Tour with Dream Theater for publicity, and with your newer (non Tolkki) sound, even if the profits for the tour were not huge, the Tolkki sound was never quite as popular in North America as other power metal bands like Sonata Artica, Nightwish, and (admit it, they completely ripped off your style Jens), Children of Bodom. However, Dream Theater is immensely popular in metal circles in America, you might be able to reestablish yourself by attracting the MASSIVE shows that Dream Theater does, you could possibly draw some sales for "King of Nothing", or whatever you decide to name your next album. Plus, I know a few Strato nuts in the state that would LOVE to see you guys play. (I have to thank their pressure to what got me into my first metal band, Stratovarius).

Dream Theater isn't huge band in USA. Average attendance figure was maybe 2000-3000 in 2006. I haven't seen latest numbers.

Stratosfear wrote:

Rebel wrote:Talk to Sonata Arctica, In Flames, Children of Bodom, or Nightwish, all four of them have had successful North American Tours with stops in the Detroit Michigan area. Bodom and In Flames first toured with Megadeth on the Gigantour tour, then again seperately for their individual albums, Nightwish and Sonata Artica toured together.

I wouldn't be so sure about Sonata Arctica in USA. Megadeth hasn't been huge band in USA since mid 90s.

Artist/Event: STRATOVARIUS, INTO ETERNITY
Venue: Richard's on Richards
City/State: Vancouver, British Columbia
Date: Oct. 5, 2005
Gross Sales: $3,571
Attendance: 158
Capacity: 500

Artist/Event: STRATOVARIUS, INTO ETERNITY
Venue: House of Blues
City/State: Cleveland, Ohio
Date: Sept. 27, 2005
Attendance: 233
Capacity: 600

Artist/Event: STRATOVARIUS
Venue: House of Blues
City/State: Chicago, Ill.
Date: Sept. 28, 2005
Attendance: 351
Capacity: 1,300

Artist/Event: STRATOVARIUS, INTO ETERNITY
Venue: Ascot Room at The Quest
City/State: Minneapolis, Minn.
Date: Sept. 29, 2005
Attendance: 161
Capacity: 400

Rebel wrote:Is it then possible that you could not (For a leg of the tour at least) Tour with Dream Theater for publicity, and with your newer (non Tolkki) sound, even if the profits for the tour were not huge, the Tolkki sound was never quite as popular in North America as other power metal bands like Sonata Artica, Nightwish, and (admit it, they completely ripped off your style Jens), Children of Bodom. However, Dream Theater is immensely popular in metal circles in America, you might be able to reestablish yourself by attracting the MASSIVE shows that Dream Theater does, you could possibly draw some sales for "King of Nothing", or whatever you decide to name your next album. Plus, I know a few Strato nuts in the state that would LOVE to see you guys play. (I have to thank their pressure to what got me into my first metal band, Stratovarius).

Dream Theater isn't huge band in USA. Average attendance figure was maybe 2000-3000 in 2006. I haven't seen latest numbers.

2000-3000 is quite a bit more than Strato got last time through the US

Do you think it's possible to tour the U.S. if some of these things were worked out?

I would love to see you guys play in Vegas.

Maybe a lot of us can start a petition so that a lot the reps here can get you all some work visa's.

hiro23 wrote:Do you think it's possible to tour the U.S. if some of these things were worked out?

I would love to see you guys play in Vegas.

Maybe a lot of us can start a petition so that a lot the reps here can get you all some work visa's.

Vegas? Hmmmmmmm. Have Madonna,Brittany,and Barry Manilow open for them---that would definitely work!

if we could just somehow attach them to like a hannah montana jonas brothers movie concert that can make houndreds of millions like the last one they did.

Vegas is a VERY big place!!!!! I mean, OMG! It would be great to play there, I'm sure!!!!

browneyedgirl wrote:

hiro23 wrote:Do you think it's possible to tour the U.S. if some of these things were worked out?

I would love to see you guys play in Vegas.

Maybe a lot of us can start a petition so that a lot the reps here can get you all some work visa's.

Vegas? Hmmmmmmm. Have Madonna,Brittany,and Barry Manilow open for them---that would definitely work!

These are bands that shouldn't be in the same state let alone the same stadium

hiro23 wrote:

browneyedgirl wrote:

hiro23 wrote:Do you think it's possible to tour the U.S. if some of these things were worked out?

I would love to see you guys play in Vegas.

Maybe a lot of us can start a petition so that a lot the reps here can get you all some work visa's.

Vegas? Hmmmmmmm. Have Madonna,Brittany,and Barry Manilow open for them---that would definitely work!

These are bands that shouldn't be in the same state let alone the same stadium

Well, an opening act with Barry(the POP God)would definitely lure me in!

I think he is the one in the middle......Barry,shame on you!

I'm not knocking manilow just to be clear, he's great at what he does and I'm glad he's had success because of it.

But as far as genre's go wouldn't he be the thing that most metal bands are not trying to sound like?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ursTBD0sZ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lBx-9xKzP8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9AL9MwBVkc

hiro23 wrote:I'm not knocking manilow just to be clear, he's great at what he does and I'm glad he's had success because of it.

But as far as genre's go wouldn't he be the thing that most metal bands are not trying to sound like?

I know! I'm just joking. He's a Vegas attraction&thats why I made the joke.

I should have known

I suspected you were messing with me but sometimes you just can't tell when you type it.