Stratovarius: Now we're a team
Stratovarius split up - no they didn't. They got out of their record deal without paying penalties - no they didn't. They couldn't survive after splitting with mainman Timo Tolkki - yes they could.
It's been a long, slow and painful four years for the Fins, but they're back with a new album, Polaris, and they say they're stronger and happier for their four-year trip to hell. They proved the point by doing this RockRadio.co.uk interview as a team, although drummer Jorg Michael took lead vocal duties for ease of communication.
"You can call it a rebirth," Michael says. "We have a new guitar player, Matius Kupianinen, a new record company, a new album and we're back after more that four years. That's a long time."
It's a long time during which the band faced extinction and spiralling debt. Tensions with Tolkki resulted in claims the band had split when they hadn't, the collapse of a deal which would have avoided financial loss, and a final settlement which saw Tolkki resigning all rights to the band he'd led and the songs he'd written with them.
Stratovarius added Kupianinen to their lineup, retired to a cottage in the wilds of Finland, and wrote new music. The result is Polaris.
Michael explains: "All the basic ideas came together in that cottage. We played music, wrote music, drank a couple of beers in the sauna and had a good time.
"We learned it was so much more fun doing things as a team. The best moment of the past four years was having Polaris in our hands, finished, making our evil little hearts jump up and down..."
The band say they'd never suffered internal issues before things went wrong with Tolkii - regardless of statements he made. Michael says: "Tolkki wrote ‘Timo Kotipelto and Jorg Michael hate each other'. But we just had different opinions sometimes, and they were discussed in a respectful manner. Do you always have the opinion as your wife or mum?
"We always respected each other and hung out together. We've been together for 12 years and it's no different now.
"The only thing that's changed is there's more communication inside the band. It's much more of a team than it was before."
Looking back, the band feel the worst moment in their recent history was when former label Sanctuary agreed to buy their way out of their contract. When Tolkki announced Stratovarius had split, Sanctuary were able to tear up the deal without paying - and that cost the band tens of thousands of pounds.
"Things are calm between us and Tolkki now," Michael says. "But the past two years were very annoying. We don't really know what happened to him, although we do know he was diagnosed as bipolar. We just feel sorry for him now."
With a UK tour looming, the band are looking forward to their fans' reactions to the new-look Stratovarius. Michael says: "Deep Unknown and King of Nothing are my personal faves from the album. It's difficult to say what the fans will think, of course, but we think we're on the right track given the response from all over the world.
"We want to thank them for believing in us during the times that weren't so easy for us.
"The album is dedicated to all those guys."
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