Taipei Metal

Stratovarius: Polarized

Quod me nutrit, me destruit. That which nourishes me also destroys me. So often the creative fires are fed by an internal turmoil that, while the artist and those around him are acutely aware of it, the general public remains largely in the dark. Such was the case with Stratovarius' longest-serving member, guitarist Timo Tolkki, who was also the band's main songwriter and producer for over 20 years. In 2004 it was finally revealed that the accomplished virtuoso had been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder which, in all likelihood, contributed toward him falling out with his band mates and quitting Stratovarius officially in 2008. This seemingly shattering blow came near the end of a particularly dark chapter in Stratovarius' history.  In 2005, the band released their self-titled 11th album, returning to former longtime label Sanctuary after a trio of releases on Nuclear Blast, only to see Sanctuary go belly up, leading to a string of legal entanglements which left Stratovarius deeply indebted as legal fees mounted. Now, in 2009, Stratovarius has emerged relatively unscathed from what could have been a fatal situation, erasing their debts and releasing their 12th studio album, Polaris, with new ax man Matias Kupiainen on board. Keyboardist Jens Johansson sat down with Fight during the band's tour stop in Taipei in early September to discuss the hard times leading up to the release of their new album, which was written and recorded in relative seclusion in two different cottages in the Finnish countryside, the tumultuous relationship with their former guitarist, and the way forward for one of the most enduring bands in power metal.

Fight: Did going through hard times recently affect the writing process for Polaris?

Jens Johansson: “We didn't really know what to do after Timo Tolkki left the band. He was like, 'You guys shouldn't play anymore. You should just stop Stratovarius altogether.' But we decided to get together and write some stuff and see what it sounded like, and it sounded like Stratovarius.”

F: What was Tolkki's attitude prior to quitting Stratovarius?

JJ: “He's always been a bit ambivalent about the metal stuff. I think he wanted to, at least, stop the band for a long time and then maybe [after] two, three years, do a reunion tour or something like that. [Then] He released a bunch of statements saying 'We're stopping Stratovarius because all the other guys are assholes. We also released some statements saying, 'Well, it's not quite that way.' Then of course he got really upset. Then it was like a thousand statements coming.”

F: What is your current relationship with Tolkki?

JJ: “That's the interesting thing. Earlier this year he sort of realized what a jackass he'd been. So he called everybody up like 'Oh, dude I'm so sorry. Let's go have lunch.' That was for a couple of months. The thing is he's been diagnosed as a manic depressive. So of course that plays into it too. But anyway there was a good few months this year when he was like, 'Oh fuck, I'm so sorry. I realize what a fucking asshole I've been. You have my blessing.' Then three or four months later, 'These guys are pissing on my art!' It's like two different people. They are fighting for the mouth basically.”

F: Your current songwriting style has been described as more democratic now that Tolkki is gone. Do you prefer it this way?

JJ: “I like it both ways. I never had a problem with the way we used to do it either. It's again one of those things I think that he [Tolkki] felt, but  of course he's very sensitive. I think he felt that 'Those guys want to write songs and they're all pissed off at me.' Whereas I think no one really was pissed of at him. He's got a giant emotional antenna and he picks up everything, sometimes stuff that isn't even there he imagines. It was also very simple, because no one has to make any decisions in a way when it comes to musical stuff.   We would present songs sometimes but we would trust his judgment on which songs we should pick for the album.”

F: The songs on Polaris seem to fit with the old Stratovarius style.

JJ: “We wrote 18 songs, so when it became clear that we will do this as Stratovarius I think we picked the songs that sounded more like the old stuff.”

F: One difference though seems to be that singer Timo Kotipelto's vocal range has been brought down.

JJ: “I wanted him to sing in the range where his voice sounds good. I think Tolkki, in the past, almost wanted to punish him. He was like, 'You have to sing it higher!' just to fuck with him.”


F: How would you describe the current vibe in the band?

JJ: “It wasn't bad before. The last year was bad because he was doing all these statements, calling us evil people. But before that it wasn't really bad I think.”


F: You recorded Polaris in a secluded setting in the Finnish countryside. Would you like to do that again on the next album?

JJ: “I'd love to. We're already talking about it. But maybe in a different place, up in Lapland or something, really far from everything.  But it was very good. You just bring in recording equipment. Nowadays you can record a professional quality album just with a laptop. So you just bring stuff that basically fits in the trunk of one car and you have a recording studio. You don't have this feeling that the clock is ticking and you're paying a tremendous amount of money to do basic tracks. I think we paid 500 Euros a week for the place that we rented. That and you look out the window and it's like this panoramic windows to the forest outside and you see sometimes a fox jumping while you're recording. It's really something else.”

F: Is everyone in the band, save drummer Jorg Michael, contributing to the songwriting process now?

JJ: “Each person's load is like a quarter of what Tolkki used to do. He had to always come up with like 10 songs. Sometimes he had to get into the right mood. He would say 'I'm not feeling good, I'm off my medicine.' Sometimes we waited a year to get the right songs.”

F: Will you all write for the next album?

JJ: “I think we'll approach it in the same system. Everybody brings to the table what they would like to have in the album and then we decide what would be good.”

Though Polaris has only been out for half a year at this point, Stratovarius is already talking about recording their next album. Johansson admits that he has some ideas, though he has yet to show them to anyone, and also says that Kupiainen has shown his new band mates an ultra-progressive, reportedly 25-minute song. Could this indicate a new direction for the band? Only time will tell, as Johansson also states that there is no sense of urgency in getting the next album done, despite the four year gap between Stratovarius and Polaris. As for the immediate future, the band will be on tour at least until March, and are no doubt taking some time to enjoy the fact that something which could have destroyed them has only made them stronger.

By Joe Henley