Como muchos sabréis, el día 2 de abril de este año, Timo Tolkki publicó un comunicado en su página web diciendo que había decidido disolver su grupo Stratovarius. Según cuenta, se lo comunicó a sus compañeros en octubre de 2007, pero no quiso hacerlo público hasta la fecha citada. El comunicado podéis leerlo entero AQUÍ.Pues bien, los cuatro principales interesados: Timo Kotipelto, voz; Jens Johansson, teclado; Lauri Porra, bajo; y Jörg Michael, batería, respondieron con otro comunicado el día 7 de este mes de mayo (vamos, el pasado miércoles) en su web, que por cierto ya no es stratovarius.com sino strato.jens.org. Y Tolkki, a su vez, replicó con otro y el jueves aún añadió otro más.
Podéis leerlos todos (incluyendo la traducción al castellano del primero de Tolkki) en esta misma entrada, los voy a poner como comentarios para que no me ocupen veinte metros de blog; pinchad abajo donde dice "Leer más". Aunque quiero comentar una cosa que dice la Enciclopedia Metálica, que es que Tolkki tenía un contrato con Frontiers Records para sacar su ópera Saana, pero cuando se la llevó, al sello le debió de parecer una patata de disco y no se lo publicó, así que se lo tuvo que financiar él, previa recompra de los derechos. Obviamente no puedo garantizar la veracidad de esa información, pero aporta sentido a lo que dicen las Stratosobras de que Tolkki tenía problemas económicos, y que luego él rebate diciendo que cómo iba a tener problemas con Saana si aún no había salido. En fin. Ustedes lean y opinen. Si salen más cartas de estas, las iré añadiendo.
Para el que no le apetezca leer mucho, lo que se extrae viene a ser lo que sigue:
- Fernando Gabriel Tolkki, pero qué nos haaaases, no meresemos este despresio que vos resién nos profesaste
- ¡Pero qué disen, ustedes están locos, boludos! ¡No soy tan malo como me quieren haser!¿Y saben qué? ¡¡NO ME SIMPATIIISAN!!
Leer más...
COMUNICADO DE TIMO TOLKKI
ResponderEliminar(Leer original AQUÍ)
(Traducción sacada de otro blog)
"Ha llegado el momento de romper el silencio y anunciar lo que algunos de vosotros ya habéis estado especulando. STRATOVARIUS se acabó.
El pasado mes de octubre les dije a los chicos que iba a terminar con la banda y les expuse los motivos.
Esta carta está dirigida a los seguidores de STRATOVARIUS, que han apoyado a la banda durante tantos años.
Lo primero que pensé es que escribiría un comunicado muy general, típico del "negocio musical" que en definitiva nunca viene a decir nada. Entonces decidí que merecíais escuchar al menos partes de la verdad que ha estado ocurriendo tras las cortinas y así podréis comprender mi decisión mejor.
Todo el tiempo, desde que Timo Kotipelto y Jörg Michael se unieron al grupo, ha habido tensiones y negatividad alrededor. Esto se ha concentrado en mi, Timo Kotipelto y Jörg.
Los motivos por los que Jari Kainulainen fue despedido hace unos años fueron tan absurdos que ni si quiera voy a tratar de explicarlos aquí. Si algún día escribo un libro, quizá entonces los explicaré.
De cualquier modo, pienso que las semillas se plantaron en aquel entonces, hace doce años. Había muchos enfrentamientos, Jörg se me quejaba sobre Timo Kotipelto y Timo Kotipelto se me quejaba sobre Jörg Michael. Por momentos fue un problema, aunque por supuesto, nunca salió a la luz.
No es mi intención faltar al respeto a Timo Kotipelto y Jörg. En el fondo son buenos chicos. Tan solo que hay veces que ocurren cosas y las relaciones se dirigen a donde no queremos que vayan. Es como un divorcio, nadie quiere que pase pero a veces es lo mejor para que todos puedan seguir sus propias vidas. También quiero contar como han pasado las cosas tras las cortinas. Vosotros siempre veis el lado bueno y realmente no sabéis que es lo que ocurre por dentro.
Hemos pasado años increíbles, 14 álbumes, 6 giras mundiales con unos mil conciertos por todo el mundo, 3 discos de oro, un Grammy en Finlandia y aproximadamente 3 millones de discos vendidos.
Llegué a esta decisión tras pensarlo de una manera cuidadosa, larga y racional durante un año y sé que es lo correcto para mi. Me sentía fatal estando en STRATOVARIUS. Algo estaba fatal y parecía que nadie se preocupaba por ello.
La cuenta atrás comenzó con el último disco en 2005. En ese momento la atmósfera en el grupo estaba muy enrarecida. Me había pasado la mayor parte de 2004 recuperándome de mi ataque nervioso de abril de ese año, cuando fuí hospitalizado. Fue en este momento cuando las cosas empezaron a cambiar. Jens Johansson me apoyó enormemente aquel año con sus llamadas telefónicas. Entonces grabamos "Stratovarius", que pienso que es horrible y fuimos a preparar la gira. En aquel entonces era evidente para mi que las cosas estaban tremendamente mal. A nadie parecía importarle nada. Se me ocurrió poner pantallas de proyección y para eso necesitas realizar algunos gráficos. Los planeé y básicamente también el resto del show. Nadie mostró ningún interés en ello. Parecía la ley del mínimo esfuerzo. El ambiente en los ensayos era malísimo. Lauri Porra, que acababa de unirse a la banda, se preguntaba qué era lo que pasaba con la banda. Jörg Michael había venido directamente desde SAXON para esta gira vistiendo una camiseta de SAXON en la mayoría de conciertos. Su actitud durante la mayoría de conciertos era extremadamente arrogante, mirando por encima del hombro a todos. Pero especialmente conmigo y con Timo Kotipelto. Y la actitud de Kotipelto conmigo era distante y educada, pero podía sentir su hostilidad. Por supuesto, como profesionales hicimos conciertos muy buenos pero debido más por camaradería y profesionalidad que por una gran banda unida tocando directamente desde el corazón.
Creo que Timo Kotipelto estaba resentido porque no podía meter sus canciones y letras en los discos de STRATOVARIUS. Yo no lo entiendo porque él tiene su banda en solitario donde puede hacer lo que quiera. Me llevó años poder decirle que no me gustaba su manera de componer y sus letras y que la diferencia principal entre nosotros dos es que yo escribo canciones que terminan siendo "stratocanciones" mientras que él trata de componer "stratocanciones" que terminan siendo canciones KOTIPELTO, que significa que pertenecen a un disco de KOTIPELTO.
No es fácil decirle a alguien que no te gusta su música. A vosotros no os gusta toda la música, a mí tampoco. Tampoco a Timo Kotipelto.
No soy quien para decir qué música es buena o mala, pero puedo decir que tipo de música me gusta. Y el material de Timo Kotipelto no me gusta.
Debo decir que creo que ha escrito muchas grandes canciones durante su carrera en solitario. Seguramente él piensa lo mismo de mi estilo de componer. Simplemente somos muy distintos. Tiene un sentido del humor muy distinto al mío.
Quizá lo más absurdo en STRATOVARIUS era que nunca fuimos amigos dentro del grupo. Visité a Timo Kotipelto en doce años unas cinco veces. Para mi Jens era el más cercano en la banda y posteriormente Lauri Porra, que es un tío estupendo. Pero ninguno de nosotros éramos auténticos amigos. Quizá os sorprenda pero es la verdad.
La gira siguió adelante y el roadie de Jörg Michael me dijo borracho que Jörg dejaría el grupo después de la gira, pero que ahora seguía porque "el es un hombre de negocios". Supongo que podríais decir que la actitud de Jörg llegó al máximo con lo que me dijo en Seattle en esa gira. Me dijo que pensaba que la banda había terminado. Intentamos grabar, por tercera vez, un DVD en directo en Sao Paulo, pero no pudimos usar las tomas porque habíamos tocado realmente mal. Aunque tocamos para grandes audiencias en esa gira de 120 fechas, la sensación general era muy parecida a "ir al trabajo".
No para mí. No hasta ese punto. Pero sentí que el corazón de los demás no estaba en la banda y que era sólo por el dinero.
La gira continuó, sobrevivimos y Jörg no dejó la banda. Pero fue la gira más extraña que he hecho nunca. Muy exitosa, pero aún así parecía que estaba forzando algo. No era divertido, era triste.
Lo siguiente que tuve en mente era escribir un disco de Power Metal fresco y al viejo estilo, en la onda de "Visions". Sentía que los seguidores lo estaban pidiendo y que era lo correcto. Fue el infame "RR". Las composiciones estaban fluyendo y las canciones sonaban realmente bien, melódicas y del estilo de los viejos STRATOVARIUS. Estaba totalmente bajo mi control por la situación de la banda y me estaba esperando unas difíciles sesiones de grabación.
De cualquier manera a finales de 2006 completamos una demo con 10 temas. No estaba muy contento con la demo, pero servía para su propósito, que era presentar las canciones a la compañía. Reservé 12 días en los estudios Sonic Pump de Helsinki de marzo de 2007. Fue la sesión de grabación más aberrante que nunca he hecho. Jörg estaba siempre hablando de que había que retomar la "ambición de Visions", aunque no pienso que él tuviera realmente esa ambición. Nadie la tenía. La sesión de grabación no se pareció a ninguna de las anteriores. Nadie había ensayado las canciones a fondo y todo sonaba fatal. Probé las pistas de batería durante una semana y lo abandoné. Fue en este momento cuando estaba empezando a pensar el por qué mantener esto con vida cuando era tan complicado.
Recuerdo cuanto tiempo, energía y dinero pusimos en "Elements 1". No había manera de continuar en aquel entonces sin repetir el pasado. Sé que Timo Kotipelto no quedó convencido con aquel álbum, lo que muestra las diferencias entre él y yo. No significa que le tuviera que gustar, desde luego, pero para mi "Elements 1" representa el hito de la evolución de STRATOVARIUS y quizá debí terminar la banda en aquel entonces.
El último año, 2007, fue el punto de inflexión para mí en muchos sentidos. Me sentía mejor, pero en cuanto a STRATOVARIUS me sentía peor. Había peleas por todo, incluso por cosas triviales, lo que me enfadaba bastante. Un montón de peleas. Un montón. Empleaba muchas energías en intentar llevar merchandising a la Stratotienda, que estaba en manos de Jörg y Timo Kotipelto, porque no había merchandising que la gente pudiera pedir aunque todavía se podían encargar cosas ya que los items seguían en la página web.
El certificado SSL probaba que la página era segura había expirado hacía un año, así que traté de arreglarlo, aunque no pude porque no estaba autorizado para hacerlo. Los items más populares de la tienda estaba agotados y Jörg se negó a hacer más. No podía entender a lo que estábamos llegando. A la vez, me lo estaba pasando mejor con mi Ópera Rock "Saana". Mientras lo hacía, me di cuenta de lo que carecía STRATOVARIUS: el entusiasmo, la creatividad y la diversión. No era como en aquellos años.
"Saana" me dió la esperanza de que aún podría aprender algo nuevo a esta edad y me dió un nuevo mundo de posibilidades y así empezar algo nuevo. Además sabía que tenía unas cuantas canciones de Metal en ciernes.
Hicimos 8 festivales en 2007 y fue entonces, sobre el escenario de Wacken, ante 45.000 metaleros, cuando me di cuenta que esta banda estaba acabada. Recuerdo claramente tocar esas viejas canciones que habíamos tocado durante tantos años y decirme a mi mismo "esta banda ya no tiene alma". Miré alrededor y sentí que era parte de una película de la que ya sabía el final o una máquina y que no sucedería nada fresco y excitante nunca más. La banda sonaba horrible, nadie ponía su corazón en ella. Era la misma vieja canción. Jörg trabajaba en estos momentos a tiempo completo en una empresa de producción de artistas haciendo de manager para giras y por lo tanto estaba trabajando en Wacken también. Literalmente vino a tocar desde la oficina de producción y volvió allí después. Todo el mundo fue educado, en las apariencias, pero no había amistad, y podía sentir la tensión de las relaciones que han llegado a su fin.
Sentí durante ese año que la banda existía sólo por una razón y esta razón era el dinero. Pensaba que era la principal motivación que mantenía a Jörg y Timo Kotipelto en la banda en vez a pesar de todas las tensiones. Mientras estaba en el escenario de Wacken, se confirmó que el mayor de mis temores se había hecho realidad. Estaba manteniendo esto con vida por el dinero. Fue entonces cuando decidí terminar con la banda.
Así que fue durante este show cuando decidí que se había terminado. Todavía estaba dándole vueltas a todo pero sentí que para mi futuro era lo único lógico que había que hacer. No quería despedir a Timo Kotipelto ni a Jörg porque han sido tan parte de STRATO como yo y no sería educado de cara a los fans. Así que decidí que era mejor dejar yacer lo que ya estaba muerto. Informé a los chicos por e-mail en octubre de 2007 sobre mi decisión y expliqué en detalle mis razones esperando que pudiesen ver mi punto de vista y aceptar que es real. Sólo Jens y Lauri respondieron Timo Kotipelto y Jörg ni siquiera contestaron. Jens entendió mi decisión, Lauri no. Le entiendo, ha catado lo que es ser parte de una banda exitosa de Rock girando por el mundo. No es fácil de dejar. No pudo ver mi parte de la historia. Que ni Timo Kotipelto ni Jörg comentasen nada, habla por sí miso. Quería terminar la saga de STRATOVARIUS con estilo y de forma inocente, tal y como soy yo, en febrero de 2008 escribí un mail a la banda y propuse que deberíamos decir adiós a los fans con clase y hacer una gira más. No entraré en detalles, pero esta vez sí tuve respuesta de Timo Kotipelto y Jörg. Les deseé que todo les fuera vez y que podía ver que no se haría ningún tour más con esta banda por las reacciones hostiles. Así que fue eso. Me sentí bien sobre mi decisión, pero no fue bueno que fuera de razones legales yo había tenido que esperar mucho para este anuncio.
Luego pensé que si yo tenía grandes canciones en mis manos, quería sacarlas de alguna manera. Así que contacté con algunos amigos y cogimos los temas donde se habían quedado, en la sesión de grabación de STRATO un año antes. Había felicidad. Energía. Las canciones sonaban bien. Mis amigos Michael Kiske y Tobias Sammet accedieron a cantar en el álbum. Decidí formar una nueva banda llamada REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE que continuase el legado de STRATOVARIUS. En este primer disco quería simplemente lanzar las canciones que tenía, así que finalmente no tuve tiempo de buscar una formación permanente. Y aquí estoy ahora, si estáis interesados enviadme un mail.
El disco se pone a la venta el 6 de junio de 2008 con Frontiers Records.
Estoy contento y feliz.. por primera vez en años. Estoy impaciente por ver lo que el destino me depara con mi nueva banda, proyectos, composiciones. Estoy viviendo tiempos muy creativos. Tengo mi compañía de producción y estoy haciendo muchísimas cosas diferentes y no sólo Metal, si no cualquier cosa que me atraiga.
Lo primero que quiero hacer, a pesar de todo, es dar gracias a Jörg, Timo Kotipelto, Jens, Jari, Lauri, Tuomo, Antti y Jyrki por estos 22 años. Fue un buen viaje. Les deseo a Jens, Timo Kotipelto, Jörg y Lauri lo mejor en lo que decidan hacer en sus vidas.
Finalmente, pero más importante, quería agradeceros a vosotros, seguidores de STRATOVARIUS, por vuestro amor y apoyo y por los grandes momentos. Siempre permaneceréis en mi corazón".
COMUNICADO DE LAS STRATOSOBRAS
ResponderEliminar(Publicado originalmente AQUÍ)
Tolkki's main motivation was greed
Timo Tolkki published a statement on on April 2 this year. The other members of Stratovarius would now like to set the record straight. You can't argue with someone's perception of things, you can just explain how you see things differently.
The confrontations, fights, incompetence, tensions, negativity, bitterness, hostility, disinterest, bad musicianship, and unfriendliness that Timo described were never there. He constructed this alternate reality around these simple and for him painful facts:
1) The band's momentum has been slowing since 2004.
2) The media chaos of 2004 made him lose a lot of trust and respect both within and outside the band.
3) Stratovarius' label Sanctuary had severe financial problems from 2005 on. It forced us to start a legal process at the beginning of 2007.
If you live your life through other people's eyes, declining sales or a perceived loss of power are matters of deep, stinging personal humiliation.
Other sad facts remain. The legal fight left us without a way to make a new album, and financially strapped. Timo's main motivation for what he did was greed, not issues of friendship or art.
In the summer of 2007, he presented the Stratovarius/ Revolution Renaissance demos we had all financed and recorded to Frontiers Records, and signed a recording agreement for a solo project. Unbelievably, he promised Frontiers that he alone could (and would) stop Stratovarius from being active for the duration of the R.R. project, for marketing reasons. In exchange for this, Timo alone was paid 154,000 US dollars.
He did this behind our backs, as we were deep in pursuit of Sanctuary legally with a large legal bill. He still hasn't had the guts to tell us what he did. We pieced it together from various press releases of his and scattered email correspondence.
In October he sent us a mail saying he didn't want to continue, a quite impersonal way after having been in the same band for 12 years. He explained that he was tired of Stratovarius, and would concentrate on things like his opera. We had known for some time he really hated playing live.
He did not mention anything about his Frontiers deal, which placed the rest of us at great financial risk. He very clearly asked that we wouldn't contact him and try to talk him out of it, which we all respected. He would later make much of the fact that nobody tried to talk him out of it.
This year, Sanctuary agreed to settle, but Timo's announcement and Timo's announcement alone ruined that, leaving us with a debt of 54,000 US dollars. The total loss is around 346,000 US dollars. There was no reason for the timing of his announcement other than some foolish belief it would make the promotion of Timo's project record a bit easier. What he did to the rest of us was stupid, selfish and more than disappointing to us since we all stood shoulder to shoulder with him financially in 2004.
Then late January, surprisingly, he proposed us playing as hired guns on R.R. (turning it into a Stratovarius record), and doing a tour with Jari on bass. Apparently he again had financial problems due to his failed opera project. He then quickly dismissed the idea himself.
In short it's not so much a story of simmering discontent leading to a wise and respectable decision. It's definitely not a story of naivité. It's the story of Faust, the story of madness, of a band's natural and slow decline, but in the end something mundane: the story of a supreme narcissist going broke and betraying friends of 12 years who helped save him a few years earlier.
Hopefully this explains the situation a little bit. Sorry if it is long on business crap, and short on humor or music. This was a terrible, disappointing blow to us.
We would like to thank our fans who make it all worth it, and despite it all, we would like to thank Timo for the past, the nice music and the good moments.
The rest of us want to make clear that we are doing great and that we will continue making music together, because we care about each other and we care about our fans. We have grand plans indeed, and we will have some very interesting news in the months ahead!
-TK JM JJ LP
the remaining members of Stratovarius
RESPUESTA DE TIMO TOLKKI (7 de mayo)
ResponderEliminar(Original)
07 may 2008, 00:00
MY RESPONSE TO THE STRATO STATEMENT
I am very surprised about this. But my original statement in www.tolkki.com is still all I have to say about this. There are several outright lies in the Strato statement and it is also clearly written by Jens alone. I will make some comments about these here:
"If you live your life through other people's eyes, declining sales or a perceived loss of power are matters of deep, stinging personal humiliation."
Well I dont really live my life through anybody else's eyes. Neither I felt "stinging personal humiliation". I felt sad.
"Other sad facts remain. The legal fight left us without a way to make a new album, and financially strapped. Timo's main motivation for what he did was greed, not issues of friendship or art."
My main motivation was not greed, it was what you can read in my statement. It's true of course that my decision was a hard one and left others on their own. But sometimes in life you have to make decisions based on your own well being and what you want to do.
All the guys have a stable income from other sources, Jörg is running a booking agency, Kotipelto has his own band and record label, Jens has a record label with his brother and Lauri has loads of work as a bassist. By the way, just yesterday Lauri sent me an SMS where he was inetersted n joining RR and he was asking questions about who will be playing in it.
"In the summer of 2007, he presented the Stratovarius/ Revolution Renaissance demos we had all financed and recorded to Frontiers Records, and signed a recording agreement for a solo project. Unbelievably, he promised Frontiers that he alone could (and would) stop Stratovarius from being active for the duration of the R.R. project, for marketing reasons. In exchange for this, Timo alone was paid 154,000 US dollars."
I didnt present any Stratovarius demos to Frontiers at that point. Btw I paid for those demos and I mixed them without any fee in Sonic Pump studio, which alone would cost 1000€. The contract was signed after I broke Strato.
There were 2 contracts: One for Saana, my solo album and one for RR. I of course felt no obligation to tell anything about my personal life/business to people whom I have left behind.
Why should I do that?
Frontiers demanded the Stratovarius clause because they probably thought that I might put Strato back again. It simply says that as long as RR contract is valid and active, there cannot be any Strato records, which was totally okay for me since the band was already broken up. Why should that be a problem? The money I dont comment other than that's a blatant lie.
So to make is clear: First I broke up Strato and finished my Opera and then I started thinking about forming a new band.
"He did this behind our backs, as we were deep in pursuit of Sanctuary legally with a large legal bill. He still hasn't had the guts to tell us what he did. We pieced it together from various press releases of his and scattered email correspondence."
Again, these were my personal business things after the Stratovarius was already broken up.
So nothing behind anybody's back.
"In October he sent us a mail saying he didn't want to continue, a quite impersonal way after having been in the same band for 12 years. He explained that he was tired of Stratovarius, and would concentrate on things like his opera. We had known for some time he really hated playing live."
Another lie. The mail was extremely long and I asked them to come back to me after reading it.
At that point I did and was concentrating in my opera. There was no plans of RR at this point. I was fully in the production of my Saana opera. I told in the mail the same reasons I am telling in my www.tolkki.com statement.
"He did not mention anything about his Frontiers deal, which placed the rest of us at great financial risk. He very clearly asked that we wouldn't contact him and try to talk him out of it, which we all respected. He would later make much of the fact that nobody tried to talk him out of it."
I could not mention anything about the Frontiers deal because there was no Frontiers deal at this point. I for sure didnt want "anybody to talk me out of it". Why would I want to do that after I just broke up the band. And Jens has all the time been sending me emails and we have been talking on the phone with very friendly terms. Now I see that this all has been just a big lie.
"This year, Sanctuary agreed to settle, but Timo's announcement and Timo's announcement alone ruined that, leaving us with a debt of 54,000 US dollars. The total loss is around 346,000 US dollars. There was no reason for the timing of his announcement other than some foolish belief it would make the promotion of Timo's project record a bit easier."
Yes, this is very unfortunate, but Jens is making a mistake by assuming that RR is a project.
It is a band as everyone can see: I am looking for musicians.
I waited as long as I possibly could in announcing the RR band, but the reason why the legal case did not succeed was that Strato management and lawyer could not get us out of the deal although they had ONE AND A HALF years time to do that. That is a very bad peformance for a simple case if the record company takes the option or not. I was not informed about anything at this point about the legal case although I was asking constantly.
And I knew that if I would release RR without telling about Stratovarius break up, everybody would just take it as a project, which it is not. So these are the reasons for announcing the split before the RR release.
"Then late January, surprisingly, he proposed us playing as hired guns on R.R. (turning it into a Stratovarius record), and doing a tour with Jari on bass. Apparently he again had financial problems due to his failed opera project. He then quickly dismissed the idea himself."
This is a lie. I asked them if they would like to do a farewell tour of Stratovarius, as I have explained in my statement. It was nothing to do with financials, but as a respect towards Stratovarius fans. My Opera wasn't even out yet, so how could it have failed at that point?
It is now taking off nicely and I am happy. I dismissed the idea of farewell tour, that Jens was happy about, but Kotipelto and Jörg in a very hostile way rejected.
"In short it's not so much a story of simmering discontent leading to a wise and respectable decision. It's definitely not a story of naivité. It's the story of Faust, the story of madness, of a band's natural and slow decline, but in the end something mundane: the story of a supreme narcissist going broke and betraying friends of 12 years who helped save him a few years earlier".
Well I've never been called a Faust before so at least that's a new one. I don't consider that I have betrayed anyone, but that I have stayed true to myself and my beliefs. Also from the very beginning I shared all the income from every source equally between all the band members.
That doesnt sound like greed to me. Bitter it does sound.
It is not a story of Faust, it is a story of a rock band and this statement verifies all those things I am writing in my statement. There is hate. There is tension. All those things were and are still there.
The statement ends "the remaining members of Stratovarius". Although I own the name and all the rights to that, I have no problem if the guys want to continue the band without me.
I am very happy with RR getting interesting fresh musicians and doing loads of creative stuff in my life. Too bad it had to end this way.
AÑADIDO A 8 DE MAYO
(Original)
08 may 2008, 00:00
AWAY FOR AWHILE AND SOME THOUGHTS
Just wanted to let you know, that I will be away for a while. I need to get away from this negative and hate filled atmosphere of the last days.
The statement of Jens & co hurt me deeply with its aggressiveness and hate, not to mention the lies they wrote to make it look like totally my fault. I have been very down the last days, so I need some time alone.
I still cannot believe that it is not possible to go separate ways in a civilized way. My statement was in my opinion like this. From their statement, all I get is this enormous hate and bitterness towards me plus that they made it public even including figures there. Being accused of being greedy narcistic Faust by someone I talked on the phone in the last 6 months countless times laughing like before and making jokes, comes as a very heavy blow. I thought Jens was my friend.
Instead of staying what I considered a very sick band and getting all that money, I decided to start from scratch without anything, even members. And knowing I will have to pay lot of money too from the legal costs, but that was irrelevant at that point, because I gave the management and lawyer all the time I could and 60 days before the release of my new band, I had to come to public about Stratovarius.
So the greediness attack comes as a total surprise to me against the facts and also their lies.
Mainly about the timings. The idea for RR was born and the contract singned long after Oct 2007, when I broke Stratovarius.
Since it really seems that they will continue under the name Stratovarius, that I own and that I have contracts with each of them, I have to of course think what should I do?
As clearly as there cant be Strato without Kotipelto, as clearly there cannot be Stratovarius without me. That was my band totally since around 86, ten years before anyone of these guys joined the band. I think there is something else behind this and I dont believe that they really will continue under that name. That would make them look like they would just want to use the bands name to make money. Why not start from the clean table like me?
In any case, my first initial thought was to let them use the name, but now I have started to think that since all this hatred is projected to me and the obvious reasons to use the name would be just financial, why should I give it to them. Stratovarius was a band that I controlled in a very similar way than Tuomas of Nightwish up until I got very sick in 2004. The things started to be taken away from my control and that lead actually to the demise of the band. Do you think Nightwish could exist without its soul? I suppose it could, but again what would be any other point, than capitalize the name?
With these thoughts I leave you now for some time and come back with a bit more clear head.
Thank you for your support and take care of yourselves.
Love, Timo
agghh, ya me caían regular de antes y ahora peor.
ResponderEliminarme quedé a medio leer el primer comunicado de Tolkki porque es más tirarse los trastos a la cabeza que otra cosa.
Seguro que saldrán bien esos exámenes
ResponderEliminarLa verdad es que no me lo he leído entero (es interminable) y no sé mucho de la trayectoria de Stratovarius, pero por cómo escriben, me pongo de parte de las Stratosobras. Parecen mucho más cuerdos, sinceramente.
ResponderEliminarCrochets
Esto llega muuuuy tarde, pero al menos queda aquí puesto, con todo lo demás.
ResponderEliminarTimo Tolkki, 20 de mayo
The money hungry corporate kiss of Judas of Jörg Michael, Timo Kotipelto and Jens Johansson
I am writing this in Canton, a small city in China after a week from the statement the ex-members of Stratovarius published. Yesterday an earthquake killed over 50 000 people 1500 kilometers from here. That actually put things into perspective for me regarding the recent events. My mind has calmed down and I am able to think more rationally about the whole sitution. I am going to take you on a small journey to some key events that hopefully are enough to make you understand what kind of things have been going on. I simply cannot just be silent after that slanderous attack towards me and my music that the other guys launched some time ago. However after this, I will continue my life and leave this behind.
My memories go back to the year 1984 when I received that phone call to join Stratovarius when the guitar player/ main songwriter had been fired, and when we started building up the band from scratch. I started singing and composing songs that were totally different from those Ozzy-influenced blues songs the band had been playing for 2 years. We worked hard, played every day, made demos and finally we made our dream came true: we got a record deal with CBS. Fright Night, Twilight Time and Dreamspace followed each others. It took over 8 years before any of us saw any money from the record sales.
At this point Stratovarius had become my band, I was the Kapellmeister and the band was my symphony orchestra. Together we made some truly memorable music. At this point I worked alone full time as a manager and a booking agent for the band. With this enormous amount of work, the foundation was laid for the later success of Stratovarius. I was never paid for this work and not then and not after that have I ever considered money to be the reason why I am a musician.
The much-critizized firing of Tuomo Lassila and Antti Ikonen were simply due to a non-dedication to the bands activities. They both were not at all into heavy metal and I dont think they ever thought that the band could become so successful. They didnt like the direction the music was heading. It was another painful decision that I as a leader of the band had to do. And it was for the better. They could continue to do what they did best. Today Tuomo Lassila is a respected Classical percussionist in a Symphony Orchestra. Still I am looking at that time with a certain nostalgia, with a certain innocence. There were no big corporate deals or managers breathing down my neck to make that hit record fast. We played to very small audiences, sometimes to seven people, but it didnt matter, it was fun. There was not much money involved, but more than that, there was fun and there was creativity. And there was friendship too.
When Timo Kotipelto, Jens Johansson and Jörg Michael joined the band, I knew I had found the line up, that would take us as far as you can go with this kind of music. The only thing I was concerned was, that I was the only guy in the band that had a spiritual approach to life and that I had been writing songs about Love, Peace, Universal Brotherhood since I was a teenager . But I did not give it so much thought, since I thought that I would be able to express that message anyway, because it is a strong one. It culminates in the symbol of Fleur De Lys, which means and represents to me the spirituality and all those core human values I have always been writing about. At that time I did not understand, that like many of those who had been walking this path, that I would face a lot of violent hatred and laughter. Now I know better, but today that only makes my message stronger. You have to learn to look at the evil eye to eye and laugh at it. I found that symbol 1992 and put it on the cover of my first solo album and later on the Stratovarius logo 5 years later. And now it follows me to my new band Revolution Renaissance.
When the guys joined the band, I made it very clear what I wanna do and made contracts with each one of them. In that contract I also determined the rules that I would decide all the artistic factors of the band, that I own the name Stratovarius, and that we split all the income evenly with all the members... discounting the fact that I had been working years without any money with the previous line up, and created the necessary contacts that now became very important to gain success. Of course, everything from Episode onwards is written forever in Power Metal history and I dont have to repeat our achievements here.
It was around the time when we left Nuclear Blast and signed a big money contract with Sanctuary that things started to go wrong. I think this move ultimately destroyed the band, added a corporate aspect to the music and resulted in the worst Stratovarius album ever: the black Stratovarius united album. And I am as guilty as the others of all this. As the big money entered the picture, so also entered highly questionable methods to market the band using whatever means possible. Due to legal reasons it is not possible to go into details, but I just say this: whatever marketing trick was used at that time, everybody was part of it: the whole band, the management and the record company. And I repeat: the whole band including Timo Kotipelto and Jörg Michael. And I can prove this and they know it. And one day I might just do that. Maybe soon. Maybe in a book. It was all this what ultimately lead to my total nervous breakdown in Spring 2004. The recovery has lasted to this very day, but I can say that today I am almost fully recovered and have not drunk a drop of alcohol in 3 years and have been on medication for 4 years to combat one of the most painful and vicious mental illnesses: bipolar disorder. The medication works wonderfully and I am able to work and be creative. And most of all I feel free. I am fortunate to have that medication that many sufferers before me, for example Ludwig Van Beethoven or Ernest Hemingway (who blew his brains out with a gun), did not have. They had the same illness, as do many people who work in entertainment.
The damage done to the band was irreversible. Somebody has said that sooner or later you start to hate your leader. Much has also been said about the band members saving me, when I was in a hospital or when I was thinking about commiting suicide. On the contrary, I didnt receive any acts of kindness from my friends. Not one of them visited me in the hospital although all the guys were in town. The only person that seemed to care later was Jens with his phone calls, and you the fans, from whom I received thousands of letters that gave me real hope and comfort. The people who actually saved me were my wife and daughter, my mother and my therapist. I had the worst depressive episode of my life that last 7 months. I could not even get out from the bed. During this time, my friends were not even in touch with me. Instead what happened was that they were slowly working behind my back to take over much of the bands control, especially financial, with the help from the management. And they succeeded fairly well. It was very clever. When I recovered enough, I found out that lots of things had been changed and that I did not have that control over the band I had before and what I needed to be able to express my music, my art. All this was done behind my back during this time. I faced increasing demands to do things I didnt want to do, and demands from Timo Kotipelto to get his songs into Stratovarius records. The only problem was: we are so very different and our music and message is so very different. He would never write lyrics like Celestial Dream. His music and lyrics doesnt have that spiritual dimension that mine has. Not that they have to, of course.
I was lied to directly about the promotional activities of the Stratovarius album and Jens and Kotipelto did the full promo tour while I was tricked and told that I would do the most important interviews later. Due to this, I didnt talk to the press for that album at all, although I very much felt I needed to and the last time I had done interviews, was 2003, but not because I didnt want to. It was organized that I could not. These things were arranged behind my back by the band and the management. They wanted me silent and make me look like I was not there so much anymore.
During the rehearsals and the world tour of Stratovarius record, I felt lot of aggression towards me. I felt like I was not wanted in my own band. I designed the whole show myself, including the projection screens and the peace message with the Declaration of Universal Human Rights in the song United. The whole spirit of the show was so contradictory to the feeling that was in the band. As the tour progressed I really started to have the feeling that I am not wanted in the band anymore. I was told by Jörg Michael face to face that this band is over. I was really confused what to do after the tour so I did what I always do: I put my feelings to music and started writing songs. The songs were completed quickly in August 2006 and the demos delivered to the management in October. They in turn sent them to Sanctuary for approval and that started the whole legal thing. We had festival appearaneces scheduled in 2007, but at that point I really felt that something weird was going on... a nd that everybody was in it only for the money. Like trying to get whatevery they could as fast as they could. Insane gig offers for one gig off in India etc followed, which I refused to play, much to groups anger.
The Sanctuary lawsuit was going on because they did not want to pay what was in the contract. I said, I dont care about that money, lets just leave and find a new label, we have to get the album out. I was pressured largely by staying away from that due to the financial arrangements that were done behind my back while I was sick. I asked for information about the lawsuit but I was given very vague answers. To be short: I didnt know what is going on. I said that we dont need that money and that we should just leave and find another label, but it was our management and especially Jens that heavily resisted this option. Sanctuary would have let us go for free from the contract. Gamma Ray left and signed with SPV and is doing great today. But we had to go into that legal battle because of 420 000 per record. Sanctuary found out that Jari signed the contract but is not in the band anymore. Bang! No money. The guys contacted Jari and asked him to sign a paper where he stated that he is still in the band although he was playing in Evergrey. It was just: money, money, money. And all this time, I was the only one who was actually making music. I used almost a year in my life for composing and recording my Classical Rock Opera Saana. And the evergrowing feeling inside of me that something is terribly wrong.
At the same time playing the festival gigs and feeling all this hatred, I started to think about my future. I knew at that point that I would be happier without these guys, except perhaps Jens and Lauri. As the months went by and I was doing my solo album Saana, I felt so much happiness doing that project that I fully realized what I should do. I was aware of the consequences, but I wasnt aware that I was against a big money making machine. I have explained much of this period in my first statement.
So there was one thing left. I had to decide if I would continue Strato without Kotipelto and Jörg, from whom I felt most of the hatred coming. I came to the conclusion that there cannot be Stratovarius without these guys and that it would be wrong to the fans to replace them. So I decided to end something that I started 23 years before and yes, I do consider that, although there are always those who remind me that I am not an original member. But I do consider myself as an original member of Stratovarius as the fans know it. The band started in 1982 and I came in 1984. I do consider myself as the soul of Stratovarius and that it has always been my band. But I also consider that I could not have achieved all that success without the classic line up. It was a match made in heaven. Why it ended the way it ended, is partly a mystery to me. But my motivation was not greed as the others claim. If it would be, I would certainly have waited to have that 420 000 plus the high fee Stratovarius receives from the shows. Instead I decided to go on my own way and stop Stratovarius while it still had some dignity left. I was fully aware that I would have to pay for my share for the legal costs, but I didnt care... although I waited as long as I could to give time to those who wanted that money more than to create music. And I do blame the management and the lawyer for handling the case badly and slowly.
You have to do your own thinking: why would I leave a succesful band who was winning the legal case with all that money and go and start all over again with a totally new band and relatively unknown musicians with very little money compared to the Strato if I wasnt completely totally unhappy about almost everything in the band the worst being the very fake human relationships and how I had been treated in the last couple of years? Does this make any sense to you? And if it does, then perhaps it has come time to ask: who are the ones that actually are greedy? And who wants to exploit the name Stratovarius and who doesnt? For those who dont know, the deals me and Strato always make/made are so called master deals. It means that the artist pays for the studio, flights, the general costs of making the album. After paying all the costs of the RR New Era album that includes mega names and studio rent is 460 per day plus also the costs for making cover, pictures, what is left is nothing compared to what I was making in Strato. The supreme greedy narcistic Faust doesnt really fit into this scenario. But a guy who loves music and has made it from his heart since the age of 14 and follows his ideals no matter what, does. That guy is me.
So now we come to that point where I had the new album of my new band ready and still no solution from a simple legal case. It was 2 months until the release and the case had been going on for almost 2 years now. So that was the day when I had to make it public. It still took about a month until the Sanctuary/Universal people heard about the break-up. Then it was of course too late.
I wrote my statement with a clear conscience and without hatred, telling about the reasons of the split that had already happened half a year before. Rationally, peacefully and with respect. I wanted the fans to know the truth. Since then I have spent much of my time in the Strato forum and RR forum explaining the situation and trying to be with the fans. My sincere wish was that the split would not divide the fans and I spent a lot of time even defending the guys and writing blogs urging fans not to take sides. I believe the fans deserved to know more than the general chit chat. Some people say we should not talk about private things in public. But it is absolutely impossible to understand the whole thing without going into those details. At the end of the day it is just down to rational thinking: why didnt I stay? Why did I leave?
Then the other guys published that hate filled, bitter and cruel statement accusing me of just about everything that has ever happened. The biggest thing that hurt was that it was signed by Jens and Lauri, who I thought were my friends. That cut very deep and I am still recovering from that disappointment. That really broke my heart. And I still cant believe it. But it is true.
After that statement it was of course inevitable that the fans will be divided, thus the situation was against everything that Stratovarius had ever represented and I had written songs about. They were not divided after my first statement. I certainly didnt intend to start a flaming war but I was shocked about the lies and aggressiveness. And I did write some stupid things in the forums, which I apologize about to you the fans. But I am only a human being with weaknesses and sometimes too much is just too much. The pressure was just unbelievable. I was stabbed in the back by the guys I had given all my creative energy and efforts, not to mention the money, for 12 years and I was called greedy supreme narcistic Faust. The whole statement made little sense to me,stating that band had declined since 2004 and that I was somehow humiliated by this. I think the humiliation lies on the other side and in the abandonment by my friends. Also, I dont think the band had declined. We played extremely succesful world tour of 100 shows around the Globe for Stratovarius album. Thats hardly a decline. The fans were there. They were hungry for a new Strato album. Sadly they had no idea what was going on. I really dont understand the whole statement in any other way than cleverly putting all the blame on me and trying to destroy my new career, while continuing under the name Stratovarius. It is a very different statement from what I did and wrote in a very different way and tone. There is unbelievable repressed hate in that statement towards me. Thus, much of what I had felt towards me in the last couple of years is manifested in that letter. Later I heard from 3 credible sources close to Jens that he actually toned the statement down and that it was even more aggressive. The source of that aggressiveness would be Jörg Michael and Timo Kotipelto, exactly as I have felt. Jörg Michael is also the only guy who has put up the statement on his myspace site.
Now we come to the final point since the others want to continue as Stratovarius. My thought of not wanting to continue Stratovarius without Timo Kotipelto and Jörg Michael was totally contradictory to their thought of continuing the band without me. And since I had written 95% about the songs and lyrics and was responsible for the whole essence and message of the band, it would be impossible to call that band Stratovarius. It would have nothing to do with that name. This would be no Deep Purple without Blackmore where the songs were written mainly together... plus they had no serious message like Stratovarius does.
So there will never be another Stratovarius. It was a unique band and the name itself doesnt mean that it would bear the trademarks of Stratovarius. It means more to me than money. It means the very essence of the message it has carried in my songs for 23 years. That is a very long time. My new band cannot replace Stratovarius. Neither can any other band. My dignity prevents me from using that name without my ex-band members. This is the contrary regarding the other guys and what they are inteding to do. At this writing, they are most likely preparing all kinds of Stratovarius releases that I blocked, out of the reasons that they did not have enough quality.
Since I consider this a devastatingly disappointing and utterly disrespectful move, I am going to do something people dont probably expect from me. First of all in my life philosophy this kind of act is evil. And I do not want to have anything to do with evil. Although both moral and legal rights I own would easily grant me the rights to prevent the guys using the name Stratovarius, I am going to do the opposite. I am going to give them full perpetual rights to the name and also I do not want to receive any money regarding record sales of the back catalogue or possible new products in which I am involved . Ever. You will find this letter » that has been mailed to the Stratovarius management with this statement. Simply, I dont want to have anything to do with that name in its present form, Jörg Michael, Timo Kotipelto and Jens Johansson ever again. The old records and their message speak for themselves. So the guys are free to use the name. I am doing this with a clear mind that everything that you put to the universe returns to you. And above all, I refuse to co-operate, negotiate or have anything to do with what I consider to be evil. And here is the very corporate money making machine in its full force exploiting the name, like it could really have the same meaning without me.
I hope this letter clarifies some things from my side and I promise that this will be the last statement from my side. From now on I will let the music talk with my new band Revolution Renaissance, that carries that spiritual essence of the Fleur de Lys. Thats why its in the logo. And of course we will play lots of Stratovarius songs in the shows too.
I wish you nothing but good things, blessings and much happiness. I thank you for a great life and I hope to see you somewhere along the road. Take good care of yourselves and I am very sorry that it had to end this way. When the curtain falls at the end of the day, its only the Music that counts. And you will get that from me in the future too.
Love, Timo Tolkki
REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN
Here is the formal letter of waiver of rights »
Agradecimiento de los nuevos Stratovarius, 29 de mayo
Original
Open letter to Timo Tolkki from three remaining Stratovarius members.
Dear Timo, we thank you for the waiver of your rights dated May 20, 2008 in the name Stratovarius, and the gift of your share of the income from the back catalog.
Technically and morally none of us was in the position to alone give or withhold the name Stratovarius. So, this certainly clarifies the situation, and we three thank you for that.
Good luck with your projects in the future!
Jörg Michael, Jens Johansson and Timo Kotipelto
Continúa meses después; pincha aquí.