Stratovarius
We Can’t Make Everybody Happy

18.12.2010

A new album, a tour with Helloween and the drummer diagnosed with cancer – that’s how Finnish power metallers Stratovarius end up this year. As if their previous line-up changes, label situation turmoil and the departure of main songwriter Timo Tolkki just a few years ago was not enough. Nevertheless, the Finns are still going strong, the new album “Elysium” is a solid piece of power metal, and the band is ready to face the challenges. Right before beginning of the Helloween tour we got in touch with keyboardist Jens Johansson, who briefed us on the latest developments in the Stratovarius camp…

First of all I would like to ask you about Jorg Michael. How does he feel now?

I am not quite sure, I haven’t talked to him today. He’s going to have therapy today, radiation therapy. But I talked to him yesterday and he is in pretty good spirits, ready to fight. I think he will be OK.

Jorg will be replaced for the upcoming tour with Helloween by Alex Landenburg (Mekong Delta, Annihilator, At Vance). How did you find him?

It was through our booking agency who knew him somehow. We talked a lot about what we should do in that situation, if we should actually do the tour or not. First we were shocked. Then we tried to find a drummer. We have got a lot of friends who can do it (replace Jorg for the tour – ed.). But we didn’t know who exactly it will be. Then guys from that agency said that they knew this guy and he was doing well. He sent us a video where he was playing a few of our songs. He’s got a very good attitude. And after all we got on with him. He is a nice guy and that is also important.

Were there any other candidates?

Fuck, we had a lot of different candidates. Many of them couldn’t do it because of other scheduled things. The first guy Jorg suggested - you know him, he is my brother and he plays in Hammerfall. But he couldn’t do it, he is recording with his band right now. There were so many names, I can’t remember them all… But there was the guy from Children Of Bodom, the Nightwish guy, we sent e-mail to Dean Castronovo (Journey)… There was also a bunch of people that couldn’t do it or maybe we felt that they had a wrong style or something. Also a lot of friends and people in the booking agency and our management suggested us a lot of people, but in the end Alex seemed right in many ways. He can play very well, but the main thing is the right attitude, I think. For me the video where he was learning our stuff was quite impressive.

You are going to have a tour with Helloween. Have you ever toured with them before?

No, never ever.

So what do you expect from this tour?

I think it is actually a complicated thing, like one plus one equal three. We’re playing music in the same direction, so maybe some people will think: “Helloween and Stratovarius for the same price it’s a good bargain”. Presales for these shows have been quite OK.

How did you like your latest show in Moscow a couple of years ago? Did you enjoy your stay and the show as such?

I think it was a year and half ago, in 2008. I liked it but I had a flu, I think I had a pig flu. To remember, it was quite a nice show. I think we will come back soon.

How do you choose songs for the setlist? Some people say that you play too few songs from "Polaris" (2008) and too much old material...

Yeah, they might say the same this time. I think not so many people have heard the new songs and we’ve got another new record coming soon, in January, so when we play a bunch of shows in November-December, the new album won’t be even out. You have to sort out things, because when you play stuff that people have never heard they look at you like *aaah* (imitates the sound of surprise). Of course, someone wants to hear more stuff from the new album, and others can say, “What the fuck? We hate the new album, we want to hear old stuff”. Iron Maiden had the same situation at Wacken, where they played only new stuff, so I heard people complaining (starts to talk in a hoarse voice), “What the fuck? They play only new stuff!” We can’t make everybody happy. We can’t play all the songs, because we have about 10 songs on each album, so it will be impossible to play all the stuff. And Helloween are big in some of the markets where we are not big, like Germany, which is maybe one of the strongest markets. This time we will have one hour to present the band again, because many of the fans haven’t seen the band for six, seven or eight years. So we have to pick up the strongest songs. But we’re gonna play three or two new songs anyway.

Jens, you have been criticized by some fans for using samples and not playing some of the important parts yourself. For instance, when you play "Black Diamond", the main keyboard melody is sampled, isn't it? How can you comment on it?

It’s partly sampled, but I am playing it. I used samples in 2003, because at that point we had “Elements” records with this orchestra stuff. And then we had samples of an orchestra, because it’s too expensive to bring an orchestra on stage. Since then we stopped using that. Some bands are using orchestra samples, for instance, Nightwish, whose new album had a lot of orchestra stuff on it, are using such samples. But I don’t like it myself. We thought that we would go completely crazy with that stuff, so we finished those orchestra experiments. Now Nightwish are going through that, Hammerfall are going through that and I think it’s not much fun. Maybe in the studio they get a nice orchestra sound, but on stage it’s not so much fun.

Let’s talk about your new album. First of all I would like to ask you about the title - “Elysium”, which came from Greek mythology, I suppose. Can you tell me why you chose that title?

It’s actually an interesting story, because for a while we didn’t know how to call it. We had a bunch of different ideas, but I noticed that one big song that Matias (Kupiainen, guitar) wrote… And its lyrics seemed to be about a war or something… Well, I actually don’t exactly know what the fuck it’s about. It seemed to be about some hero. I googled and find some interesting stuff on that theme. And I made a long list of names and e-mailed it to everybody, and “Elysium” was one of them. But nobody replied, because they were doing other stuff. Then I said, “OK, I choose the name by myself”. Two months ago I suggested that name to a band, and they said that it’s a good name. I asked, “Did you read my e-mail?” They answered, “Yes, but there were so many names…” Elysium is a Greek version of Valhalla, where the warriors go after death if they were good warriors.

A question about artwork. There is a pelican on your artwork and a septogram star against some nature background. Can you tell me the meaning of it?

This star, it’s basically… When we made the “Polaris” album there was also a very loose idea about the name. We let our cover artist do something, and he came up with the idea – that star shaped spaceship which everybody found quite nice. I don’t know, for me it’s like on “Polaris” this spaceship was in a kind of space war and on “Elysium” it escaped it and came to a new planet. Maybe they said: “Guys, it was hell, and now we are in heaven”. But you can interpret it in any way you want.

And what about the pelican that is above the spaceship?

I think when our cover artist made that artwork - it was about a couple of months ago - there was news about oil in the Mexican Gulf. It’s a free association, so a lot of people can also see it in different ways. Like the previous cover.

Did you do any special things, any unusual things when you were recording “Elysium”?

Hmm… We borrowed the cottage of Mathias’ parents, that was near the cottage of Nightwish guys and near the Russian border. And we recorded a lot of stuff there: we brought in the equipment and recorded while drinking beer.

I think the new album is a bit heavier than its predecessor, “Polaris”. Why did you decide to make it rougher this time?

It wasn’t a special decision, we just began to do it in April and we looked on the stuff that everybody had. So, it came naturally, we didn’t plan anything. I like it that way, it seems to be like in the old days. There wasn’t an instruction from marketing people that said that you should make a pop album or something. (laughs). We had about 70 or 80 songs and we got rid of the songs nobody liked and picked up the ones which we like the most.

What is the song “Infernal Maze” about?

I think it’s about something or someone you are regretting, about something he or she did. It was a part of this big song “Elysium”, originally it was 26 minutes long, but then we divided it in two. Of course, the lyrics are connected with the “Elysium” song and it is also about warriors, but I am not quite sure. (laughs)

And what is “Fairness Justified” about?

I think this is the story of some girl. I didn’t write it, so I am not quite sure…

Also you got track “Lifetime In A Moment” that I find philosophical. What do you want to say with this song?

I think it’s about that you should appreciate every moment and make decisions carefully, because they can change all your life. So, in one second life could change.

You’ve got very big title track “Elysium”, which lasts about 18 minutes. What made you create such a long song?

I don’t know, we can divide it into four songs, but I didn’t take part in its creation.

Will you play it live?

I don’t think so. We haven’t planned it yet.

Maybe you will play some parts of this song?

This is gonna be a billion little parts. (laughs) At the moment we are doing the opening tour and when we do some headlining gigs, it will be nice to play it. Let’s see, because we have a sick drummer and this is a big problem.

The new album is your second one for earMusic/Edel Records. You have worked with many labels in the past - Noise, Nuclear Blast, Sanctuary... With all this experience, how do you evaluate Edel? Are they the perfect label for Stratovarus?

I cannot speak highly enough of this label. It’s really good. I have been also with Polygram, Warner etc. I have been in that business for a long time and this label is one of the best labels I have ever worked with. If you knew me, you would find unusual that I said it. I think them and Blast I like most of all.

When you left Nuclear Blast and signed to Sanctuary, this was very big news, and it was announced that you signed for three albums. But in fact, you only released one album with Sanctuary ("Stratovarius", 2005). How did you get away from that contract?

We actually didn’t get away from it, we wanted to stick with them for a second album. But they went bankrupt, a very very complicated thing. They went on the stock market, and it was huge loss of money because of this, they borrowed money from banks. Basically the whole company gambled to go on the stock market and they lost the gamble. The bands that were signed were bought by the company called Universal, all their catalogue. It was a big chaos.

Can you tell me about the situation with Timo Tolki? In one of the interviews you said that you stopped arguing and you had a dinner with him. But later I heard that the conflict is still going. What is happening with your relationships now?

Last time I saw him in 2008 and after that he started that conflict again, but he already stopped arguing. I think he seemed to be peaceful since December 2009. But I mean, he changes his mind sometimes, of course he is allowed to do this. But now he has another new project, Symfonia. There he is playing with André Matos, Uli Kusch (who used to play with Helloween), Jari Kainulainen (he used to play with Stratovarius) and Mikko Härkin (ex-Sonata Arctica) – like a superstar band. They already had a big deal, and I think Timo gets the chance to make everything right this time. Honestly, I hope he will be busy and he won’t get time to fight with Stratovarius anymore.

You had a fire accident on your concert in Canada last year. What happened there?

We had a crazy sound guy who put a very loud volume and everything started burning. Fortunately, it was the last song, so everybody could get out. We said, “The concert is over and everybody has to go out”. (laughs)

This way you had something special for your last song!

You know, it was like pyro even if you didn’t plan to use pyro.

You recorded on the new album by the Finnish band Amberian Dawn. Can you tell me about that experience?

I was sort of fan of this band since a couple of years. I got in touch with their keyboard player and we became friends, had a couple of drinks… We talked about that usual guitar-keyboard battle, and he said that it will be nice to have a keyboard vs. keyboard battle. I said, “OK, let’s do it!”. Some time later he recorded some material and sent it to me, and I also recorded something and sent it to him. There are two songs that I play on, we did it like a battle.

You worked with Dio on his album “Lock Up The Wolves” (1990). How was it?

There was a lot of fun. He was a very good guy and he had great experience in this business.

You also played with Yngwie Malmsteen. I heard he is a difficult person to collaborate with. Is it true?

I don’t think so, but everybody has said that. I don’t know what the problem is, maybe I am kind of special. I have never had any problem getting along with him, sometimes we argue, but not much. Maybe me and my brother and him – we are the same kind of assholes.

Recently you also participated in the recording of the Avantasia project. Tell me your impressions from that experience.

That’s the same thing as it was with Amberian Dawn. I had been promising Tobi (Tobias Sammet, the project’s mastermind – ed.) for years that I would play on some of his records. It didn’t happen until last year. I recorded my part and sent it to him by e-mail. You know, every time we met, we talked like, “Please, can I play something on your record or I have to pay?” (laughs). But I didn’t pay him anything, but could if he asked me. I think he is a good guy.

You released some albums with your brother, Anders Johansson. Can we expect some more music from Johansson brothers?

Yes, I think so. At the moment I am busy with Stratovarius… We have been working constantly in our bands since 2008. But if I have time later this year or next year we will record something.

Is there any competition between you and Anders? Maybe you listen to a new Hammerfall album and say, “The new Stratovarius is better!”

Of course the new Stratovarius is better! (laughs) Yes, we have a bit of competition. But our music is different: Hammerfall have more of a German true metal approach, and we are more progressive and melodic. I and my brother exchange stories about our bands.

I heard that one of your favorite keyboardists is Jon Lord. Now he is doing a lot of orchestra stuff. Wouldn’t you like to make something like that? Maybe as your solo album…

I think it’s expensive. I am more interested in electronic. If I make a solo album I will make it without orchestra, because it’s so fucking expensive.

What has been the strangest musical experience in your career?

Hmmm, let me think. I think I can remember one of the weirdest things I’ve done. I went to Sardinia, there was a friend of mine called Jonas. He had his friend, who is a drummer called Ginger Baker who played with Cream and Eric Clapton. Somehow Jonas had a gig with Ginger in Sardinia, but they needed a keyboard player, and I said, “OK. But what songs are we going to play?” He said, “Oh no, no songs, just play something”. So we played something, but it was nice: the sun was shining, nice coffee, nice food.

That was my last question. We are looking forward to see you in Moscow and waiting for your new album to be released.  

I wish the next time I come to Moscow I will feel much better. And I will drink vodka and have fun!

Stratovarius on the Internet: http://www.stratovarius.com

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview

Sergei “BoBr” Bobrik
November 22, 2010
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