Interviews

Ex-Stratovarius singer Timo Kotipelto went into the wilds to craft his second solo album, the new one appropriately deemed Coldness. After the implosion of the Finnish masters, what else could he do? Especially since the main reason for his frustrations in the band all these years was that he couldn't get a power metal anthem in edge-wise.

"The reason I started doing these solo albums, even though I hate the word 'solo,' because I don't playing instruments - albums on my own - is quite simple. Because in Stratovarius, I was never really able to have any of my songs on the albums. I wrote some lyrics, but I guess there's only one song of mine, that is on the album called Episode. And then I did some bonus songs for Japan, but that's it. Most of the songs are composed by the other Timo. So I wanted to release some of my own music. That's why I started doing this."

When asked what the main adjustments are for Coldness versus Timo #1, Waiting For The Dawn, Kotipelto offers the following. "I would say that the biggest difference is the lyrics, because the first one was a concept album, and this one is not. Some people have told me that the songs on Coldness are darker, sadder, more melancholy. It could be true; I'm not saying it's not. And of course, visually, it's totally different because of the concept of the first album. But then again, I think it's still somewhat the same formula. I mainly composing for myself and this is the kind of music I would like to listen to nowadays. Namely, if I'm listening to music, it's from the '80s - Iron Maiden, Rainbow, stuff like that. But of course, I'm also using my power metal influences influences, because I've been 10 years in Stratovarius. That affects the outcome as well. I also tried to compose the vocals a bit lower. Of course, it could be that I got fed up singing such extremely high vocals. Because, I mean, it's a technique. I can hit the notes, but then again, there's not much you can do with your voice in those altitudes, if you know what I mean. So that's also may be a little bit different."

What are some of the lyrical themes on here?"Well, they're mostly about my personal life, how I felt between last August and December. There were a lot of not so nice things going on in my personal life. I broke up with my ex-girlfriend and we were five years together, so that was a hard thing, and then just a few months later all this band shit started to happen. So some of the songs are about those things. But then some songs, for example one called 'Around', is about what I've seen on tour, and in normal life is well. There are some more positive songs, like 'Journey Back', which is about going back to my hometown, which is about 400 kilometers north of Helsinki, where I live right now. So all of the songs are basically about my own life."

I asked Timo the difference between assembling Coldness versus, say, the last two Stratovarius albums, the Elements pairing. "It's totally different. If you're in a band, and you have five guys, you can ask at least some of those guys to help you. But if I'm doing this on my own, I have to do everything. All the studio stuff, and of course, I don't even have to talk about composing the songs and writing the lyrics; that's on top. There's also a lot of work because you are responsible for the album coming out on time. And of course you have to tell all the other musicians where to be and when, so everything goes well. There are a lot of things. And I think that stuff is as much work as the actual composing process (laughs)."

For the Elements albums, were there already problems in the band?"Well, I would say that all started six years ago, when we had a tour called Destiny, and then the other Timo was drinking heavily after every show. And then just a couple of weeks later, when we came back to Helsinki, I didn't see him at all and I didn't hear anything from him. And then I met one of my friends, who happened to know him better than me, and then he told me, already back then, that Tolkki had said that he's thinking about quitting the band. And that was six years ago. And also, at that time, when we came back from the tour, he started doing this therapy. And since then, he's been doing this therapy and I don't know... probably therapy works for some people, but I don't know if in this case it has been that good. It's called something like primal therapy, whatever that means. The therapy is putting the person down, completely down. I don't know; I've never been there so I have no idea."

I wondered, given the collapse of Stratovarius' arrangement with the announced female lead vocalist, if Timo could ever see himself back in the band... "Well, I mean, if you would have seen him, like he behaved over the last few months, I don't see there is any chance. I mean, he's not himself at all. He's completely, well... if I say, in my opinion, that he's a little bit mad, I don't want to say it in a bad way. But that's the way it is. He's mentally unstable. He started going downhill last September or after our tour in South America, which ended in August. It's hard to say whether he will recover or not. I know he's under a very heavy medication, whatever that means. It's like triple anti-depression medication, I heard. But I don't know what that means."

Why the title Coldness for this album, and why this cover art?"Well, I had this idea about the cover artwork already last September. Because I was writing the lyrics in a cottage, actually two different cottages, by the lake, near my hometown. So I went there, and then I had this vision, because musically I'm going back to my roots, I thought that I also want to go visually back to my roots, and I wanted to present a Finnish winter for the people who have never seen it. It's like... it can be this dark. It's also, a little bit artistically done, some of these things on the cover. But it's also like this, I had some photos which were taken by my father and I scanned those photos and I sent them over for Mattias Noren, the Swedish guy who did the cover. And we talked by email, and I had my ideas, and he said I know what exactly what you mean, I know what you mean. So that was easy, working with him, because he's also from Scandinavia and he knows how the winters are here. He knew what I wanted and I'm more than satisfied with his work. I'm very happy about the cover."

"It's like this," explains Timo when asked how one puts a record like this together. "Basically some songs can start from the vocal melody, and I'm just humming that on a mini-disc, or even on my cellular phone, something that can record. And then I go to my rehearsing place where I have my computers and guitars and synths and stuff like that. But of course, some songs can start from a guitar riff. I'll just go there and play some guitar. But I can't play really well, any instruments. I did play drums when I was younger, so I will say that I can play drums. But then again, I'm not that good that I would record it. I can play drums, for sure. I can even play some double kick things. But I'm not that good. But it's easier for me to explain the rhythm parts for the drummer because I can say, just play like this, because I do know whether these things can be played or they can't be played. That's the advantage."

Finally, Timo proclaims that he's not averse to ending up in another band, if the right project came along. "That's a big question, because yeah, I've been getting some offers. But again, I've been trying to be nice to all the bands and people who approach me, and I've told them that unfortunately, at the moment, I don't have the time, because I want to promote this album as much as possible. And then after that, I want to do some of my own shows. But then, when all of those shows are over... I don't even know if there are going to be a lot of shows or not, but at least some. But when those are over, it could be possible that if there is a band that needs my kind of voice, and the music is something I like, and if the guys are cool, I would consider joining something. I don't have to be just a solo artist. But then again, I don't want to give up this possibility of doing my own material. So I guess I will make at least another album... one of these years (laughs)."