STRATOVARIUS Keyboardist On 'Polaris', TIMO TOLKKI And Future Albums

Robert Gray of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with STRATOVARIUS keyboardist Jens Johansson as part of a series entitled "Hit The Lights." Topics of discussion included the album "Polaris", Timo Tolkki's departure, the group's financial situation, and future STRATOVARIUS material. Several excerpts from the interview follow below.

On the recording process for "Polaris":

"To me, that's one of the better ways to record. Me and Jörg [Michael, drums] slept in the same house, which was a small house. It had a big living room type of thing, so there weren't any distractions, really. If you record in a normal studio in the city, you always feel like going down to the bar and so on. We had a fridge with beer, but it's not quite the same thing. Nothing pulls you away from the process. To be able to roll out of bed, and then begin recording without being distracted by other things is quite nice. The house had everything, such as a kitchen and a shower. It was a very beautiful place right in the middle of the forest."

On why the group opted to retain the name STRATOVARIUS:

"We began writing without any pre-conceived notions, and still weren't completely sure of what to do. We then began to record drums, and once we did that, we began placing parts around the drums. It became clear that the material sounded pretty much like STRATOVARIUS, mainly since we kept our drummer and singer. [Timo] Kotipelto and Jörg both give the group a very personal style, I think. The rest is somewhat easier to replace in terms of sound, but at that point anyway, 'Polaris'' tracks sounded very much like STRATOVARIUS. If you've heard 'Polaris', you'll likely agree."

On "Polaris" album title:

"It's just one of those things. Since we're all from the far north of Europe, except the drummer, it's a cool-sounding word in some respects. The title has no deeper meaning than that. Gyula Havancsák designed this quite nice cover which, to me, is spooky in terms of how everything was tied together philosophically. In the end, the title was just this somewhat cool sounding word for a star which people have used through the ages to guide their boat. You find your way home by following the star, which doesn't move so much."

On whether STRATOVARIUS will work upon more progressive tracks the group presented during "Polaris" writing sessions:

"Some of those songs were really good, I thought. Of course, I'm a little bit of a freak, and like all the weirder material. I'm a big MESHUGGAH fan. In writing STRATOVARIUS' next album, everyone will know each other better. Like I said, we won't be recording an album under siege. Last time obviously, Tolkki peppered us with statements. He threatened to sue us and so on, until he kind of apologized last month — Tolkki was very hostile towards us. It wasn't completely easy all the time, though, I think, in writing for our next album, we'll have a clear view of who's in the group. Everyone knows each other better, and STRATOVARIUS also has record company deals, something which we didn't have in recording 'Polaris' of our own accord. Our next album will be very interesting, I think."

On whether he still stands by a May 2008 statement, in which STRATOVARIUS said that former guitarist Timo Tolkki was motivated by greed:

"Yes, I do. When we posted that statement, I think he was very upset. He has somewhat come to terms with that too, I feel. No matter how you twist and turn it, if you're a group of people and make a pact somehow, and one guy grabs all the money that's on the table and then just runs, then you have to say it's greed (laughs). Unfortunately, greed is a very strong word, but what he did was selfish. It was certainly the mildest statement we could've posted at the time, as everyone was very, very upset. We lost roughly €250,000 [approximately $350,000], and that is very costly. Everyone was really pissed off at the time, though you just have to count it as water under the bridge, and try to move on."

Read the whole interview at Ultimate-Guitar.com.