Drummer ALEX LANDENBURG: STRATOVARIUS Fans 'Accepted Me With Open Arms'

Alex Landenburg (AT VANCE, ANNIHILATOR, MEKONG DELTA), who just completed a European tour as the stand-in drummer for STRATOVARIUS after the band's regular drummer, Jörg Michael, was diagnosed with cancer and had his entire thyroid removed, has issued the following update:

"I'd like to take the opportunity to say thanks to Jörg for asking me to step in and to the wonderful STRATOVARIUS fans for accepting me with open arms in this difficult situation.

"Despite these sad circumstances that led to me doing this tour, I had a lot of fun still.

"It was a weird situation....sometimes I almost felt a bit guilty for having such a great time. However, from meeting Jörg right before the tour and seeing that he was doing considerably good already, I knew that he'd back soon and that made things easier right away.

"My most heartfelt thank you goes out to Timo, Jens, Mati and last but definitely not least my clone brother Lauri... my bandmates of five weeks!

"I had such a great time with you, guys... I'm happy things went as good as they did and I'm glad to call each of you a friend.

"It's not about touring... it's about having fun — while you're touring!

"Finally I wanna thank the 'rest' of the whole tour party....crew, drivers and last but not least the HELLOWEEN guys. What a bunch of cool and down-to-earth people!"

STRATOVARIUS's thirteenth full-length studio album, "Elysium", will be released in Asia on January 12, 2011 via JVC and in the rest of the world on January 14, 2011 through earMUSIC/Edel.

Fan-filmed video footage of Alex Landenburg performing with STRATOVARIUS on December 14, 2010 in Tampere, Finland can be viewed below.