The name Timo Kotipelto is recognised throughout the world as the voice of Stratovarius.  His charismatic performances and outstanding vocals have won him legions of fans over the years and now with the impending release of his third and strongest solo album to date, we catch up with Timo to find out more about the man, the music and whether he has found 'Serenity' in his own life.
 

MM – You've mentioned that 'Serenity' is the first real band album where all the band were involved right from the very beginning of the project and took it right through to its conclusion.  Did you not have that same set up with the previous two albums?
Timo – No.  The thing was especially for the first album, I had maybe 10 or 12 players on the album, something like 4 guitar players, 2 drummers and 3 keyboard players.  I was just asking some of my friends, who just happened to be work class musicians, if they wanted to join in because I was planning to do this project of mine.  That's how it all started.  On the second album ‘Coldness’ I think there were maybe only 6 or 7 guys on the album, so that was much closer to this one.  But this is the first real album and it feels like a real band.  Already a couple of journalists have told me that with this album we are talking about Kotipelto as a band, not just me and that's the way I would like it to be.  Yes of course it has my name, but I don’t want to be put on a stand.  I just want to be able to compose songs that are a little bit different from Stratovarius, not too much, but maybe a bit more hard rock you know.

MM - I found the album steps away from the Stratovarius material.  When writing the new songs did you just let it flow or did you find yourself having to stop writing in certain areas?
Timo – I just let it flow completely.  I never planned that I would have to compose songs that sounded like this or that or would perhaps sell more, that was never the case.  I just composed the songs and they turned out to be like this.  In Stratovarius it is the other guy, the other Timo who is composing the material. 

MM – Yes, a lot of people have said over the years that it is very much Timo’s band.
Timo – Yes well he is composing everything.  He has his own style of composing which I would say sometimes appears to me to be more mathematical, more like the classic old stuff, where mine is more like … "Let’s put this chord in there and see what happens" … Intentionally it was only that if they had been too much on the same style as he is doing, then I would have changed something.  I think that there is probably only a couple of songs which could have been on a Stratovarius album, the faster tracks but that’s it.  There again with the faster tracks the song structures what I am composing are different compared to his.  Some of my friends said when they heard the album, because I was asking them … "Does it sound like Stratovarius?, Does it sound like someone else?" ... I don’t listen to that much other music so I don’t know if some other bands are doing this kind of music.  But they said no, it sounds like Kotipelto.  

I can say that ‘Serenity’ is not happy metal, but it is more optimistic.  There’s a lot more power in it and maybe I am searching for some kind of serenity in my own life, because at the moment this cover is not really describing my life, it’s basically the other way around.  The world outside is much more calm compared to what I have inside, but it might change, you never know. 

Now to me ‘Coldness’ now sounds like I had to do something to get away from all the stress and all the pressure.  It feels like it was too forced out of me, I thought I had to do this because I felt I had to do something, to say fuck this guy, I can do something.  Some of the songs are good but then with ‘Serenity’ everything was so smooth.  I had these songs ideas and then I presented them for the guitar player and some of the other guys.  Then he came over to my place and then we started arranging them and he had some ideas.  Suddenly we had 10 songs together and that was enough because I think 10 songs for this album is perfect.  I don’t see any reason why the album should be 75 minutes long because then I am not composing progressive metal.

MM - You’re planning to tour in promotion of the new album with Chris Caffery later this year.  How did this alliance come about?
Timo – Basically the booking agency phoned me and said that there might be this two and a half weeks European tour and asked if I would be interested and I said I was interested.  Then about a month later they asked me … "So how about this guy called Chris Caffery?" ... I hadn’t heard of him before although of course I had heard of Savatage, so then I asked the booking agent and he said that he is the guitar player with Savatage and he’s doing a solo album and that he’s a nice guy.  So I said yeh, sure why not.  Since that moment Chris and I have been exchanging emails and he seems to be a very nice guy and I’m looking forward to this tour.

After this tour I'm going to play 3 gigs in May with Stratovarius, then I’m going to play 3 Summer festivals in Europe with Kotipelto, then another 3 festivals with Stratovarius.  I’ve also been talking to one of my friends who’s working in a booking agency and he’s trying to organise a South America tour for my band and maybe some festivals.  We’ve played there already about 2 ½ years ago, we played 2 shows in Argentina and then 1 big festival in Brazil in front of 7,000 people, those were nice and I’m always up for doing any gigs if they are sort of reasonable.  Then I might be supporting one bigger band in Scandinavia or maybe something comes up in Europe? 

The problem with this album was it came out so late so I can’t do any club gigs in Finland because everything is already booked.  Then when Summer starts nobody plays inside.  Also if this bigger tour in Scandinavia doesn’t happen then I’m already planning my own label tour called the ‘Rock To Metal’ tour in Finland.  It’s going to be two super bands touring, obviously from my label, maybe it’s going to be a tradition like Ozzfest, that is the plan. 

MM - What countries are you visiting during the tour and most importantly are there any UK shows lined up?
Timo – Well the thing is this guy who was the booking agent is also the tour manager and he had to put everything together for such a short time period.  For 2 ½ weeks we’re going to play so many different shows, of course I wanted to come here as well but there was only going to be one off day and we were going to be in Switzerland.  I told him I wanted to play in Italy and he said this might be very difficult because then I would have to sing so many days in a row.  I said it was OK and I wanted to play in Italy because we have a lot of fans there.  Of course you can go to Milan in one day and drive out through the night, I think it might take more time to play in London.

MM - I’ve heard the album and think there isn’t a bad track on it, with my personal favourites being ‘Sleep Well’ and ‘Last Defender’.  Do you yourself have any favourites and why those particular songs?
Timo – I like ‘Serenity’, but then I also like the last track ‘Last Defender’, it’s pretty cool.  It’s nice to know that you like these two tracks because they are the only two tracks that Tuomas was so heavily involved, so this is good news for Tuomas.  I’m going to tell him, it will make him happy, and me too because in the past there was nobody helping me out and this time I had him, so this is nice and of course good feedback for him.  So maybe he will be interested to work with me again in the future? I like those songs as well.   

MM - What can your fans expect from a live Kotipelto show?
Timo – They can expect a good live show!  Of course we’re going to play a lot of songs from the latest album for sure because we are promoting that, but also probably a couple of tracks from the first and the second one.  It’s going to be a good concert.  It’s weird because the new album comes out on the 20^th but the tour starts on the 16^th.  I told the label but they insisted that this will be OK.  I don’t mind but the maybe at the first few shows only the people who are downloading from the internet will be able to join in with the songs! (laughs).  

MM - You have one of the most powerful voices in the metal scene today, do you have any special exercises to keep you voice at its best?
Timo – Ah thanks.  Well I haven’t been able to practise much lately but when I was younger I was practising quite a lot and then I took some singing lessons.  I would say that what I have to do now is when I go back I try to sing a little bit almost every day, because that’s the key.  Technique I have but the condition at the moment I don’t and I still have one week to rehearse to get it back. 

The problem is when it comes to vocals or playing the drums is that you are using muscles, and vocal chords, even though they're small muscles, they're muscles and you need to build up the stamina.  If I had to start singing immediately then probably I could maybe sing the first five songs OK, but then the rest would be difficult.  But when I have been practising for maybe a week or two, then I don’t have any problems.  It’s just a 70 minute set so it’s pretty easy, but even so of course it’s quite demanding because there are no very easy songs really. 

On the tour the most important thing is to try to sleep as much as possible.  Then of course it helps if you don’t drink alcohol, sometimes it’s very hard, although I have been trying to take it very easy for the tour.  In my free time then this is different! (laughs).  The most difficult thing when we are on tour is that when we are doing the South and North American tours, we travel not by bus but by flying.  I hate morning flights because I can’t sleep enough and then the dry air on the airplane, it’s a killer, those kill the voice.   

MM - How long did the album take from its initial conception and you writing the songs to the final recording?  Were these ideas that had been around for a long period of time or were they fresh ideas?
Timo – I think the first ideas, at least the ideas for the song called ‘Sleep Well’ came to me in September 2005, in San Paulo after the Kotipelto show when I came from the room to the elevator on my way back to the lobby.  I had this … “Sleep well my baby” … and I was singing that to the kids of San Paulo.  Back then I thought the song might be about a mass murderer who is putting his girlfriend to bed and saying … “Sleep well my baby, I’ll be back one day” … and then he goes out and kills other women.  That was the idea.  Then I changed the lyrics and they are about a contract killer who kills for money, but the same idea because his girlfriend doesn’t know what is going on, but then he wants to retire after the last kill but he’s not sure if he’s coming back.  That was back in September 2005. 

I would say probably everything else is a bit newer but my way of composing is a little bit weird because I’m always carrying this mobile phone, this Nokia communicator, I don’t have a sponsor so I can say that! (laughs)  So I’m always carrying that and when I get an idea and I’m humming it, it could be a riff or a melody, and already maybe I have 40 or 50 ideas for the album, so I save it as a demo name.  For example ‘Sleep Well’ was always San Paulo, it depends on the place where I am. 
 

MM – That’s getting quite a name Finnvox isn’t it, for quality?
Timo – Yes, both for metal and for Mikko Kamila as well.  That too started with Stratovarius.  He did make some Amorphis albums as well, but when we started doing albums there, then there was bands like Children of Bodom, Nightwish and everybody started going there. 

MM - Is the track ‘Mr Know-It-All’ about any person in particular or can’t you say?
Timo – That’s a good question!  I would say that it’s not only about one person that I know, I guess everybody knows these persons unless you are one of them yourself!  At least for me I have these friends, and don’t get me wrong because they are friends!, but whenever we are talking about some subject, it doesn’t matter what, then at one point of the conversation I find out that basically they think they know everything about that subject.  Even if it would be able singing and this guy would be a farmer, and I would definitely know more about singing that this guy would know about it, but then he would tell me how the things are and that’s like at one point when I was younger that really pissed me off.  Sometimes it still pisses me off!  But then I take it as humour and think it is a hilarious thing because this guy is always so serious about it. 

They never give up and it’s always the same shit, but also when you go out to drink in a pub, then of course this kind of behaviour comes out much stronger and then sometimes it’s very annoying, because also these people always want to be the centre of all the conversation.  I think everybody probably knows these type of people.  They are everywhere, I might be one of them!  (laughs) Probably not though! It is like … “My car is much faster” … so you say … “OK, what do you have? …” (laughs).

MM - Why did you find it necessary to start up your own record label ‘High And Loud’?
Timo – Maybe if I had known how much work and how much stress it brings then maybe I would not have done it, let’s be honest.  Then again I am a curious kind of person and I want to learn something new from everything, because singing for some people is enough, but it’s not enough for me.  I love singing don’t get me wrong and I’m still very much an artist rather than a record label boss, but I wanted to know how things work.  I have this master deal where I pay everything myself and then if it make money it makes more sense to have a company.  Then a friend of mine told me, why don’t you put up your own record label? I’m going to help you. He actually owns one of the distribution companies in Finland and because we are from the same area and both hard working I thought OK why not, let’s try it. 

For my purpose it’s pretty good, but of course it’s also because I want to control everything, that's quite natural, of course now I have to decide how much is spent on advertising, how big is the pressing, when do the promo's go out, what kind of interviews we do.  I have this Finish girl who I have over there who does the promotion things for me, but I do not have anybody that I pay monthly, simply because I don’t have the money.  It’s pretty interesting and also I am trying to help some other bands if that’s possible,  but there again I don’t want to make it too big because then I don’t have any time to do the singing and I am still very much a singer.  

MM - Are there any bands on the label we should look out for in the future?
Timo – There’s going to be two brand new bands, actually this is the first interview that I am talking about them but I'm sure they don’t mind.  There’s a pretty good hard rock band, pure hard rock from Finland and it’s called Cancara, and then there’s a progressive metal band from Mikko Harkin who used to play in Wingdom.  The band is called Mehida.  I’m searching for international deals for both of them.  I get so many demos, but it doesn’t have to be like Power Metal, it just has to be good.  This label thing I don’t do for the money because I have been lucky to have been earning my living from all my own work, of course I don’t mind if some of the albums sell but if I can help some other bands then that’s nice. 

MM - The first single off the new album ‘Sleep Well’ entered the Finnish charts at number 5, how did you feel when you heard the news? 
Timo – I was disappointed!  I was disappointed because from the ‘Coldness’ album I released the single in Finland called ‘Reasons’ and that went to number one.  The main reason was that I just released that single was because it is the big theme on one Finnish movie, and that is why we released it earlier because the movie came out a week earlier or something, so I thought I’d put it out and that would be it. 

Of course position number 5 is ok, but there again it really doesn’t matter if it’s number 1, 2, 3 ... because really it’s only just promotion to say this song is out if you want to play it.  Some of the radio stations have been playing it a lot.  But actually I think the ‘Serenity’ song is much stronger than this one, I agree with you it is a little bit different, when it was composed we kept an eye on it because we were thinking about it being on the movie, so of course we thought about the movie when we finished the song.  It’s a rock song, maybe even a pop-rock song.  The other ones are a little bit more heavier, melodic heavy metal.  Definitely the album is not Power Metal.  
 

MM – The other Timo has already had  all his problems, which I don’t know about and I won’t go into, but Stratovarius basically broke down because of that.  Are there any problems between you and him at the moment?  He’s got a strong personality, you strike me as having a very strong personality, anyone who goes out there and does there own solo album by the very nature has to be strong.  Have you had to sit down and find a balance already?
Timo – We had our conversations after he came back, let’s put it that way, but now he’s feeling much better and I would compare his condition maybe to what he was like 6 years ago, when he was still a calm person.  His problem is not with depression and that got completely out of hand.  But he’s been taking medication more than 1 year and he hasn’t been drinking anything for 1 1/2 years.  If you take this, Lithium I think it’s called, it’s basically metal.  It’s funny because he was joking himself … “Hey fuck I’ve been composing metal for 25 years and now I’m eating metal!” … he does have a good sense of humour.  He can’t drink any alcohol though because then it fucks everything completely.  But now he’s actually much, much better and I think he’s thinking about composing a rock opera and some other stuff.  Last week he was in Venice mixing for one Italian band so now he’s working which he didn’t do so much for the last 3 or 4 years. 

Basically he was in bed for seven months.  When we’ve been talking about depression and I’ve been complaining about these little depressions, they are maybe just for two weeks or something.  He told me an example where he got up and went to the fridge and wanted to make a sandwich.  He was standing at the front of the fridge and he just couldn’t decide whether he wanted cheese or ham.  He was just standing there staring at it and then he just closed the door of the fridge and went back to bed.  Even little things were suddenly like big things.  Of course sometimes even now we probably have bad days or maybe even a bad week, but if it’s like six or seven months then that’s a little bit too much.             

MM - Finally is there anything you would like to add or any words of wisdom for all your fans out there?
Timo – My words of wisdom are ... "Rock to the Metal"!!!

So there you have it folks, the words from the man himself.  With a renewed zest for life and enthusiasm, this new release 'Serenity' really is his most powerful solo release to date. 

The start of European tour is just days away now and finally with a real band beside him, I have no doubt that this release will hail a bright new beginning for both Timo and the Kotipelto band as a whole.  We wish him and the band every success and look forward to the day they will be able to tour the UK.

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