A. Congrats on the new album, I think it's excellent! Tell us a bit about the process of making it; was it different from making the first solo album?

T. Thanks! In a way it was, especially what comes to the lyrics. When I composed the music I was still in Stratovarius but when I wrote the lyrics we already had some problems in the band. I also had some
Difficulties in my private life. So it was quite different to be honest, But what comes to recording and mixing, it was not that different.

A. Lyrically the new album seems to dwell more on emotions and
melancholy, and less on myths and fantasy, as was the first album, what is the reason for the concept change, and why is the album's title- Coldness?

T. I had a dream that one day I will do a concept album. We never did it with Strato so I fulfilled my dream with the first album. I did it once and I didn´t want to do it again.
The title Coldness is describing the feeling I had when I wrote the
lyrics but also the time of the year - it was already early winter here in Finland when I wrote the rest of them. I also had an idea of the cover and that title seemed to fit well with it.

A. Why was Reasons decided as the first single?

T.I played the album to a couple of my close friends and asked their
opinion about the possible single song. I had some ideas what it would be but they confirmed my thoughts. I think Reasons is a very good song for a single.

A. Originally, how did you come in contact with the guys playing on the first album, people like Mike, for instance?

T. Most of the guys are my long time friends and it was obvious that I wanted to have them on the album. And they are also excellent musicians.
I got Mike´s phone number from Jens and I phoned him and lucky me, he
was interested in helping me out. I was on the tour with Mike last year (Strato/Symphony X/Thunderstone) and I found out that he is also a very nice guy! Then I asked him if he would be interested in playing on my second album.

A. It seems to me that the album is very much different then the power metal played wile you we're in Stradovarius, more hard rock oriented, was it your intention to create something that's not similar?

T.I wanted to go back to my roots which are in the 80´s. I used to listen to the bands (and I still do) like: Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Dio, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake etc.
And I also thought that it doesn't make any sense to try to copy the
style of Stratovarius. The fans might think that I just want to earn
some money because of my reputation as a singer in that band. I don´t
think that the album is completely different. It's not that fast but
it´s still metal.




A. A question that just had to be asked, certainly since this is the first interview you give to an Israeli based web-site, what really happened that caused the end of your former band? Are the legends about fist fights correct?

T. Now that I look back, I would say that all the problems were caused by Tolkki´s mental illness. I am not blaming only him but if he would have started taking his medication earlier all of this might not have happened.

A. Was the fact you put out the first solo album your way of preparing yourself to exit the band?

T.No. I just wanted to record my own music. In Stratovarius it was really not possible since Tolkki wanted to have only his songs on the album.

A. I read that there are efforts by Timo (Tolki) to reunite the
classic line-up, at least that's what was written on the band's site,
any truth about this?

T.I read the same.

A. Since all of the band's members are in other bands, how do you set your touring and live shows?

D. That is quite difficult. I will have to make some compromises.
I have some new player in already. So the live line-up will be:
Mirka Rantanen - drums
Janne Wirman - keyboards
Lauri Porra - bass
Tuomas Vainola - guitar
and me singing.

This is at least for the Finnish shows and possible South-American shows.


A. Tell us about the Clairvoyants thing, what's the story behind that?

D.A friend of mine is kinda managing the band and he asked me if I would like to come to Italy, sing some cover songs and spend some time over there. Nothing special. They were nice guys though.

A. It seems to me that Finland is one of the world's best countries for metal, how did the album do there thus far, and how do you explain metal's success in Finland?

T. That is true. There are a lot of great metal bands coming from Finland.
And that is just great. Coldness went straight to number 4 on the
Finnish charts. I was so happy about it!

A. Any summer festivals planned for you guys?

T. We already played 2 in Finland and we will do Wacken in Germany. And some club shows. There are also some plans about going to South-America and to play some gigs in Europe. We will see.


A. That's it! Thanks for taking the time answering me! Cheers!

T. No problem. You are welcome! Take care,


Alon Miasnikov

blog comments powered by Disqus