TIMO
KOTIPELTO
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Timo Kotipelto is a excellent singer
and we know him from Stratovarius Albums. This Year Timo released through
Century Media, his first Solo Album called Waiting For The Dawn. Ladies
and Gentlemen Timo Kotipelto in 15 questions!
1)First, tell me a little bit about
your self.
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I'm a musician/singer. That was a little
bit. :)
2) How did you come up to a solo album
with a concept based on Egyptian Mythology, which thinks inspired you in
writing lyrics, are there second meanings behind them?.
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I've been very interested in history
even when I was still at the school. In a couple of years ago I started
reading more books about Egypt (both fact and fiction). I even visited
Egypt 2 years ago. My dream was to make a concept album. We never really
did that with Stratovarius so I wanted to do it this time. Then again I
wanted to write totally different lyrics from Strato. In Strato they are
very down to earth and about our personal lifes.
3)Which is your favorite song from
Waiting For The Dawn and from Stratovarius albums
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I don't know. Maybe The Movement of
the Nile because it's the shortest one. From Strato...hhhmmmm...Maybe Kiss
of Judas or Coming home. I don't really know.
4) Can you describe Waiting For The
Dawn as a Melodic Power Metal album, How Long did it take you to record
it?
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You can describe it whatever you want!
I call it heavy metal. I started recording the drums July 23rd 2001 and
it was mastered July 11th 2001. But I didn't record all that time. I would
say maybe 1 and a half monts all together.
5) What is your opinion about the present
day of Heavy Metal, what do you think for groups like Limb B, Tool, generally
called nu-metal.
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Well, I only listen to older metal
bands anyway. That's exaclty the reason why I did this album. I wanted
to compose the kind of music that I would like to listen to nowadays. And
today metal is mostly like the bands you described. I'm not listening to
those ones.
6) Will we see you on a Waiting For
The Dawn Tour?
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I don't know about touring. At least
I do 1 festival in Finland (Ruisrock, Turku July 7th), a club show in Helsinki
(Tavastia July 20th) and Wacken Open Air (Germany August 1st). It depens
how the album is selling. Probably it won't sell much so there won't be
any touring. It would be nice to do 1 or two club shows in some coutries
though.
7) Can you find 5 words to Describe
Timo Kotipelto?
8) What is your Opinion about Religion?
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I don't think about it too much.
9) Which are your favorite Singers
and when did you start to see professional your career as a musician.
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My faves are: Ronnie James Dio, Bruce
Dickinson, David Coverdale, Sarah Brightman... I started studying music/vocals
1992 and joined Strato 1993. I would call my sell somekind of professional
since 1997 or something...
10) Did you face any problems, during
the recording, engineering, production, etc of Waiting For The Dawn?
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Not any major problems. It took a lot
of time because I did almost everything my self, even recorded my own vocals.
Lot of work but I'm satisfied that I was able to do it.
11) I will say 10 words and you must
find something similar, the first think that comes up to your mind.
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a) Life Sun
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b) Love Passion
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c) Death Vanishing
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d) Friends Trust
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e) Timo Kotipelto Singer
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f) Timo Tokki Guitar player
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g) Stratovarius A band
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h) Heavy Metal Music genre
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i) Peace Love, something
everybody should have
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j) War Never solves
a problem
12) What we can expect from you in
the future, will you continue with Stratovarius, are you planning to make
another solo album or participate in various projects/Tributes?
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Waiting for the Dawn was just something
I really wanted to do. Stratovarius is my main band and nothing can come
in between as long as I am in the band. I don't have any plans to participate
in any projects and I really don't like any tributes much. I don't know
about the next album. It depends if I will have some time and of course
if the fans like WFTD or not...
13) What are your Hobbies, What do
you do on your spare time?
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A lot of sports. I play Floorball and
go to the gym. I also do answers some emails, like this interview... :)
14) If someone told you to write music
for a movie, which will be that movie, and for what reason would you choose
it.
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Blade Runner. It rules! Or some other
science fiction. Or maybe some Egyptian themed film....
15) In the past, you have visited Greece
with Stratovarius, What is your opinion for the Greek audience, do you
have a special message for them?
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The Greek audience is probably the
loudest in the world! That?s the reason why we recorded our live album
there! I hope you guys like my solo album and also the next Stratovarius
album which will be out January 2003. It's called Elements part1 and it
will be the heaviest and the fastest Strato album ever! Efhkaristo! (Should
be thanks in Greek but I don?t know how to spell it...). Take Care!
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Timo Kotipelto
I would like to thank you, for the
interview, keep upthe good work and Take Care
Kostas “C.O.B” Meidanis
Ps. I also would like to thank Kyra
Bartkiewitz and Century Media for their help