Well it's both basically. It's a way to spread the message you know, spread their music but to be honest what I don't like is that there are some people who are making money with somebody else's music – I don't mind if someone's downloading my music just on his personal computer. But there are those people who are burning these CDs like factories and then they're selling them...If someone's making money out of this then in my opinion that's illegal. I don't think that any metal fans are doing that but I know that there are some companies in some countries who are actually doing it!

Yeah, I know for sure.

I don't know how much money but I know for sure that they are making money.

That's perfectly alright!

Yeah I know, a lot of labels are like that.

You mean like Napster...

Oh I've never heard about that.

Um, I cannot say. Of course if somebody's not really spreading Mp3s around...I'm an artist but I also have a record label myself...It's a little bit a weird situation.

Not really but if like I said before someone's selling the CDs and making money, then it's different.

Yes, sometimes I do. Not everyday.

Yeah I do, everyday.

For sure. Of course nowadays it's very difficult to live without it. For me it's very important because I have my own homepage and my fans send me some e-mails and guestbook entries and I try to answer as many as possible. But there are so many so it's not always possible to answer to everyone!

Oh I try! [Laughs]

Sometimes I do have time to answer and sometimes I don't have enough time.

It was a long time dream, to make a concept album. We never made one with Stratovarius and that's why I actually did it. The other reason was that I never really got to have my songs on the albums we did with Stratovarius so this was a great chance for me. I always wanted to compose and create the music. I didn't really expect anything out of the album, I just wanted it to get released so...it's fulfilled! It's pretty ok even though if I would do it now it would be better. On the other hand, I always believe that every album describes the time when it was composed and recorded...

It was good, it was more than satisfying! Like I said, I didn't expect anything so...

It's not exactly about Stratovarius, it's about how I felt last autumn and it's not the current feeling of course. It's more how I felt generally because I also had some personal problems at that time, when I wrote the lyrics. Of course Stratovarius was one of those personal problems but those were my feelings overall.

We have to say that the music was composed a year ago and I was still in the band. I didn't imagine that I'd be out of the band when the album would be released. It was just my second solo album I was going to release...I actually offered two songs off my solo work to Stratovarius but Timo Tolkki didn't like the songs. So I thought maybe I'll do a second solo album with all my solo work...so it happened.

Inspired? Hum, that's hard to say...

There's two different things for me. Composing music and writing lyrics. I always compose the music first and then write the lyrics. So I don't really need any special scenery when I'm composing the music. For example right after this Interview I'm going to work on some tunes I have in mind! When it comes to lyrics though, that's totally different for me. Those I can't do while I'm at home. That's why I actually went to two different cottages which where by the lake of my old hometown.

No, it was done by a Swedish guy, www.progart.com.

I had the idea of the cover already, last August or September. Then I contacted this guy and I actually sent him some photo of that lake taken by my father. I explained to him that he had to make something darker out of the photos...a Scandinavian winter! That's how it worked and I'm very satisfied.

Yeah I like it, I like it a lot.

I think I'm somewhere in between, closer to the last part though. I don't really have any extra songs. Well, I already have some melodies and some riffs for the possible new songs but I don't have any songs ready yet.

I just wanted to keep it more simple on the second one because the main idea for the first one was to have a few guys on the album but then some other musicians heard about my solo thing and they asked if I would need them for the album. Of course I told them that it would be nice to have them on my album and it happened. On the second album I wanted to have a much simpler situation, a more band feeling...

Well, first of all, he hasn't talked to me at all.

No and I actually heard about it from Jens Johansson (keyboard player). I met Jens when he was in Helsinki about two weeks ago. He told me that Tolkki had a meeting with him and he told me that Timo would like to get me back but he never phoned me.

He is like that.

He's always been like this. When he fired the x-players, the drummer and the keyboard player, ten years ago, he just sent them a letter...he never spoke to these guys you know. I don't know what to think about it. I know for sure that he's mentally ill so it's...well, of course now he's taking some heavy medication but then again I don't know what to think about this now.

We never were the best friends, for sure. It was ok. I guess you can say that we were friends but I always had my best friends somewhere else, not in the band.

I think it gradually started getting worse. He started this therapy 5-6 years ago and ...it's hard to say because he's always been the boss in the band since the beginning and I always had to do some compromising but then one day it started getting ridiculous.

Well it's really difficult to argue with a guy when it's mainly his vision. Whatever he says, he's always right, if you know what I mean.

In the past I'd just...let it go.

Well, Timo Tolkki is so famous that he always says something first and then thinks or at least that's how he was in the past. He used to say something about somebody and didn't really care. We really live the opposites...

Not now. I don't even want to think about the whole thing at least not before all the festivals are done. Cause if you're working with a guy who's ill...he can change his mind next week.

Well, it includes me of course. I don't know if they think it'll be the original line-up from 1989...

The last concert that we have agreed to do with Jorg Michael (drums) will be on the 3rd of July in Czechoslovakia.

I will start doing some shows with my own band, starting on July 15th. There's going to be four concerts with the last one being at Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany. Then the plan is to do some more touring in Finland and in Europe in October and November. Hopefully my booking agency will arrange a South American tour in the end of the year. I'd also like to do one show in Greece maybe and one in Italy as well or Spain, a small tour.

Everyone's ambition is to be happy but that's not the most important ambition [Laughs]

I just love making music, I just love singing so hopefully I will continue singing for more years to come. That's the most important thing for me because I've been doing it for more than 10-15 years already...so it would be great but then again you never know what happens!

First of all I'd like to thank all my fans for the great great support throughout the years and especially in the beginning of this year because it hasn't been that easy for me. I hope I'll manage to have gigs all around Europe and all over the world because I love singing live. If we come to your city or a city near you, with whatever band, come to see us cause we're going to kick some ass! [Laughs] Come and we'll have fun together – take care and all the best!

Thanks, take care!