I want to thank everyone who answered to my simple question which lineup you prefer. As usually the answers were quite clear with most people answering the classic lineup, some people call me the devil and that I killed the band, some people say I am egocentric, some people say why this has to be talked about.
The last one is actually very interesting because you dont have this resistance of talking about something with other bands. You can easily ask without any anger or hat...e if you would choose Helloween or Gamma Ray and you would not get answers like the hateful ones I get.
There are many things in Stratovarius that people know nothing about. It is interesting to see the resistance about talking about "the old days". In my world if somebody has a resistance to talking about something or something cannot be said, then it of course has to be said and it must be talked about.
My public image suffered a great deal in the big stunt in 2004 to which I gave a face but to which the whole band and then head of Sanctuary Records Berlin, now Strato manager Antje Lange participated. To this very day, nobody has commented these events from that camp except that I was the sole one acting alone, like a monumental plan with staged stabbing pictures sent to the media from the Sanctuary office, having a female singer and all that happened, could be possible to do by one man alone and still keep the band together. It is of course not possible.
To me this does matter because I have taken the responsibility about the issue and apologized publicly the Stratovarius fans. But I am the only one. For a more detailed description of what actually happened you can go to my website and read it from there. I would appreciate that: www.tolkki.org/faq
Some people say that it doesnt matter anymore, but I disagree. Those events are still affecting today, as one can easily see from the diversity of the answers.
It is still very interesting to see the resistance that the old Stratovarius line up "should not be discussed about", even prevented. I wonder why it is so. There is nothing that cannot be discussed about. And from my point of view, these events monumentally affected to my public image. The reasons for my departure in 2008 you can also read from the faq. They were all rational reasons.
Speaking about reasons, next year it has been 30 years when Tuomo Lassila formed Stratovarius in 1984. I joined in 2 months later (although for some people this makes it a reason not to call me "original member"). Much against the general opinion, Tuomo Lassila and Antti Ikonen were never fired. They left because they did not see the music I was composing for Episode album not something that they could like. So we parted as friends and to this day we remain as friends. That line up can be discussed without any hatred. But the Classic lineup cannot. And yet 95% of the people who answered, picked the classic line up for their preference.
My own opinion is that the band that is making music today under the moniker Stratovarius has nothing to do with Stratovarius. Not musically, lyrically or in any other way. When 60% of the key members have been changed and the musical direction has changed to dub step influences etc, we are not talking about Stratovarius anymore. It is not about evolution, it is a completely new band with 2 members from the Classic lineup and 3 guys who are 25 years younger than those 2 members.
Therefore this lineup does not represent the legacy of Stratovarius in any way. And that name comes with a long legacy. And this legacy simply cannot be ignored.
There are some people who think that I dont have the right for an opinion in social media and that I somehow want to destroy the current line up. It is actually reverse. I am the one who made it possible that they can play under the moniker "Stratovarius" and they, naturally, try to be as silent as possible about both the publicity stunt and about the "old days". But this is not possible. It is not possible to be silent about the "old days". How could you be? This is what made the band to sell over 2 million records between 2006-2003. That and the 10 years before that are the Legacy of Stratovarius that cannot and will not be ignored. If not anyone else, then I will make sure that this will not happen. I can see the commercial point of the current line up of not even mentioning in interviews albums like Episode, Visions, Destiny and Infinite and yet, still after all these years, about 65% of their setlist consists from the songs from these albums. My songs. I can understand that it makes sense to have a strategy where the "old days" are forgotten. But it doesnt work that way.