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Former STRATOVARIUS Members Rejoin Forces In PROJECT STRATO

May 9, 2009

In 1982, Tuomo Lassila (drums) formed STRATOVARIUS and came up with the band's name. Timo Tolkki (guitar) and Antti Ikonen (keyboards) joined the band in 1984 — that is some 25 years ago, and as a result the group recorded such classic albums as "Twilight Time", "Dreamspace" and "Fourth Dimension". After the departure of Lassila and Ikonen in 1995, STRATOVARIUS went to more neo-classical sound and style exploring Timo Tolkki's songwriting and producing skills earning the band a Finnish Grammy and sales exceeding over two million records. After Tolkki's departure from STRATOVARIUS in late 2007, an idea was born to get the classic "Dreamspace" lineup together for an album. As a result, the summer 2009 will be spent writing and demoing songs for a late 2009 release tentatively titled PROJECT STRATO: "Return To Dreamspace". This album will see Timo Tolkki handling the vocals again and the fans of the "Twilight Time"/"Dreamspace" era will surely not be disappointed.

Regarding the musical direction of the CD, Tolkki previously said, "It has been 15 years from [STRATOVARIUS' 'Dreamspace'] album, so it will be interesting, for sure... It's not a 'remake,' but a brand new album. A closure for [what] I consider to be the end of STRATOVARIUS. It completes the cycle and returns to the beginning."

Tolkki drew up and signed an official waiver on May 20, 2008 giving up all rights to the STRATOVARIUS name. The remaining STRATOVARIUS members — Timo Kotipelto (vocals),Jens Johansson (keyboards) and Lauri Porra (bass) — have since announced plans to carry on with new guitarist Matias Kupiainen.

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/projectstrato.

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