SONATA ARCTICA
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SONATA ARCTICA
Selene Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:04 pm
Sonata Arctica was born in 1996 on the edge of the world, in the northern Finnish town of Kemi. The very first incarnation of the band was named Tricky Beans. As Tricky Beans, the group produced three demos (Friend till the End, Agre Pamppers and PeaceMaker) and played twice in a live tour version of a then famous TV pop show.
After some personnel changes in 1997, the outfit changed their name to Tricky Means. Initially the band experimented in musical styles far from heavy metal.
Turning the page in 1999, Tricky Means recorded a new demo "FullMoon" in Kemi. At the time of recording the line-up consisted of: Tony (vocals/keys), Jani (guitars), Tommy (drums), and Janne (bass). This new demo was the first exploration for the band in heavy metal waters. The band's trademark sound of fast, melodic and keyboard oriented heavy metal with clear and high vocals was born. As fate would have it, and with help from Ahti Kortelainen of Tico Tico Studios, the "FullMoon" demo found its way to the premier metal label of Finland, Spinefarm. At the same time Tricky Means became Sonata Arctica.
HISTORY SUMMARY
from the band's official site - mou bghkan ta matia
**Summer of 1999 brought us the first single from Sonata Arctica, "UnOpened".
**Autumn of 1999 marked the release of the very first full-length album, "Ecliptica".
Ecliptica opened doors for Sonata Arctica to participate in two tribute records. 'I Want Out' for a Helloween tribute album "Keepers of Jericho" and
'Still Loving You' for a Scorpions tribute, "A Tribute to the Scorpions" were both kick-ass versions of originals.
**Mikko Härkin (ex-Kenziner) joined the band to relief Tony from keys and to allow the frontman to roam the stage. They now simultaneously have two
keybord players
**April of 2000 European tour as support band for Stratovarius and Rhapsody. Their fame starts to grow.
**new mini-CD Successor
**Janne was replaced by Marko Paasikoski, who happened to be one of the founding members of Tricky Beans.
**Year 2000 brought not only a big tour, new mini-CD, and a small line-up change, but also media recognition. Spring of 2001 Sonata Arctica opened two
gigs For Alice Cooper, Dio and Ratt (in Oulu and Helsinki) in Monsters of the Millennium 2001 tour.
**the band worked on the second full-length offering from autumn of 2000 through the winter of 2001. Again all the songs were composed by the band's
mastermind Tony Kakko. The first single, "Wolf & Raven" from the album, was released in May '01.While touring, the second single from the album
Silence, "Last Drop Falls", was released.
**The next release was the live album "Songs Of Silence". It was recorded in Tokyo, September 4th, 2001. (my note: the band had huge success in Japan
since the early years. some albums/EPs were released first there, and some bonus tracks were only for Japan)
**Henrik Klingenberg is the new keybordist after Mikko left the band for personal reasons.
**The third studio album entitled "Winterheart's Guild" was recorded in the meantime, without the new keyboard player. A fellow mate of the band,
Jens Johansson of Stratovarius, offered his helping hand and the band naturally was really pleased to get a world class keyboard player as a guest for
their new album. Jens played solos for four songs. (I strongly recommend this album, it's one of the best!)
**2003. The Finnish people enjoyed a new single, "Broken",Japanese fans got themselves an extra tribute in November - an EP called "Takatalvi"
**After negotiations Sonata Arctica were signed to Nuclear Blast.
**2004 Sonata Arctica was chosen as a warm-up band for the Japanese tourdates of Iron Maiden.
**Returning to Finland they were one of the nominees for the annual Emma Award in the category "the best hard rock / metal album". The other nominees
were Children Of Bodom, HIM and Kotiteollisuus who also won the award.
**within 3 months of hard work they release their fourth studio album "Reckoning Night" (I also recommend this one)
**Don't Say A Word (single) was released on August 23rd solely in Finland. Immediately after the release the single hit the first position on the official
charts!
**In October 2004, the band received extraordinary news: they'd exceeded the Gold record sales mark with Silence. Silence had become eventually the
most sold album of the band reaching the magical limit of 15,000 copies!
**August 24th the Japanese label Marquee/Avalon released the compilation album "The End Of This Chapter". The first limited edition of the
compilation was equipped with a DVD including seven acoustic songs.
**December 2005 proved once again the magic of Sonata Arctica: their third album "Winterheart's Guild" was confirmed to receive the awaited gold disc
status in Finland, selling over 15,000 copies
**Shortly after, the 4th studio album "Reckoning Night" was certified with gold disc status in Finland. The album was confirmed to have 100,000 sold copies
worldwide - thus being the most successful Sonata Arctica album ever!
**2006: they tour North America to promote their live DVD "For The Sake Of Revenge". They received yet another gold disc award for this DVD.
**the band was working hard in different studios recording their fifth studio album "Unia" - Finnish for "Dreams". Released in May 2007
**Finnish press announced an official Sonata Arctica documentary being in production. The documentary film will follow Sonata Arctica in their
hometown Kemi and also show how a Sonata Arctica song is being formed from the scratch to the very end of the creative process.
**Meanwhile, an official Sonata Arctica 3d role playing game for PC, called "Winterheart's Guild", is in the works.
**On their upcoming European tour they will be supported by Epica.
With four gold disc awards and multiple sold-out tours Sonata Arctica has got its hands tightly attached to the history of Finnish metal music - and more will definately be achieved in the future.
THE BAND - from the official Sonata Arctica website
TONY KAKKO
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=5&l=uk
----ΘΕΟΣ----http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/17839633/Sonata+Arctica+Tony+Kakko++As+Northern+Kings.jpg
TOMMY PORTIMO
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=7&l=uk
MAARKO PAASIKOSKI
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=9&l=uk
HENRIK KLINGENBERG
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=8&l=uk
ELIAS VINJANEN
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=51&l=uk
JANI LIIMATAINEN - temporarily replaced by Elias
* Guitars (1995−2007)
* Backing vocals (1995−2007)
"The guitarist Jani Liimatainen had to skip the four Finnish shows because of his civil duties for the Finnish government. Because of the length of the Finnish national duties, he is also forced to let the temping guitarist Elias Viljanen replace him temporarily during the summer festivals, the four Japanese shows and the North American tour."
After some personnel changes in 1997, the outfit changed their name to Tricky Means. Initially the band experimented in musical styles far from heavy metal.
Turning the page in 1999, Tricky Means recorded a new demo "FullMoon" in Kemi. At the time of recording the line-up consisted of: Tony (vocals/keys), Jani (guitars), Tommy (drums), and Janne (bass). This new demo was the first exploration for the band in heavy metal waters. The band's trademark sound of fast, melodic and keyboard oriented heavy metal with clear and high vocals was born. As fate would have it, and with help from Ahti Kortelainen of Tico Tico Studios, the "FullMoon" demo found its way to the premier metal label of Finland, Spinefarm. At the same time Tricky Means became Sonata Arctica.
HISTORY SUMMARY
from the band's official site - mou bghkan ta matia
**Summer of 1999 brought us the first single from Sonata Arctica, "UnOpened".
**Autumn of 1999 marked the release of the very first full-length album, "Ecliptica".
Ecliptica opened doors for Sonata Arctica to participate in two tribute records. 'I Want Out' for a Helloween tribute album "Keepers of Jericho" and
'Still Loving You' for a Scorpions tribute, "A Tribute to the Scorpions" were both kick-ass versions of originals.
**Mikko Härkin (ex-Kenziner) joined the band to relief Tony from keys and to allow the frontman to roam the stage. They now simultaneously have two
keybord players
**April of 2000 European tour as support band for Stratovarius and Rhapsody. Their fame starts to grow.
**new mini-CD Successor
**Janne was replaced by Marko Paasikoski, who happened to be one of the founding members of Tricky Beans.
**Year 2000 brought not only a big tour, new mini-CD, and a small line-up change, but also media recognition. Spring of 2001 Sonata Arctica opened two
gigs For Alice Cooper, Dio and Ratt (in Oulu and Helsinki) in Monsters of the Millennium 2001 tour.
**the band worked on the second full-length offering from autumn of 2000 through the winter of 2001. Again all the songs were composed by the band's
mastermind Tony Kakko. The first single, "Wolf & Raven" from the album, was released in May '01.While touring, the second single from the album
Silence, "Last Drop Falls", was released.
**The next release was the live album "Songs Of Silence". It was recorded in Tokyo, September 4th, 2001. (my note: the band had huge success in Japan
since the early years. some albums/EPs were released first there, and some bonus tracks were only for Japan)
**Henrik Klingenberg is the new keybordist after Mikko left the band for personal reasons.
**The third studio album entitled "Winterheart's Guild" was recorded in the meantime, without the new keyboard player. A fellow mate of the band,
Jens Johansson of Stratovarius, offered his helping hand and the band naturally was really pleased to get a world class keyboard player as a guest for
their new album. Jens played solos for four songs. (I strongly recommend this album, it's one of the best!)
**2003. The Finnish people enjoyed a new single, "Broken",Japanese fans got themselves an extra tribute in November - an EP called "Takatalvi"
**After negotiations Sonata Arctica were signed to Nuclear Blast.
**2004 Sonata Arctica was chosen as a warm-up band for the Japanese tourdates of Iron Maiden.
**Returning to Finland they were one of the nominees for the annual Emma Award in the category "the best hard rock / metal album". The other nominees
were Children Of Bodom, HIM and Kotiteollisuus who also won the award.
**within 3 months of hard work they release their fourth studio album "Reckoning Night" (I also recommend this one)
**Don't Say A Word (single) was released on August 23rd solely in Finland. Immediately after the release the single hit the first position on the official
charts!
**In October 2004, the band received extraordinary news: they'd exceeded the Gold record sales mark with Silence. Silence had become eventually the
most sold album of the band reaching the magical limit of 15,000 copies!
**August 24th the Japanese label Marquee/Avalon released the compilation album "The End Of This Chapter". The first limited edition of the
compilation was equipped with a DVD including seven acoustic songs.
**December 2005 proved once again the magic of Sonata Arctica: their third album "Winterheart's Guild" was confirmed to receive the awaited gold disc
status in Finland, selling over 15,000 copies
**Shortly after, the 4th studio album "Reckoning Night" was certified with gold disc status in Finland. The album was confirmed to have 100,000 sold copies
worldwide - thus being the most successful Sonata Arctica album ever!
**2006: they tour North America to promote their live DVD "For The Sake Of Revenge". They received yet another gold disc award for this DVD.
**the band was working hard in different studios recording their fifth studio album "Unia" - Finnish for "Dreams". Released in May 2007
**Finnish press announced an official Sonata Arctica documentary being in production. The documentary film will follow Sonata Arctica in their
hometown Kemi and also show how a Sonata Arctica song is being formed from the scratch to the very end of the creative process.
**Meanwhile, an official Sonata Arctica 3d role playing game for PC, called "Winterheart's Guild", is in the works.
**On their upcoming European tour they will be supported by Epica.
With four gold disc awards and multiple sold-out tours Sonata Arctica has got its hands tightly attached to the history of Finnish metal music - and more will definately be achieved in the future.
THE BAND - from the official Sonata Arctica website
TONY KAKKO
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=5&l=uk
----ΘΕΟΣ----http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/17839633/Sonata+Arctica+Tony+Kakko++As+Northern+Kings.jpg
TOMMY PORTIMO
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=7&l=uk
MAARKO PAASIKOSKI
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=9&l=uk
HENRIK KLINGENBERG
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=8&l=uk
ELIAS VINJANEN
http://www.sonataarctica.info/site07/index.php?s=51&l=uk
JANI LIIMATAINEN - temporarily replaced by Elias
* Guitars (1995−2007)
* Backing vocals (1995−2007)
"The guitarist Jani Liimatainen had to skip the four Finnish shows because of his civil duties for the Finnish government. Because of the length of the Finnish national duties, he is also forced to let the temping guitarist Elias Viljanen replace him temporarily during the summer festivals, the four Japanese shows and the North American tour."