Is Jani toast for PP?

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Stingray11214

OSA Triumvir
Oct 21, 2005
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Folks;

Maybe some of you can clarify. There was a rumor flying at the listening party on Monday night that Jani was toast for this year because of his military service and that Homeland Security would not consider a visa until his time was served. This rumor was accredited to Henkka. Is this true?

Peace,
Ray C.
 
Oh, I know about that. But there was talk at the listening party that Jani was toast for the US Tour. That is what I was ttrying to confirm.
 
The news has been on Elias Viljanen's website for a few days: Elias will replace Jani on guitar at all announced SA gigs.
And believe me, the man is nothing to be overlooked. He can actually make circles around quite a many better known names when it comes to playing guitar :kickass:

Before anyone goes berserk about this, the explanation for the situation could be the fact that everyone entering the military service in Finland has to (at least theoretically) be prepared for the longest, 12 months service period, and can only hope that he will be able to make the short basic training after the boot camp and let out ranking 'private' after 6 months.

If Jani started in January, the boot camp was over in March and only after that he'd been given the final orders for his further service. About half of the lot will qualify for special jobs or reserve officer ranks which means 9 or 12 months service respectively. Had he chosen the civil service, he'd known from the beginnign that it'd mean regular 8 hrs/day job for the next 13 months.
 
St Enigma said:
The news has been on Elias Viljanen's website for a few days: Elias will replace Jani on guitar at all announced SA gigs.
And believe me, the man is nothing to be overlooked. He can actually make circles around quite a many better known names when it comes to playing guitar :kickass:
Click to expand...
If Elias indeed will play at PP, it won't be the first time Elias is visible at PPUSA - I was proudly wearing an Elias Viljanen "E.Vil" t-shirt at PPUSA IV already :cool:
Really liking his debut solo cd a lot, not as fond of the 2nd one but it's not too bad either. Excellent guitarist for sure. I've been always wanting to see him live to see if he pulls off everything as well live too so I guess this gig he got with Sonata might actually give me a chance for that.
 
pollution said:
BTW the latest "hot" Sonata thing happened here in Finland without Jani too, but then again it didn't have any of the Sonata guys either :lol: This was yesterday when the Finnish Idols competition finalist sang Sonata's "Fullmoon" on the final and actually won the whole thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNyqDtPRqvw
Click to expand...

I am so happy that Ari won, he really deserved it! I may not be Finnish, but have been following the results since I heard about him (thru Timo Kotipelto's myspace), what an awesome version of Full Moon! He is phenomenal, we need an Idol like that over here, as I'm not a fan of American Idol at all!

As for Jani...still hoping he'll be back for the US tour and ProgPower, but from what I've been hearing it doesn't look good. :waah: :( I was also at the listening party & didn't want to ask those guys. Hopefully the band will make a statement regarding Jani's status soon.
 
pollution said:
If Elias indeed will play at PP, it won't be the first time Elias is visible at PPUSA - I was proudly wearing an Elias Viljanen "E.Vil" t-shirt at PPUSA IV already :cool:
Really liking his debut solo cd a lot, not as fond of the 2nd one but it's not too bad either. Excellent guitarist for sure. I've been always wanting to see him live to see if he pulls off everything as well live too so I guess this gig he got with Sonata might actually give me a chance for that.
Click to expand...
Well, as much as I've enjoyed Jani's performances and it's a shame he probably won't make it, I'm always excited to be introduced to new talent. Looking forward to seeing Elias do his stuff. :rock:
 
pollution said:
BTW the latest "hot" Sonata thing happened here in Finland without Jani too, but then again it didn't have any of the Sonata guys either :lol: This was yesterday when the Finnish Idols competition finalist sang Sonata's "Fullmoon" on the final and actually won the whole thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNyqDtPRqvw
Click to expand...

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO! :rock: :rock: :rock: Metal has arrived!:kickass:

To be a bit more serious, I am absolutely flabbergasted that Fremantle Media and 19 Entertainment even let Ari do those songs. Un;ess they set him up in a band, Ari will be a marketing nightmare for Simon Fuller.
 
I'm kinda bummed about this but after visiting Elias' site it's apparent he's a great player and will be able to do a great job of filling in.
 
Fuller has no expertise as an A&R for metal. In fact, I do not think anyone in the 19 Entertainment or Fremantle Media organizations have metal A&R experience or expertise. Remember, the 19E contract is next to ridiculous in its control of the artist. They will pick what Ari records and performs. So, the question is: Will they allow him to go metal, or will they twist him into something else?
 
Pellaz said:
Wow, how old is that kid? He wasn't perfect, but he did a great job with challenging material. :rock:
Click to expand...

[offtopic]
He is 22 even though he looks more like he was 15. IMO, if he wants seriously keep performing metal, he'd better start taking singing classes and fast, because his lacking technique will ruin his voice sooner or later. Right now his sronghold seem to be ballds, but he needs more power for other type of songs, not to speak about him hitting wrong notes too often.
But if he will follow the tracks of Timo Kotipelto, Marco Hietala and the numerous great metal voices in this country by taking singing classes for a few years, there is a good chance we will still hear from him after the Idols-machine has long done the money ripping with him.
[/offtopic]

In the end of this month we will get the first reviews about Elias playing with Sonata. I believe he will make it with blazing swor... erm... guitars :p
 
Stingray11214 said:
Fuller has no expertise as an A&R for metal. In fact, I do not think anyone in the 19 Entertainment or Fremantle Media organizations have metal A&R experience or expertise. Remember, the 19E contract is next to ridiculous in its control of the artist. They will pick what Ari records and performs. So, the question is: Will they allow him to go metal, or will they twist him into something else?
Click to expand...

I actually don't know much Fuller's or 19 Entertainment's or Fremantle Media's experience in marketing Metal, but I'll take your word for it, it makes sense that they wouldn't have done much in the field. At the same time though, they'll figure it out. I don't think theyre inept enough to try and push him in a compeletely different direction ...at the least he'll release a hard rock album with a couple of ballads on it :rock::rock:
 
Petethedrummer said:
I actually don't know much Fuller's or 19 Entertainment's or Fremantle Media's experience in marketing Metal, but I'll take your word for it, it makes sense that they wouldn't have done much in the field. At the same time though, they'll figure it out. I don't think theyre inept enough to try and push him in a compeletely different direction ...at the least he'll release a hard rock album with a couple of ballads on it :rock::rock:
Click to expand...

I hope that is the route they take. But, these are the same characters that ripped apart Bo Bice and Ryan Starr. And, winning does not mean everything. Hanna Pakarinen's (the first "Idols" winner) career tanked until they set it up so she would qualify for Eurovision. In the States, take a look at Taylor Hicks? His album was literally destroyed by interference from RCA.

However, that being said, Ari made history on Friday night by being the first bona-fide "rocker" ever to win an "Idol" series.....and there is an "Idol" competition in over 40 countries! Tells you alot about how 19 and Fremantle view rockers.

Along the way, Ari got ripped by the judges repeatedly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Koivunen

Back to topic, I personally will miss Jani. I can only hope that the E.Vil one can do Jani and Sonata's material justice.:rock:

Now, back to voting for my man-jaya. Go Sanjaya! VFTW!

Peace,
Ray C.
 
**bump**

Looks like it's official, Jani IS toast for PP AND the North American tour as Henkka confirmed it on SA's site :(

End statement from their site:

Shit, a couple of more things that I forgot to mention. As me and Tony already said to the people at the listening party, Jani won't be able to make it to the US/Can-tour this year. This is due to his serving the country-mess which is still in progress and as we need to start applying working permits shortly he won't be able to make it. This sucks ass of course but there's really nothing we can do about it. Other than that, things seem to be running well and we actually have seen the preview of the video which looks fuckin' great! Can't wait for everybody else to see it....this is way better than any previous videos in my opinion. We have a couple of promo trips still to make, namely Europe and Japan, and I'll probably check in after them as well, and of course as the tour starts there will be more insane tales from the road."

Until then I remain thirsty,
Henkka

It sucks, but I'm still looking forward to seeing them again. The whole diary is on their site www.sonataarctica.info
 
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