#we don't have the same vibe and we like different stuff but he's very enthusiastic and is actually a great teacher | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

asherlockstudy · 3 years

Note

I sometimes wonder why it seems like the two of them are on different wavelengths re: fanservice. Early on Rhett (GMCL era) seems preoccupied with applying bro-ettiquette to them even in an era when they were caught in 4k all over each other at diners and restaurants. It's clear to the observer these two guys are closer than bros. At some point Rhett became aware of fandom and especially with his own preoccupation with how he is perceived, with early Rhink fan speculation and fanworks. I get the vibe he was tickled by the existence of this stuff, if only because it is fan content and fan content that implies his desirability, and tangentially his masculinity as he was often especially in early fandom, portrayed in contrast to Link, who even then despite being the more stoic at times, people were picking up on his more gender non conforming attributes (whether from a place of relatability or riddicule). Even though as we know, Rhett is no stranger to putting on some lashes and feeling himself, he also enjoys being compared to the Brawny man in his spare time, and maybe sometimes Link is a too convenient scapegoat for Gay Feelings. 'Don't make it weird' is usually foisted on Link in the text, but the subtext is loaded with times Rhett was clearly into it. Rhett leaned into bits that teased this aspect of their relationship, possibly because he enjoyed the excuse to get closer to Link under the premise of comedy and more recently, trolling, but Link has almost always reacted more inconsistently, sometimes especially if something is scripted, planned or initiated by him he dgaf but when something is spontaneous he shrinks away, pretends to ignore or otherwise attempts to dismiss that gay shit(TM), if it involves Rhett. When it's a male guest or just a compromising position, topic or otherwise could be seen as quare Link is much less self conscious and is recently extremely comfortable. This leads me to believe , along with what you said about Link's need to feel safe in his place beside Rhett, that Link might just have insecurity tangled up in the thought that Rhett would interact with him disingenuously i.e playing to the audience. That he would be making part of their actual relationship 'a bit'. Link is sensitive about how Rhett squeezes his neighbour's shoulder, and weirded out by Rhett adjusting his seatbelt for Pete's sake. It's clear that their rules of what he can expect- their languages of physical intimacy and boundaries between the two of them- are sacrosanct to him. Asking your friend of almost 40 years to go RVing with you, to open up to you more, and having them waffle about it but then enthusiastically/sarcastically pitch the idea of an innuendo-laden Vlog Camping Trip #fortheclicks sounds painful asf. Link's fear of being used instead of wanted. Not to mention, if Link is queer and/or has/had feelings for Rhett that it might feel incredibly painful to have the concept of you two being a couple flouted as some kind of punchline, but one you feel obligated to participate in to keep your optics-obsessed friendsband around. I don't doubt Rhett's actual motives, I think the guy genuinely loves Link (I can't know what type of love that is), and maybe he's a little curious about breaking certain boundaries and exploring new territory as he is inclined to be, and Link just wants to keep things solid between them. I think Rhett is still bad at articulating and even understanding his own feelings and motives and so it comes off as trolling/baiting at the worst. And I think that there's no doubt some issues with masculinity, and a desire to play with those rules in a way that doesn't feel vunerable, and that whole thing is a perfect storm for maybe unintentionally putting Link in an uncomfortable position.

I dunno, I may have just caught the speculation bug but "How am I supposed to act about that again?" haunts me.

Perfectly and very eloquently said.

I agree with everything you wrote and I believe there are even more layers that complicate the situation.

Rhett feels against the viewers like Link feels against (mostly) him. Rhett is caught between exploring his relationship with Link (partly thanks to the viewers’ positive feedback and partly due to his own needs, curiosity and feelings) and feeling overwhelmed by the audience’s voyeuristic tendencies and their intrusion into what he now discovers. Hence, the out-of-nowhere explosion “you won’t get what you want”. His frustration is actually perfectly justifiable - Rhett fears (and he is right) that the audience is an ever changing unreliable beast. They could get criticism and lose their fanbase for the things the very same fanbase would love see them explore for fun. If they went public about how some things turned more serious than their fans expected, many of those very fans could turn their back on them and they would have hurt their business and families irreversibly.

“How do we act about this? I forgot” Evidence of an extra layer in their relationship: that of Mythical and all their employees. Rhett and Link probably keep several different profiles of their relationship depending on their surroundings. One for the viewers, on as bosses with their employees, one as straight family men and one for when they are alone.

#rhink #Rhett and Link #randl #tw rhink #anon #mail

47 notes · View notes

writingandmore · 3 years

Note

Hi!!! May I get a HP, Star Wars, Voltron, and Disney matchup?

𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗦 + 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘

19, Libra, Neutral Good, enneagram is 4w5, muggleborn Ravenclaw (with Gryffindor tendencies), and my patronus spirit is Hummingbird. Biromantic Pansexual Genderfluid woman using pronouns of She/Her or He/Him. Cherubic-like face, with short height (5'1") plus sized Southeast Asian woman with Spanish descent that has chic messy/wavy brunette medium hair that reaches to my shoulder, oriental skin, slightly upturned eyes, small lashes, chocolate brown irises, cute flat nose, heart shaped face, full cheeks, cupid's bow lips, a small beauty mark on the forehead, and naturally straight teeth with tiny gap in front (just imagine that it's a mixture of Marinette from 𝗠𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝗱𝘆𝗯𝘂𝗴, Musa from 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘅 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯, and Alexandra Trese from 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲---cause' my friend told me that I kinda look like them). My sense of fashion is in between emo and boyish plus korean glam, I sometimes let my hair down or styled like Lara Croft reboot.

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬

Distant, quiet, and timid at first making people thought I'm a demure, modest, and self-effacing that looks "immaculate" or "one of a kind" (due to my protective mom, a reason why I've never been in a relationship) but the truth is, dunno how to initiate a conversation, but a total opposite if I open up---friendly, ambivert, witty, laughing loudly on a daily basis---like my happiness is too shallow, super talkative, eats a lot (yeah I can finish a huge slice of cake or a meal in one sitting), awkward, daydreamer (I got embarrassed from knocking at the door even I'm inside the classroom 😂), EXTREMELY CLUMSY (mostly gets bruises from hitting, bumping my head somewhere, walking into something on my way, and being careless to my belongings), secretly likes affection, easily overwhelmed, prone to melt over wholesomeness, flusters on compliments, lightly blushes on cheesy banters, eager to share what I know (especially about Catholic Church---my past teacher joked that I'll become a saint because of it 🤣), oftenly speaks full of sarcasm with a lowkey crackhead energy citing meme references, and talented girl who can be your no.1 supporter and unashamed to be true to myself but can be awkward to strangers. In terms of leadership, I only educate and guide than being a prefect (I might take the role seriously), will lift my group when there's lacking/incompleteness. About doing projects in school, I become too extra and prepared for efforts, but I'll forget the process in the end.

The extent, I'm expressive, warm-hearted, willig to help, kind, intelligent, supportive, nice, creative, enthusiastic, laid-back, determined, tough, competitive, and feisty outside, but a real softie that can be childish and dramatic that cries so easily (but will enlightened real quick by smallest things that makes me smile) filled with doubts, frustrations, and insecurities with fear of failure that pushes off the limits to to please everyone because they might get dissappointed from expectations---I simply can't stop proving myself too much because I'm a survivor of bullying. But I still managed to be stronger than ever after I stumbled, even it's a slow burn process. I can be blunt, intimidating, harsh, and a douchebag if I receive ends or I got interrupted while doing something. Immature, headstrong, perfectionist, demanding, hesitant, jumpy, forgetful, overthinker, quick-tempered, sensitive, and anxious (no joke, my nervousness makes me think worse scenario will arrive). Though can be procrastinator and arrogant, I raised as a religious 𝖺𝗇𝖽 diplomatic youth, willing to fight what I believe (including my dreams and what's important to me) and what is right. In addition, I have a habit of staying up late and doing sign of the cross to ease nervousness.

Rowdy and feeling-brokenhearted and bitter friend in the group who fangirl a lot, swears like sailor, will call out on people that we loathe, will make fun of your stupidity (in a good way) before helping, and bring gossips, but a hopeless romantic and cheeky (makes banter with sarcasms or pick up lines as an endearment, but gets annoyed if I received sappy or offensive one), Still generous and concerned person in a subtle and different way.

𝗛𝗢𝗕𝗕𝗜𝗘𝗦

My hobbies are singing, drawing, roleplaying, listening to music, chatting/browsing on social media, conceptualizing, writing, and reading some stuffs. I'll include making corniest jokes/puns, sleeping, and dancing when nobody's around or walking like a model if I feel so bold (even I'm terrible at both xD). I also used to learn Italian language a bit.

𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦

Loves kittens, milk tea, singing at the karaoke, cartoons, iced coffee, memes, cute things, watching YouTube videos (mostly pageants, ASMR, edit audios, and mukbangs), also enjoys playing games on my sister's PSP. Sucker for arts, choir, poetry, night sky, makeup, fun/deep/dumb conversations, Christianity, documentaries (about saints, real crime stories, and inspirational people), reading interesting stuffs, talking about social issues, and creative writing, chilling both indoors and outdoors. Beside that, my music taste are like late 90s-2000s songs (mostly rock, pop, and country) sometimes Catholic songs, kpop and ppop, chocoholic, and a sweetooth as well.

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦

Things that I hate are stereotyping, HUGE creepy crawlies (spiders, toads, snakes, and cockroaches), firecracker sounds, thunder and lightning, being left out, loneliness, heart break, blackout, and judgemental people. If I found out that someone hates or backstabbing or being rude to me, I won't hesitate to throw offensive criticisms, leaving them with a "I don't give a f" attitude. One random fact about me is, I 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 vent out EVERYTHING I despise in my entire existence---from bad soap operas to toxicity, worse scenarios in real life, and how terrible is my love life from unrequited feelings that I got, because it's a big deal for me, and I consider forcing me to do what I'm not into and manipulating me as my major pet peeves.

𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦

In terms of triggers...I only have two which are ta𝖨king about divorce/annullment/separation because I came from a generational broken family (it sucks that some people I knew assumed that the reason why I'm overly unaware that someone is interested in me in secret, is I have "high standards" looking for a partner, but the truth is I'm strict and I have a personal preferences...I know my worth and I don't want settle for less!) and religion/beliefs discrimination, cause' there are reasonings that doesn't makes sense because some, sounds too hypocritical, like as if you're a morally good person.

𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 + 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗨𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦

My love languages are quality time and gift giving, but I actually swoon over physical touch (especially cuddles and cute kisses) and words of affirmation when it comes to having a partner, though I get attracted so easily, matured but can be a goofy person who's nice, friendly, kind-hearted, loving, faithful, and excels in academics is my cup of tea. Whenever I have a real life crush (which is rare), I act the same but deep inside, my heart is about to explode and will eventually share to my trustful friends how I highly admire that person, however if they spilled the beans out, I'll obviously deny it and will cry if they like someone else, it will take some time for me to move on, now I don't care for them anymore.

Best Friends to Lovers is my ideal trope because I find it very cute since you already knew each other before dating (which happened to my 2nd cousin, she married her best friend!)---perfect balance for romance, laughters, comfort, and tears when it comes to sharing your vibes, being there through thick and thin, safe with embraces, and helping each other to grow.

𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗔𝗦

My best assets are smile, eyes, personality, singing voice, artistic skills, writings, intelligence, oratorical skills and I have potential in hosting...so I can consider myself as a singer, artist, orator, speaker, and a top student who's a former active campus ministry member with three roles (choir leader, psalm singer, and reader).

May sounds different but I'm passionate for helping people through my talents and sharing my story to inspire everyone. I may look selfish, but I have a different way on how I show that I actually care also I have a biased sentimental value

Currently a college freshman, learning how to cook. I have so many interests, to the point I don't know what I'm into because of my dreams to become a popular Filipino YouTuber, a novelist, and being part of a successful chorale competing internationally...I also consider joining pageants at school too once the pandemic ends, but maybe.

HP: Remus!

- Remus is also quiet and a bit reserved when he's not in a familiar situation, so your own first impression on him would be a good one, as you'd seem similar to his own personality. He's sweet and is able to start up a conversation if he notices the other person is having a hard time doing so, so hopefully he'd be able to bring out your more extroverted and friendly self after a while so he can be around the more open you. He wouldn't mind you being a bit awkward-he's very much the same way-honestly, the comradery that would come from that would be more positive than anything else. He loves sharing knowledge and learning about new things, so your eagerness to talk about what you know would work really well also! He does a lot better when he knows someone has his back too, so your extra supportive nature would endear him to you as well.

SW: Han!

- Your nicer and more helpful personality would balance out Han's more standoffish vibes when first meeting. You might get on his nerves a bit first, but you'd quickly grown on him and, in turn, make him a bit of a better person. Your ability to be blunt and a bit harsh would serve you well if you ever needed to stand your ground on an issue that two of you have, as he can be quite stubborn.

VLD: Lance!

- Lance can be a bit immature from time to time as well, especially when it comes to trying to be funny or cheering up those around him-he's also headstrong and typically firm in what he wants to do, so your own determined personality would attract him to you a lot as well. He often puts off things he needs to do if they make him anxious too, but if you both recognize that you share that problem, helping each other might be a good solution!

Disney: Flynn!

- Flynn is quite a sarcastic and teasing person, so your own humor would match well with his. He's also quite a hopeless romantic as well, even though he's certainly not one to admit that right off the bat. He enjoys singing, and as he gets closer to someone he feels more comfortable doing so in front of them, so a partner he's been with for a long time would get to see him be more and more open with it. That also applies to activities like dancing.

#hp matchup #remus lupin #sw matchp #han solo #vld matchup #lance mcclain #disney matchup #flynn rider

7 notes · View notes

hypermania · 3 years

Note

Repurpose furniture you say?

yeah! i mean repurpose is probably not the right word but for a few months i was very enthusiastically revamping thrifted furniture and scraps of wood that i nailed together for the sole purpose of making my apartment more livable/organized and it was probably the happiest i've been in the last several years lol (pictures under the cut if you're interested)

it started with these little box-drawer things i found at michael's for a couple bucks that i turned into display boxes for all of hands guy's little trinkets that just sit and collect dust and drive me nuts. i took out the drawer part and painted them and put a removable plexiglass front on them so that dust can't get inside (i'm super allergic to dust mites so i'll do pretty much anything that makes it easier to clean lol). we have a whole slew of them now and they're mounted (individually, they're not actually stacked like a pyramid) on a wall like tiny floating shelves.

then i got fed up with the tv cables in my bedroom so i took some scraps of wood from my dad's house and turned them into a box with an open-down front door thing (with a little handle that i'm very proud of lol) to house the power strip and then hid the cables behind a runner

and then the stupid entryway in my apartment was making me want to commit atrocities because it was 1.) ugly and 2.) hands guy comes home and just... has so much camera stuff and pens and receipts??? and just SHIT that he puts WHEREVER so i was like okay well i can't live like this i CANNOT so i was like okay well what if i just give you a whole ass shelf contraption thing to put all your shit on instead of dropping it on the floor or leaving on random surfaces when you come home??? so i bought this bookshelf for ten bucks and sanded it down and painted it and then stuck it on the wall over where our bikes go and used the drawers i took out from the other boxes i made for his little trinkets to put all the change and pens and what other various crap he pulls out of his pockets in.

and then i found this bench on offerup for five bucks and found some paint that could be used on vinyl and had to mix a few different colors to make the one i wanted but it worked and i painted it and then i painted the wood of the legs and the shelf for the coats and then re-did the picture frames and now there is a place to sit while putting on/taking off our shoes and i no longer want to commit atrocities.

and for some reason hands guy had the ugliest floating shelves in existence (and they weren't even spaced evenly and i couldn't handle it) so i FIXED that problem.

the rest of the books are on another shelf thing in another area that i don't have a picture of for some reason but it's got the same general color theme and it's also got the pineapple : )

and that's like.. the general vibe of what i've been doing. i've repainted a bunch of furniture for my bedroom too so that it matches the sea foam green and white theme of the tv box (the ghost and the skeleton chest is a personal fav)

i've done a lot of other projects but tumblr won't let me upload more pictures. sorry for the crappy quality of the ones i did upload haha.

#anonymous #replies #mp

9 notes · View notes

leemaht · 4 years

Note

Hi, I'm kind of new to your blog, but I really love your writing style! If you have the time/want to, can you write hcs on how Kuroo or Nishinoya would react to their s/o coming out to them as genderfluid? Totally understand if you don't feel comfortable writing it! ❤

yes yes yes yes yes! i'm totally on it! also i'm not really an expert when it comes to gender fluid people, so i let a genderfluid friend of mine read through that and they approved. they also made some modifications. if i offended genderfluidness (?) in a way please punch me.💫

update: i went through 1,5 hours of tiktok and youtube material and asked a few friends what they think.

also thank you for joining this chaos called my blog!❤

*********************************

how they react to their s/o coming out to them as gender fluid

kuroo tetsurou, nishinoya yuu

*********************************

warnings: none

pairings: kuroo x genderfluid!reader, noya x genderfluid!reader

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

kuroo

first of all, i think this guy screams either bisexuality or pansexuality so i don't think he would care much about you gender in the first place

still you didn't tell him from the beginning because... there was no reason really. you failed to tell him in the beginning of your relationship and the longer you were together the harder it was to jump over your own shadow.

you didn't think he would care much but you were afraid he would be mad at you for not telling him in the first place.

kuroo himself suspected that something was bothering you or made you suffer but couldn't quite put his finger on it. he noticed your mood swings and that your behaviour changed sometimes from one day to the other.

your moodiness got worse with the time. some days you would be perfectly fine, happy and feel good in your skin. on other days to the contrary everybody with eyes could tell that you weren't feeling on top of yourself.

different aesthetics would clash, one day you would dress super soft, the next day tomboyish.

kuroo had asked you several times what was wrong with you and assured you that you could tell him anything, but you never felt that it was the right time

one day though

you woke up and immediately knew it was one of those days. the morning was quiet as you walked in your apartment doing different chores but still not feeling like doing anything. you ate and sat down on your sofa, hiding in the chuncky oversized hoodie you were wearing. it covered nearly your whole body. that's how you felt right now. like covering yourself.

that was when kuroo texted you, reminding you of the date you would have this afternoon. you would always be happy to see kuroo but not on days like this. today was especially bad.

so you texted kuroo, excusing yourself by saying you didn't feel well and relaxed a bit knowing that you wouldn't have to go outside today.

but

about half an hour later the door bell rang and kuroo stood in front of you with a whole bag of instant soups, one of his hoodies and wool socks he couldn't resist buying in the convenience store

'y/n, i brought everything! so you lay down and i'll just make you some soup! here take that-' he gave you the socks for you to put on.

that's when he directly looked you in the eyes

'y/n, you don't look sick? you look tired. are you sure everything is alright?' he asked, worry evident in his voice

'yeah, sure. sorry i just don't feel very well today.'

'is something bothering you?' bullseye. he knew something was the matter and it wasn't just a flew. it was something way heavier.

'you know you can tell me, right?' you turned to face him again, testing how much he meant his words by looking him deep in the eyes. you really wanted to tell him. before you could even begin, he took you by the hand and went to the sofa with you, where he sat you both down, holding both of your hands in his

'i'm here for you, y/n' that's when you walls finally broke down as you began to sob

'tetsu...' you began to whisper. 'i'm so sorry but i don't want to lose you'

he placed his hand on your shoulder 'y/n there is nothing you could do to lose me. i just want to know you are happy. that's all!' he said reassuringly

'tetsu' you breathed in heavily, closed you eyes for a second before looking at him directly through your teary eyes. 'i'm ... genderfluid.'

you waited for his reaction. anger, maybe even disgust but what came was ...

he put one hand on his belly to support his laughter 'pfffft, so what? that's what was bothering you the whole time??'

you didn't know what to say so you just looked at him in shock and confusion

it took him some time to calm down but when he did he had the most loving expression on his face

he stroked your arm with his warm hand. 'y/n, i love you for you. i don't care if you feel like a woman or a man, i wouldn't even care if you felt like a fish or something. you still are you and that's all that matters to me.'

you cried again but this time out of relief

he hugged you tightly and spoke up again. 'since when did you know?'

'a very long time now.' you managed to say between sobs

'and you thought i would leave you for this? you should know me better by now, love.'

'sorry. i just... '

'just what?'

'i didn't want to embarrass you. you know people would look at you if you walked around with a (your gender) in (opposite gender)s clothes. if you even would go out with me anymore.'

'you are an idiot to think i would care about that. i would buy you tons of different coloured dresses and suits myself. in fakt... let's do that! we could get matching outfits!!!' he said enthusiasticly making you giggle

nishinoya

i think he would care but not in a bad way. like he would be overprotective of you and always be one step ahead of you

sometimes he would go a bit far though. like his daily good morning messages

'y/n, is today a tiddie day or a non tiddie day?:3'

'NOYA!'

i feel like you would tell him either before your relationship even started or at the very beginning. he doesn't give off very judging or intermediating vibes, so it would be a bit easier to open up to him

you confessed to him on a date

the two of you went shopping together one day. not because you needed something but just for fun. you went into nearly every store in the mall, even those you had no affiliation with. you went to a sports store and tried on at least 20 different fisher hats

after you had lunch you went into different clothing stores trying to get funny matching shirts or something

but noya noticed something

you mainly wandered off to the sections of the store, not typical for your gender

he didn't think of it as much first

maybe you were looking at cozy clothes or something

but no

you went into the changing room with different styles of clothes for different genders.

all, dresses, skirts, blazers, flannels. even a suit

noya didn't know what to say or how to address this topic, so he waited

after you left the clothing store you went to a nearby cafe and had coffee. that's when he decided to ask

'so, um... what did you get?'

you listed the things you bought in pure excitement

'... and this really pretty skirt and you know what? i found this really cool suit jacket too!' you finished leaving noya speechless

you didn't even seem embarrassed about this at all, and why would you be? he thought

'noya?' you pulled him out of his daydreaming

'yeas??? yeah I'm definitely listening?'

'you seem like something is bothering you. is something the matter?' you asked rather concerned

'so ah... i noticed you in the (opposite gender) section earlier and...'

'you wanted to know what this was about.' you finished for him, smiling a little bit as he nodded vehemently

'so this is kinda a hard topic' you began. 'i'm actually genderfluid'

'oh ok!' he said a little to fast and enthusiastically

'you... don't know what that means don't you?' you giggled

'i have not the tiniest bit of a clue!' he said with the same kind of enthusiasm

so you explained and the more you talked the more he understood but at the same time got more confused asking even more questions. not to be nosy though but because he was genuinely interested.

the way you talked made him kinda happy as he had the feeling he now truly understood you for the first time.

he would praise you so much for being so brave to tell him and to live like this. he is very proud of you.

this date would continue for hours as he really liked to talk about this. there would always pop up more questions he needed answers to. but that was ok as he didn't seem any kind of uncomfortable around you but so very open minded and supportive.

so. very. supportive.

from that point on he would ask you to dress however you felt like and

i can totally imagine him researching on the internet himself and buy you lots of pride stuff online.

also i can see you two using each others closets and wearjng each others stuff regularly. i mean so regularly that you didn't even bother bringing your own change of clothes to sleepovers

#haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu!! fanfiction #haikyuu!! headcanons #haikyuu!!#haikyū!!#kuroo tetsuro x reader #haikyuu kuroo #kuroo x reader #kuroo tetsurou #nishinoya yū #nishinoya x reader #hq nishinoya #noya

56 notes · View notes

theplaguezine · 6 years

Text

STRATOVARIUS

Interview with Jörg Michael by Daniel Hinds

(conducted April 2000)

Stratovarius are an amazing success story. First, they came on in the scene in 1989, just as their style (melodic speed metal) was on its way out of fashion. In the ensuing years, metal in general became less and less popular, but Stratovarius stuck to their guns and defied the odds, increasing their fanbase with each album. Incredibly, their songwriting got better with time, too, bringing us to their latest masterpiece, Infinite. The mix of power, speed, melody and musicianship has never sounded so good and the album debuted at #1 on the national Finnish charts. So, in a world of Korn clones (and Korn for that matter…), there is hope!

The incredibly enthusiastic drummer Jörg Michael (the lone German in the band) practically talked my ear off, giving some great insight into this standout band…

I was very impressed with the new album, Infinite. Are you happy with how it came out? It's like giving birth to something. After such a long time preparing this album, writing this album, getting down to rehearsal - this time we actually rehearsed quite a lot, for about three weeks. I injured myself in a football match just three weeks before the recording, so we had to delay everything a little bit until my leg was in order. So like in the first rehearsals, I couldn't play any double-bass drum stuff. Then we had a very nice time during the rehearsals and during the recording and at the end you can see how it came out. You don't really questions yourself like, 'Will this be an economical success?' or whatever - you just listen to the record yourself, you let it sink in. I must admit during the first days after it's finished, you have such a close relationship to it that you can't really judge it. It takes a few weeks afterward. So, now the record has been finished since the beginning of December and we all have a very, very good feeling about this album. And I'm not saying this in general about every album because I can tell you honestly that wasn't the same with the Destiny album, where we weren't quite sure if it's good or not and we got a lot of fan mail saying that they liked the Visions album much more, for example. But this time we are very happy and everything worked out like we planned it to be. We have now this flying[?] equipment, so we can record wherever we want. We went to a very nice house in the suburban area of Helsinki, Finland, directly by a lake. It had nice sound and daylight in the rehearsal room and it was really nice to live there. We had so much fun and we really enjoyed working there. The guitars, the bass and the vocals were recorded there. Of course, I myself had to go into a clinical studio again because you need quite a lot of channels to record Stratovarius drums, but everything else worked out perfectly. At the end of the day, you see the result and everybody gave their best and we're very happy about it.

That kind of answers part of this questions, but did you do anything differently this time, in terms of the writing or the way you worked in the studio? I wouldn't say so much with the song writing. As you know, Timo Tolkki writes about 90% of the stuff for Stratovarius. He is the man, the bandleader, since 1984 working on this band. Jens Johansson and I joined the band in 1995, so we just worked on the last four albums. I would say that the song writing changed a little bit in the matter that Timo Kotipelto and Jens Johansson this time were involved as well. And of course because of the long practice/rehearsal time that we had, it was possible for me to sneak a few arrangement ideas in there, so that gave a little bit of a different vibe to it. In general, Timo Tolkki always writes the songs. He has it all in his head, but then he comes out and writes the whole album in about 3 or 4 weeks.

I just saw that Infinite debuted at #1 in the Finnish album charts. Was that a surprise? I'm a German guy and Jens is Swedish and the rest of the band are Finns. They achieve a level of being #1 in their home country and for them it's like heaven. (laughs) We did achieve the same thing with Destiny and that was a big surprise. This time, we didn't have so much hope, as there was a few big Finnish bands coming out. For example, there is one called Apulanta that sells about three times as much as we do in Finland. They sing in Finnish, so it's this folk rock thing. So we didn't expect it, but then it happened again and was another surprise like it was with Destiny. I feel very happy for all the Finns in the band. For me, it would be the same as being #1 in Germany.

How is it selling outside of Finland? I can tell you the album was released worldwide on the 28th of February, so we expect the first results to come in maybe next week. Me and the band aren't really that interested to know how it goes… You can tell after a tour in a few months how it was. I don know that the advance sales of Infinite have already topped the sales of the Destiny album after one year. I know that we hit the charts in Europe, in almost every country, but it is especially surprising in countries like France where last time we invested in a tour with Angra. Angra are Brazilian rockers who are very popular in France and we toured there with them for the Destiny album as a support act and we had played there before only about twice. So this is nice because France has like 55 million people, so it is quite huge, for Europe. In south Europe, like Italy and Spain, we are already very big there, so I don't think it will be a big surprise if we hit the charts there, top 10 or top 20. What looks even more promising is that we put our tour on sale at the beginning of December in some countries and by January, our show in Paris was already sold out so we had to add another show. The Swedish show, where we've only played so far once, are also sold out. So it is going really good and we still have like up to 2 or 3 months before this tour happens in these countries.

You guys seem to always be touring or working on an album or promoting it. Have you guys had a real vacation in a while? You observe right. Since I joined the band, we did the Episode record, had a normal tour, then put out the Visions record about Episode came out. From then on, Stratovarius became a full-time job. We also try to control the whole business side of the band. We have our manager, but we definitely also work behind the curtains to keep control of the band. Sometimes, it's not so good to not have a big management, because they don't have the power to put you up with really big bands, playing support, but we're really happy with doing it our way and at least we have the control over everything and aren't filling the pockets of other people we hate anyway (laughs). So for every one of us, Stratovarius is a full-time job. Besides the playing, for example, I take a little care with the tour organization and I'm also in charge of the merchandise. Mr. Kotipelto is doing the accounting and booking. Mr. Tolkki has kind of an overview of everything and is, of course, the most creative member of the band. Everyone puts his own talent and time into the band. You have to give respect to other people because you can't do everything and we have a really good relationship between us. For me, personally, it's a big change because I was always playing so much as hired gun in other bands. It feels great to be part of a real band! (laughs)

I understand there is a special version of Infinite that includes a multimedia CD. Can you tell me a bit about that? (pause) What is a multi-media version? I don't….

Like a CD-ROM? Ohh…..I'm the right guy to ask that question… There's so many different configurations of the album coming out. You've probably heard that we moved from Modern Music to Nuclear Blast, almost worldwide. We are doing direct deals to Japan, France and parts of South America, but the rest is in the hands of Nuclear Blast. They are known for putting out certain configurations to make something special for the fans and especially at the beginning, they are a lot of limited editions. I know for example that there is a limited edition CD box with photo booklets, a sticker and additional CD-ROM, where you can watch our videos and see an interview with Mr. Tolkki by some guy in Germany. I also have to tell you that I can't open it so far! (laughs) It only works on Windows 95 and somehow they made a little bit of a mistake. It's difficult to deal with these copy protections and stuff. There is also a limited edition in France with a second CD in the first 3000 copies. There are also a lot of bonus tracks in different countries, they are requesting that. I think we have to bring out a CD with all these bonus tracks that everybody can buy on one CD at a special price, because [these different versions] give me a little taste of being a rip-off, to tell the truth. (laughs) On the other side, I have to say that when we were with Modern Music and we only brought out one CD at a time, so many fans were asking us for more material: demo versions, live versions and whatever. So we don't know what to do and this time we tried it differently, with 5 or 6 different configurations. And I don't even have them all myself! What I like is this picture disc, on vinyl. We were very happy that they made this as well and a lot of people on our home page were asking for it. We've tried to put our controlling hand on things so, for example, they don't sell all of a sudden these CD digi-packs for double the price - that I would really hate. It's understandable to make it a little more expensive if the fans are interested in having some rare material, but just to double the price and rip these fans off who have been supporting the band for so many years, it's definitely not in our interest.

Are you getting more response from the U.S. these days? Yeah… I can't tell so much about the other albums. I think they were released by Modern Music and one got released by Century Media over there. We have the feeling from observing our e-mails coming out that there are much more people from the States interested in this kind of music. Not in particular Stratovarius, but I would also list like Gamma Ray or Iced Earth, for example. I still think it's not enough interest to really put up a headlining tour over there. Our label there said, 'We really like this album, would you like to promote it?' and we were like, 'Of course!' That's what we are here for, to spread Stratovarius Finnish attitude worldwide. On top of that, there was coming from the Iced Earth camp, asking us if we would be interested in supporting them on their next U.S. tour in November or December. At the moment, our managements are negotiating that, because it is a question of economic survival (laughs) because when we tour there with Iced Earth, we don't get a fee. If we tour for one and a half months in the States, from what I've heard, that doesn't really mean anything. You can tour there for six months, you know, it's so big. Let's see what they come up with. If it makes sense to play the shows with Iced Earth, I'd really like to do it. The only time I've been in the States was about 2 years or something. I visited New York, playing in a band called Unleashed Power. I really liked it, but this is the only thing I saw from the States and people tell me there are many completely different places from New York. (laughs) For me, this is reason enough to give it another try. To play there with my band would be brilliant, but it shouldn't be complete economic overkill. Not just to say, 'Oh, we toured the States!" and then you come back and have like $120,000 minus. (laughs) There is no point to do that. I've heard that our record is selling or that the interest is quite big over there, but what does that mean? Is it like we sold 500 copies before and now we're selling 1,500? (laughs)

You guys have always handled your own production. Was there ever a time when you thought you'd like to work with someone outside of the band? (long bout of laughter) That's a very…rare question, actually! This is my personal opinion, but I think that Stratovarius has with Timo Tolkki one of the best producers in the world. Even coming out of Finland and not having big success with producing other bands before, but I think that our records sound absolutely great. All of the records I have played on with Stratovarius, I think have a very good sound and the old albums that I wasn't a part of, there is still already a high level of quality. So, we are quite happy with what we are doing and there is no idea of changing anything. We never even thought about it. This time and with Destinybecause the band has gotten more popular and there is so much to do, like promotion, we have this guy called Mikko Karmila. He is basically the engineer and this time he almost mixed the album alone. There was a little bit of overview by Timo Tolkki behind him, but there was not really time and trust that guy so much because everything he does sounds great. When you have a big producer like, let's say Bob Rock. I think he's one of the best, I really admire his work and he did great, great records. He does records like Metallica and they sell millions of copies worldwide, so you think you have to have Bob Rock to make it happen in the same way. That's bullshit because he also does records that don't sell at all, but you don't know that. Every big producer has these, what we in Germany call, corpses in the cellar. Not to put him down in any way. But if we were to try and get this Bob Rock, besides that it would explode our budget, we would end up spending so much money on a production that isn't even better in the end in my opinion. Maybe different, but not better. We know how we want to sound and I was always very happy with the sound on our records. This time, Timo Tolkki and Miko tried to push up the guitars a little and the drums are a bit more quiet, but it doesn't actually disturb me so much because it gives such a powerful feeling. We're not like 17 or 18 anymore where you go in the studio and the drummer says, 'The drums aren't loud enough,' and the guitar player says, 'The guitar is not loud enough.' At the end of the day, all the levels are at the peak of the possibility and they still think, 'Oh, my drums still aren't loud enough!' (laughs) So, it's really cool, no one has to prove anything now. When I go to the studio, I listen to the whole song and how it all comes across, not just to my drums. Of course, when it comes to like the toms sound, for me as a drummer, I'm very, very picky, but it's probably the search for the perfect toms sound that I'll never achieve. Probably when I do, I'll retire. (laughs)

The cover art for Infinite is amazing. How did you hook up with Derek Riggs? We were all very impressed of course by the work he did for Iron Maiden. We have a completely different style with our album covers than Iron Maiden, but we still thought that Derek Riggs might be very interesting for us at some point because it might be challenging for him as well. Then the Gamma Ray album came out, Powerplant, and Derek Riggs did this artwork. It had some similarities to the Iron Maiden covers, but it also went a little bit away. So we thought, oh, he can do different stuff so he might be interested in working with us as well. We called Kai Hansen and asked if he would give us the number. We got an e-mail address for Derek, sent our albums to him, told him what we wanted to do and the whole album cover concept is made by Timo Tolkki's brain. The album was supposed to be called Infinity, but then we heard that Devin Townsend already released an album with that name, so we renamed ours to Infinite, since it means the same thing anyway. The whole world, the whole atmosphere is divided into two parts - we have the spiritual world and we have the material world. Of course, the material world is like the one we are living in now, that's why we have this polluted sea and everything is a little bit more dark. The space and atmosphere, the heavens, are not so colorful or shiny, everything is a bit darker, because of the human beings who are doing a lot of harm to the world right now. With our ability to think, we can't understand why the people are not stopping this, for example killing the rain forests because it gives us the air that we breathe. It's like we are trying to kill ourselves. Maybe not in our generation, but if you look a little bit further in the future, it will be that way if we don't stop it. Then we have this infinity sign changed because normally it lies horizontally, but we put upright, like an '8', which also gives the relation of the eighth Stratovarius studio album. Then you have the dolphin jumping from the spiritual world into the material world, which suggests birth. And when you die you return to the spiritual world. We believe that life in this universe is infinite, it never stops, and our existence right now is just part of that, the part in the material world, but that doesn't mean that necessarily after that all is dead.

It's nice to see someone put so much thought and detail into the cover art. In the old days, with LPs, it seems like a lot more bands did that than now. I think a lot of bands making it very easy want to go into these old metal cliches and just shock as much as they can. Even looking at the older Stratovarius covers, you can see it is completely different. We never worked with this blood bath, cutting off heads or whatever, not at all. It's a completely different image that we have and nobody in the band is like that as well. And we get people asking, record companies especially, telling us we have to make the cover something that really shocks people. But this is our style, take it or leave it.

Stratovarius seems to have a much more optimistic outlook than most metal bands. Is that a reflection of how the band actually views the world and the future? I have to say that everyone in the band is a bit of a different character. By explaining the cover artwork to you, you can see kind of the point of view of Timo Tolkki and also most of the other people in the band have. Timo Tolkki especially is going into these esoteric things. I'm not at all into that. We are all not believing in religion - this is one thing where everybody is on the same wavelength. As far as like life after death, I have a little different point of view about it. I'm also a little bit more simple, I'm the drummer in the band (laughs). I like to enjoy the moment and am not thinking so far into the future. Nobody can prove anything to me what happens after death. But Mr. Tolkki and Mr. Johansson talk a lot about that, they have a lot of discussions. Also, Mr. Kotipelto wrote a lot of lyrics on the last albums and it has a lot to do with like Finnish mentality, living in Finland. Everything is a little bit more frustrating, depressive, dark, sad. They had a lot of problems with relationships to women, which is very easy to see with the lyrics on the Destiny album. This time, it changed a little bit. There is some of that here, but I think it is also a lot more positive. Everybody leaves a little bit of the dark side behind and puts up some visions of the future. We also want to take part, not to warn or pointing fingers, but maybe waking up some people and make them do something and live a little more by their conscience about everything. Like I told you about the rain forests, or air pollution or plastic - all that stuff. It's not that we can change it so much or that we're coming out as a new messiah or something, but this time we thought we'd just give a little bit of a different view to this whole concept. Also right now, the band has become so big, so the band has some power…not influencing people, but people have started to listen to us a little more, what we're saying and thinking. So we thought it would be good to tell the people what we think and they might just be more conscious of these issues.

Stratovarius at The Metal Archives

#Stratovarius #interview #apr2000

0 notes