MM- How did the band get together?
Olli: When my previous band split up, I just simply decided to put an ad to a local music magazine and seek players that way and Tipi called me up and we met and that was it, that was the start, the original spark. We started jamming together in the spring ´97, just me and Tipi, playing what ever came to mind, you know, just getting to know each other and shit like that. Then in the summer the same year Toni hooked up with us along with Jake, our bassist back then. They both came thru an ad as well so we started out as "seeking other musicians" -people!! And there was only four of us because at that time I was a singer-guitarist. Later on Jake got bored with us and he was replaced by Janne whom we knew already, he had played a few gigs with us previously, you know, he was, er...what you call it, a stand-in? Anyway, it was great to have him in the band, he brought so much energy and freshness to the act, we were thrilled about it. And due to the fact that I was concentrating only on my singing, we felt like we needed another guitarist. So Matti was introduced to us thru a friend of a friend, like those things usually go, and it just clicked!! It felt good, it felt right, you know, the line-up was perfect as far as we were concerned. And that´s Valerian you have right now.
