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Sonata Arctica parts ways with bass player, announces replacement

It’s with much sadness and heavy hearts that we have to announce that our bass player for the past decade Marko Paasikoski is no longer in the band.
States Marko:

“I have come to a situation in my life where being a part of a touring band is not an option for me anymore and it’s time to explore other things. I wish to thank all the fans and my bandmates for all the good times, great shows and adventures that we have had over the last decade.
The memories from this time will stay with me forever but at the moment I don’t have the motivation or the passion that is required to be in the band so it’s better for all parties involved that we go our separate ways. I wish all the best for the guys ! -Marko”

We understand Marko’s decision and this is of course a thing that we have talked about during the last tour. We appreciate Marko being a stand up guy and finishing up the Stones Grow Her Name- World Tour. Thank you Marko for all these years and best of luck and fortunes with your future endeaveurs, we’ll miss you bro!!

Our new bass player is Pasi Kauppinen (Silent Voices, ex-Requiem, Winterborn). We’ve known him for many years and he has mixed both our DVDs as well as recorded parts of our last 3 studio albums. He will join the band starting with the upcoming album.

Sonata Arctica will start rehearsing in September and enter the studio in October. The new studio album will be out next spring with a world tour to follow.
Cheers,

Sonata Arctica

Pasi Kauppinen


Pasi Kauppinen

Henrik to hit UK with his other band Silent Voices

While Sonata Arctica has a few weeks off, Henrik will be joining his bandmates in Silent Voices for a short UK-Tour at the end of May. The progressive metal outfit has been together since 1995 and has released 3 albums. Check out www.silentvoices.net for soundclips and the tourschedule.

Comments Henrik:

“I’ve been playing with these guys since we were kids, but naturally we haven’t been working so much these days because of the hectic schedule Sonata Arctica has. At the moment I’m going through songs and programming sounds for our upcoming tour and it’s definitely going to be a blast to play a couple of shows in the UK before the SA schedule resumes. This doesn’t happen very often so don’t miss it !!”

For all Sonata Arctica Fans…

For all Sonata Arctica Fans!

We are collecting interesting stories connected to Sonata Arctica. So if you have – or you know anybody who has – an interesting story that somehow relates to Sonata Arctica we are willing to hear it. The story can be anything; a love story connected to a SA song, a SA song at a funeral/wedding, SA tattoos, a song that saved someone’s life… Anything, you name it.

It is extremely important to hear the whole story behind it, with all the emotions. Please send the story to the address:

stories@sonataarctica.info

… or if you know somebody with the story let him/her know it. We don’t publish any of the stories without someone’s permission. So it is also **VERY **important that you add your location, the city and the country where you are living to the message!

Elias at Frankfurt Musikmesse next week!

Elias will be signing autographs for ESP Guitars at Frankfurt Musikmesse on Saturday, April 13th at 1 pm. Also, Eliass signature series guitars will be revealed for the public at the Messe. You can find the ESP booth from the hall 4.0 (booth C.45).

See you there!