INSTRUMENT: Vocals, Keyboards

DATE OF BIRTH: May 16th 1975

PRESENTLY LIVING IN: Finland

JOINED SONATA ARCTICA: 1996

EQUIPMENT:  Microphones, in-ear monitors and many different keyboards and softwares.

MUSICAL BACKGROUND:
Studied keyboards for ca. 2 years, otherwise mainly self-educated.

PREVIOUS BANDS:
-

WHY DID YOU START PLAYING?
...and why did you start to breathe?

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR JOB IF NOT A MUSICIAN?
I think I would be in advertising business.

DESCRIBE YOURSELF WITH 3 WORDS:
Stubborn, musical, fragile.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS?
Making music of all kinds for all kinds of projects. And of course for Sonata Arctica. Touring the world!

WORST HABIT:
I still eat too much sweets. Fighting to cut that down.

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
People. Animals. Humour. Words. Whitty friendly sarcasm.

HOW DO YOU KILL TIME ON TOUR?
It does not need to be killed. It just withers away...

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A SHOW?
Get dressed and warm up the body, voice and mind.

WORST NIGHTMARE ON STAGE:
Forgetting something. Dementia. Also losing my voice is pretty bad. Equal to broken hand for a guitarist.

WORST NIGHTMARE IN GENERAL:
That someone does something stupid and the world as we know it comes to an end.

WHICH BAND WOULD YOU LIKE TO OPEN UP FOR?
It does not really matter all that much as long as the people in the band are nice, real people.

MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER:
I'm not sure anymore. Every show is an embarrasement in a way, but I'm a clown... 

CRAZIEST RUMOUR YOU HEARD ABOUT YOURSELF:
Hard to say, can't remember any really crazy. Don't believe ANYTHING you hear about me, folks!

DUMBEST QUESTION YOU HAVE EVER BEEN ASKED:
“How can you sing like that?”  ranks pretty high.
Does anyone ask Stephen King how can he write like that? I understand it though.

FAVOURITES:

Best own gig:
There are many equally great in many many countries and continents. Fans make the show!

Best gig by other band/artist:
Hmm…can’t say.

Sonata song to play live:
Don't have one / changes all the time.

Bands to tour with:
Nightwish, Stratovarius, Rhapsody, Vanishing Point thus far. Have not toured with all bands on this planet yet. 

Bands/artists:
Many, many in many genres.

Albums:
Don't have one.

Movies:
Forrest Gump, Almost Famous, Back to the Future -trilogy...

TV programme:
News, few series, but sadly (??) I don't have too much time to follow them regularly. So I watch them from DVD. Of those "World at War" is a very captivating documentary series shown on tv in some point when I was a kid.
Same with "Band of Brothers" which is absolutely fantastic! If I only could watch that for the first time again...come dementia.

Actor/actress:
Sean Connery, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt…I'm really not a HUGE fan of anybody.

Food:
I like food. I try to eat something regularly, every day.

Drink / smoke:
Water, different juices, White Russian, Whiskies (Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Laphroaig... ), beer (Guinness, Kilkenny mostly). / No thank you.

Computer/console games:
World of Warcraft, GTA serie, 1st person shooters, business simulators (transport giant etc)...that is, when I have the time to do that.

Books / Authors:
Dan Brown: Da Vinci Code, Deception Point..., Ilkka Remes' works.

Animal:
My own dog. Wolf in more absurd way, as a thought.

Season:
I love and need all seasons the same. Eternal whatever would be terrible.

Place you would like to visit:
Space, Moon, Australia, Iceland.

Sports:
EA Sports, jogging... skiing next winter, I promise.

Hobbies:
CPU games, movies, life ...while touring: collecting HRC bears.