Mikko Lindstrom

Biography

Lindstrom was born near Helsinki, Finland and during his childhood, his father (Olli) worked as an engineer and his mother (Riitta) as a stewardess on Finnair, the national airline. Linde also has a younger brother named Jude, who was born four years after Linde. Linde was an introverted boy notable only for his bobbed blonde hair and glasses. He developed a passion for music at an early age. His father has always been an avid music fan and especially loves Elvis Presley. Lindstrom was given his first guitar, an acoustic mini Landola, for Christmas at the age of 10. He and keyboardist Burton are the only current members of HIM who do not have a heartagram tattoo. He has a daughter named Olivia, born 6 March 2003, with his previous common law wife, Mariam "Manna" Jantti. Linde skipped playing Top of the Pops to be there when his daughter was born; thus, Valo appeared singing and playing a Gibson Flying V. Linde became engaged to Toni Marie Iommi on 12 August 2010 (daughter of Black Sabbath guitarist, Tony Iommi). Linde was a part of the short-lived supergroup WhoCares which consisted of Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan, Jason Newsted, Nicko McBrain and Jon Lord.

Daniel Lioneye

Daniel Lioneye was formed in 2001 as a side project of Lindstrom's. Their debut album, The King of Rock'n Roll, was released in September 2001. It featured HIM band members Mige and Ville Valo on bass guitar and drum kit, Ike on sound effects, and Hiili Hilesmaa on keyboards. The single "The King of Rock'n Roll" was featured as the opening song for the hit television series Viva La Bam. Daniel Lioneye's sophomore effort, Vol II, was released in April 2010 and was met with positive critical reviews.

The band toured the United States in 2011 in support of Cradle of Filth. The touring lineup featured HIM members Mige (bass) and Burton (keyboards), as well as new additions Manu (vocals) and Seppo Tarvainen (drums). The tour lasted 30 days and was named "The Creatures From the Black Abyss Tour". These were the first live gigs the band had performed in ten years, the first time playing outside of Europe, and the band's first tour.

The band reformed as a three-piece composed of Ville Valo, Mikko Paananen, and Mikko Lindstrom for the 2014 incarnation of HIM's annual Helldone concert series, opening for Reckless Love and Children of Bodom. For this show they went by their original name 'Daniel Lioneye & The Rollers'.

Equipment

In the studio, Linde uses primarily Gibson SGs, and uses them exclusively live. For the recording of Venus Doom, Linde also used baritone guitars by ESP and Danelectro, as well as a Fender Telecaster for some solos. He has used Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Stratocasters, and a Gretsch Chet Atkins model for his clean sounds. Early in his career, he was known to play a Charvel 475 and a Gibson Flying V with a Bigsby tremolo.

Live, Lindstrom has historically had a strong preference for Laney amplifiers, specifically VH100R heads with 4x12 cabinets. However, on the Screamworks tour he has been seen to be using the Laney Lionheart heads. In the studio he uses a mix of Laney and Marshall amplifiers. He is known to use a Fuzz, and a Jim Dunlop Bass Wah. He uses Dunlop strings. He owns three working SGs, "a couple of broken ones," a double neck SG, a Gibson Flying V that used to belong to Andy McCoy ("and Ville desperately tries to buy" from him), a semi acoustic Hofner, and a twelve string acoustic Hagstrom. The SG he used in the "Funeral of Hearts" video, a 1977 SG Standard, is named Kyyla (a Finnish word that means creep) by Ville "for some strange reason."

For the Tears on Tape tour he appears to have simplified his rig, apparently cutting out his Skrydstrup MIDI system and instead using a Keeley Electronics True Bypass Looper to switch between preset effects loops. During the first leg of the tour he changed his amplifier preference, having four heads (two Laney VH100R, one Peavey 5150, and one Peavey 5150 II head) running through four Laney 4x12 cabs, however since summer 2013 he has gone back to two VH100Rs through the four Laney 4x12 cabs. For the recording of the album he used an assortment of fuzz pedals and a mix of amplifiers including his Laney VH100Rs, a vintage Prince amp and what appears to be a Marshall Bluesbreaker clone.

Aliases