Titus Hjelm

I was brought up to classical and prog/jazz music. My stepfather played in some of the top Finnish prog acts of the time, and I learned to love live music from the start. It wasn’t until 1983, however, when a new kid in our class introduced me to KISS.  Not very original, I’m afraid, but that was the kickstart to my music career. Again, like so many others, I was fascinated by the prospect of banging the hell out of drums (and hey, is there anything cooler than Peter Criss’s rising drum platform?). Living in a block of flats made that impossible, though, so my parents did the next best thing and brought me an electric guitar instead. We put together a band with long time friend and by the time I was thirteen, we had won a local band contest. Not bad for someone who could hardly play a barre chord!

The next important phase in my musical history was the Sibelius-lukio senior high school, which has been the alma mater of about half of contemporary Finnish musicians (Burton & Mige of HIM, for example). I payed and sang (unfortunately) in several bands and learned a lot. After school I played in a couple of different groups, but it was in 1997 when I promised to stand in for the bass player of Antidote, Nino’s then band. I’m still on the same road, I guess, playing mainly bass nowadays. I do indulge myself in some blues at home with my Les Paul, but it’s been a while since I’ve been on stage with a guitar.

I heard about Nino’s demo project and promised to play the bass for the next one. At first I wasn’t very impressed, actually, but when I heard Pasi’s voice, I knew we were on to something. It’s been a wonderful—and sometimes frustrating—ride since then and I consider myself privileged to be able to play this music and to have met si many wonderful people on the way. Let’s see if my liver can take another ten years!