Mika Tikkanen

i am a guitarist, vocalist & songwriter originally from finland, although I have been based in london for quite a few years now.my musical adventures started with classical piano lessons at the age of nine. after a couple of years of piano i made a switch to the guitar which has been my main instrument ever since. i still play keyboards a lot and listen to guys like wakeman, jarre and vangelis.my early influences were mainly 70s british hard rock bands, particularly rainbow, deep purple & nazareth left a lasting impression. all my projects and bands at the time were almost exclusively hard rock, even though some progressive elements had started to creep in very early on. before moving to london i spent five years in stockholm, sweden in different bands and set-ups.i am currently recording solo material which hopefully will be released in the near future. my main influences have changed a bit too. I would describe it as a mixture of rock, pop, aor & progressive music.