Music is My Everything

If I could do just one thing in life, it would be music. Music's been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up surrounded by classical music and began taking piano lessons at age 5. I skipped half the classes because what I really wanted to do was play drums. Finally got my wish at age 17 and quit high school to study drums at Georg Otsa Music School.

Started my first band around 1997 which had a really intense run for a couple of years until I moved to Helsinki after graduating high school. A band was always about being together with close friends and I couldn't even imagine playing with people I didn't know so for the first ten years I focused on school and work and didn't make any music whatsoever.

I love music and playing drums but I also just love drums. The physicality, the power, the responsibility. How they make everyone move. How ever drumset is essentially a unique instrument. How drums look and how the room affects their sound. I've been lucky to own over twenty different drumsets and will one day devote a page just for them.

By far my favourite part of making music is improvisation. In any style or at any tempo - the crazier the better! :) I have participated in countless jams and met most of my current friends through some sort of jam session. For some examples, check out the recordings below as well as the Official Kankeet Nakit Jam Archive.

Improvisation is everywhere and we do it all the time. You could say that life is little more than a big improvisation. Yet I keep running into musicians who say they cannot improvise. That they need a chart or a song to play. I've always wondered why that is. If children that have never studied an instrument can improvise, then why can't adults? Could it be something about the way we teach music that makes people believe this about themselves?

It's a really curious thing... something that's both totally natural, yet almost magical when you see it in action.

When weather allows, I like to take instruments outside and play in the streets or beaches or abandoned buildings. I love how sound reacts to the surroundings. Particularly percussion instruments - the most acoustic instruments of them all.

Repairing and restoring musical instruments is one of my many hobbies.

I spent many years in different choirs from singing alto at boy's choirs to tenor and baritone in adult mixed choirs.

Occasionally I also gig as a DJ. I've been collecting music for over 30 years and my collection holds over 3000 different artists.

I really enjoy practicing and spend a lot of time playing on my own. Playing on your own is not only important to develop your technique, but also to expand your vocabulary.

I do all of my own recording and mixing.

Sometimes it's rough. Playing live shows particularly can be exhausting and downright painful. But when you keep doing something even when it hurts, then it must mean you really love what you're doing. Or maybe just that you're crazy.

Recordings

Here are some recordings I have made over the years either alone or playing with other people. This used to be hosted on my SoundCloud page which I joined early on and enjoyed using many years. I finally quit SC out of frustration about their business model.

For more examples check out the Official Kankeet Nakit Jam Archive.