The Members of Apocalyptica

Apocalyptica's Current Members

For the past 13 years Apocalyptica’s lineup has consisted of celloists Eicca Toppinen, Perttu Kivilaakso, Paavo Lötjönen and drummer Mikko Sirén.

The Members' Stories

Eicca Toppinen

Toppinen grew up in Vantaa's Hakunila and has three sisters and one brother, all of whom took instrument lessons while growing up. He started playing cello when he was nine. He and his sisters made several amateur recordings for their family, usually for Christmas.
He attended the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he met future Apocalyptica band members Paavo Lötjönen, Antero Manninen, and Max Lilja. He played for several orchestras, including Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Avanti! chamber orchestra. He's also a founding member of the Sibelius Academy's Cellosextet. When attending Sibelius Academy, Eicca could not get an apartment or student support money because he lived too close to Helsinki, where the Academy resides.
In 1993, when Toppinen was still studying in Sibelius Academy, the young Vivo Christian Orchestra played three songs from the Metallica album, Ride The Lightning. According to Toppinen, he bought a book of guitar music for the album, and did not have notes for any other albums.
Two years later, Apocalyptica performed at Teatro Heavy Metal Club in Helsinki, on the same night with His Infernal Majesty, later to be known as HIM. A week later, Kari Hynninen of Zen Garden Records contacted Eicca to discuss a deal to make their very first record, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos.
Toppinen married Kirsi Ylijoki, a Finnish actress, in 1997. They live in an expansive rural area in Sipoo, Finland. They have 2 children: Eelis, born in 1998, and Ilmari, born in 2002.
Read more about Eicca here

Perttu Kivilaakso

Like fellow band members Eicca Toppinen and Paavo Lötjönen, Perttu attended Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He plays a German 19th century cello; he started playing the cello when he was 5 years old and joined Apocalyptica for their third studio album Cult. Kivilaakso played in Apocalyptica's 1995 line up, but he was concentrating on his studies when the band began their professional career. At the end of 1999 he came back, switching places with Antero Manninen, who then went to play in a classical orchestra.
> Kivilaakso has received many prizes and awards during his life as a classical cellist. Among them is winning third place in the world-renowned second International Paulo Cello Competition in 1996 at age 18. Shortly afterward, he attained a lifetime chair in the Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra, where his father, Juhani, is also a cellist. He was on indefinite leave while touring with Apocalyptica, but in 2007, made the decision to leave the Helsinki Philharmonic and concentrate on achieving international fame for Apocalyptica.
Kivilaakso has also composed music for the video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, a few documentary films, as well as many original compositions for Apocalyptica, including "Conclusion", "Farewell", and "Beautiful".
Kivilaakso is an opera buff, which began while attending performances as a very young child at the annual Savonlinna Opera Festival. His father would play in the orchestra, and young Kivilaakso was entranced by both the music and the performances. Kivilaakso was three when he first asked his mother what he had to do to get onstage. He has a huge collection of opera recordings, including many rare and hard-to-find ones. His favourite composer is Italian Giuseppe Verdi, and his favourite opera is Il Trovatore.
His first opera, composed with his Apocalyptica bandmate Eicca Toppinen, was premiered at the Finnish National Opera on 22 January 2016. The opera, entitled "Indigo", tells "a story of an omnipotent, multinational company and a search for happiness."
Read more about Perttu

Paavo Lötjönen

Paavo comes from a family where both of his parents were professional musicians. At the age of 6, he took a cello and decided that would be the instrument he would play all his life.
Like fellow band members Perttu Kivilaakso and Eicca Toppinen, he attended Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. 20 years later, Paavo got his "Soloist Cellist" diploma at the Sibelius Academy. Shortly after, he began to work as a cello teacher in music schools. He plays a Gulbrandt Enger cello (1882) with a R. Wainio bow.
Apart from his work with Apocalyptica he is a cello teacher and a skiing instructor. He played in the Finnish National Opera as well.
Paavo's hobbies are parachute-diving, windsurfing and water skiing.
Lötjönen is married to a lawyer and has three children: sons Okko (born 2003) and Aki (born 2006) and daughter Anna (born 2007).
Read more about Paavo

Mikko Sirén

Mikko Sirén is the drummer for Finnish bands Apocalyptica and Megaphone. In 2013 he replaced Joe Letz as drummer of Emigrate. He also drummed for the Finnish rapper Cheek. He became part of Apocalyptica's live shows in 2003 but only became a full-time member in 2005 after over 200 concerts and a recorded album.
Sirén has a degree in Jazz music.
In 2009 Sirén recorded the drums for Elias Viljanen on his third album, Fire-Hearted. He also, along with bandmate Perttu Kivilaakso, composed music for the video game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.
Sirén lives in Helsinki.
Read more about Mikko

Previous Band Members