Mige Biography

Whole name: Mikko Henrik Julius Paananen

Birthtime and -place:19.12.1974 Helsinki

Nicknames:Mige, Säkki ("Sack"), Michael Eros, El Cupido, S.Ieni (little pun, free translation could be "M.Ushroom")

Tattoos:The sceptre and ornament on his left shoulder, the snake and grinning head on his right shoulder.

Other instruments:Backing vocals on gigs.

Family:Father played oboe and other horn like oboe (in finnish its name is 'englannintorvi') and he was played for a long time in the orchestra of Helsinki.
The mother of Mige is actress (Riitta Elstelä) and she is from family known around theatre-scene. The grandfather of Mige (Ossi Elstelä) played in finnish movies in 1950's and made some performances for theatre. The part of performances were 'parental advisory-stuff'.
Mige have also bigbrother who have a nickname Helmut (Mige calls him that name because of his moustache).

Childhood:Mige is from Oulunkylä (same place where's Linde from), he lived there until he was 13. Then his parents divorced and his father moved to other place where Mige was not willing to join. He moved to Tuusula (about 30 km to north from Helsinki) with his mother and that's place where HIM started to play in their basement.

Touch to music:Mige growed up in artistic family and by his father the music took his heart. He hanged around with his father in places that are surrounded with different instruments. The instruments were like toys for Mige and he spent lots of time with them.
Mige thinks that the reason he picked up the music was the family from his mother. The musicians are more cooler in the eyes of young Mige.
His father listened classical music and mother listened 'fucking operettes' (in words of Mige). Helmut was delighted on breakdance and hiphop and so Mige is also in that world. He liked of synthesizer-men and he started to check that stuff. The taste of his father pulls him to hate classical music and breakdance sounds better for him. He thinks that classical music is not a piece of shit, but he's not inspired of it because he won't 'find' it himself. Mige gives a honour for his father that he won't ever push classical music for him.
The fact why Mige is in rockband and he's not classical musician is his lower interest for rehearsing. He said that 15 hours a day for rehearsing is directed for schizophreniacs. That is unnatural atmosphere, you're like a official and a great artist at the same. Mige got an opinion that the classical music-scene have to make commercial art. Mige says that the musicians have to earn their own tickets and the support with taxes have to finish. It goes like Mige said in other countries, but in Finland that 'highculture' is supported by society..

Schoolyears:In the school Mige was 'basicbloke' (Words of Mige, again). Ville was said that Mige had bad style for clothing, weird friends and got a 'monkeyhair'.
After compulsory classes Mige went Sibelius-academy (finnish musicschool).

Tricks by Mige:Mige is main architect of different kind of stupid tricks that's joined to band called HIM. He learned to making tricks in his puberty. He got a very bad taste of humor including body fluids and things around that scene.

years of Sibelius-academy:Mige took some freetime from academy and moved to his father and tried to live there, but that was impossible. Father got a real family in his new home and that's not a place for Mige. After that Mige moved to his friend and they got a apartment in Helsinki and the life in that flat went crazy sometimes. The apartment was in Kallio what is a famous part of Helsinki. Firstly Mige thinks he never moved out from Kallio, but finally he realized that there is a danger to stuck in Kallio. Mige stays a year in Kallio and he was already stucked in there. He faced the fact that Kallio is not a right place for bohemian life.
Oulunkylä, the place where Mige raised his first years raised only crazy people, that's what Mige said in their book.
Mige noticed that he got no friends to play music and he got nothing in that situation, he thinks that now this is over and he moved alone to Vallila (the other part of Helsinki, famous for the houses built from wood). He lived alone there and he wanted to be without a job. The labouroffice wanted to put him to work in a gas-station, but Mige is not interested for that and so he moves back to his mother who lived back in Helsinki then.
He finished Sibelius-school and get his white hat for graduation. Sibelius-academy was some kind of music-based highschool.

Relationship with alcohol:The times in Kallio taught to Mige that alcohol is not very interesting thing. He learned that drinking is not good for him because he gone wild of it. He was ashamed for himself because of that feature. He can spend his time surrounded by drunk people in the bars. Drunk people is not a problem for Mige because he can be crazy when he's sober.

Hobbies:Photographing is near of Mige's heart. The coverart of Daniel Lioneye-album was shot by Mige and the title of Deep Shadows & Brilliant Highlights is also inspired by Mige. That title is some kind of flattering words used by photographers.

Relationships with HIM-members:Mige met Ville when he was in 5th class (about 12 years old) in the school. Because both of them played bass, they also often hanged around together.

Bands before HIM:Unga Kaskelottär (early 1990's---duo with Ville & Mige)

In HIM:After his graduation he joined to first version of HIM... Ville discovered the name 'His Infernal Majesty' from the book 'The Satanic Bible' by Anton LaVey. He hanged around with hippies and other people like them and he was overdosed of their Haile Selassie and 'His Imperial Majesty'-stuff and he started to listen deathmetal. Then he find that book and there was in one poem term 'His Infernal Majesty' and he rapidly thinked that was a good name for their band. At that time they played music inspired by Black Sabbath. They also thinked names like 'Black Salem' and 'Black Earth' for their band. Mige was sick and tired of that choices. So he took some paint and wrote on his amplifier title 'His Infernal Majesty' and that's the end for conversations about the name of the band.
The first His Infernal Majesty was born in 1991. Ville plays 6-stringed bass as a guitar and sings, Mige plays bass and there were two guys as a drummer (Juippi & Juha Tarvonen). The first gig with that band was in Semifinal-club in Helsinki (31.12.1991). Band uses also name Kafferi. Kafferi made a demorecord 'Xilqa Xilqa Besa Besa'. This band made also demo under their 'official name' and it was named 'Witches And Other Nights-Fears'. This band splitted up when Mige went to army to serve his native country. Kafferi means people with black skin and guys blocked it out from old books of H.P. Lovecraft. The books was the great source of inspiration for the band then. Ville has got a friends from ethnic minorities and they thought that Kafferi is too grotesque being the name for the band, so they abandoned it. The second version of HIM made a song called 'Borellus' that was straight taken from Lovecraft. That source of inspiration stays. Borellus are inspired by the novel that tells about dead people and other dark creatures that are awaken alive. Most important parts of that song Ville sang straight from the book. Lovecraft wrote his books in lyrical way and that's why it's so easy to sing in its original form.
HIM was on the break because of Mige's in army and the thing get started again in 1993 and then Linde came in to play guitars and bass (Ville sings and plays drums) and they recorded 3-song demo in Lepakko. Demo was done in 4-track studio and it includes songs Serpent Ride, Borellus and The Heartless.
After that demo done by Ville and Linde they got company (Mige & Pätkä) and that's the big bang to the story of band who created love metal...
In the summer 1995 they recorded demo included Stigmata Diaboli, The Phantom Gate and Wicked Game what was lately their breakthrough-hit.

Other facts of Mige:He constructed buildings and kept care of gardens in Helsinki before he became a rockstar.
He don't like photo- and videoshootings, publicity is not important for him. He's often the partner of Ville in interviews in spite of that.

Equipment:bass: Fender Precision
amplifiers: Ampeg SWT-II Pro
loud-speakers: David Eden/Fender/Ampeg
pedals: fuzz/"robot" etc.
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