Early Years
Teemu was born in in Tampere, Finland, in 1987. His main interest as a child was sports. He played soccer, ice hockey and floorball in local teams. He started playing the acoustic guitar at the age of 12 and soon after picked up the electric guitar.
His first electric guitar was a used Ibanez RG320, which he first played through an old radio system until being able to afford a real guitar amplifier.
Self-learning from books and sharing tips among friends, is how Teemu got started. Soon after, he got into playing by ear, trying to learn his favorite riffs and songs by figuring them out on his own. He started taking lessons in 2003 from experienced teacher Tom Gardiner, learning theory and techniques, which helped him rise quickly to another level.
In 2004, at the age of 17, he made the decision to leave his small village behind and move to the Finnish capital, Helsinki, to gain more experience and contacts in the world of music. He joined the Sibelius-Iukio Upper Secondary School, an institution specialising in music in addition to regular academic studies.
The same year, determined to get into a band, he successfully auditioned to become the lead guitarist of melodic death metal band Imperanon. A few months later, in late 2004, he auditioned for Wintersun and was selected as the 2nd guitarist of the band.
Career
While touring in multiple locations around the world with Wintersun, he also went on with Imperanon until the band split up in 2007.
When Wintersun took breaks from touring to work on the follow-up release for their first album, Teemu became more interested in teaching guitar and soon built a roster of aspiring private students.
Wintersun completed the work on their long-awaited second album in 2012. TIME I was released on October 19 2012 to high critical acclaim and the band embarked on a headlining tour over Europe, followed by a co-headlining North American tour with Eluveitie, selling out most of the venues. TIME I peaked at #2 on the Finnish official album chart, #119 on Billboard USA.
In 2015, while still performing and touring with Wintersun, Teemu co-founded a rock/metal cover band called Run For Cover. The band soon started to write its own music and evolved into Smackbound, releasing album 20/20 (2020) and Hostage (2023).
Alongside his participation to the aforementioned bands, Teemu contributed to many different musical projects. Notable examples include various studio session work, providing rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar or backing vocals, or a participation to one of the songs of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 soundtrack. In 2019, Teemu was also filling-in on guitar for Raskasta Iskelmää during various big summer festival shows.
In September 2023 Teemu joined the American thrash metal giants Megadeth as a touring guitarist for their North American tour. In late 2023 Teemu became an official member of Megadeth and is currently busy touring and preparing to record with the band.
Alongside all the other musical projects, since 2006 Teemu has been a sought after teacher, giving lessons in person or online, to guitarists of all levels.
Over the years, Teemu has gained praise for his clean and precise technique and was featured multiple times in Troy Grady’s “Cracking the Code” project aiming at documenting and learning from expert players.
When asked about inspiration, he cited influences from diverse musical genres, such as metal, rock, blues or fusion jazz, and guitarists like Guthrie Govan, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Marty Friedman, Paul Gilbert, Greg Howe, Steve Lukather and Mark Knopfler.
Endorsement
Teemu has been an Ibanez Guitars endorsee since 2006, through the Finnish distributor Levytukku and since 2009, through the mother company in Hoshino, Japan and the Ibanez Los Angeles Custom Shop. He has played various different models over the years, lately most notably the RGA and JBM models modified to his preferences by Estonian luthier Kaur Kukkur.