Mika Karppinen

Mika Kristian Karppinen, better known as Gas Lipstick (born 8 February 1971), is a Swedish-Finnish musician, best known as the previous drummer of the Finnish gothic rock band HIM. Karppinen is also drummer to other bands, but they are on hiatus, such as Finnish deathgrind group To Separate the Flesh from the Bones, Finnish heavy metal group Bendover, Finnish punk group Valvontakomissio and International Finnish / Swedish punk group Ääritila. Born in Eskilstuna, Sweden to Finnish parents, at age thirteen Karppinen moved to Finland with his family. He was a session drummer for one tour with the Finnish band named Tarot (known as project band of Marco Hietala - Nightwish). Before joining HIM, he was also a member of Kyyria, which included Santeri Kallio and Niclas Etelävuori from the Finnish band Amorphis and singer Ville Tuomi of Suburban Tribe. He sang and played guitar in a Thrash Metal band called Dementia, including guitarist Roope Latvala of Children Of Bodom. He also was a drum tech for Stratovarius at one point and was on the Stratovarius DVD for a couple of parts. In March 2011, the game company SongHi released internet music game with Karppinen's drum loops.On 27 January 2015, Karppinen announced his departure from HIM, feeling that he needed to move on as a musician.