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Tonmi Lillman (born Tommi Kristian Lillman, 3 June 197314 February 2012) was a Finnish musician, best known as Otus, the former drummer of the Finnish
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish Rock music, rock band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during c ...
. Lillman died on 14 February 2012 after an illness.


Career

Lillman's father was a musician, and as a result he grew up surrounded by a large assortment of instruments. Tonmi received his first drum kit at age 9 and started performing live at age 14. Apart from drums and bass guitar, his primary instruments, Tonmi also played the keyboards and guitar. Prior to his death, he was involved in the bands
Ajattara Ajattara is a sextet black metal band from Helsinki, Finland, led by Pasi Koskinen (ex Amorphis). They formed in 1996, split up in 2012, and reformed in 2016. They were signed to Spinefarm Records and have released eight albums, their most rece ...
,
Kylähullut Kylähullut was a speed metal /punk band from Tampere, Finland. Their song lyrics are written in Finnish, and the band name means ''Villiage Idiot'' in Finnish. Stefan Glas from ''underground-empire.com'' described the music on Kylähullut's 2 ...
, Vanguard and 3rror. From his previous bands, he became best known as the drummer of
Sinergy Sinergy was a Finnish/Swedish power metal band started in 1997 by American musician Kimberly Goss. The idea for a "balls-out female-fronted metal band" was first formed when Kimberly Goss of Dimmu Borgir met Jesper Strömblad of In Flames whil ...
,
To/Die/For To/Die/For (often abbreviated TDF) are a gothic metal band from the town of Kouvola in southeast of Finland, originally assembled in 1993 as a hard rock band under the name Mary-Ann. In 1999, they decided to change their musical style to gothi ...
and
Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish Rock music, rock band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during c ...
. In his professional career Lillman also taught
digital recording In digital recording, an audio signal, audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or Color, chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is s ...
and drums at Kouvola Musiikkiopisto (Kouvola Conservatoire). He played in numerous folk, dance and pop orchestras, as well as handling the drums on the "Dimebag Beyond Forever 2009" tour alongside Rainer "Raikku" Tuomikanto.


Lordi

After Kita, the drummer of
Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish Rock music, rock band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during c ...
had decided to pursue a solo career, Tonmi sent a text message to
Mr. Lordi Tomi Petteri Putaansuu (born 15 February 1974), known professionally as Mr Lordi, is a Finnish musician, businessman, special effect make-up artist, songwriter, painter, comics artist and graphic designer. He is best known as the lead vocalist ...
saying that he had heard they needed a drummer. He had already worked with Mr Lordi when he helped him with Lordi's stage props. Mr Lordi accepted the offer and Tonmi became their second drummer with his new stage name "Otus" which is Finnish for "creature" or "thing". His first gig with the band took place during the "Europe For Breakfast Tour" on 5 November 2010 at Zal Ozhidania,
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
(Russia). His character was described as a combination between a butcher, an executioner, an alien, a lizard, and a zombie. According to Lordi he was a "tough dude. And definitely one of the ugliest members in our family …" Otus edited the DVD of the compilation album Scarchives Vol. 1 and can be heard on the documentary track. He didn't record any studio album with Lordi before his death, but the outro track of To Beast or Not to Beast is a live-record of Otus' drum solo. After his death, Lordi Fan Nation, the fan magazine about the band, did a special edition in tribute to Otus.


Studio work

Lillman had appeared on several albums, acting as a
studio musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...
for bands such as Reflexion, Twilight Ophera, and for instance providing the drum work for the Guitar Heroes -album. Recently Tonmi has distinguished himself as a
studio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...
, mixing and
recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
such bands as
Beherit Beherit is a Finnish black metal band from Rovaniemi. The band was formed in 1989 by Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance (Marko Laiho), Demonic Fornication (Jari Vaarala) and Sodomatic Slaughter (Jari Pirinen), with the purpose of performing "the most ...
, Bloodride, Chainhill, D-Creation, Exsecratus,
Fierce Fierce were a British three-piece, all girl Contemporary R&B, R&B group. They were signed to Colin Lester and Ian McAndrew's Wildstar Records, and scored four hit singles on the UK Singles Chart in 1999 and 2000.Search for "Fierce" performed aE ...
, Fear of Domination,
Heorot Heorot (Old English 'hart, stag') is a mead-hall and major point of focus in the Anglo-Saxon poem ''Beowulf''. The hall serves as a seat of rule for King Hrothgar, a legendary Danish king. After the monster Grendel slaughters the inhabitants of ...
, In Silentio Noctis, Laava, Lie in Ruins,
MyGRAIN myGRAIN is a melodic death metal band from Helsinki, Finland. They have released six studio albums. Background myGRAIN formed in 2004. The band roster was Tommy Tuovinen (vocals), Resistor (rhythm guitar), Jonas (bass), and Matthew (guitar) fr ...
, Rage My Bitch, Raivopäät, Roo, Rujo,
Rytmihäiriö Rytmihäiriö (Finnish for 'arrhythmia') is a Finnish hardcore punk, thrash metal/crossover thrash, grindcore and surmacore Helsinki-based band established in 1988 until 1992, when the band was put on a hiatus. It had a comeback in 1998 with a ...
, Saattue, Serene Decay, Trauma, Vapaat Kädet and V For Violence.


Equipment

Tonmi Lillman used
Pearl drums , simply known as Pearl, is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominantly percussion instruments. History Time! Pearl was founded by Katsumi Yanagisawa -who began manufacturing music stands in Sumida, T ...
, Sabian cymbals and
Pro-Mark D'Addario () is a family-owned and operated American multinational company that specializes in musical instrument accessories, headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. D'Addario is the world’s largest musical instrument access ...
drum sticks, and has signed an endorsement contract with the aforementioned labels.Artists : SMI-Scandinavian Musical Instruments Oy
Smi-music.com (2016-01-14). Retrieved on 2016-05-26.
Lillman was known for his characteristic style of drum placement and was a devout user of double kick drums. His style of drumming was rooted in rock, so he valued good
groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...
and a strong rhythmic backbone, combined with innovative fills, over high speeds and
blast beat A blast beat is a type of drum beat that originated in hardcore punk and grindcore, and is often associated with certain styles of extreme metal, namely black metal, death metal and their respective subgenres,Adam MacGregor, '' PCP Torpedo'' ...
s. Tonmi mentioned as his main influences the drummers Teijo "Twist Twist" Erkinharju,
Mikkey Dee Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou (born 31 October 1963), known professionally as Mikkey Dee, is a Swedish musician, who has played drums for German heavy metal band Scorpions (band), Scorpions since 2016. He was the drummer for English heavy metal band ...
,
Deen Castronovo Deen Joseph Castronovo (born August 17, 1964) is an American drummer and singer best known for being a member of classic rock band Journey and hard rock acts Bad English and Hardline. He currently plays drums and sings for the bands Journey, ...
, and his greatest influence as
Dave Weckl Dave Weckl (born January 8, 1960, in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American jazz fusion drummer and the leader of the Dave Weckl Band. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2000. Biography Weckl started playing his first se ...
.


Graphics and music videos

Besides music, Tonmi worked as a graphic designer specializing in
3D-graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...
. He has also worked as an editor on music videos, such as on
Ajattara Ajattara is a sextet black metal band from Helsinki, Finland, led by Pasi Koskinen (ex Amorphis). They formed in 1996, split up in 2012, and reformed in 2016. They were signed to Spinefarm Records and have released eight albums, their most rece ...
's "...Putoan" and "Ikuisen Aamun Sara", "Marks on My Face" by Mind of Doll, the
Kylähullut Kylähullut was a speed metal /punk band from Tampere, Finland. Their song lyrics are written in Finnish, and the band name means ''Villiage Idiot'' in Finnish. Stefan Glas from ''underground-empire.com'' described the music on Kylähullut's 2 ...
video "Kieli hanurissa" and on "Whisper" by Vanguard. He has designed the
cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ar ...
for bands like
To/Die/For To/Die/For (often abbreviated TDF) are a gothic metal band from the town of Kouvola in southeast of Finland, originally assembled in 1993 as a hard rock band under the name Mary-Ann. In 1999, they decided to change their musical style to gothi ...
,
Sinergy Sinergy was a Finnish/Swedish power metal band started in 1997 by American musician Kimberly Goss. The idea for a "balls-out female-fronted metal band" was first formed when Kimberly Goss of Dimmu Borgir met Jesper Strömblad of In Flames whil ...
,
Kylähullut Kylähullut was a speed metal /punk band from Tampere, Finland. Their song lyrics are written in Finnish, and the band name means ''Villiage Idiot'' in Finnish. Stefan Glas from ''underground-empire.com'' described the music on Kylähullut's 2 ...
, HateFrame, D-Creation and Dance Nation, among several others. In addition, he has edited video presentations, commercials and product labels for different companies as well as providing video production and post production to, for instance, the Crumbland promo DVD. Tonmi also designed and produced the background animations for
Lordi Lordi () is a Finnish Rock music, rock band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during c ...
's European tour. Other graphical works include web designing, site production and providing
banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...
s and animation for various on-line gaming sites.


References


External links


Tonmi Lillman at Meteli.net

Lillman's interview at Rumpu.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lillman, Tonmi 1973 births 2012 deaths Lordi members Finnish rock drummers Finnish heavy metal drummers Finnish male musicians Musicians from Helsinki Sinergy members Kylähullut members