Emilia “Empu” Suhonen, who came to the public as Tiktak’s guitarist, is now pursuing a solo career. He emphasizes that Tiktak was not at any point to be manipulated by anyone.
Emilia “Emppu” Suhonen, 37, has jumped into an exciting new phase in his career. The woman known as the guitarist of Tiktak and later The Rasmus will release her first solo album on Friday, August 25. Suhonen now makes music under the name Emppu, and Wake up Helsinki’s night -album is entirely composed and written by him.
Having a solo career has been Suhonen’s dream for a long time, but he hasn’t found the necessary courage before.
– I also had to have enough good stories to tell. A bit like you shouldn’t write an autobiography too young, says Suhonen to Iltalehte.
Emppu Suhonen says that his solo music reflects his life values of valuing humanity and that happiness cannot be found in matter. Jenni Gästgivar
Personal experiences of breaking up, falling in love and insecurities have been recorded on the album.
Even in his twenties, for example, Suhonen could not have imagined that he would have a solo career.
– It’s a pretty lonely thing when you’re used to the band noise. Suddenly I’m alone in all these situations, says Suhonen, referring to interviews for example.
Last year, when Suhonen had joined The Rasmus, he gave interviews mainly alongside Lauri Ylönen. In the Tiktak days, the attention was divided between the six members, and the most prominent figure was naturally the soloist Petra Gargano.
Popularity at a young age
Suhos has had other, lesser-known band projects. He started playing the guitar at the age of five and remembers telling his parents in the third grade that he would become a professional musician. Since the age of 12, he has been writing his own songs.
A strong love for music and playing marked the band Tiktak, from which Suhonen also came to the attention of Finns when he was only 13 years old. Hits from the first album Stop it and You’re messing up my world immediately made the six-piece a huge pop phenomenon.
– We weren’t interested in publicity at all. We wanted to play music. Our starting point for the band business was on a sound basis, says Suhonen.
Tiktak released its first album in 1999 and immediately became hugely popular. Photo from 2001. PDO
Tiktak’s young members stayed clear-headed in the hard spin with the support of each other and also their parents. Suhonen can’t assess how the peculiar adolescence affected him. Naturally, he doesn’t know how he would have developed without the Tiktak experience.
– It has undoubtedly affected the psyche of all of us and the kind of people we have grown up to be. It’s a revolutionary thing and a special way to grow up.
My peers didn’t always understand the group of girls who shine on the covers of magazines and in music videos. The band members got to experience this, among other things, at the get-to-know-you meeting of the rip camp. Everything from Tiktak except two years older than the others Wind attended the same rip camp.
– We were in the Malmi parish premises, and bottles were thrown at us. That’s how much the other Riparians wanted the tiktaks to come to the same camp with them. We defeated the haters during the rip week and they didn’t hate us anymore on the last day, Suhonen recalls.
Emppu Suhonen remembers the band Tiktak as a safe bubble where everyone supported each other. Jenni Gästgivar
No casualties
A narrative based on preconceived notions could easily be built from Tiktak, where young girls have drifted into the raw music business, hand over their decision-making power to the uncle of the record company, are treated badly and are traumatized. It saddens Suho that many think this is what happened to Tiktak. He emphasizes that the members of Tiktok were not victims of anything.
– Many people view my personal history on Tiktak as “oh, you’ve been so easy to take and the record company can’t be bothered with”. We were never to be bombarded. We made all the decisions ourselves and also said no.
For example, the band said no to collaborators who didn’t feel like themselves and determined themselves how much they could afford to gig. They did what they wanted even when they tried to take Tiktok to the world.
Tiktak’s music became rockier over the years. Photo from 2005. PDO
The band’s first two albums were also recorded in English. At the beginning of the millennium, Tiktak did two tours in the United States, and they also toured Europe. Suhonen remembers that the world conquest started “quite well”.
– There was no problem, except that we members ourselves stated that this was not really nice.
Tiktak members sat down the uncles of the record company in Helsinki’s Lauttasaari at the premises of Universal Music and told that they would rather go to Evijärvi youth center to play than abroad. The opposite was a shock.
– They were absolutely terrified that “do you realize that a lot has been invested in this and you can’t stop in the middle of such a big world conquest project”. Yes, we could, Suhonen muses.
The band justified their decision, among other things, by the fact that their friends and school are in Finland. The members’ dream was also not to become big stars. It was good enough for them that they can make gigs and records in Finland. The record company also agreed to this.
Emppu Suhonen is happy about the reception he has received from the fans of The Rasmus after joining the band. Jenni Gästgivar
New grooves
Suhonen was only 21 years old when Tiktak stopped in 2007. He describes the band as a safe bubble, after which he had to learn how to live normally. What do people do on the weekends if they’re not performing at gigs?
At this point, he went to study to become a special education teacher. He has also worked as a music therapist.
In 2021, Suhonen joined the ranks of The Rasmus. Together we have experienced, among other things, Eurovision, touring the world and making records. Suhonen says that he has bonded well with the group. He is willing to stay with The Rasmus until the very end.
– I am also a long-distance runner. I think life is more like a marathon than a sprint.