Mikko Viljami Lindström (born August 12, 1976) is the lead guitarist of the Finnish Metal band, HIM. Lindström is commonly called by his nickname, Linde.Lindström was born near Helsinki, Finland and during his childhood, his father (Olli) worked as an engineer and his mother (Riita) as a stewardess on Finnair, the national airline. Linde also has a younger brother named Jude, who was born four years after Linde. Linde was an introverted boy notable only for his bobbed blond hair and glasses. He developed a passion for music at an early age. Lindström's father has always been an avid music fan and especially loves Elvis Presley. Lindström was given his first guitar for Christmas at the age of 10. Himself and keyboardist Burton are the only current members of HIM who do not have a heartagram tattoo. He has one child, a daughter named Olivia, born March 6, 2003. His common law partner is named Mariam "Manna" Jäntti. Lindström is also very close to Mige, the bass player for HIM.Lindström is known to have a particular fondness of Guns N' Roses guitar hero Slash as well as Iggy Pop, whom he was reportedly very pleased to meet at an award show. He also idolizes Steve Vai, John Lee Hooker, and Elvis Presley.Some time before the third HIM release, Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights, Lindström formed his own band, Daniel Lioneye and the Rollers. They released one album, King of Rock'n Roll, in September 2001, with HIM members Migé (who plays bass in both bands) and Ville Valo (the lead singer of HIM who plays drums in Daniel Lioneye) Ike on sound effects and Hiili Hilesmaa on keyboards. The single "King of Rock'n Roll" is featured as the opening song for Bam Margera's hit television series Viva La Bam.Lindström played a Gibson Flying V in the video for "Right Here In My Arms" and "Join Me (In Death)" in 2000. In numerous articles, he has said that he has played Gibson SGs for the last six years. He has three different models: a red SG Standard, a white SG Standard , and a black SG Standard. He also owns an ESP with a reversed headstock and arrowhead inlays, a Les Paul, and a pair of Stratocaster variants. Gibson sg 61 reissue in the "Funeral of Hearts" video and an SG Custom with maestro tremolo (which is almost identical to the Angus Young signature SG) in the video for "Buried Alive By Love". Linde also owns a Gibson ES 1500 which is orange and a Gibson SG 61 reissue which was used in the "Solitary Man" video. In the early days of HIM, Linde used B standard tuning (B,E,A,D,G,B), however recently he has reverted back to using the standard guitar tuning (E,A,D,G,B,E).
Lindström uses Laney amplifiers live and in the studio, specifically VH100R heads with 4x12 cabinets. He is known to use a Fulltone Octafuzz and a Dunlop Crybaby Bass Wah.