A Chat with Tom Tikka & The Missing Hubcaps (31.05.26)
A distinctive figure in the pop and rock music scenes, Finnish singer-songwriter Tom Tikka has turned heads with his celebrated bands Carmen Gray and The Impersonators. Today, we speak with him as a solo artist, discussing his new album, Roomful of Strangers, collaboration, what music means to him, and much more.
OSR: Cliché, but how did Tom Tikka & The Missing Hubcaps come about? What drew you to music?
Tom Tikka: After Carmen Gray and The Impersonators, it was time for me to fly solo – simple as that. It just seemed like the right time to do it. I had thought about it on and off. Collaborating is great, but it can also be tiring and time-consuming. I guess I just wanted to do things my way for a while without having to negotiate and compromise constantly.
The funny thing, of course, is that the new album, Roomful of Strangers, features my brother Lappe on lead guitar and other guys from Carmen Gray scattered throughout the album. Nicklas Nyman even sings lead on ‘Red-Head Doll’ and ‘Wrecking Ball’. I suppose enough time had passed for me to miss the power of collaboration. Ha!
I was drawn to music when I was six, so initially it was all about my love of music. Later, in my teens, I watched The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night and saw a large group of girls chasing them. I thought to myself that being on stage wasn’t a bad job. I never really looked back. I just kept on trucking from that point on.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Tom Tikka: It means everything. Ever since I was six, I’ve played guitar and written songs more or less every day. Not all of them have been any good, but that’s what I’ve done. I also listen to music for a few hours every day. It’s hard to tell where music ends, and I begin. We’re one.
OSR: You recently released your album, Roomful of Strangers, and mentioned that this one’s been a long time in the making. What can you tell us about the album, and does it, being such a labour of love, increase its personal nature?
Tom Tikka: It was a long time in the making because once you’ve written songs all your life and released quite a few of them, you want to be sure that a song cuts the mustard before you start working on it in earnest. That takes time. I recorded demos of thirty-seven songs, and ten of those made it onto the album.
Also, collaboration is slow. It’s much quicker for me to just plug in and play all the parts myself. I usually know what I want from the outset. But when you make an album with six or seven people, it’s a horse of a different colour. Everyone brings their own ideas to the arrangement, and it takes time to mull them over. I’m not sure if working like this makes the album more personal. Quite the opposite, in fact, but it does make it better more often than not.
OSR: You’ve performed with several bands over your career. How do you feel Tom Tikka & The Missing Hubcaps compares to projects like The Impersonators or Carmen Gray? Do you have a specific sound, and what do each of the bands mean to you?
Tom Tikka: Well, I’m immensely proud of my contributions to each of those bands. I do listen to my catalogue from time to time. I don’t think I’ve ever laid down a lie, musically or lyrically. There’s some material on those early solo EPs that I’d remix, but that’s a topic for another interview. All the songs that made it onto the nine albums, whether with Carmen Gray or from my solo career, are special in one way or another. Just the other day, I heard Carmen Gray’s ‘At the End of the Rainbow’ on the radio. I hadn’t listened to it in a while, and it sounded great.
It’s hard to define your own sound. I think you have it even when you’re unaware of it. But finding my own sound without Carmen Gray took a while, and understandably so. For a decade or so, possibly longer, Nicklas Nyman sang everything I wrote, and he is a terrific singer. One of the challenges when The Impersonators was taking its first steps was finding my way as a vocalist.
Another challenge was on the songwriting front. Not only had I co-written all the Carmen Gray songs with my brother, Lappe Holopainen, but there was also the question of whether these new songs should be stylistically different from Carmen Gray. There were so many decisions that had to be made.
OSR: Collaboration obviously means a lot to you. Why do you feel it is important for collaborations in music, if you do feel that way?
Tom Tikka: There are two schools of thought here, and you’re quite right – I do find collaboration important. If you work alone, you’re bound to repeat yourself and drift toward your greatest weaknesses as a musician and a songwriter. It’s just the way it is. Also, you don’t have anyone to feed off. I’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with quite a few very talented people over the course of my career, and I think my albums are better for it. There are songs that I want to finish on my own, like ‘The Day I Found You’ on the new album, but for the most part, it feels more natural for me to work with someone than to work alone. I gravitate towards collaboration.
OSR: If you could introduce a new listener to your music, what song would you recommend?
Tom Tikka: I have no idea! There are too many to choose from. I’d probably ask them to have a crack at ‘By 2022’, ‘Doormat’, ‘Rainbows and Dead Flowers’, or ‘It Was Always You’. This is a tough one because I tend to think in terms of albums rather than individual songs.
OSR: A veteran artist, you’ve seen quite a bit about the music scene and industry. What is the greatest change you’ve noticed over the years? I mean, how has the industry evolved (or devolved) with new technologies?
Tom Tikka: AI is by far the biggest change. I could write a book discouraging people from using AI to craft songs, but in the end, I’d be wasting my breath. I’m no bureau of standards, but I can tell you what I think: If you can’t play an instrument, write a song, or have the talent it takes to make a record, then you’re not an artist, nor are you a songwriter.
Another challenge is the aggregators. Anyone can release just about anything on streaming platforms. There are no gatekeepers anymore. You can really see this in the quality of the music being put out today. I’m afraid most of it isn’t very good.
OSR: If you could speak to little Tom, what advice would you give him?
Tom Tikka: Choose the people you bring into your life very carefully, and don’t waste your time on those who bring out the worst in you. Save for a few exceptions, I was never very good at this. To be honest, very few people are. My father used to say that it should be illegal for people to marry or form life-defining friendships before the age of thirty. I understand what he meant now.
Another piece of advice would be to make changes quickly if you find yourself heading down the wrong path. If people realise they’ve gotten on the wrong train, they usually get off at the first possible stop and board the right one. Life shouldn’t be any different.
OSR: What can we expect from Tom Tikka in the future?
Tom Tikka: An album or two before I retire from music – it’s almost time for me. I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished, but I’m also eager to focus more on my writing. My debut novel, Perfect Reflections, came out in 2023, and I’ve just about finished my next one, The Snake Under The Skin. I’ll turn it in to the publisher very soon.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
Tom Tikka: Yes. Remember, it’s not the years in your life that count, but rather the life in your years. That’s a famous saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln, and I live by it.
Many thanks to Tom Tikka for speaking with us. Find out more about Tom Tikka & The Missing Hubcaps on his official website, Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
