Gas Lipstick

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 rock group 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.
Karppinen was born in Eskilstuna, Sweden to Finnish parents, and at age thirteen he moved to Finland with his family.
Rare known fact is that Gas was session drummer for one tour of Finnish band named Tarot (known as project band of Marco Hietala - Nightwish). Gas's first more known band before he joined HIM was Kyyria, including two band members Santeri Kallio and Niclas Etelävuori from well known 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 game company SongHi released internet music game with Gas's drum loops.
On 27 January 2015, Karppinen announced his departure from HIM, feeling that he needed to move on as a musician.

Karppinen married his Croatian girlfriend Natali in Temppeliaukio church, Helsinki, on 30 August 2008. Mika became a father when his daughter was born on 16 January 2009.

Gas is an endorser of Ludwig drums, Paiste cymbals, Aquarian drum heads and Vic Firth drum sticks. Furthermore, he is an open handed drummer, meaning he plays the hi-hat with his left hand and the snare with his right, opposite to many rock drummers.

Drums

LUDWIG Legacy Classic (color: Vintage Black Oyster Pearl)

SHELL SIZES:

• 14" x 22" Bass Drum
• 6.5" x 14" Black Beauty Snare
• 10"x13" Rack Tom
• 16"x16" Floor Tom
• 16"x18" Floor Tom

HARDWARE: LUDWIG Atlas Pro

• 1 x Hi-Hat stand PRO LAP16HH
• 1 x Snare stand PRO LAP22SS
• 3 x Boom Cymbal Stand LAP37BCS
• 1 x Straight Cymbal Stand LAP27CS
• 1 x Drum Throne SADDLE LAP50TH
• 1 x Bass Drum Pedal LAP15FP
• 1 x Tom Holder Stand

CYMBALS: PAISTE

• 1 x 15" Formula 602 Classic Sounds Medium Hi-Hat
• 1 x 18" Twenty Custom Collection Full Crash
• 1 x 20" Twenty Custom Collection Full Crash
• 1 x 20" Twenty Custom Collection Metal Crash
• 1 x 22" Masters Crisp Ride

DRUM HEADS: AQUARIAN

13" Rack Tom

TopResponse 2 CoatedBottomTexture Coated 

16" Floor Tom

TopResponse 2 CoatedBottomTexture Coated 

18" Floor Tom

TopResponse 2 CoatedBottomTexture Coated 

14" Snare

TopHi-EnergyBottomHi-Performance 

22" Kick

BatterForce I WhiteFrontForce II Black 

DRUM STICKS: VIC FIRTH

American Classic Metal

Gas Lipstick in 2007.

• Valvontakomissio (1984–) Vocals, Composition, Lyrics, Drums
• Dischange (1991) Drums
• Kyyria (1992–1998) Lyrics, Composition, Drums
• Dementia (1986–1996) Vocals, Lyrics, Composition, Guitar
• HIM (1999–2015) Drums