Ari “Kankku” Kankaanpää Reveals Frederik’s Backstage Drinking Rules in New Book
A new book recounts Tampere-born guitarist Ari “Kankku” Kankaanpää’s years with Frederik, detailing backstage rituals, heavy drinking and unusual tour equipment.
Journalist Jari Korkki has published Luottokitaristi (Docendo 2026), a new book about Tampere-born guitarist Ari "Kankku" Kankaanpää and his years playing with Frederik and other leading Finnish artists, Tamperelainen reports.
Kankaanpää, who joined Frederik in January 1982, describes backstage routines that mixed strict timing with heavy drinking. The band organised alcohol like tour inventory: the lead singer's tennis bag always contained eight bottles of Koskenkorva, and any bottles taken for personal use had to be returned to the stash by noon the next day. Rules were strict. Kankku says they avoided drinking before 10 p.m., but were known to down half a bottle in a few swigs after that. Holding an ABC driving licence made him the band's de facto driver and kept him from overindulging.
He also recalls practical tour habits: a large briefcase carried cash payoffs, gig calendars and even a 3,000-watt hairdryer and brush that the singer used to get stage-ready. He remembers the band's unusual popularity abroad: once they played "Titanic" at a Swedish venue where warning shots were fired into the walls of the building, an incident that left the singer unmoved.
Catch the full story over at Tamperelainen
