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Interviews : HIM – “Metal has everything for me” (an interview with Ville Valo)

By on March 9, 2014

HIM_1MBHIM has been enthralling and enchanting fans for the last 23 years. The Finnish love metal band recently released their eighth studio album Tears on Tape and has just completed their second Soundwave Festival tour. Metal Obsession had the pleasure of sitting down with HIM frontman Ville Valo at the 2014 Melbourne Soundwave to talk about the self-production of their latest album, metal, fans and fanboys.

Metal Obsession: How are you enjoying the festival so far?

Ville Valo: Well it’s wild, colourful, interesting, very left of the centre, very different to any festivals in the world we’ve witnessed before. This is our second time playing Soundwave and it’s great. You have the chance of hanging out with some bands because there’s days off and you have the sideshow thingies. It’s a very original and unique festival. We’re having a great time.

MO: Are there any bands you’re super keen on checking out today?

VV: We don’t have the time unfortunately. I was hoping to see Rob Zombie doing a sideshow, but it’s one of those things when you’re touring, the most important thing is to keep yourself in check and in shape. So if you make it too busy, it’s just going to kill you. So we’re just dreaming, I’m dreaming of Rob Zombie.

MO: How do Australian audiences compare to European or Scandinavian audiences?

VV: People are people, it changes on the evening, it changes depending on how the band is performing, it changes depending on the song as well. Sometimes there’s more love in the air, sometimes there’s more aggression in the air, sometimes there’s more passion, or more brooding and dark. That’s the whole thing about it, you can play the same songs in different countries and different cities and every night it’s a wee bit different, there’s a different angle, there’s a different spice to it, and that makes it worth doing, it’s not repetitious.

MO: Can you explain what love metal is & what inspired you to create the style?

VV: The basic idea when we started out was that there’s obviously a gazillion different categories and we’re huge fans of Sabbath and Type O Negative and all those sorts of bands but we didn’t think we were gothic or heavy enough. So we wanted to have that yin and yang vibe to it. Have something wimpy and something really masculine come together and have a bit of fun with it. That was the idea; just to play melancholy wistful music with a really hard edge and fuzzy guitars.

MO: I’ve read that you said a lot of styles of metal don’t appreciate the feminine, I think it’s pretty neat that love metal does, why is it so important to you to recognise women in your music?

VV: It’s important in life in general, so obviously it translates to music. It’s not something we thought, this is the way to do music, this is the new angle but I think it’s normal to appreciate the fact that we do have a mother and we came out of a womb, you know, stuff like that.

MO: What drew you to the metal genre?

VV: The volume, the volume and the rhythm. I’ve never been a huge fan of classical music and I do listen to a lot of folky stuff but metal for me, and hard rock, has everything. It’s cathartic, physically and mentally. You know some beautiful folk music can be cathartic in a very emotional sense but this is the best of both worlds.

MO: You paid for the production of your newest album Tears on Tape, that’s a very different position to be in in terms of distribution & retaining copyright of your work. Was there a specific reason you self produced this album?

VV: Basically just to try out something different. As you know it’s a maelstrom that the industry is going through and people tend to change their labels so much that a lot of bands have the problem with signing with a label they really love then the people actually leave the company before the album is out. So we wanted to try something different. Some of it has worked out, some of it hasn’t worked so well, but we’re just trying to figure out the perfect way. It’s all about the music and the timing and what’s going on in the world at the same time, the political situation and stuff, so there’s so many variables that there’s no way to be sure and certain that it’s going to be perfect.

MO: Was it difficult reaching deals for the distribution of the record?

VV: We’ve been really self-centred since the very beginning. We lock ourselves in the studio and don’t let too many people in anyway. It hasn’t really changed the creative aspect so much. We’re still trying to figure it out. It’s our first time in Australia meeting these people from Universal. It’s still a learning process.

MO:You released different singles via the three labels you chose for distribution, was there a reason for this or was it just like, we can do this so let’s do it?

VV: Exactly, that’s just basically winging it, improvising, trying to do something different, not doing the same old same old as before. Everything’s changing all the time so you have to try something different out and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But it’s not overly serious, we didn’t have Excel sheets about what we were going to do.

MO: What inspired the album?

VV: You just said it. It’s about whatever pisses you off, whatever makes you wonder, whatever makes you think about why am I here and what the hell am I doing. That makes you pick up a guitar and write lyrics.

MO: There’s a beautiful yet violent poetry to your lyrics, do you write poetry as well as lyrics?

VV: I only write the music, it goes together. It’s nice to have a bit more wistful lyric with a forceful music. It’s important to have a soundtrack to the lyrics as well, they don’t work on their own unfortunately.

MO: How do you feel about fans getting your lyrics or the heartagram tattooed?

VV: It’s crazy, it’s something when you start a band you don’t have an idea what’s going to happen, if that’s possible, you can’t decide whether you fans are going to be loyal or not. So we’re still amazed and flabbergasted about the whole thing.

MO: It must be complimentary in a way as well.

VV: It is indeed, we’re always blushing.

MO: That’s cute. It’s good that you appreciate your fans and your ego hasn’t gone out the window.

VV: We’re fanboys anyway ourselves. We’re fans of Rob Zombie, we’re fans of a lot of bands on this tour.

About

Amber has been a writer and photographer for 2020 BMX Mag, Reverb Street Press and 3DWorld. She has booked and managed hardcore bands and takes an interest in anything from hardcore to hair metal, particularly if it screams dirty Hollywood. Amber is also the author of a sex blog. You can follow her on Twitter Twitter or check out her blog.