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Ville video interview
04 Jun 2008
Hey guys, I have no current news for you right now other than I hope you picked up the new Big Cheese magazine with the Ville interview in it mentioned a few posts below! It is definitely worth it.
Now, what I wanted to share with you all is a video I rediscovered a few weeks ago. It is filmed on a handheld and is a 16 minute interview with Ville in north London. It is entertaining, thought provoking, and has a very real feeling to it. The video can be found by clicking here. Definitely go watch it, it's worth every second!
Here is an interview with Ville Valo from the Swedish magazine Slitz. It's been translated from Sweedish so there may be some errors, but it's readable and thats what counts :)
HIMs front man is spilling the beans!
We are taking with Ville Valo.
HIM is synonymous with the Heartagram. Where did you get the idea? – I grew up with metal and hard rock and the visual has always been an important part of this music; Whitesnake with their worm, Led Zeppelin with their Zeppelin, Iron Maiden with their monster Eddie. I had been thinking about creating this cool symbol for a couple of years and among many other good things, it just came to me. It’s like I was struck by the lightning and I knew what to do immediately. It was my first and last Einstein-moment.
You've said that you’re the only band who is more known for their symbol than the music. Does this upset you or is it just a fact? – It’s not a fact; no one has observed it yet. A lot of people like the symbol without knowing it belong to HIM. I believe that the Heartagram is not only a symbol of the band. In a few words, the symbol shows that you like a good life.
The American skater and Jackass-member Bam Margera has nearly adopted the symbol. How did you get to know him? – He stole it! Bam is a thief and murderer.
Honestly? – No no, he is just a good friend. He liked the band so much that he begun to use the symbol on his skateboards and other stuff. I guess that all publicity is good publicity so we let him do that. Bam is a pig but his way to promote the band forces us to worship him.
Your song Passions Killing Floor was in the movie Transformers and rumours says that you are going to make the next Bond theme song. Comments? – I think that Amy Winehouse swiped that opportunity. If she hadn’t been to rehab I guess I would have the opportunity to make the theme song, but it seems like she’s concentrating on work again. If you promise to keep it a secret, can I tell you that I bombed her so she wasn’t capable to make the theme song. But obviously, I failed.
So if I get it right are you not going to do the Bond theme song? – Right. It would’ve been wonderful but I guess there’ll be more chances. I assume that Quantum Of Solace isn’t going to be the last Bond movie. Movies are otherwise a perfect opportunity to promote ones music to a wider target group.
You talked about Amy Winehouses detoxification but the fact is that you’ve been to rehab yourself, last year. Have you been drinking anything since then? – No, unfortunately not. I’ve had some candies that included alcohol but I had no idea about that, so I am not the one to blame. I have been sober for 10 months now.
So you’re not going to follow the Straight Edge culture? – Never, if it is the oldest form of Straight Edge you’re talking about, because according to them you are not even allowed to fuck. You can barely do anything at all – no fucking, don’t eat meat and don’t smoke. I’m a vegetarian but I am smoking and I try to get laid, but the problem is that no one wants to fuck me.
What are you doing on tour when you don’t drink? – I meditate, read and playing the guitar. Physically I am feeling better now when I am sober but mentally it’s not really some kind of difference at all. The life in general gives me the feeling of being hung over. But I got more time to rest and to read about important things like the occult roots in the third reich.
Isn’t alcohol a good way to find inspiration for a musician? – No, at least not for me. The alcohol made me get away from the inspiration. I have never needed drugs or alcohol to write a song.
You made a gig in Sweden in February and the audience was full of gothic girls dressed in black. How much affection do you get from the audience you attract? – Luckily, we are a band that doesn’t necessarily affect one type of audience. It’s a great variation and everyone is not dressed in black and burn churches on their free time. And that’s a very un-constructive hobby.
How do you react when people, mostly girls of course, are starting to cry when they see you? – Honestly I have started to think that they are crying out of other reasons than you can expect. It can be some kind of a moment of chock, the disappointment to see me in real life without being Photoshoped.
Another Finnish band, Lordi, won the Eurovision Song Contest two years ago. Does HIM have any plans to enter the competition? – No, we are too old for that. We rather compete within the band. You can’t judge a good band or a good song in a TV-show. Obviously they are trying to, but we don’t want to be judged that way. But it was amusing that Lordi won because they changed the whole spectacle of the competition. Earlier it was a competition for granny and grandpa but now it’s more appreciably among the younger people.
Which band is the best Finnish band throughout all time? – I have to say Hanoi Rocks. Andy McCoy and Michael Monroe are really good. I adore their music.
Do you think that HIM can keep on the career as long as Hanoi Rocks? – I say like the old singer of Iron Maiden, Blaze Bayley: "heaven is the boundary and the heaven is falling down". Honestly, we have no plans. I guess we’ll keep it up as long as we have an audience and that we like what we are doing. It’s a boring answer but that’s the way it is.
Do you have a target or do you keep running? – The targets are often showing up by themselves. It is small targets like ending the tour, write a new song, latch on to a good producer and stuff like that. We don’t have any major targets, like playing on the moon.
Lastly, can you dance Finnish tango? – Not since I became sober.
Go grab the latest issue of Big Cheese Magazine from their website here. In this issue Ville Valo talks about HIM playing at this years Download Festival. Not only that this is Big Cheese's 100th issue and features the following:
THE OFFSPRING – Dexter and Noodles guest edit! BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS WITH MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, PARAMORE, LESS THAN JAKE, GALLOWS ‘N’ MORE!
GREEN DAY/FOXBORO HOT TUBS HIM MADINA LAKE TIGER ARMY PENDULUM DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN NEW FOUND GLORY VS H20 KILLING JOKE DISTURBED REEL BIG FISH JIMMY EAT WORLD DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE 36 CRAZYFISTS EXIT TEN MINISTRY BLOODSIMPLE THE BEAT MINUS KILL CASINO WEDNESDAY 13 SATYRICON
And if that lot wasnt enough for you, you also get a FREE CD and MASSIVE Green Day & 30 Seconds To Mars Posters, so what are you waiting for, head over to BIGCHEESEMAGAZINE now!
Just a quick one to say i have finally updated the tour dates on the site after months of outdated events on there. Better late than never!
I just want to take a moment to welcome Kristan to Heartagram Fan. As im sure many of you know Heartagram Fan has suffered a serious lack of updates lately due to me having work, college and a social life to look after. From now on Kristan will be helping me with all the news and other site updates to keep Heartagram Fan up to date with all your HIM gossip
Thats pretty much all right now, i will say i am thinking of getting a new layout up soon to keep things fresh, more news on that later.
Let me introduce myself... my name is Kristan and I will be helping fill your HIM needs by dishing out the news you all desire! I, as well as all of you I'm sure, have been a fan of heartagram-fan.net and am now very excited to be a part of it. I look forward to adding many HIM tidbits in the future here. :]
Now on a HIM note - there are still tshirts on sale at the official HIM store (here) for the summer clearance blow-out. And just another friendly reminder - if you haven't joined the HIM fan club yet, it is only $25 and you get a $25 gift certificate for the HIM store... so basically if you're already going to buy something from there, it would only make sense to join the fan club (and you get a nifty 10% discount... joining will ONLY do you good!). As a refresher, for those who don't know, here's what the fan club includes:
Exclusive merch - A $25.00 access code to unlock in the Heartagram
store - you can choose from exclusive t-shirts (coming soon) or use it
for anything else in the store! Check out what's available now - with
more items coming soon - http://www.heartagram.com/store
Pre-sale and early access to tickets
New music first
Exclusive music and videos. Special behind the scenes videos, concert footage, and live recordings.
Enjoy a permanent 10% discount at the store, only for members inside heartagram.com!
The Heartagram.com club is global - international contests, local features, and ticketing opportunities worldwide.
Unlock special member features of heartagram.com - Create your own
blog, profile page, and contribute to site news, photo galleries and
more.
It's been ages since i last updated this site, so sorry about that, ive got a few people interested in helping me out with news and other stuff so hopefully there will be a few new faces posting news here soon :)
on to the HIM news, which is of course why you are all here.
Enter to win 1 of 5 Digital Versatile Doom DVDs by embedding the brand new “Kiss of Dawn (live)” video on your own social network page or blog. Go here , grab the embed code, send a screenshot of the Kiss of Dawn video on your blog/page to himdvdcontest@warnerreprise.com
One grand prize winner will receive the DVD/CD/Flipbook Limited Edition piece. 4 1st place winners to receive the Digital Versatile Doom DVD/CD Standard Edition. 5 ways to win~
Winners chosen at random from all entries submitted by May 19, 2008.
Get a first look at the new LIVE "Bleed Well" video, straight from the Digital Versatile Doom DVD, available everywhere April 29. www.youtube.com/him
That's all the news for now, as i said above, keep and eye out for some new posters on the site very soon, and if you want to become a member of the team, drop me an email from the contact page :)