Ville Valo and absolute love forgotten. Portrait of the artist as a broken mirror...

Ville Valo and absolute love forgotten. Portrait of the artist as a broken mirror
In times of great stories that lack of love it is hard to build an artistic universe based on a feeling that seems to be out of fashion. The glory days of some famous couples like Romeo and Juliet, Lancelot and Guinevere, Rick and Ilsa ("Casablanca") Jay and Daisy ("The Great Gatsby") have long gone.
It is clear ... our century lacks that great love, absolute and demented that you define. For a sentimental heart, the last hundred years was very dull in terms of enjoying art dealing passion, desire and human warmth. Representing the nearest one was obsolete ideal film "Bram Stoker's Dracula" signed by Francis Ford Coppola, the heartbreaking love, marked by transmigration, of Prince Vlad and Mina had something of the flavor of absolute forgotten.
Good thing we still HIM. Finnish band alienated poor tropes of love "by-the-times" and puts notes, creating a musical idiom that shares both gothic ballad qualities and those of burial metal song. I say love-metal, and not for nothing. In an age which has left great loves die, HIM grafted his heart's Frankenstein contemporary rock.
I had the chance to talk about the essence of love, nature absolute idealism, mandalas and the creator of Sherlock Holmes with love-metal itself, Ville Valo, lead singer of the aforementioned with so much enthusiasm. At the moment, HIM is touring Europe and played in Romania, in Timisoara, July 31, 2015. Here are some performances at home in Finland, then some gigs in Russia.
What does the deduction method used by acclaimed fictional detective with cynicism exorcism? How sounds upcoming album, HIM now has a new drummer? How so beautiful metaphors arise about the lack of faith and holiness of what is seen as a foreign Ville when not on stage? Find out all this and more in our new interview with one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock and intelligent.
In 2006 you took first concert in Romania and about a year later, you released "Venus Doom", HIM darkest album to date. Since then, I'd say you find "light at the end of the tunnel", aesthetically speaking. Your discs have become brighter, more optimistic. What has happened this transition?
It's a good question. Frankly, I think every album moves away, step by step, from the previous. Recording a disc rather optimistic is the reason for the band to create a material very sad later. It is boring to repeat yourself and resume what you did before. I grew up with all kinds of music, as well as the other band members. Especially "Venus Doom", I embraced the aesthetics of old-school bands like My Dying Bride, and all those like them that, after all this time, still in my top ten. I do not think there is any reason or no decision I took - from now on, our music sounds like that. I think one of the things about this band is that charming still trying to find the balance between our love for sounds cheerful, optimistic and melancholic.

Each of your albums has a precise identity. "Tears On Tape" seems to be the most eclectic, mixing elements from previous releases. How do you think will sound its follow-up? What will define?
Obviously, the major change is that we have a new drummer. The concert in Romania was our second show with him, so we're still in the "honeymoon". I'm sure this will affect everything. His influences are different from those we have Gas, even if they both come from the same metal world. However, Jukka "Kosmo" Kroger is a great guy and we inject positive energy, fresh. Remains to be seen ... At home, I put together a few ideas I have in mind a skeleton parts, but there is nothing ready yet. It's hard to say because, for example, I wake up Monday morning and I want to make a disc that will remind Type O Negative, then comes Tuesday and I'd like something influenced by Turbonegro. Things are constantly changing and I think it is important because it means that we are never sure of how the album will sound until it's finished, what keeps us plugged in. Although the struggle is constant, it is a pleasant one.

You could liken the situation of his departure Mika "Gas" Karppinen and coopting Jukka "Kosmo" Kroger breakup of a relationship of love with older and approach another, fresher? You break your heart when you go on the stage and Gas someone else in his place? What do you feel?
I think it is a challenge. We're too old to be sad (laughs). Gas sang with us for over 15 years and has had his reasons for leaving. It takes courage to recognize that your heart can not be found in a particular place. We broke my heart, but we grieved, but it is a gesture that I I congratulated him because it takes power to change your life completely and not a fad, but as a result of situations in which you were thinking for some time. It is a breath of fresh air for us and it's nice to change things from time to time, regardless of the outcome. I think all obstacles must be considered a positive outcome in mind. Otherwise, if you broke down any obstacle that arises in life, you would not be able to leave the house. I believe that these challenges have appeared in our journey to be overcome, which is important for us as a band and as individuals, because it is a process of growth and maturation.

HIM is a band that is either adored or heavy criticism, either revered or misunderstood. Why do you think your reactions to art are so paradoxical and polarize people to such an extent?
We come from a strange country. Finland is a strange place. I never bowed his head in front of someone and Finns are known for their stubbornness. They do what they want, how they will fix it, without compromise. However, such an attitude is not always something positive. I find that people are beautiful, great or total idiot. Then there's the fact that the world is still rock, not necessarily misogynistic, at least very masculine, and we are not Manowar. They bassist fastest in the world, so it is clear to you what to expect from them. I think I see art as a sport is one thing that characterizes metalheads. Musician fastest, loudest coolest vision that makes little sense.

Is it too much to say that many of your critics and music you listen secretly mourn songs?
It is hard to say. Many metalheads love pop but metal is physical catharsis. Singing something hard, as you ears are ringing, is beautiful but, in the end, is only part of the music world. Many people say it is good to know your enemy, ie listen to music in all its diversity, study life in all its richness, to be able to choose what is right for you. I was never agree to limit to anything. It is not good to put yourself in a specific corner, whether we talk about music, politics or anything else.

Let's talk about love in "love metal". The feeling that evokes your music is absolutely idealized. The love of classic love stories like "Romeo and Juliet" or "Tristan and Isolde". It is found that the absolute perception and your personal life, or are you rather cynical?
I think both. I'm a cynical idealist (laughs). I believe that we all have to a dose of cynicism or sarcasm, call it what you want. You need to be able to look at yourself with some kind of self-ironic humor. Life is something beyond the control and must be reconciled with that. At the same time, that does not mean you can not have ideals or do not have hope. The journey is more important than the destination. So it is with love, pain, suffering and so forth. I have something called deductive method of Sherlock Holmes. You take love and its ideal version is the "inferred" shit around. So try to remove everything that is not important, to get rid of debris surrounding that crucial thing for you, to see its pure form, which, next time, helps you do just to appreciate the essence, or as You want to tell. Why sing about other than the absolute love? It's like meditation. Mandala is my love, so to speak. It is something that you focus, you focus on the purest form to forget yourself and the world around them, which leads to escapism, which defines the music in its most beautiful form. Forget about everyday problems listening to any music and in my case, this process has always been cathartic. Hard to listen to music, or deemed sad, it has always been a healing gesture. It is strange, but this is the magic of music. I do not know why Black Sabbath makes people happy, since the songs are sad, melancholic and dark. Logically, it should do the opposite.

Referring to the sacred element in your lyrics. There are many religious references in songs like "The Sacrament", "In The Nightside of Eden" or "Heartkiller". It is interesting that use such metaphors, especially since you're an atheist. How do you have this fascination with religious symbolism, or sacred, in the absence of proper faith?
Well, you know, the concept of faith is something very beautiful and that I have no faith in this respect makes me want it even more, because it is not a "given" is not something that I was born . It seems miraculous how people can believe and find meaning and solace in something I can not understand. They created beautiful art for centuries, aided by faith. It's something I find fascinating, something I appreciate. I think it is wonderful but at the same time, I see myself as a person who watches from outside. Do the same with many subjects. When you remove and see from another angle, you have a much more analytical because you are not involved. At least I think so, but it remains to be seen. There are anti-religion, anti-afflicted are, and in this area of ​​institutionalized religion, there are many villains. But if I think about it, they are found everywhere, so I shall limit myself to be anti-afflicted.

Do you think you could ever get involved, to become the person inside, as did many artists rock over time (Alice Cooper, Cat Stevens, Dave Mustaine etc)? Consider it possible to have an epiphany and find "something"?
You know ... never say never! When I was younger, I was totally against it. Frankly, I do not really care. There is something that is important to me and to my life at this time. There is something worth reflecting on. I would consume too much energy to speculate about some ideas that, at this moment, I know not. It's a little absurd. It's like when your friends tell you that you can not know what it is to have a child until you have one. I liken this experience with faith. Because are not involved, I do not know how you feel when you do not know what I would do. It's like a virus. Unfortunately, faith is always smeared policy details that you can not know unless you're inside, what I do because it sounds like a threat.

My last question goes like this: who is the person who looks at you in the mirror when you are naked disappears and scenic character of everything that glamor and splendor rock star?
I think the best answer is one word: a stranger. Life in this world is affecting your self-perception, because up to a very high rank character Scene from rock and roll to be put on a pedestal, and you must place yourself you there alone, as a performer must be everything. So operated a "separation" - separate "I" your normal, which happens all the shit, the "I" your scenes. Typically, life is pretty consistent - good things and actions are intertwined with the bad, and so on, but rock, everything is much more split. Do you night and day, night is obviously the rock. Your reflection is like a mirror in pieces, as in "Repulsion", Roman Polanski. In a sense, it breaks, which makes you wonder who you are, sometimes. However, I believe that if you think in those terms, it is something healthy, because speculate about the whole situation and try to reason and understand the world, instead of actually succumb mentally. In the best case, it does not affect you so much, but depends on where in the cycle you are - if you're touring, composing etc. Now that we think is the next step, I think, logically, it is a moment of discovery. We try to elucidate why we do what we do, what will bring Vitor and how to become better people and musicians. It is a time of self-research. It's complicated but it is a challenge, and it is always a good thing.

After some hasty thanks and good wishes, followed by farewells took place voice tone is strident musician and flashing the phone. Ville's answers on record now exists only in memory. Fortunately, HIM is not going to stop anytime soon in the probe sonic depths of emotion and her whole charming bestiary. Love - Verse lucrative becoming a favorite toy demons artist - is good, wholesome music band, and will create further melodies for over 20 years, the soundtrack of the lives of the Finnish fans.

Thanks to Maximum Rock