Biographie
Ville Hermanni Valo formed HIM in the
summer of 1995,gathering around him some old friends
who shared his vision of a brand of rock Ville himself calls 'love
metal'. Depeche Mode meets Dimmu Borgir in a
David Lynch movie...
"You're so close! Love metal is music
that includes elements of pop, metal, goth,
glam... It's music inspired by the feelings you
have before the first touch, before the first
kiss. Love metal is like the movie poster of
Gone with the Wind, you know, Clark Gable embracing
Vivien Leigh in the sunset." -Ville Valo
No wonder then that HIM has chosen to
cover Chris Isaak's Wicked Game. The HIM version has layers of
hard-edged guitars on it but the soul-searching inner qualities
of that song are left intact. "I could relate to the mood in that
song, it contains that same kind of
melancholy feeling that you can find in our music.
After all, we have much more in common
with a guy like Chris Isaak than any testosterone-heavy metal band.
I hate joyful music! For You is my 'headbanging anthem', if
you know what I mean? When Love and Death Embrace
on the other hand is my version of all
those cheesy 80's pop ballads." -Ville Valo
Ville Hermanni Valo - half sneering
hard rock front man, half suffering poet. On stage with a
bottle of red wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other,
a Jim Morrisonesque figure (in Jimbo's
slimmer days, that is...) with a deeply emotional voice, he
instantly demands your attention. His mother's Hungarian ancestors are
responsible for his dark looks and that drop of Dracula's blood that he has in his
system. HIM stands for His Infernal
Majesty.
"It stands entirely for my reputation
of being a truly infernal ladies' man, totally hopeless. I get burned
time after time again. His Infernal Majesty has nothing
whatsoever to do with ANY kind religious beliefs or
ideologies - just as in our context 666 has nothing to do with
the number of the beast.
When I read about those people that
burned historical Finnish churches and who names us along
with Black Sabbath and Dimmu Borgir as being their main
source of inspiration, I was deeply offended!" -Ville
Valo
HIM's debut album is entitled Greatest
Lovesongs Vol. 666 and it has a track on it called Your
Sweet Six Six Six. For Ville and HIM, 666 is all about
contradictions, the Good and the Evil in love. Love that's larger than life and yet
very close to death, the neverending duel between the arnal
and the pure, spiritual sides. "666 is something you're posessed with,
something you just have to get although you know it
will destroy you in the end. It's something sweet but it has a
bitter aftertaste, like Belgian beer or something,
ha-ha..." -Ville Valo
Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 contains
nine songs of which seven are originals written by Ville Valo.
A second cover version is a stunning,
slowed down reading of Blue Öyster Cult's mid-70's classic (Don't Fear) The
Reaper.
"You could say that Romeo and Juliet
are the hero and heroine in our music -
that's why we chose to cover (Don't Fear) The Reaper.
I heard the original for the first time
on the soundtrack of Halloween and it has stayed with me ever since."
-Ville Valo
That androgynous figure on the cover of
Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666, burning in the fires of hell and
staring into nowhere, that is Ville Valo. A guy who started his musical career
learning the bass entirely because of Gene Simmons' pyrotechnics
and for whom performing is a kind of mental masturbation. The sex shop boy who with his band HIM
has just delivered one of the most impressive debut albums
of the 90's. "What next? You just wait", Ville says
with a sly smile. "It could be anything I just may have a
plan V, you know. I might go full time into the family
business."
Razorblade Romance, which was released
on January in Finland,
was recorded at Rockfield
Studios,the birth place of such classics as
Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Oasis' (What's The Story) Morning
Glory and, as the band are keen to point out, the debut album of Black Sabbath.
Razorblade Romance was produced by John
Fryer who has previously worked with White
Zombie, Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode.
Him's debut album Greatest Lovesongs,
Vol. 666 was released in the autumn of 1997, introducing
their
sound, a vibrant mix ofmetal and bittersweet pop melodies. This
remarkable debutpaved way for Razorblade Romance, a 21st
century foray into the crimson coloured landscape of love and death. Enter
Valo, HIMlead singer and songwriter and leader of
the "Love Metal" movement.
Valo (known by this, his surname, the
Finnish word for 'light') - half sneering hard rock front man, half suffering poet. Half heart-trob, half
enigma.
When we go back a few years we will find Valo
working behind the counter of hisfather's sex shop, dreaming of
the music he was going to make someday. The reality of the dream is music
full of soul and imagination.Songs that could move you, bring
you to the verge of tears and leave their mark on you
forever. Songs ranging from the crunching riff-fest that is Razorblade Kiss to the
melancholic beauty of Gone with the Sin.
