click image to view this interview at artistdirect.com
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqU1CGPfXmE
“It’s sad but true. Few bands can dive headfirst into heartache and come out of it sounding evil. HIM wield that unsavory, ungodly and undeniable power. Yes, it’s the time honored tradition of being heavy enough for the boys in the crowd and heart-y enough for the girls, yet no one really possesses that dynamic anymore. HIM bubbles over with it—right down to their Heartagram logo.(…)”
HIM dazzles a sold out Wiltern last night and ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino captures it all in this exclusive review…
HIM start their US tour with Philadelphia on March 26th. Campus Philly interviewd Ville Valo about their visit to the US and more:
Campus Philly: I’m sure you’ve been asked this a million times, but for our readers who might not know, can you give a little background on the name of the band and how it came about?
Ville Vallo: No ones been asking that in the past gazillion years, so it’s great. We first called our band Black Earth because Black Sabbath was first known as Earth. We’re huge fans… [With the name change], we wanted something similarly horrific for the band. I don’t know where exactly it came from, but someone came up with the name His Infernal Majesty, and at 15-years-old it sounded ridiculously cool.
CP: Why did you decide to go by the abbreviation?
VV: In the 90s when all the churches started to burn in Scandinavia, people started to think we had something to do with it, so we instituted H.I.M.
CP: Your heartagram symbol is everywhere now, from tattoos to shoes. What’s its origin and what does it mean?
VV: The day I turned 20…I was just doodling. I loved the four symbols Led Zeppelin had and White Zombie with Rob [Zombie] had a lot of visual aspects of rock and roll. It’s one of the more fun things for the band and I’m really super proud of it. My dad was an artist and I was brought up appreciating art. I was hoping some of that would rub off on me and I’d get to incorporate it into the band and I’m glad that it has.
CP: Last month, you released your seventh album, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, Chapters 1–13. The title is so intricate. What’s the story behind it?
VV: It’s one of those things like the heartagram, it just popped out of my head. I love the word ‘works,’ as in the collected works of an artist, like T.S. Eliot or whoever. And then with ‘scream,’ you think of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” I also thought about Aleister Crowley who wrote kind of a mythology of rock and roll in Magick in Theory and Practice. For me, love and relationships are the magic. They are the unexplainable; at least I can’t explain them in theory or mathematical terms. So I replaced ‘magick’ with ‘love’ because I can’t see any logical explanation for it.
CP: You’re kicking off the U.S. portion of your current tour here in Philadelphia. Is there any particular reason why you decided to start here?
click here for the full interview
In the latest issue of Kerrang! Magazine, Ville Valo talks about his life on the road (and air). A 4 page interview worth reading! Info on how to get your hands on this issue at www.kerrang.com.
Read more about the interview at Valo Daily…
Big Cheese Magazine has posted a (long) sneak preview of their interview with Ville Valo, which will be available in the next issue of Big Cheese. You can view the web exclusive interview here.
Video embedded from here.
If you sent your questions for Ville Valo to Kerrang! a while back, then your answer may be here. Watch this Kerrang! podcast to find out!
The issue everyone has been waiting for! Metal Hammer takes us into Ville Valo’s domain and reveals what they found inside the sacred tower. Also with this issue is a free CD of the song ‘Shatter Me With Hope”.
Check out valo daily for more details!
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