interview with gas SAD BUT TRUE - H.I.M. DRUMMER GAS LIPSTICK SPEAKS AS THE FINNISH GOTH ROCKERS CONTINUE TO SPREAD THEIR "LOVE METAL"
INTERVIEW by DAVID BORGIOLI-JONES ( www.rockdetector.com) Fronted by heart throb Ville Valo, H.I.M. (short for HIS INFERNAL MAJESTY) is the Gothic Rock sensation that has swept Europe and the rest of the world. They are one of the very few acts stalking the world stages that have managed to bypass fashion formulas and carve out their own niche. Naturally H.I.M's "Dark Pop" has spawned a succession of imitators in their wake but the Finns still remain at the head of the pack and with each album release their lead only stretches out further. It was Germany that "got" H.I.M. first, with Scandinavia quickly falling into line. Recent albums have broken the band in Europe and the UK and now it seems their reach is becoming truly global at long last. (Quite incredibly the Australasian arm of BMG had no clue as to who the band was until very recently – even after over a million units had been shifted in Europe! Thankfully that picture has now changed.)
I recently spoke to drummer Mika Karppinen, a.k.a. Gas Lipstick, on the eve of the Finnish band's first tour of Australia and New Zealand.
H.I.M. is no doubt a full on occupation and in your time with the band you've seen numerous members come and go. What does it take to be a long-standing member of H.I.M.?
"Yeah, well this is what I've liked to do since I was a kid. I remember the first time that I decided I wanted to be a musician. That was back in 1977 when I was six years old. My best friend at the time – and he still is now – he had a big brother who was like 17, was a Metal-head, and used to play in a band at the time. We went to his place and went through his vinyl, because we didn't know what CDs were at the time (laughs), and we noticed that he had the KISS 'Destroyer' album. That's the cool one with the guys standing at the top of the hill. And we were like fucking hell this is so cool, look at these guys with masks. Then we went back to school the following day and we decided that we wanted to play a show. Our teachers they painted our faces (laughs) and we played the show, just him and me and we pretended we were KISS. I think that's probably the day when I decided that I wanted to be a musician. So for me it's a dream come true to be able to just play music and concentrate on this. I don't do any drugs, I've never tried pot in my whole life. Playing drums is my drug, I just enjoy playing, especially live. So always when I get on stage, no matter if I've had a hard day, as soon as I get on stage I feel comfortable and I'm totally happy."
Finland has produced some great bands like AMORPHIS and SENTENCED. There definitely seems to be a trademark Heavy Rock sound coming from that country. Would you say that H.I.M. has a similar sound to those groups?
"Maybe a little bit, but I think AMORPHIS are more Metal though. I always thought that we have kind of our own style. It's kind of hard to categorise what we play. The best one I've heard so far is this one bloke who said that it's a mixture of U2 and TYPE O NEGATIVE. I'm not that fond of U2 but I really like TYPE O."
Way back when H.I.M. started out you had a demo called 'Witches And Other Night Fears'. How did that recording and your other earlier material sound compared to the newer albums like 'Razorblade Romance' and 'Dark Light'?
"We've definitely grown as musicians and songwriters. I didn't play on the first album but I was there on the second one. I bought the first album as a fan. I was playing in another band at the time but I really liked the album and the sound. It's got really loud guitars and it's really heavy. With 'Razorblade Romance' we went a little bit more poppy-style but it still had heavy guitars. With every album we try to make it a little bit different. There's no point in making an album like 'Razorblade Romance' like ten times, that'd be kind of stupid. So we always try to grow as musicians. The last album is my favourite album so far. That might sound like a cliché – all the artists think their latest album is the best one – but I think as musicians we pulled it off really nicely with the new one. I really like what I hear on the album. Myself, at least, I tried to play a little bit more compared to the old albums. They were very straightforward drumming but on the new one I tried to bring a little bit more to it drum-wise."
While you’re on tour are you writing any new material and do you have plans for the next H.I.M. album?
"Ville is writing some songs but we don't like to practise any new songs on tours. Before this tour myself, Ville, and our bass player Migé (Amour) went to the practice room just to jam. Ville was playing guitar and we just created some riffs basically, but we don't have a single song ready yet. We just have bits and pieces. It's still too early and we've been touring a lot and we haven't had the time. But hopefully in the summer we'll go back to the rehearsal room and try to create something. But I think we won't expect a release until before next year. If you're lucky it'll maybe be near March next year or something. We probably won't be able to hit the studio before the end of this year anyway because we're still touring. After New Zealand we go home for two weeks, then after that we do an UK tour, and after that an American tour that lasts until mid-June. Then we have festivals. After the summer we go back to the US to do another tour and then hopefully we're doing a South American tour and when that's finished we're somewhere in October and then we have to start to write music (laughs). If we're lucky we'll hit the studio in January or February at the earliest."
You recorded the 'Razorblade Romance' album in a studio out in the country. What was it like recording there and did you enjoy it more than using commercial recording facilities in the city?
"Yeah we did 'Razorblade Romance' in a residential studio that was a farmhouse in Wales. But that one was special. Of course the weather was much better than in Finland (laughs). We lived in the studio as well and I personally really like to record that way because you can totally focus on the actual recording when you stay in the studio. You live there, you kind of breath the air 24/7, and you wake up, have a coffee and walk for like 20 seconds and you're in the studio. The thing when you record back home in Finland is that you always go back home after the day, you have your day routines and you have to pay your bills, you know the normal thing. But when you're abroad you don't think about that because you don't get to see your home and you just concentrate on the actual recording. It's very comfortable and I think you can sense a different vibe in the record. I don't know if the audience feels the same but I hear a difference. That session was probably the fastest I ever did in my whole life. We did 14 songs – we recorded a couple of extra songs – in two days which is really fast for me. I've been in this business for a long time, I'm a bit older than the other guys and I’ve played on like 25 albums so I've done a lot of studio work. But that album was probably the easiest and the most comfortable session I've ever done in my whole life."
Have you guys thought about recording back in Finland?
"We don't know yet? The last album we recorded in the US in Los Angeles and the previous one we did in Finland. But it was mixed in Los Angeles. We've been talking about it, but we really liked working with Tim Palmer (in the US). We seemed to have a really good chemistry and he's a really nice bloke. It's still an option to record another one with him but we haven't decided yet, it's too early."
Originally you were going to have the 'Dark Light' album mixed by Andy Wallace, but that didn't end up happening. Why was that?
"If I remember right he mixed three songs but to us it didn't sound right. Don't get me wrong, he's a really good guy and he makes a great sound but to us it sounded too American… too Nu-Metal. We had to pass and we let Tim Palmer mix it."
What about your side projects, like your Grindcore band TO SEPARATE THE FLESH FROM THE BONES? Have you recently been working with that band or do you have any others on the go at the moment?
"I've got plenty. I've got three projects that I'm working on all the time whenever I've got the time. Of course H.I.M. is my number one band but whenever I'm at home I try to write songs in my other bands. TO SEPARATE THE FLESH FROM THE BONES is in the style of music from the scene I grew up with – the Punk Hardcore and Thrash/Death Metal scene. It's nice to play blast beats (laughs). I really enjoy playing Grindcore and fast music and I always enjoy playing different kinds of music. I've always had like several bands that I'm playing in at the same time since day one. I don't know why but I guess I just enjoy playing music with many different guys and I think it makes you grow as a musician. It's great fun, just enjoy, have a couple of beers and create music. And I've got a Hardcore Punk band. We sing in Finnish and we've released one album and one seven inch EP. Then I've got sort of like a Metal band which is something close toMOTÖRHEAD or ENTOMBED – like the Rock'n'Roll ENTOMBED 'Wolverine Blues' – and it’s called BEND OVER (laughs). We just released an album… it's great fun."
It must be one hell of an effort finding time for all those bands while you're busy being the H.I.M drummer!
"Yeah, well the thing is, with the other bands, we practice whenever we've got the time. For instance, with the Grindcore band we don't want to practice that much because we want to keep it really raw. Like when we recorded our debut album we practised two times and went to the studio and just recorded it. We even wrote half of the material in the studio. It was amazing because we recorded everything during a long weekend from Thursday to Sunday including writing half of the album in the studio. But I think that's how Grindcore should be. Like the old school stuff… you just go in, drink a little bit of whiskey and then fucking record (laughs)... just press the record button and do it!"
Grindcore is quite a contrast with the "Love Metal" that you play in H.I.M.
"Yeah it's different of course. But with H.I.M. what I've always loved is that… well, like I said earlier, I was a fan and I bought the first album when it came out and... I don't know, I just like Ville’s songs. He writes really good songs, I like his melodies and I like the fact that they still have heavy guitars in the mixture. With H.I.M., because the music is much slower than what I'm used to playing, I hit really hard in this band. I've never broken so many sticks, so many symbols, and so many skins as with this band! (laughs). You've got more time during the songs so it makes me hit harder and my hands are totally hammered and full of blisters after we've toured (laughs). But that's Rock'n'Roll!"
Going back to H.I.M., how do you interpret the Heartagram symbol?
"Ah, the Heartagram symbol. For me it's a modern version of Yin and Yang, you know the Chinese symbol. I think it represents our music really well because we still have like really heavy guitars but we have a lot of melodies you know. And we sing about love but still play Metal riffs. I guess that's the thing, combining good and bad."
Can you look at that in terms of contrasting song titles as well? You've got songs like 'Your Sweet 666' and then 'Love You Like I Do'.
"Well, the Sweet '666' (laughs). We never were Satanists you know. That's more of a tribute to our 80s Heavy Metal bands that we grew up listening to. So yeah, we mix those elements and then the romantic side as well. I think that the Heartagram is a good symbol for our music."
H.I.M. has been around for a long time and you have a substantial amount of albums behind you. For those who aren't all that familiar with the band, why should they start listening?
"Hmm, that's a good question. If you like music that has really good melodies and good riffs H.I.M.'s the choice. For us, I think we have a good variety of fans. We've got a lot of skateboard fans that listen to our music, we've got a lot of Metal-heads, a lot of girls, and I think that pretty much says it – I think it's music that a lot of people can relate to, even though we have poppy melodies we are kind of a melancholic band and we still have the rough edge with Metal riffs and distorted guitars – I think it's a good mixture."
source :http://www.rockdetector.com/interviews/artist,4148.sm 
Subject: Gas Biography 
Wed 4 Jul 2007 - 10:15
tatoos: some kind of creatures on his arms 
, but maybe you did that already 
and i was the first one to say Happy Birthday to him on there. 
