An interview from Ville about the new album, it's a little sad
, but interesting
“ It wasn`t really clear to me, that I´m evoking those intense emotions again as soon as I`m singing about a broken heart - and this for the coming 10 years! The sheer horror!”
From a dark towerThe dark king is overlooking his territory
Temples and tombs are opening wide
There`s shining a strange glory
With this lyrical verse, the first part of our talk with Ville Valo, on the occasion of the nearing release of the new HIM -CD Venus Doom, starts. And how easy it would be, in view of the borrowed words by Edgar Allen Poe`s “The city in the sea” (?), to draw a terrific gloomy picture of this, drown in dark thoughts in his lonely tower in Munkkiniemi/Helsinki, man. Lonely - but it doesn`t fit that well.
Indeed there`s a suitable atmosphere in these sometimes very sad lyrics of the tracks, but not all the time in the music, which is touched with apparently kind of “fresh” spirit - and even less in this humorous, charming man, who at the beginning of July invited to an audience in Hamburg`s Park Hyatt-Hotel, above the roofs of the city.
He spent almost 10 hours of doing interviews, Silke Yli-Sirnio, lovable and active as ever, announces after saying good bye to the previous journalist.
A cause for thinking about a tired, being in a bad mood, not talkative musician, and far away from reality, though.
With the best mood the singer jumps off his chair, immediately trying to serve some cool drinks at this sunny evening.
"Oh, I`m fine, everything`s ok” he answers the question about his state of health. He`s kinda tired, he barely slept more than three hours the last nights, and the day was tiring, too. Compared to the occurrences which inspired the lyrics, nevertheless no difficulty."
As cathartic - as a cleaning process Ville frequently describes the writing of songs in the closer past what may be understood by all people, who`re able to devote themselves to loved activities during not so nice life-times.
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"Music itself has already something cleaning, like a hobby or art in general” the Finn confirms, as we expected. "If you`re feeling bad, you work with/on it. I`m writing a song about and as a result I`m feeling better. This thorough analysis of my own emotions also helps me to find another viewpoint for the problems. It`s not enough to just brood about them. When you`re writing it down, thinking about and then reading how you`re feeling, you`re learning a lot of yourself. The feelings don`t disappear that way, but it`s easier to get along with them.”
“Singing the lyrics in the studio is horrible!” Ville continues, “ It wasn`t really clear to me, that I`m evoking those intense emotions again, as soon as I`m singing about a broken heart, and this for the coming 10 years…The sheer horror! But I mustn`t complain, cause that`s the way I`ve chosen. It`s a difference singing about personal things in the studio or performing live. During a concert there`s more the possibility of being distracted by many other things. It`s more like an experience “outside-your-body”. You don`t think about it!”
Also drummer Mika Karppinen alias Gas Lipstick had to deal with the emotional lines of Cyanide Sun, which nearly made him cry, while working in the studio.
"It was an extremely sad and tragic matter" his band-mate enlightens the background representative, "One of his friends died in a car accident one day before, and Gas was told about maby 15 min. before recording the song. I didn`t have a clue, he told me about later the day. Otherwise we probably would have cut. But this wouldn`t have been, what Gas would have wanted, cause he wanted the more to do his work to be distracted. Of course his emotional reactions during the song are no surprise at all. He had to go through his feelings with his body, with the music. That`s the same with me, whenever I`m writing a song. And that`s another thing which we share and which makes us as an union:
We live through our music, it`s a part of ourselves!"
The front man describes the whole recording-time as a beautiful confusion, time full of - positive and negative as well - experiences , the easily dealing with music, the rediscovering of a creative child, who`s not afraid of facing something unknown,- and of course hard work, too.
"Hopefully it was worth it!" he sighs, “Let`s hope the people`ll like it! It`s pretty hard, if you`re putting your own measure higher and higher and at the same time going deeper in your world of emotions to be able to create something new. Unfortunately the last year wasn`t that pleasing, but working, more the writing about this stuff helped me a lot to put my thoughts into the right way. But it wasn`t that easy!"
Not at least therefore the composer sought for the loneliness of Lappland during the process of development of the new album. Far away from day-by-day stress, these songs, which soon will share the personal emotions of the singer to countless lovers of their music, were supposed to be created there.
"I urgently wanted to spent some time away from Helsinki” the singer explains, “and I had a great time near the North Pole. There I was able to write the songs, not being touched by anything and additional I became friends with few people, who live there. One night we were partying and the next day we flew around with a helicopter. It was an unbelievable experience, I never had expected something like that. I just wanted to be alone and to be able to deal with things more relaxed, and I got few new friends at that!"
"I wouldn´t be able to compose backstage or here in this hotel room” Ville answers the question, if silence is an indispensable element for song writing, “I`m needing an amount of hours and concentration. You`re going to another mood then. It`s the same with you, writing some articles. You have to be at a special place, where you`re able to concentrate, to fall deep into your thoughts, to get the right mood for it.”
One of those special places, without any doubt, might be - from “ knowing “ people likely climbed, mentioned several times, and from fans of the band already chosen as favourite pilgrim-place - the watch-tower, which is owned by the musician for some time.
There it is, like an unreal tower, taken from a fairy-tale, in the middle of trees and shrubs, and there it overlooks the whole surrounding area.
"It reminds on a water-tower a bit, but indeed it was used as a watch-tower” the “landlord” contradicts an error concerning the colossus, which was built in the 19th century. “ there were built several flats over a few floors. Unfortunately there was no time to stay for a longer time, yet. But it`s a really beautiful building. The walls are pretty thick, so you can`t hear anything from the outside. Also it`s far away enough from the city, so you`re able to enjoy the silence. Ther`re a lake and many parks nearby, and you don`t need much time to go to the airport.
The tower has its own story!” the Finn raves about with shining eyes.
"I think, once there lived an artist here. It`s pretty cool, because it`s old and it`s different. And I like the way every hall is its own room. That’s like I see it, at least! Every now and then there´s an owl sitting on the windows, what sometimes really get`s me a fright. Maby I`ll have to shoot her down!”... "Noooo” Ville grins, “that`s way too cool, like Edgar Allen Poe or like the old movies- really spooky!
Sometimes it`s like those historical buildings have a life of their own. The first time I went in, I felt like a child in a candy-shop!
Now I have room enough for all my pictures/ paintings and posters. I`m collecting a lot of stuff, although I`m not like Lars Ulrich from Metallica, who owns a real composure. I don`t have that much money, but if I like something and I can afford it, I buy it! I also have pictures/ paintings (?) of/ from(?) Iggy Pop, a really cool guy!”
In consideration of these touching, almost childlike enthusiasm, it`s not the easy way to leave this place with our minds.
But we have to talk about something more, for all fans less nice things, like the re-dating of the release of the album to September.
No nice news; the release actually planned much earlier this year, which would have been enormous stress and a pressure of time for the quintett.
"First I was really annoyed “ the singer comments the fact, “ The release-date had to be changed cause we didn`t know the release dates for the current discs of Linkin Park and Smashing Pumpkins in the USA. They were supposed to come out in July - definitely too many competition! One advantage of this solution is that we had much more time for shooting the first video and getting the cover design done. These things were part of the reasons to push the release date back, too. Add to this, that in many European countries August is a holiday- month, what maby had affected the amount of sold Cds. So we had to find a date, when everyone`s back at home again, and hopefully is hearing our new stuff in the radio to get interested in the album/ in our music. That`s kind of label-stuff, not really my cup of tea. To us it means more space for doing promotion and things like that.”
Without knowing about, Ville takes with that remark the topic to a curiosum(?)-The Fort Knox of “ before-copies”
People, which looked at the seemingly new CD , held, full of surprise a CD of the already late in 1999 American football player Walter Payton in their hands, who obviously wanted to publish the most gloomy of all albums, titeled Venus Doom.
"That`s a long story” the mastermind laughs and weakens the first upcoming suspicion. “ It doesn`t mean something special, nor was it done by accident. The people of the label are inventing such things. They don`t want someone, who happens to find a promotion-CD, maby on a table, because someone forgot to take it with him again, to know that`s the new HIM CD. It`s only about protecting your mental property, so that it isn`t published unauthorized in the net.”
Almost confusing in the same way, at least for the participants of the listening - sessions, was the choice of the first single, which was not Venus Doom - like everyone expected or at least wished - , but Kiss of Dawn, which is worth listening as well.
"The right choice for the first single is very important” Ville explains, “ Finally you have to present the first impression to the people with it and point them out to our new album. I think, the people from the label who are responsible for the air-play had listened to the album a few times and chosen this tracks, of which they think they`re fitting at least for the American radio stations . We ourselves didn`t think about, We`re just writing the songs and playing them live.” he adds, jumps up and leaves the room abrupt.
To be continued...
Subject: Interview from the german magazine Orkus with Ville 
Fri 7 Sep 2007 - 21:35
sounds so romantic and medieval... 
kiitos! 
