_an escape spot

A few minutes before 2004, up on the 8th floor of Hotel Scandi in Helsinki,
Ville Valo and Mige from HIM are about to chat a little with some of HIM's best fanclubs.
Interview conducted on 31/12/2003 11:15-11:40 and those involved were: DarkSecret Club (Greece), The Flame Club (Italy), HIM Empire (Bulgaria) and journalists asking on behalf of Russian magazine. Text is unedited.
Text and pictures are copyrighted by DarkSecret Club 2004.


(continued)

Ville and Seppo enter the room

Mige: I like their stuff more than others.
Ville: Sorry i'm a bit late. You understand it's so hard to get a taxi.
Seppo: Ok, let's start
HIM Empire: We want to know if you are going to play next year in Bulgaria.
Ville: Oh, we'll have to ask Seppo for that. Seppo, are we playing Bulgaria this year?
Seppo: There are no plans so far, but it is always possible.
Ville: We are trying to sort it out.
E: And have you got any plans after the German tour?
Ville: I can't remember anymore. I can't remember the details. Because we're going to be on tour the whole spring, it might be that we're going to go to America. We are hoping to get a couple of showcases, maybe in Boston, New York, L.A., i don't know, let's see what happens. We are sort of like hoping to take some time off during the spring time for America.

Rfc: When you're on tour, what do you always require to be in your rider?

Ville: In my rider? Well, the normal things: Towels, beer, water, soft drinks...

Mige: Bible

Ville: The Bible, he wants the Bible. He's been collecting Bibles for years and years. Some aspirin, it's very simple that's about it. Nothingt like extravagant.No midgets, no strippers!

Mige: We tried to ask for a shotgun but noone never brought it! You never get what you ask for.

Ville: And usually when bands make deals with a place, it depends on the actual place they're playing at,they usually pay for their own rider. So why should you pay for midgets and strippers if it all comes out from your own pocket? I don't understand why asking for extravagant things if the place is buying all that stuff. It's better that way.

Rfc: How did you spend your Christmas holidays? Is it such a special day or just common traditional official day?

Ville: I think everybody in the band just went to their parents to have a meal or whatever, had a little bit of Rudolf the raindeer...

DS: Ooh!

Ville: Yeah! That's about it! Give the presents away.

Rfc: Do you give presents? Do you take presents?

Ville: Yeah, you know the funniest thing, we celebrate it on the 24th here, we give away the presents, that day so...

HIM Empire: The Christmas for you is more important that New Year?

Ville: They're different! But say that Christmas and New Years' together is as important as like Easter for me.

Ds: Ville, we read somewhere last week that there are plans for 2 new songs.

Ville: Yeah.

Ds: "Solitary Man" and "And Love Said No". Can you tell us something about these? There are a lot of...rumours circulating around...

Ville: Rumours. Rumours about what?!

DS: First of all, are you going to play them tonight?

Ville: Heh, well let's find out! Let's see what happens. We've been playing "Solitary Man" for quite sometime and we just recorded it for the Greatest Hits. So there's up to 2 new tracks for the GH coming out in March.

Ds: Are there any new videos for these?

Ville: Well, we are working on them.

Ds: There was something mentioned about Bam directing them.

Ville: Yeah, hopefully. We are still trying to sort everything out.

HIM Emp: You said that on Christmas you ate raindeer, could you (to Mige) eat Raindeer or kill raindeer or whatever?

Ville: He's a vegetarian! He even has a problem killing cucambers!

Mige: No, i can kill! I am a natural born killer!

Ville: I can't! I'm too sensitive for that!

Rfc: Tell me, what is friendship for you? True friendship?

Ville: True friendship is about accepting the smell of each other's farts! That's about it.





Mige: That's how you recognise a friend actually, when you can like free your mind as much as you can and fart if you feel like farting.Before that there is just tention, can i fart or not?! Then you are not among friends!!

HIM emp: And what is sexy?

Mige: Farting!

Laughs

Mige: When people don't have to worry about anything, that's sexy for me. If they feel like it.

Rfc: Can i ask you, what it feels to be Ville Valo?

Ville: Well, i've never been anybody else! Pretty hard for me to say! How it feels like being Michael Jackson or something.

Rfc: Who would you never like to be? What person?

Ville: Living or dead? Or both? Hm. I don't know.

Mige: There is no such thing you know. I think everything and everybody is worth trying for

Ville: True. Could be. From a different perspective

Mige: Getting a new perception from everything.



Ville: I never want to be Gas!

DS: Why? Because he's a better drummer than you?

Laughs

Ville: He's a better drummer than me? He's playing different sort of stuff!

Mige: That's debatable!

Ville: I don't like his furniture that's all!

Mige: Society doesn't accept fat people! They are always outcasts!

Ds: So we should try to be less fat!

Mige: Ville's fart?!???

Laughs

DS: You have a thing with farts ha?

Mige: Well, yeah! I'm a circle thinker!

Laughs

DS: So what we should expect from your new-future album?

Ville: Heh, it seems well..we're trying to be logical which is very very hard for us...



DS: Smoother? Harder or different than Love Metal?

Ville: It is going to be different yeah. Hopefully it's going to be...when you hear the 2 new tracks from GH, they were produced by Tim Palmer, he's been working with The Mission, Pearl Jam and lots of different bands, we really like the way he works. We also had a really good time with him, so it might be that we are going to record the next album with him, if he wants us! So, it's probably going to be a little bit more U2 meeting Black Sabbath, i like the sonic scape sound of U2, all those little things going around when you listen to the headphones.

DS: This electro kind of thing.

Ville: Not that electronic, but a bit more psychedelia going on. I don't know maybe, cause it's all depending on the songs as well...we've been writing a few songs but we haven't had the time to rehearsh for them but we are trying to get into the studio for like next October which it means that probably it's gonna come out in 2005 at some point. I am not sure when. But we wanna take our time this time around, we've always been in a hurry, it's fucking horrible. so we'll take it easy.

Ds: Take your time!

Ville: You know, it's an important album, we want to work on it for as long as it takes.But not do like Def Lepard or Guns 'N Roses sort of thing and record it for lile 8 years! We just like to have a bit of time to concentrate on it.

HIM Empire: In your opinion, who is the most mysterious person in your band?

Ville: Mysterious? The guitar player. Cause he rarely says a word. We don't know anything about him. I've known the dude, i've known his name, i've partied with him since i've been like 14 but i still don't know what he thinks. That's pretty weird!

Mige: I think he has a bird in his mind!

Ville: What?

Mige: Bird

Ville: Bird's mind? What kind of minds do birds have?

Mige: I don't know, just a hunch, like parrot or something!

Ville: Or like goldfish, you know..you can't remember like

Ds: 30 seconds?

Mige: No no fish, well he looks a bit like a fish but...



Ville: They did a new study now they found out it's longer! It was longer than they expected so goldfish do get stressed out!

HIM Empire: What happened with your contract with BMG?

Ville: Our contract with BMG ended! We signed for 4 albums and now it's done!

HIM Empire: Have you already signed for a new record deal?

Ville: Not yet, not yet.

HIM Empire: In the U.S. with Universal?

Ville: Yes, Universal. Only that they've got (BMG) the old albums, so we don't have a deal for the new stuff. Let's see what happens. It's not about that we would have got any problem with BMG. But let's see what happens. Who's got the most money.







Ds: Now that you are trying to break through in the U.S. how hard is it, i mean is it hard to be categorized somehow cause they now describe you like "NU goth" or bond you with Evanescence and...

Ville: I don't really matter. I like 2 songs from Evanescence.

Ds: Which ones?

Ville: I like "Going Under". It's a good song and then the, on the single of "Bring Me to Life" they have the original version of the song without the rapping, without that dude, i hate that dude in the song..so..that's really good!

Rfc: Let me ask you, when you write the lyrics to the songs, do you sometimes look up for some words in a dictionary?

Ville: Huh?

Mige: Do you know all words by heart or you look up in dictionaries?

Ville: Well, i don't know. When i watch movies i always have the subtitles on in English. You live and you learn, you know!

Rfc: And when you write music i wonder, what do you write first, drums, bass how do these combine together?

Ville: You know everybody in the band seems to know at this particulat moment, the chemistry is pretty good, so everybody seems to know what they should play. I got like the basic ideas for the songs but then they usually evolve into totally different monsters so...

Rfc: So you sing a song to your producer, does he always like it or you need to change something...

Ville: Of course we change things, it's always good to have somebody with a fresh ear, just like "why is that drum beat there?", "why is it not there?", because when we start working on the song it can take like half a year in one song, we do different demos at our rehearshal spaces stuff like that and very easily you don't the forest from trees when is the time to record, you've been working on this so much you get lost in detail, which is not good so it's great to have somebody who's got that impact in what you do.

Rfc: And do you take a part in making your videos? Who and how makes it?

Ville: Well, we perform in them, so we are basically..involved.

Rfc: I mean, ideas about videos...

Ville: We say yes and no when there's ideas. There are ideas we don't like and we don't do.

Rfc: And for what ideas have you said no?

Ville: Like there was one idea, that i was supposed to be, i can't remember for what song was that, i was supposed to be sitting on this huge like throne with ladies from black pvc and stuff like that, but i thought it was too much.

Mige: Now that you think of actually it's a pretty good idea, it's funny how you pass...

Ville: True! There's always funny experiences but let's say that we don't wanna cross that message that we would be a... kinky band in that sense. Homosexual maybe...not kinky.

Rfc: How would you like to die!?

Ville: Eh, i don't know. Probably die on plane crush, cause that's the thing i don't wanna see myself in.

DS: Would you prefer of old age?

Ville: Nobody dies of old age! You die from cancer or whatever, there are always some complications when you get older...i don't know, i wish i could die in my sleep, like tomorrow that would be good, the warm embrace of death.

Mige: Death is such a terrible thing. I thought he was my friend but he wasn't.

Ville: I am plannig to get cremated and then they'll put that to the toilet of Lost & Found!

Mige: Flush it down! laughs

Ville: Probably someone must shit on top of it and then flush it down!

Mige: Out of two of us, i'm gonna die first!

Ville: No you're not!

DS: Can we ask what do you think about the whole Tavastia tradition in New Years' Eve, it's like a festival gathering people from all countries around...?

Ville: Yes, it's getting weirder and weirder every year. There's more people from all kinds of places

DS: Yeah, it's very bizzare cause you meet people from all over the world, who come here for only one reason, when you think of it it's kind of...

Ville: That's odd, Because our mail goal when we started out Tavastia was a place to play at, that was like the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, in Helsinki that was like the classic club and then we got the chance and of course you know...the more you eat the hungry you get, so we wanted to play that New Years and everything went so well that the owner of the place, just liked the whole system and we just started playing there! Nothing more magical about it in that sense. It's always a bit nerve breaking because all the parents, lots of friends are there so it's pretty strange.

DS: Are you playing next year in Tavastia?

Ville: You mean New Years? I don't know yet. If there will be something more interesting happening, i don't know. We are glag we are playing there, we are glad that people come over and all that stuff but it's just a gig in that sense.

HIM Empire: Do you think you are showing off or ever done it?

Mige: I never did that!

Ville: I bought 4 girls 4 roses, is that showing off?

Rfc: What rocks your life?

Ville: My life? Sauna!

Mige: Well, nothing at the moment!

HIM Empire: Do you support any football team or soccer team?

Ville: I don't.

Mige: I do, i support the Filadelphia Flyers. Because Gas doesn't like them! Just to piss him off..!

Rfc: What would you like to buy when you're going shopping next time?

Ville: I'd like to buy Neverland. And then Graceland. Both of them.

Mige: I don't think you can have them both. You have to make a decision.

Ville: Oh come on! I really want the combo!

Mige: No no no...you can't have everything! laughs

Ville: Oh come on...i want the telly and i want the monkeys

Mige: Out of those 2 i really couldn't choose!

DS: The monkey!

Mige: Yeah probably the monkey...maybe

Ville: ...But then again!? laughs I'd love to take a shit in the same toilet where he died (Elvis).

Mige's cellphone rigs again in a kind of arabean ringtone!

Ville: He's got friends! Agyptian friends! laughs

HIM Empire: What does it feel being on the cover of almost every music magazine?

Ville: Well, i don't buy the ones i'm on! It's stupid reading a magazine you're on the cover in a bus or something. It's pretty embarassing! You start to blush...I'd rather buy the ones with like Dani Filth !

DS: Are you planning to come to Greece?

Ville: Well hopefully yeah.

DS: Are you probably coming for Rockwave Festival in the summer?

Ville: I don't know yet.. I am stupid in that way you know..there's been a lot of discussions with different festivals and different clubs but nothing's been booked so far, because it all changed because of the Ozzy thing that went postponed and postponed...for third or fourth time. It just all changed!

DS: Ville, what happened to our lovely guitar we gave you? Still got it?

Ville: Yeah! sure! But now it's at Gas' place. I kind of lent it to him, he wanted it, because he didn't have an acoustic and it's actually pretty good!

DS: Did you read it all?

Ville: Well, i tried to! laughs it was kind of complicated!

Rfc: Can you tell us what are the 3 most important things for you?

Mige: I don't like putting things in order but...coffee, apples and Seppo!

You see how my mind works!

laughs!

Ville: I'd say power, money and Seppo! laughs

Mige: That, equals Seppo!

Ville: To be honest with you yes! laughs

DS: That's it from us..thank you very much guys!

Ville, Mige: Thank you! Happy new year!

Interview finnishes and Ville gets a couple of gifts from us like Mige did some hour ago. A VHS of the DarkSecret Club Halloween party gig- he knew about it!- some pics, cds and other little ones, and others that Greek fans asked us to give him.

Ville: I will watch it with Gas most definately! I am really flatered! thank you so much.