Mira: Ville Valo, welcome to the NRJ afternoon show. It’s amazing to have you here.
Ville: It’s a pleasure and an honor to be here.
Mira: HIM’s new album, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, was released last Wednesday, and I read that the message of the album is that life and relationships are hard [Ville bursts out laughing], but you just have to accept that and take it as a challenge. Does your life feel like it’s still one big battle?
Ville: Well… At times yes. Every other day. Every other day it’s extremely easy. Maybe I create some of those problems on purpose just because it shouldn’t be too easy.
Mira: Yes, and on the other hand there aren’t too many hit songs about family life and changing diapers and gardening.
Ville: Let’s say that at least not the songs that I would listen to.
Mira: So you could say that the fact that you have unhappy love affairs [Ville laughs] leads to you making good songs?
Ville: Well let’s say that when I’m faced with problems that can’t be solved mathematically, then the guitar starts to sing. I don’t have to feel unhappy or sad. Maybe there are situations that can’t be expressed in words, and then it’s easiest to pick up the guitar and try to convey those emotions with notes. I guess it could be called self-therapy, looking in the mirror sonically in one way or the other. It’s hard to say.
And then the thing about music is that it has been so magical and it has worked so well in our case that I don’t want to start theorizing it too much for fear that the little magic that’s left would disappear.
Mira: But is it still easier for us to identify with emotions other than happiness?
Ville: The way I see it is that… Oh I sound like a politician: “The way I see it is that…” I’d say that when you’re content, you’re in balance with the world and you’re feeling good so to speak, that’s a time when at least artists very rarely do work. You have to have questions without an answer, that’s when the paint brush is raised. I’m talking about a paint brush you use to paint… Because in the terminology used in adult entertainment a paint brush can also mean completely different things. [smirks] Or the guitar. Once again, it doesn’t necessarily have to mean depression or anything heavy. But for me at least when everything is well, then I just enjoy that. Somehow that seems natural. That’s extremely rarely. [laughs]
Mira: You’re about to go on a tour that will last at least a year. [Ville looks surprised] It’s tough but it must also be pretty rewarding. What’s your mood leaving for this tour?
Ville: My question to you would be how exactly is it rewarding. [laughs] I don’t think it will take a year. What’s my mood? Expectant and nervous. I’m nervous about what the response to this album will be once we get to play the songs live. What songs people will like or will they like any of them. We have usually been a kind of an interactive jukebox at the service of the audience in the sense that we gladly change the set and the selection of songs based on what people want to hear. After all, they are the ones who play for the tickets. We have seven albums, so it’s hard to choose the songs and know what people like. This kind of fine-tuning at first. And then I’m nervous. I have loads of butterflies in my stomachs, but it’s best not to think about it too much.
Mira: What is it that makes you nervous The fact that you have new material or…?
Ville: The whole thing. I’m nervous that suddenly I’m going to be in a new city every day. There are a few things we’re going to do in Europe, then a UK tour, then a few things in Europe, then… Oh I don’t even remember how it goes. Australia, where going to be a few weeks there. Then North America and then hopefully some festivals. If you look at the number of gigs, it’s not that much. There are bands, for example The Rasmus is a good example of a band that does an insane amount of gigs when they tour. They will play anywhere which is cool. I don’t know whether we have the energy for that. But there are dozens and dozens of cities… It’s horrible to think about and see a piece of paper telling me where I’ll be next October, in what city and how many hundreds of kilometers it is from there to the next city.
Mira: It’s wild.
Ville: It’s weird but in a way it’s also a relief. You don’t have to wonder where you’ll be because you know.
Mira: Know where you’re going to. Hopefully you’ll also know where you are.
In the interview for Soundi magazine you have said – and you have made headlines with this statement – that if you’d have money, you’d quit tomorrow. Does this have to do with touring and how tough it is?
Ville: I don’t know what it has to do with, maybe I just ran out of words. Music is a difficult field especially nowadays when records don’t sell anymore and people want more music all the time but they don’t want to pay for it. If I get myself a guitar to make the songs with, it costs about 5000 euros. So that it’s a professional guitar that can be recorded so that it sounds really good. There are loads of expenses doing this. Not that I do calculations at home with a pen in my hand or a calculator about how it goes, but an awful lot of people forget that side. This is not a bed of roses financially speaking, especially since people have kids and wives home waiting for them – hopefully they are waiting [smirks] – and it takes an awful lot of time. I personally don’t really have time for anything else. Not that I would want to do anything else but maybe it would be nice to see my mom and dad more often.
Mira: But how long would you like being at home? I’m sure there would be a limit to that too?
Ville: I really like the creative process, I think the birth of a song is the most interesting thing. When I’m playing a DX7 or something at home and then I come up with an idea. I think it’s… Oh, my stomach’s rumbling… It’s lovely and it’s magical and it gives me a Duracell bunny-like energy which I like. But then there’s the process of making the album and the process of touring, and when it’s fun it’s really fun but it has its own really difficult moments. There are a lot of compromises involved, a lot of traveling, a lot of time differences, a lot of all kinds of things to be done. But it’s no use complaining, I have dug this hole for myself. And it has been fun… But yeah, if someone would give me a hundred million euros, I don’t think I would go on tour. I would probably build a studio at home and make music.
Mira: But what is your everyday life like when you’re at home, other than playing the guitar? What do you do?
Ville: Well I haven’t been doing anything. I have tried to take a few days off. I’m in contact with the record company in California and I’m in contact with Seppo Vesterinen about stuff that has to do with our management. I work. And then I go to the grocery store and like buy tomatoes. The price of tomatoes these days is incredible. A Finnish tomato costs something like 70 cents, which I think is sick. But anyway… There’s very little time to do anything. For me a vacation is that I get to make music. I get to do and create, I find that really fun. I open the computer and I have all kinds of gadgets and systems around me and I let the moment take me and suddenly I notice that twelve hours have passed just like that.
Mira: You spend most of your life abroad. Has it made you look at Finland in a different light? What kind of observations have you made?
Ville: It’s surprising how many people have gotten interested in Finland also through our band. That has been surprising. There are quite a few people who don’t know anything about this country which I find enchanting. This is kind of like a little secret, which I think is fantastic. And the fact that it’s considered something of a mythical place, don’t ask me why. Somehow it’s hard to get a handle on, as a region or in some other way. To me Helsinki is home, and the fact that I have our rehearsal place here and my mom and dad and little brother makes it home for me. I’m not really interested in a country that tries to pass a law to ban smoking altogether. I have decided that I will move away and change my citizenship if a law like this will come into effect.
Mira: Is that so?
Ville: Yes. And I plan to quit smoking before that because it’s the best way for me to speak against a paternalistic society… [It looks like he’s cut off mid-sentence here…]
Mira: We Finns have gotten more international like the rest of the world. [Ville laughs] Do you think we have learned the smooth international etiquette?
Ville: This is an interesting question in that I don’t know what a smooth international etiquette is. I would venture a guess that it’s a little different in different fields. In the field I’m buzzing around in, the people are pretty colorful and so it’s good if you can talk about different things, about everything under the sun as much as possible but that’s my character – I babble endlessly so it’s not a problem. I don’t know whether there are any rules. There are lots of different kinds of Finns. You can still find the traditional Finnish introversion in some individuals and it’s touching and beautiful sometimes but it might be a handicap if you think about becoming more international because that requires communication. Just sitting sullenly in a sauna might not work.
Mira: How about Finnish women? Is there a difference between how a Finnish woman and for example an Italian woman try to pick you up? Is a wink from a Finnish maiden more effective than that of an international beauty?
Ville: The women of the north are dirty mamas. You have to remember that there are lots of different ways inside this country. The farther up north, the dirtier and more straightforward it is, that’s a fact. It’s lovely in a way but it’s also scary at times. [laughs] Let’s say that it depends on how big the mama and how strong and what combat sports she practices.
I don’t pay attention. I interpret women really badly and that might be the reason for our success in music. [laughs]
Mira: That’s a good definition. I have read many interviews you have done and they often talk about love. It seems like talking about it comes naturally to you and about emotions in general.
Ville: Well, I don’t think it comes naturally, that would be a bit suspicious. But on the other hand, if you make music and sing about something that’s an important thing in your heart and if that happens to be relationships, you can’t avoid talking about it later on if people happen to be interested in what we do with the band… [shrugs] It’s suspicious. It’s such a personal thing for everyone, there are no solutions. You can’t read a book and everything would be okay. And everyone sees… everyone needs different things in relationships to be satisfied.
Mira: But in Inferno magazine [Ville snorts] you said that you believe in mythical love that’s larger than life. [Ville: Yes.] So many women want you, but what kind of woman appeals to you?
Ville: I don’t know. I’m still searching for that. All kinds of women are… Women in general are interesting.
Let’s say that I don’t think that that’s the problem, the problem is what I do myself. Which means that I enjoy solitude and I’m away from home so much. It’s a bit difficult to make any proper relationship work. But all kinds of… There are no size restrictions or color restrictions… I do have a little eye-glass fetish, I’ll give you that, but that’s another story. [laughs]
Mira: How’s sobriety going?
Ville: Well thank you for asking, it’s going nicely. I’m not as bloated and I don’t spend as much money, I can afford to buy all kinds of synths from the 80s that make all kinds of fun noises at home. That beats beer. But no, no… I sang enough from the songbook with glass covers back then. So much that we tried to get Gambina back in the market. [looks wistful] That would have been… [laughs] It’s a manly drink.
It doesn’t affect anything. The effect it has is that I don’t have a hangover and I sleep better and I don’t do quite as many stupid things.
Mira: It’s just that your friends don’t seem to be very supportive of your life without alcohol…
Ville: How so?
Mira: I mean Bam Margera said in an article that Ville could use to relax and come out of his hole and have a few beers. Some friend you have there!
Ville: Well there are a lot of things there. There’s that you can come out of a hole, it doesn’t necessarily require beer. And then we can for example read in the news about how Bam had to be hospitalized for dehydration or whatever. And the way I understood it was that maybe he had taken a few more than two beers and done an awful lot of work on top of that, which is very much like the situation I was in. So my suggestion, a counterproposition to my friend is that how about you crawl into this hole here and throw those beers against the wall. At least for a little bit.
But we’re from the same side of the river anyway. [laughs] I haven’t seen Bam much now, but I saw him last fall when we were making the record. It doesn’t matter if one drinks and the other one doesn’t, I don’t think it matters. Or it shouldn’t matter. If it does matter, then it’s not a friendship but a weird codependency. Meaning if you can talk only after a case of beer… I don’t know. I guess I have to start drinking again. [smirks]
Mira: Yeah. That’s what you said in some magazine. That you’re considering starting to drink again.
Ville: Well, I guess it was mostly because I find it so extremely boring talking about how I don’t drink beer. Somehow it’s like… woe is me. Everyone who knows how to drink well so that they go out once a week doesn’t see it as any kind of a problem. Finns tend to blame themselves that oh we drink so much and blah blah blah. But in countries like France and Italy people drink red wine at dinner since they’re like ten and it’s a normal part of culture. We have this weird blaming mentality.
The thing with me was that I drank a little too much, I didn’t feel too good and I felt that music was more important than getting drunk. It’s like the late Kirka said to me that smoke now while you still can. Because he had had to quit smoking because his throat couldn’t take it. I would smoke if I could sing, Kirka said to me. May he rest in peace. This is kind of a similar case. If you can’t keep the cork on the bottle and do your work, it’s perhaps better to glue the cork on the bottle permanently. At least in my case.
Mira: It would be fun to think that Finland and Helsinki would be some kind of a haven for you. At least a lot of celebrities say that in Helsinki you can walk around without people bothering you that much.
Ville: They are usually foreigners, right?
Mira: Who bother you?
Ville: Who say that. Tina Turner and others always say that it’s lovely to stay at Hotel Kämp because people don’t care that much, you can walk down Aleksanterinkatu in peace and stuff.
Mira: So it’s just wishful thinking in your case?
Ville: No. Finns are extremely polite and wonderful people. I get along with them fine, I just wish they would leave my home alone. That’s my only little wish.
Mira: Meaning there are people hanging at your front door. But are they Finnish fans or could they even be foreign fans?
Ville: Finnish schizophrenics. It’s not fun to come home and find that my windows have been broken and stuff like that. I have to call the cops and stuff for like no reason. I don’t know… [looks really serious] It’s useless to complain about this in a way—it’s nice that people are interested but I wish they would write somewhere that my address is the Lapinlahti mental hospital, so that the most enthusiastic ones would find themselves a good home while at it.
Mira: End up where they belong.
Ville: Exactly.
Mira: You seem like a really uncomplicated person. I guess there couldn’t be a situation that you couldn’t handle or a question that you didn’t want to talk about.
Ville: I’m waiting for that. [smirks] Of course there are but then you have to say that maybe this goes a tiny bit too far, if I’m asked a question like that. It’s such a personal thing. That my shoe size is about 9 ½, depends on the brand. It’s quite all right if someone asks stuff like that. If people ask something really specific or they ask about my parents or relationships then it necessarily isn’t any of their business. And it’s not my place to speak for others, I can only speak for myself.
Mira: And that reminds me that relationship status is also a thing that isn’t normally talked about in Finland.
Ville: It isn’t? Isn’t that exactly what is talked about?
Mira: Normally artists don’t even want to tell you that.
Ville: Oh. I wonder why. Isn’t it easier to say that you’re in a relationship and people will stop harassing you at the bar?
Mira: A lot of people probably want to get harassed at the bar even if they are in a relationship.
Ville: Right! That’s true too. I didn’t even think about it like that. Yes, it’s the classic “a ring is switched to the other hand at an opportune moment while the night is fading”. [smirks] Yeah. I haven’t thought about taboos like that at all. In our case this thing has always been talked about quite openly. [shrugs]
Mira: Ville Valo, amazing that you could come here at NRJ.
Ville: Well it’s a pleasure and an honor to be here.
Mira: Thank you so much. All the best.
Ville: Well the same to you.
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Большое спасибо Sineresi
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