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Beautiful пишет 28/04/2013:

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перевод на английский Annette J. Oksala (Kiss The Void)
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Image may 2013 Ville Valo interview translation:

past 3 years Ville Valo has been living like any other mortal: doing his grocery, spending time with his friends and shoveling snow. Now he´s back, being a rockstar ,finally.
Light to the people
Have you missed Ville Valo? I have. That mythical creature who is in front, singing about pure cliche`s while beautiful women are screaming. Ville Valo who is sinful and evil, the only sex symbol in finland who can stand for competition in a international level. This rockstar who has money,power and dignity.Though I dont know if this Ville Valo exist anymore.HIM has been gone 3 years now. There was a "greatest hits" release in november but usually that is a sign about lacking of a new material,problems with a record company or band falling apart. In these past years finnish poppers have been taking over television like Michael Monroe who is training karaoke stars and Jonne Aaron who is weeping Katri Helenas songs.But where is Ville Valo? What he´s been doing all these years?
Man arriving to interview is pale and he looks like he hasn´t been sleeping very well,as it was supposed to be, I guess. He´s black hair is sweeped behind and his chin is smooth.Hi is no longer wearing jacket and poet´s cap. The most confusing thin is how ordinary he looks.Ordinary guy in skinny jeans. He lifts black acoustic guitar from his guitarcase. Is this the new image? country singer with heavymetal hair? Its clear that this artist doesnt want to make a big deal about himself. Though he probaly is doing good and he´s not broke.Like all the other 2000-century rockstars, he´s a business man. He has fallen sometimes but he has kept the most important thing going, firm´s that keep rights to their music and brand. I´m sure that boys from "Dingo" would appreciate that. Based on this interview Ville Valo is the same as before. He is beeing slightly smug and telling his clever stories while he is filling the heartshapes ashstray in front of him. This man cant be anyone else than Ville Valo.

What have you been doing lately?
Gardening. Painting and washed floors. Shoved snow. I have to do my own plowing. The winter has been so snowy that sometimes I needed to do it twice a day.That would be very expencive to hire someone to do that and I can have some exercise when I´m doing that.
You live in Munkkiniemi, area where people want to buy some privacy and dont even want to know their neighbours? I know all my neighbours. We have a great AmE condominium and we do each others plowings when someone is out of town. I am mister "sand man". I sand all the stairs and gangways. I tried to find a proper appartment from "oulunkylä" but there wasnt any. I wanted to live in "teinintie" in Tapio Rautavaara´s old house but it was torn down. They build a new house there while I was just dreaming of buying my own place someday. I still like oulunkylä, my last visit there was in september.I was checking out old biking roads.
Why do you live in such a bizarre house? I was fascinated to opportunity to singand make music when I feel like it. You cant do that in apartment building. There is always someone complaining. Its not like I listen to KISS every morning 4 ´o clock but I want to focus on making music. That is the most important thing. I have a little studio in my home with small guitars and stuff like that. Its nice to be able to live and work in a same place. I also like to live in a creative environment. I have seen many professionals, who have alarm clock ringing at 9 and making music begins 9:30 and ends 15:30 and they have lunch brake in the middle. I believe in half-mythical madness where I sit in the bathtub in the middle of the night when the melody starts to play in my head and I have to run naked to record it. It might be a bad idea but that kind a creativity keeps me awake.
Do you always create complete songs just like that? Sometimes I had some idea about a song for 4 years and with a band this song is complete in couple of hours. It takes hard work, sentimentality and sensibility, you have to think about the tempo, does it make you wanna shake your arse and does it make you sweat and does it make everybody smile enough. Each song is born in a different way and thats what makes this interesting.
Have you travelled a lot? I have been staying in finland 3 years and working all the time.This is the longest time in row that since I was 19. Usually I spend half of the year abroad.
But would it be nicer to spend some quality time in nepal or something? I´m not interested. Mige and Linde allready did that in 2002. I never understood why you should do what you love doing just so you could make enough money, so you could stop doing it. We have "Iron Maiden attitude" in this band, we are just doing this. This is our way of living, we are not doing this for money. Euro is not a good plectrum.
Are you a hermit? Its normal to be a hermit once in while, cause part of your job is to be on tour and be social 24/7. When I was younger I lived in Fredrikinkatu , I went straight to "Lost and Found" after tour. Back then it felt ok, but nowadays I like to go home after touring. Just be in solitude,smell bad and watch "drive". When you grow older you learn that you have to charge your batterys.I dont mean that I am more tired these days but I just look at things in a different way.
You are 36, you dont really have to work anymore? you could retire? I dont have lots of savings.Not that much..I´m doing ok but I dont want to retire. Besides musicians dont have retirement age. I admit that it feels nice that you have some money left, that you are not broke.
How does it feel to have money? Money is made to be used, though I am good at saving money.Sometimes it feels unfait that musicians cant have a foundation like athletes. When musician hits the jackpot and makes one really big hit, you have nice earnings but you have to take your taxe´s in during a one year so your tax rate becomes huge.It would be fair to pay those taxe´s like in 5 year period for example. That one hit you make might be your last one.
You come from a working class family.Does it give you a pressure to keep working till grave? Finnish people are raised to believe that your job valuates you. This is not my mantra but my reward is to get something done with my hands. The greatest thing is that I can pay my maintenance charge combining my work and my ideas.
Performing is physical. Do you go to gyn,do yoga or how do you keep up your physical condition? My mother does yoga. I believe in utility exercising. I dont feel like I have lift weights or anything yet. In Helsinki I walk everyday or use bike. Its a mental thing as well. When I was making this new album I walked everyday from munkkiniemi to studio in pitäjänmäki and back. Before gigs I do some push ups and sit ups so I can get some oxygen. Moving in stage burns some energy anyways.
How do you take care about your voice? If your throat is bleeding then something is wrong. I havent taken any singing lessons and I dont use voice therapist but if something doesnt feel right then I dont do that. Same goes with everything else in life. I´m use to that in the first gig voice sounds like an angel,in second on its down, in third one its something else and in the fourth one its stronger. Worst thing to do after gig is to go to some noisy pub for 5 hours because you have to yell there. I also try to smoke less.
Ville valos 37 birthday is coming this year.He is 10 years older than Curt Cobain was when he killed himself in 1994. Death made Cobain immortal but that was then. Nowadays rockstar reaches immortality by touring till grave. Like Iron Maiden,Status Quo and Bryan Adams.They are coming to Helsinki in summer 2013. I dont think any other professionals than musicians are so willing to delay their retirement. Ville Valo has more career ahead of him than behind, if you think in working years. Sad thing is that these musicians dont party and freak out as much as they use to. In the year 2007 Valo was in a rehab because of his depression and drinking problem. After that there has been no headline stories of him. I wish nothing but good to him, but still Valo who was trowing floverpots in to his neighbours door and who was pissing in to icecube machines in hotels, was more interesting person than rock millionaire living in solitude. On the other hand, decadence fits in to his character, that is represented by rock legends who died young and adult pop stars that slowly burned out. Tapio Rautavaara,Johny Cash and Roy Orbison lived long but they were drinkin heavily and they were giving hard time to their familys. Orbison made his saddest songs after his children were killed in the fire. Johny Cash was addicted to pils untill he found a woman and God. Ville Valo has no children but rumour says he is in a relationship. If Sauli and Jenni (president and his wife)play their cards right, we will see if it is true when the independence day party day comes.
What do you think about alcohol? I dont romanticize drinking alcohol. I dont care how much whiskey Olavi Virta drank in the lobby of hotel Torni, I am interested about his achievements as a musician. There are thousands of promising plumbers out there, that havent been able to do their job because of their hangover. After drinking two bottles of koskenkorva, its hard to make any classic albums. I understand that drinking becomes a habit easily when you are in the music busines. After a good gig there is always a reason to party and after a bad gig there is a reason to drink to your sorrow. I think its fine to drink once in a while but everybody handles that in a different way. I have learned the hardest way and when things got out of hand, I got some help. My band was there for me. I dont mean just because of drinking, they are always there for me in everything.
Do you feel different way about death now compared when you were younger? When I was younger it was a interesting theme because it seemed so far away. To me it has always represented state of freedom. Death is one of the few things where we all are equal. Not the way we die but that state.
Kari Tapio, Topi Sorsakoski,Peter Steele from Type O Negative,Ronnie James Dio. Past years many of your idols and colleaugues have died.What do you think about that? I still have the number of our producer TT Oksala in my phone. I havent been able to play any pool after TT died. Its just not fun anymore. After Aki Takayma (owner of restaurant Kabuki) died, I havent been able to eat any japanise food. When I think about japan, I think about Aki. To me food is never just food or music just music, there are always some association to my history. I am a collector and There is story behind every item.

You told in Soundi magazine that you bought 2 unborn stuffed mooses who were killed in car crush. Are they in your house? I keep them in my music room. The other one is named George and the other one is Michael. I also have stuffed baby owl from the 1800 century. I call him Ilpo. He was our totem when we were recording screamworks.
What are you reading now? Last book I read in a bathtub was "The killer of little shepherds" its a true story about french serial killer called Joseph Vacher. I have been reading all my books in english for the past 15 years. Fact and fiction. I havent read Timo K Mukka in english but I could read "The Egyptian" by Waltari someday.
Doesnt using a foreign language distant you from your mother language? As a finnish writer you see english poplyrics outside the playground, so to speak. To us that language is a toy. I also believe that in english speaking countries they like accents. They dont care if you make small mistakes because there are many ways to pronounce words. The most important thing is to sound like you believe in what you are saying and same goes with your lyrics.
Where did you get the inspiration for your new album? Lyrics were made fast and right at the last moment. There are lots of half-introspective things and stuf about seasons, mostly autumn. Red leaves are falling from a tree, I sit on the stairs in my backyard and I wonder whats going to happen next. I like to take a little ordinary everyday monent and make it something big and special. "As the light across the room flickers its dying song" its about me sitting on the sofa and watching how the light bulb from Alepa is about to fade. My mind is in some other place but that moment is so breath taking, so I write it down and make it sound much more dramatic than it really is. I think this is much more universal way to write than explaining exactly what everything really means. Song wasnt supposed to be a manual how to build a ikea-shelf.
Are the women in your songs as evil as they used to be? Women never treated me badly, it was about my own insecurity. I was questioning happines,hope and hopelessness. Now I have more experience and many relationships behind me, there are many ways to love and different kind a love. Nowadays my lyrics are more versatile. No more jus a girl and a boy with a ice-cream and a bloody knife in their hands. Things just arent so black and white anymore.
What is the band that combines Black Sabbath,Cutting Crew,Dimmu Borgir, Billy Idol,Satyricon,Madonna, KISS,Smashing Pumpkins,Cathedral,Richard Marx and Bon Jovi? Thats right! My cd-player hasnt played any HIM records very often lately, but yet after a few classes of wine in solitude I praise Ville Valo who helped me out of the closet. He was the first finnish rock star who wasnt afraid to brake genre limits. Ville Valo helped me to realize that I can be postmodern and be a Dio fan as well as Dingo,Rauli Badding Somerjoki and Depeche Mode fan. HIM´s achievement was making gothmetal popular music. Making death and eroticism aesthetic. Horror themes and clichés of romantic poetry, Ville Valo was good at combining them. Type o negative created base of gothmetal combining Sisters of mercy to Black Sabbath and black humour but HIM took this admixture from clubs to arenas and to pop list´s. HIM wasnt the only name in gothic scene trying to do the big breakthrough in USA. My Chemical Romance made a big mistake when they wanted to make a "big american rock racord" the album called "Danger Days", all those black lip-girls had turned into young women who were downloading their music from the internet. My Chemical Romance still exist though, and the rumour says that they have digged up their black clothes from their closet again.
The heartshaped ashtray is filling up and now its time to talk about HIMs future. From where is HIM 2013 going to find their fans? Based on the new Tears On Tape album and their touring schedule, they are not trying to do any tricks. They are trusting to classic rock as they are approaching people in Ruisrock and Download festival, masses with money but who still have loyalty to this gengre. HIM is appealing to us, normal guys, that have 3 band shirts and a Dressman suit in their closet. Good ordinary people, abutments of the society , who find a piece of their youth in rock music.
Green Day made their big breakthrough in their old days.Do you still dream about doing the same? No but you know, you always want to be number one instead of number two. If its going to happen then it happens and we can talk about it then. This business really is like Las Vegas, its about luck and timing even though your record,funding and backgrounds are fine. We are doing good, guys in band are smiling and they still have faith in to this band and we are touring in USA and UK in decent clubs.
What being internationally big means to you? It means being like U2,KISS or Metallica.When you really sell ten millions and you are capture of your image. It would be scary to be U2 because you couldn't come any bigger. What ever you do, people will like it. I think it would be much cooler to be like Lars Von Trier or David Lynch. Some people like what you do and they know that next thing you do might be total shit.
Your last album Screamworks wasnt really popular among kids in USA. Where do yoy want go with your new album and who is it for? Its imbossible to know what some little girl in Kansas thinks about us, so we need to find the joy of making music from our ourselves. We dont have any masterplan. We are like professional payazzo players. You cant always hit it, doesnt matter how good you are. We have a little moment of joy and success all the time. When things are going good on the other side, things on the other side are going wrong at the same time,its like a Rubik's cube.You can only work one side at the time.
How are things going abroad for you guys at the moment? Its a good thing for us that people in rock are so loyal. We have are fan base. There hasnt been any big success with the album in USA but our gigs were sold out in east and west-coast.
In Finland there are big expectations about your comeback.In last december your gig didnt get very good reviews. Was the pressure too much? In home the problem is that the expectations are always too big.Mum,Dad and all the friends are in the audience and you feel like nothing you do is good enough. And the pressure was even bigger because we had a long brake. Important opportunity, too much adrenaline..Things go wrong when they should not go wrong.
What about the upcoming gigs? How do you feel about them? existential crisis is like a muscle. You have to practise it to keep it in shape. Its stupid if you dont hesitate what you do everyday. I said to the guys that every practise is reunion. There are always some doubts about that do you still have the energy to keep on going but everytime we hit a good riff or someone tells a really good joke, I feel like year 1993 when we were just starting up. Before the show there are always some butterflies in the stomach and when new album is released the same butterflies are there. Everytime you loose your musical virginity over and over again. Eigth album is like a eigth girlfriend, eigth love. Each one I have loved coequally and in the early stage I loved them fuc***g much!
Interview by Viljami Puustinen

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