Former HIM Frontman VILLE VALO Loves To Be Able To 'Send Mixed Messages' Through His Music

In a new interview with Belgian Jasper, former HIM frontman Ville Valo spoke about his penchant for writing music that is simultaneously dark and uplifting. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It comes from the heart. It's stuff I'm still questioning. It's about trying to figure out when to hold on and when to let go, and when letting go is less of an egocentric decision to make and more based out of love. But once you have let go, there's no going back. And it's not talking about life and death all the time; it's about important things, the things that you feel in your tummy, that pang or whatever you wanna call it. It's always there and I'm still questioning that stuff.

"I love being able to send mixed messages and to have one sense and say the other and the other and the other, because that's how we are as people — I think," he explained. "People are quite indecisive, especially when it concerns the matters of the heart. But it is crazy how music can work in such a cathartic fashion and how it is that when we are sad, we want to listen to even sadder music, and that makes us happier. It's funny how it works in that fashion. But that's how music has always been for me. And I think music is also an easier way to deal with very, very deep and even dark emotions. It's like a viral thing — it travels so easy, you don't have to think about it when you're singing and when you're emoting. The music has a way of infiltrating your — at least subconscious, but conscious as well, and taking over for that wee bit. And I think that through that, the catharsis might happen. And that is an unbelievable power in music. I am a bit of a drama king, and I am a self-confessed romantic, so for me, that is the stuff that makes the most sense."

Valo's debut solo album, "Neon Noir", will arrive on January 13 via Heartagram Records, distributed by UMG/Spinefarm.

Ville has released three singles so far from "Neon Noir": "The Foreverlost", "Echolocate Your Love", and "Loveletting". The latter marked Ville's first new music in over two years, following the release of the three-track "Gothica Fennica Vol. 1" EP, also released under the VV banner, in March 2020.

Like "Echolocate Your Love" and "Loveletting", "Gothica Fennica Vol. 1" bore a strong musical resemblance to HIM and featured the tracks "Salute The Sanguine", "Run Away From The Sun" and "Saturnine Saturnalia".

HIM completed a farewell tour in 2017, closing the final chapter on the band's 26-year career.

Formed in 1991 by Valo, guitarist Mikko "Linde" Lindström and bassist Mikko "Migé" Paananen, HIM offered the world a new take on the metal genre, which became known as "love metal" (also the title of their fourth album).

HIM in 2015 parted ways with its longtime drummer, Mika Kristian Karppinen (a.k.a. Gas Lipstick),and replaced him with Jukka "Kosmo" Kröger (formerly of HERRA YLPPÖ & IHMISET).

Three years ago, Valo teamed up with guitar legend Esa Pulliainen to record an album based on songs by the late, legendary Finnish singer Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki. The self-titled album by VILLE VALO & AGENTS was released in February 2019 and was followed by a short tour.

Photo credit: Juha Mustonen