VILLE VALO On HIM's Decision To Call It Quits: 'We Lost The Spark'

Former HIM frontman Ville Valo spoke to Germany's Sonic Seducer about the band's decision to call it quits in 2017 after completing a farewell tour, closing the final chapter on the "love metal" group's 26-year career. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It took quite a long time for us to realize that the story of HIM had ended. After [HIM's 2013 album] 'Tears On Tape', Gas [Lipstick, a.k.a. Mika Kristian Karppinen], the drummer, left the band. Then we found a new guy. We toured a bit. We tried to get everything to work. But it just didn't sound as good as we wanted to. I think that we lost the spark, so to speak. And we tried to be adult about it and realized that maybe it's just not our time, because you couldn't blame us for not trying. We really tried to figure out… We didn't go to any therapy sessions — we didn't go down the METALLICA road — but we sat down long and hard and tried to figure out if there's anything we could give the world musically and decided that it's the perfect time to end it."

When HIM announced its farewell tour six years ago, Ville explained to Kerrang! magazine why the band decided to call it a day. "We were tired of the same shit," he said. "When you've done it for a long time, at some point it doesn't taste good anymore. We started working on some stuff, it didn't sound good enough, and we didn't get the teenage buzz you're supposed get."

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 Gas and replaced him with Jukka "Kosmo" Kröger (formerly of HERRA YLPPÖ & IHMISET).

Four 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.

Ville will release his debut solo album, "Neon Noir", on January 13 via Heartagram Records, distributed by UMG/Spinefarm. The LP will arrive four months after Ville released "Echolocate Your Love", the second single from "Neon Noir". Five months earlier, Valo issued "Loveletting", which 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.