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Ville Hermanni
Valo
Vocals
11.22.76
‡ Some
musicians might feel pressure, but HIM front man
Ville Valo had one concern in making Dark Light
- bettering himself. "I think it's good to
find yourself in different spots philosophically
and mentally.
Mige Amour
(Mikko Henrik Julius Paananen)
Bass
12.19.74
‡ The
band also recorded for the first time in the States,
holing up for several weeks in the famed Paramour
house in Silver Lake, California. "We wanted
to do the album in the States because we never
worked here before," Valo says.
Emerson Burton
(Jani Purtinnen)
Keyboards
10.17.74
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‡ After conquering
the rest of the world with chart-topping albums
and sold-out tours that have seen them play before
literally hundreds of thousands of fans over the
last decade, Finland's finest, HIM are finally
making their proper American debut with Dark
Light.
Linde "Lily
Lazer" Lindström
(Mikko Viljami Lindström)
Guitars
8.12.76
‡ To
go a bit crazy every now and then is good for
you; it's healthy. And it's good to put your fingers
into the power sockets and see what happens; that's
what you've got to do mentally with songs as well.
You've got to try and reach certain new areas
within yourself if that's possible," he says,
"it's the thing that keeps me going."
Gas Lipstick
(Mikko Karppinen)
Drums
2.8.71
‡ To
challenge oneself means doing things a little
differently. "I wanted to do all the songs
really fast so I could just go into a rehearsal
place, take a couple of beers, have a bit more
rock and punkier edge and go for a bit more straightforward
songs," Valo says as he hangs out, with a
few beers, at New York's famed Electric Ladyland
studios while he and producer Tim Palmer (Robert
Plant, U2) go over mixes for Dark Light.
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 ‡
Though the elegant Paramour, once a monastery, offered
a vibe the band has found worked before. "We did
one album in the countryside of Wales in England back
in '99. I wanted to do the same, where the whole band
would be staying [here] during the entire recording
period. It's a bit more brotherly kind of vibe rather
than working in the big city where you've to take taxis
too and fro. So it's a bit more peaceful here,"
he says.
‡ Despite the
exterior changes, Valo knew exactly what he was striving
for musically in the writing of Dark Light. "I
wanted them to be cool live songs, straight in the face
kind of stuff. But it's really melodic at the same time.
And I wanted to have a line between the songs. They
were written in a short period of time so they kind
of have the same vibe more or less," he says. As
for the mood he was aiming for he says, "It's crazy
surreal, it's weird, it's David Lynch, it's Tim Burton,
but with all those things happening within the AC/DC
context. You can still shake your hips to it, bang your
head, or play air guitar."
‡ The results are the kind
of songs that have made HIM global rock stars, earning
Valo a recent spot on the cover of British metal magazine
Kerrang! alongside Ozzy Osbourne and Slash.
‡ Dark
Light kicks off with the musically ambitious "Vampire
Heart," a number that starts with a fast-paced
hard rock beat and includes a series of subtle tempo
changes. All the while Valo delivers such signature
HIM lines as "lead you along this path in the dark
where I belong until I feel your warmth hold me like
you held onto life when all fears came alive and entombed
me love me like you loved the sun scorching the blood
of my vampire heart." Yes, Dark Light is
classic HIM, the kind of tales of love and desire that
inspire fans to worship at the altar of the almighty
Heartagram.
‡ Among the standout tracks
on the 10-song collection are the infectious "Under
The Rose," in which Valo sings, "I've been
burning in water and drowning in flame/To prove you
wrong and scare you away"; as well as "Killing
Loneliness," a hauntingly melodic rocker that begins
with a piano intro and includes a memorable hook; the
lovely mid-tempo title track, a classic rock ballad;
the thunderous "The Face Of God," and the
guitar-propelled sinister closer, "In The Night-Side
Of Eden," which fades out with a machinelike beat
and a Vincent Price-esque vocal saying, "Forever
we are, forever we be, forever we'll be crucified."
The first single is the hauntingly dynamic "Rip
Out The Wings Of A Butterfly."
‡ While Valo might not have
let any pressure seep in to the making of Dark Light,
he is aware of the significance of the album, which
is partly where the album's title comes from. "To
me it's a new start; a new contract, new countries and
new bars to visit, see new people, and we've never had
an album named after a song, so that'd be cool."
‡ The title has greater
meaning as well, and like the music, keeps in tradition
with the storied HIM past. "My last name, Valo,
means light in Finnish. And the word dark if you translate
it straight, it just means 'the crazy being.' Dark,
in Finnish language, meaning kind of 'losing the plot.'
So it's kind of like a pun in language," he says.
"And Dark Light is nice because we had albums
called Deep Shadows and Bitter Highlights and Razorblade
Romance, so we've always had these opposites. It's like
the trademark."
‡ Dark
Light is, in many ways, classic HIM; it's haunting,
gothic, rocking, beautiful, melodic, and an album that
can only come from Valo and his mates. But at the same
time, this is a new HIM, the one that Valo has always
envisioned. "I like it all," he says of the
album. "It's very much what I wanted us to be since
the beginning. We're getting closer."
For additional information, contact:
National: Jim Baltutis
Warner Bros. Records
818-953-3375
jim.baltutis@wbr.com
Regional/Fanzines: Penny Palmer
Warner Bros. Records
818-953-3408
penny.palmer@wbr.com
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