A Happy Birthday Wish to Ville!

Happy Birthday Ville!

Ville in new Kerrang

New Kerrang

Serious as Dog Dirt and new Metal Hammer interview

Before I post the newsbit: Please remember to be respectful to Ville Valo. I know he's here in bed in his...underwear...but please, post respectfully. Please.

Anyway, there is a new book Bam Margera wrote called Serious As Dog Dirt that was just released. It's basically a collection of his from over the years; photos, tales and anedotes. I don't have the book myself. I got these scans and information from HIM fans on facebook. But I found the link as to where to buy it @ http://www.amazon.com/Serious-Dog-Dirt-Bam-Margera/dp/1439147736/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257232021&sr=8-3

Bam took all the photos in the book, so credit for these pictures go to Bam Margera. And I do have to wonder why he was in Ville's room taking photos of him in his underwear....? Weird.

For this picture, Bam wrote a short story about Ville going to rehab. You can't see it well in this facebook scan. But according to Bam, this picture was taken a day before Ville went to rehab. Ville was boozing, popping pills....and he had an asthma attack. Must have been serious because Bam almost called the ambulance. Ville then went to Promises in malibu to get help for his drinking problem and that was the end of his nightmare. God bless him.

I don't know if there are more pictures of Ville in the book, but according to the fans on the facebook fansite, that's pretty much it.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2466045y

Want to go to one of Bam's book signings? Here's son info from his website:

Bam will be at the Border's Book store in King of Prussia on November 21, 2009. Bam will greet fans and sign copies of his new book. The book, titled "Serious as Dog Dirt" is due out November 17th. Bam's book signing will start at 2:00 pm. Borders is located at 650 Mall Blvd. King of Prussia, PA 19406. The phone number to the store is (610)-337-9009. "Serious as Dog Dirt", which includes writings, photos and drawings, is Bam's first book.'

The following is a new interview with Ville from Metal Hammer:

You’ve already read about our track-by-track guide to the new HIM album, now we speak to Ville Valo about what he’s calling HIM’s most sexual album!
Ville Valo has spoken to Metal Hammer about the band’s new album ‘Screamworks: Love In Theory and Practice’ and he describes it as the band’s most sexual work to date!

Hammer: It feels like a very horny album.

Ville Valo: “Lyrically, it’s the most sexual one, the most horny one, we’ve ever made. The horny and the horned. Like the Impaled Nazarene song. It’s got that and a sense of immediacy: ‘I want it now, now, now’. It’s not about being poetic or forlorn about something that is about to happen, it’s actually about something that is happening at this very moment in time.”
“I like the immediacy of it. There’s a lot of information put in short songs and they don’t let go. That was the whole vibe for me. You should have seen me working the vocals out in the middle of the night, amongst my taxidermy owls in the tower screaming my guts out, unable to stop until 9am and then sleeping on a couch for two hours before starting again. So the whole process of the album is very close to that mental boner that just didn’t go away.”

http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/ville-valo-this-is-our-most-sexual-album/

News; Finally

Some news after a very long drought!

Anywho, many people from the press are listening to the new HIM album so I'm sure we're bound to get. I hope it's good reviews. The press (especially from the Metal Media) seem to love attacking HIM's music.

The album tracks are:

'Ode To Solitude'
'Scared To Death'
'Heart Killer'
'Dying Song'
'Disarm Me'
'Love The Hardest Way'
'Katherine Wheel'
'In The Arms Of Rain'
'Shatter Me With Hope'
'In Venere Veritas'
'Acoustic Funeral'
'St Valentine'
'Smother A Heart'

Metal Hammer magazine has already posted a review of the songs. I will post the review right under this brand new interview of Ville from youtube:

Your track-by-track guide to the brand new album from HIM, ‘Screamworks: Love In Theory and Practice’.
Metal Hammer was this afternoon treated to a hearing of the brand new HIM album, ‘Screamworks: Love In Theory and Practice’. Here, for the first time anywhere in the world, is our track-by-track guide.
Ode To Solitude – Eerie industrial drums lead into a beast of a riff. It sounds like 80’s hair metal with a punk chug and all wrapped up in HIM’s inimitable style. The chorus has an insanely catchy hook that evolves around the lyric “here’s to pain”. A storming, up-tempo start to the album.

Scared To Death – It’s a very poppy second track. By that we mean that it’s tailor-made for the radio. It’s played at a similar pace to Funeral Of Hearts but doesn’t have the same moody overtones. The lead hook evolves around the lyrics “I’m not afraid to say I love you”.

Heart Killer – After an intro that sounds like it was put together on a Casio-keyboard, arena-sized guitars crash through the barricades. HIM are setting their stall out here, it’s the commercial know-how of Dark Light combined with the pace of Love Metal. There’s an epic building solo in the middle too, really impressive stuff.

Dying Song – It’s got the sound of a single. Off-kilter drums build to a massive, epic chorus where Ville croons that he’s shedding skin to a dying soul. There’s also a heavily Slash-influenced solo on display.

Disarm Me – Opening with acoustic guitars, the 5th track is a sweeping ballad that sounds like it could be the gothic soundtrack to a Hollywood blockbuster. Twilightcore? Hmmm, possibly not but it’s certainly in that ball-park.

Love The Hardest Way – The sound of a band rediscovering their strongest areas of expertise. Unmistakably HIM, it’s fuel-injected and recapturing the anthemic sounds of the Love Metal era.

Katherine Wheel – Atmospheric verses give way to one of the finest choruses on the album. “These are the things that you make me do” sings Ville.

In The Arms Of Rain – Once again, a bizarre keyboard intro that sounds like it could be lifted direct from the 80’s video-game Pong (ask your dad). The song itself sounds like Killing Loneliness on steroids. Massive vocal hooks all around this track and if it’s not called ‘In The Arms Of Rain’, we’ll eat our hat.

Shatter Me With Hope – The heaviest moment of the record so far, HIM break out the palm-muted riffs but it does once again have a very radio-friendly edge. Be warned: there’s a monster of a dirty riff in the middle of this one.

In Venere Veritas – “Let’s fall apart together now” is the sultry introduction to this slick and club-friendly track. There’s an odd almost monk-chanting moment in the middle but this is perhaps the poppiest track on the album.

Acoustic Funeral – Keyboards that sound as if they could come from a music box usher in a massively dramatic track that builds around sweeping, ringing power chords. Not a full-on ballad but certainly one of the more tender moments on the album.

St Valentine – A drum n’ bass (yep, you read that correctly) intro gives way to a stomping riff. HIM reach out beyond their comfort zone and into the unknown on a song that continuously mentions St Valentine. It’s bold and brave but it certainly works!

Smother A Heart – And now for something completely different. 80’s fat bass sound that sounds as though it’s been lifted from a horror movie from the same era. Gentle electronic drums play on this ambient ode that sounds like DJ Shadow’s interpretation of HIM. It’s still distinctly HIM because of Ville’s unique vocal tones but it’s done in a electronic/restrained way. One of the best tracks on the album but this will definitely ruffle a few feathers.
‘Screamworks: Love In Theory and Practice’ is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2010.
Catch our interview with Ville from a past Metal Hammer podcast, our video interview with Ville from the band’s stint on the Projekt Revolution tour and Ville talking us through his tattoos and his reasons for them.

Kari Valo talks to Sunnuntai Suomalainen about his son

Ville's father spoke to a finnish magazine recently about his son. He went into details about Ville's upbringing: How he was able to raise good son's without any major trouble. He also spoke about how he worried about his son at times seeing how brutal the music industry is and how he thinks Ville will be a great father someday. He also said he hopes Ville can find a good woman. For those who live in Finland - go grab that issue today!

The Successful Rebel" by Tracey Cox

A few month's ago, I posted something about a new book featuring an interview with Ville Valo. Well, the book has been published. You can get more info on it by visiting the author's official website http://www.thesuccessfulrebel.com/

From what Fabzio told me, the book is very good and has a long interview with Ville all throughout the book. I have to grab myself a copy.

Anyway, thanks to Fabzio for the heads up and the new picture.