Euro-Rock Radio
/07.02.2009/

Interview with Ville Valo

Euro Rock Radio: All right ,everyone this is the Celticangel. You are listening to Euro Rock Radio’s Heartagram Day party and we have our very special guest, on the phone now, Ville.
Ville Valo: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey dear people!
ERR: (laughs) All right well, we are very, very thankful for you, for doing this for us and uh really appreciate it.
VV: Well it’s just started you know nothing’s done yet so uh don’t blame me.
ERR: You answered the phone so it’s good (laughs).
VV: Well uh you know that was the easy part.
ERR: Yeah.(laughs) So how is it there in Helsinki right now?
VV: Um it’s cold. It’s uh I don’t know, I don’t go out that much. It’s uh, it seems to be snowing, that’s, that’s the thing I can see from my monitors. I haven’t been doing the things that I was, trying to get rid of a fever and writing new songs. So that’s uh, that’s my main thing at the moment. I’m working on, you know we, we started rehearsing with the band a couple of weeks ago and everything’s going really well with the new songs and uh-
ERR: Awesome.
VV: and Gas and his lady. They got their first baby about three weeks ago so it’s been, been a very positive couple, couple of weeks.
ERR: Well congratulations to Gas. You have to tell him congrats for us.
VV: mmm hmmm.
ERR and VV: (laughter)
VV: I’ve seen, I’ve seen, a couple of pictures and unfortunately it does have a lot of uh, you know, the baby got…the resemblance is clearly there.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: I would have hoped that you know the other way. But uh since you know the wife is sweet, sweet as uh you know whatever. But, but uh you can’t have it all it seems.
ERR: (laughs) well, um, speaking of the new album, how’s that going? Is it going good?
VV: Um you know ,we just started…got about…worked on 5 songs now and we’re going to demo them in about maybe a month, two months and uh, um I’ll be heading over to the states to hook up with some label people and talk about possible producers and stuff. So it’s going be pretty intense for the next couple of, couple of months and uh you know it’s…the music is not too far from what it’s been. It’s not as Sabbath-y, it’s more straight to the point, more like um I’m callin’, calling it the 80s-tinged crooner rock with balls of steel.
ERR: (laughs) Cool.
VV: That’s my,um, so it’s,it’s not too far from what we’ve done before but uh it’s tough to say. You know basically at this moment in time, we’re just heading to the rehearsal place every day and uh, and uh picking our instruments and just seeing where the music takes us.
ERR: Well, that’s good. I know you talked recently about deciding where you are going to record. Have you given any more thought to that yet?
VV: Ah. Well I’m quite certain we’re not going to record in Finland. Since uh, since uh with the Venus Doom tour uh we got done with the tour last,when was it? Last, last August or something, you know we’ve been pretty - had a lot of time off, and everybody was spending it over here in, in Helsinki, more or less. And uh I wanna, and I uh want to get out. It’s just cold. Dark. I love it here, you know uh my parents are here and I’ve got a couple of friends here and stuff like that. I’d rather wanna see our band concentrate just on the music than them ,you know, trying to sort out their every day life, you know, like changing diapers.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: You know…you know for Gas.
VV and ERR: (laughs)
VV: not for the baby, I mean.
ERR; (laughs)
VV: So uh hopefully we’ll do it somewhere in America and it’s all depending on the producer and uh and we still haven’t had any you know we. Since I ‘m kinda like waiting for us to be ready to do the demo, we’re gonna demo a couple of songs here in Finland and then once the demo’s done, then I’m gonna fly over and hopefully meet some people who are going to be excited working with us. So uh since nothing’s done yet, it’s tough for me to start bragging about how good the music is and how good the next album is going to be, you know I don’t know to be honest with you.
ERR: Oh, I’m sure it’s going to be great.
VV: Well uh you know, thank you!
VV and ERR: (laughter)
ERR: Well, um, Venus Doom was very good, Venus Doom was very good.
VV: Yeah but you know, you got try different things out and you gotta take risks and uh, and uh we went fairly far down that path into that sorta of like gloomy,doomy territory so uh, we want to do something a bit more straightforward and direct with uh you know the new ones. You know, all the new songs are clocking under four minutes and they’re very straight to the point so, so that’s um, so that’s the exciting thing for us, you know.
ERR: Right.
VV: …not jam for 8 minutes in a row or oh whatever so there is definately not going to be a song like Sleepwalking Past Hope on the, on the forthcoming album even though I love Sleepwalking Past Hope. You know, it’s a great song for me to have like 3 cigarette breaks, you know, within...
ERR: (laughs)
VV:… the actual song. I can just walk off stage and eat a hamburger if I want. But um there are so many jams, and so many solos in it but I guess you know just for our own sakes, we need to try out things and you know, you know how it is!
ERR: Yeah.
VV: The same old, same old gets boring after awhile and especially a lot of people don’t realize the fact that a band works on an album maybe 2 years before it gets released and then they tour with it.
ERR: Right.
VV:…for about a year and a half or something. So it’s a long time, you know, living with those songs so obviously you want to try out something different, you know, once ,once the touring is done, and everything… you’re just over it.
ERR: right
VV: Yeah (laughs ) so it’s like relationships in general (laughs)
ERR: ( laughs) Yeah, touring is something …uh we, we gave everybody a chance to email in questions for you and we’ll...
VV: Cool.
ERR: …pick some of those…in a while um
VV: hmm hmm.
ERR: We got pretty much over 300 emails but, um, a lot of people where asking-
VV: You gotta be fast then.
ERR: Huh?
VV: We gotta chat, talk super fast then.
ERR: Well, um, I’m not going through all of them.
VV: *inaudible*… situation some of that.
ERR: Um, a lot of people were asking about touring though and of course and wondering, when tours are going to start and obviously that’s, that is going to be after the album comes out but um-
VV: Well um don’t know, don’t know yet you know because you gotta remember the summers are happening and there is going to be a lot of festivals and I honestly don’t know. It’s, it’s you know within maybe the next two months, we get a rough idea when and with whom we are going to record the album with and then when, when we know that, that enables us to speculate on the possibilities of doing some touring during the summer. Maybe.
ERR: Ok.
VV: …um, during one of those touring festivals you got in the states or uh, I just don’t know.
ERR: Right.
VV: We’d love to play some, but not too much. I don’t want anything to get in the way of uh, of uh making the best album we can.
ERR: Right, exactly. Well I think everybody will understand that. I know…yeah, everybody is anxious and I got emails from all over the world saying “ You haven’t been here in 10 years, when are you coming back?” and uh well it’s a hard question to-
VV: Well that’s, that’s so very sweet and you know the only problem with that is if somebody is saying that ‘Why haven’t you been here in 10 years’ that usually means that that person is the only one wanting us to go there and uh since being in this kind of a band, we do have expenses, we do have you know trust monkeys, we have people setting up the stage and tuning the guitars and they aren’t super cheap…so um
ERR: Right.
VV: We don’t have the opportunity of playing everywhere in the world, you know, at all times. Otherwise, we’d be on a constant tour like Bob Dylan or something like that.
ERR: Right.
VV: But um we’re trying to write good materials as well which Bob doesn’t have to anymore. So, uh it’s a different kind of situation.
ERR: Well um speaking, I guess, of touring and shows, uh Helldone, this past Helldone was bigger than usual. You added some extra shows and what made you decide to do that?
VV: Uhhh umm…(pause) to be honest with you, I don’t know. Uh, I can’t remember who came up with it…I came up with the idea, oh my god yeah. Um no we obviously we have… in the previous years, we had Fields of Nephilim play here and we’ve had a few international acts as well, but unfortunately the time, the time frame of Helldone, you know, with New Years Eve and around that, it’s toughest to get any bands to play those dates, you know, out of the year because that’s the only time when all the bands are taking time off from their touring.
ERR: Right.
VV:…and spending time with their families and stuff like that so it was impossible for us to get any… because, originally we’re thinking of playing a lot bigger venue, not just HIM but making it like a proper big festival here in Helsinki but uh
ERR: hmm, hmm.
VV:…we didn’t have the opportunity of booking any cool bands. We…uh I’ve been trying to get Turbonegro to play the festival for the past six years.
ERR: Oh that’d be awesome.
VV: But,uh, you know that’s one of my favorite bands of all times. We covered their songs, and you know, they, uh, have been very inspirational on all various levels but uh anyway you know it just that uh didn’t work so we wanted to, I wanted to figure out a way to make it more exciting for the band, you know make something new happen rather than just playing Tavastia Club on,on New Years so uh somebody, I guess it was me, came up with the idea of let’s play in the northern parts of Finland as well because we haven’t been there since like 2001, 2002 something like that so...
ERR: hmm hmm
VV: So for us it was like traveling abroad to a new country we haven’t played in ages.
ERR: Well do you-
VV: It was fairly exciting in that sense.
ERR: Do you think you’ll do it again this next Helldone? Or no clue yet?
VV: Um you know at the moment, I am basically done with Helldone…we’ve done, we’ve done 10 years in a row and, and thinking about it’s already been 10 years it just makes everyone in the band feel extremely old...
ERR: (laughs)
VV: ...and uh it’s not necessarily the best thing for a rock band to feel...
ERR: True.
VV:..but uh I don’t know, the problem and the limitations seems to be the time frame it’s so tough to get you know to get bands to play that festival. So when it’s been going on very well….We want to try out something different of where to go because u know trying to book a band like say Type O Negative from America, one of my favorite bands of all time and the whole band’s. It’s ridiculously expensive to fly one band from Brooklyn, New York over to Finland for a one off. You just play one gig, it’s the flight, it’s the accomidations, its everything. It’s not worth it because there is not a single band who’s on tour at that time of the year.
ERR: Right.
VV: and uh that makes, it makes the situation even more complicated so uh it’s those little things that not necessarily everyone knows about
ERR: Right.
VV:… you know the, the, average club goers but people who go to enjoy rock N Roll and beer. There is like lot of things to set up the whole event, it could be easier. You know maybe maybe start, start having the whole party in, you know, like June or something like that a summer festival but uh that sucks too. There over 200 summer festivals in Finland. So I don’t think, I don’t think, we have the ability to compete with them, the good ones.
ERR: You can come down, do it here because there are not enough summer festivals in the US.
VV: Oh there is not enough good ones.
ERR: Exactly (laughs).
VV: But uh…I just don’t know.
ERR: Yeah.
VV: That’s festival thing that’s a funny thing and that is a side project of a lot of bands and mine but that is not what I do, you know I’m trying to write songs and we’re trying to make an album happen. You know I could care less about Helldone at this particular moment in time.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: You know you can’t do it all at the same time. You just can’t. You know you got have your priorities, and you know, you know obviously it’s now getting rid of a fever and being in tip top shape for monday’s rehearsals.
ERR: um well speaking of side projects, um Madagascar 2, how did that come about?
VV: Um, well I wish I could have done the English version as well
ERR: Oh, so do we!
VV: but uh something someone gave me a shout from the company who did the translation and asked me to do it and I,you know, grew up watching cartoons and animated movies as everybody does. With Disney and then what is it the Secret of Nimh and love those films . So obviously I though , you know it’d be a fun thing to do and uh there was nothing particularly spectacular about it…I was asked to do it and I said yes because I wanted to do something respectable...
ERR: (laughs)
VV:…and it’s funny how musicians are not necessarily respected for what they do, but when a musician all of a sudden um, does a few lines, um as a hippo…
ERR: Yeah (laughs)
VV: in a kid’s animation all of a sudden you do have some sense of creditability.
ERR: Right.
VV: And so now I’m fully credible thanks to a hippo.
ERR: (laughs) a thanks to a hippo that now millions of HIM fans all over the world are worshipping practically (laughs).
VV: well, well, well, well um he seems to be unlucky in love as me so
ERR: (laughs) Aw!
VV: …we share a lot of things so it was very easy for me to, I didn’t have to pretend or act. It was all me, maybe just a couple of hundred pounds difference between me and him…the weight but that is about it.
ERR: Yeah well that has brought up another question that we got a lot of emails, um, asking since you’ve done Madagascar and kinda voice-acting anyways, have you ever thought of doing any actual acting in movies or something?
VV: uhh well I love to do like Vampires part 4 with Jon Bon Jovi. That’d be great if he ever considers it doing a sequel …actor make terrible musicians and vice versa. So the fact that you can strum on a guitar doesn’t mean you can be the lead in the English Patient.
ERR: (laughs) Right.
VV: I get that.So,so uh I obviously there are people who can do both but uh no,no It’s not my cup of tea. You know I was asked by a friend. He’s been working on a film like a vampire thing for the past 15 years so uh if he even does that I already said yes to just being a random vampire if he ever does that. That would be fine but uh that’s just for fun and for uh you know for a friend.
ERR: Right.
VV: It’s a different cup of tea. I’m not..it’s not.(pause) .I hate actors anways. So I you know hate myself enough to become one.
ERR: Well now see,…don’t say that.
VV: Ah go on.
ERR : (laughs) um with the other emails we’ve gotten uh a bunch of questions...
VV: Hmm, hmm.
ERR:… about your new tattoos because anything you do people get obsessed over and must know. So, they’ve asked about your new tattoos. Specifically, one of the new tattoos, we saw a video about the lecture you did recently at a university um…
VV: Oh yeah.
ERR:..and we’ll ask you about that too but um massive amount of emails. In the video we can see a bit of a tattoo above your right elbow and everyone is wondering what that is, what the new tattoo is there.
VV: uh I’ve got loads of new tattoos anyway but um you know it’s just um it’s something Kat improvised when I was in LA. It’s just a, it’s a combination of an hourglass with wings and uh and uh, it says hermit in French.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: …since I’ve turned into a hermit. It’s just uh, It’s just like a little tiny combination of a lot, not necessarily inside jokes but um stuff only close friends know.
ERR: Right.
VV: So uh it’s like a little puzzle type of thing, more or less.
ERR: And then you’ve got the new portraits also right?
VV: Which ones?
ERR: Portrait tattoos that you did, several of them.
VV: I’ve got several.
ERR: I guess (laughs)
VV: I’ve got several but I’m not done with them yet so um I can’t ruin the surprise. You know?
ERR: Oh gotcha alright.
VV: I’ve got a few, I’ve got one of Klaus Kinksi, a German actor.
ERR: Hmm hmm
VV: It’s just a cool one. It’s from a picture he’s an adult sucking his own thumb, lying on a naked lady.
ERR: (laughs) ok.
VV: So that’s uh, that’s such a psychedelic image and uh it looks exactly like that but uh Kat did that one too and it’s on my lower stomach and it’s looks really good. It’s guaranteed after that tattoo, I’m never going to get laid.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: Um, so that was my mission to get a tattoo that will uh kill all possible sex.
ERR: I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen!
VV: Well um you know I guess I need to find a blind chick.
ERR: The other question everybody has. A very small tattoo, but above the heart on your wrist and above where it says DILLIGAF, you got some symbols or numbers or something and everyone is dying to know what that is.
VV: Oh my god! People just uh, uh that’s weird.
ERR: Yeah uh that’s nothing (laughs).
VV: Well that is, that’s so weird though. It’s one of my friends did it. It’s um it says cunto um which means chapter. It doesn’t mean anything nasty. Um it’s um hold on. It’s from uh Dante’s Inferno.
ERR: ah ok.
VV: From kinda the beginning I guess. You know I don’t know the different translations but um you know…I don’t have the Inferno with me now so I can’t read the exact line for ya but uh, but uh it’s just a line that keeps me going so it’s one of those things I just love uh you know love um u know nothing about getting tattoos to much, just going with the flow.
ER: Right.
VV: You always fight with them anyway.
ERR: um ok a whole another random topic now but uh it’s something that I’ve come across a lot on the internet and a lot of people have um and I know you have been asked this before but uh we’ll do it one more time cause hopefully the people will actually pay attention there a lot of people on places like myspace and facebook, etc. that like to claim that they’re you and uh
VV: (laughs)
ERR: So the question that people hopefully will listen to is are you actually on the internet, do you have a myspace or a facebook or a beebo or whatever on the social networking sites?
VV: Well uh I don’t know. I only know facebook and the myspace thing but uh I don’t have anything to do with the myspace, um facebook and there’s like a zillion me’s there.
ERR: Oh yeah.
VV: So nobody is the real one and uh and uh I am on myspace but uh it’s not under my name.
ERR: Right.
VV: and anybody who can,who can who has been following the HIM situation you know can’t find it to hard to find it out whatever it is
ERR: Right.
VV: So it’s uh Indiana Jones type of thing. So go for it and search for it, you’ll find it pretty easily.
ERR: (laughs) and are you actually adding random fans or only the people you know?
VV: I’ve only got like 3 friends.
ERR and VV laugh
VV: It’s a, it’s you know it’s, it’s just a…I wanted to see how the whole myspace thing works.
ERR: Right.
VV: And then I got bored with it immediately so uh so uh I don’t travel with a laptop and um I’m not glued to a computer besides now when I’m being at home but uh, but uh and, and working on protools stuff and…
ERR: Right.
VV: and uh stuff like that and uh it’s not my cup of tea. It’s a lot of waste of time so I guess it’s better to strum a guitar and if you want to meet people you can just go into a pub.
ERR: Right.
VV: So…
ERR: Alright well uh we just wanted to clear that up for some people I guess. It can, It can get dangerous when there are people out there, claiming to be a celebrity and uh, getting fans’ home address and things like that. It’s kinda scary.
VV: Well uh you know, don’t don’t… I’m not you know, I’m not involved in any of that way and that so...
ERR: Yeah we know! We know you’re not but just to let people know do not believe everybody that says they’re Ville Valo on myspace (chuckles).
VV: Oh yeah, yeah please don’t, please don’t. It’s never been me so uh
ERR: (laughs) …well uh we’ll do one of the email questions that we’ve got here…
VV: Sure.
ERR: um this one is from um their screen name, I guess I don’t know if it’s their real name or screen name, but it’s Monserrat from Norwalk, Connecticut. Um they say “ Ville since there are so many people who love going to your concerts and would wait hours outside to see HIM perform if you had a chance to do the same for a band or solo artist, who would be your first choice and why?”
VV: Well my first choice is to never que up for hours and hours. My first choice nowadays is to make some calls and try to get a VIP but uh, uh I haven’t done that in a long time. Last time, that was probably KISS in the mid nineties when they played their first kinda masked back on type of tour and they started to tour from Stockholm and that’s when we took the ferry over to Stockholm and uh que-ed up and had a blast. For like 3 days straight, full blown KISS party. I’m still suffering from it, both mentally and physically maybe spiritually a bit as well.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: …and not a lot of bands as well not now nowadays. I guess, I guess I love songs but not concerts too much you know Mark Lannegan is always good no matter what he does. I went to see The Gutter Twins a couple of times
ERR: hmm hmm.
VV: On their Scandinavian tour and uh,uh I saw Fields of Nephilim in London, in the UK last summer and uh they played two really special shows at the Shepherd Bush’s Empire in uh and that was about it for me I don’t go out to see random gigs that much. I don’t I, I don’t know. I’m just a spoiled brat I guess.
ERR: (laughs) well I doubt that but ok, um another email…we’ve seen this shirt on you and I think Kat has worn it in a picture or two and so everyone is wondering “ What the heck is The Mercy Fvcks?”
VV: It’s uh just go and check out on myspace (laughs).
ERR and VV: (laughs)
VV: So there are my 3 friends.
ERR: Ok.
VV: You can see there …It’s uh a project of mine. It’s uh a thing I’ve been working on for the past 3 years maybe and I just love that name.
ERR: Yeah.
VV: Somebody actually, somebody actually had the idea that it had something to do with religion and that’s definitely not true.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: Because somebody that that I was very anti-religion just to call people you know with some you know.
ERR: Right.
VV: You know spiritual ideas and called them The Mercy Fvcks and that uh u know, nah, nah that wasn’t the idea. It’s uh, it’s a band, it’s uh kinda a band, you know the only band member at the moment I have is uh is uh I don’t have a bass player or a guitar player. I have a pool player and that is Mr.Brandon Novak.
ERR: Ah!
VV: …from Baltimore.
ERR: Ok!
VV: So uh so uh I got a skateboarder/ex-junkie/pool player in the band so what more do you need in rock n roll?
ERR: Exactly that’s it.
VV:…except a couple of songs, I guess.
ERR: Well that would be good to…
VV: But uh nah. It’s just, just, just a project you kinda… It never took off( laughs)
ERR: Well see all you had to do…
VV: I had a lot of time on my hand and I uh I uh was just uh, It’s a band that never performed that kind of a thing. I have a couple of bands like that and uh and uh. It’s healthy to let your imagination run wild and just uh go with the flow and do something totally different from uh from uh what we do with uh HIM.
ERR: Right.
VV: Linde’s been working on a new Daniel Lioneye and stuff and he needs to be recording stuff. Burton, he’s been working with his side project. And uh you know everybody gots their thing to do and not say HIM is super serious but occasionally we have to take it a bit seriously. It takes so much of our time. It’s a passion we don’t want to fuck it up so for, for the wrong reasons at least so it’s cool to have side projects don’t necessarily matter that much.
ERR: Right.
VV: And well they don’t matter that much, they do matter a lot.
ERR: Right.
VV: When you can take things relaxed and you can just go with the flow and do exactly what you want like something with The Mercy Fvcks.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: It’s just one of those things.
ERR: Alright and since I didn’t say from who that question was that was from Sophie in the UK.
VV: Well uh cool Sophie, Sophie used to be one of my friends on myspace. I sent her a t-shirt and she was. She was the first person who found the, the myspace site.
ERR: Oh cool!
VV: You know, one of the, she was the first person that wasn’t like a friend and uh…
ERR: Right.
VV:…wasn’t in on the joke so uh so uh she actually wanted to you know a myspace friend or whatever.
ERR: Right.
VV: And I was like yeah sure I’ll send you a t-shirt and stuff so uh so uh she was in Finland as well for all of the 3 Helldone acts all over in Finland so she’s a, she’s a real trooper.
ERR: Oh cool well awesome. Sophie! We wanted to come to Helldone this year but it’s just so expensive to fly over there from the US.
VV: It is…yeah we know ( mumbles) what can you do? You know?
ERR: Yeah.
VV: We’re trying our best. There is a lot of people flying in from all over the world and it is expensive. It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of effort for just a gig, a couple of gigs or whatever. So that’s that’s the original reason we wanted to start the Helldone thing. You know?
ERR: hmm hmm.
VV: Have just more than one gig. You know originally it wasn’t called Helldone and it was just us playing our New Years Eve gig and uh all of a sudden so many people started flying in and so we thought that you know if they’re flying in for one gig, let’s give them a couple of more gigs to enjoy do that was the reason we had 69 Eyes and Negative and all those bands play.
ERR: Right.
VV: uh this year so people can have a lot more to look forward to than just a crappy gig from HIM.
ERR: Your gig is why everyone went (laughs) It wasn’t a crappy gig.
VV: Ahh I’m blushing here.
ERR: Aw! Alright well this question may make you blush a little bit more than…umm I tried to stay away from any kind of naughty questions because a lot of those came in but uh this one (laughs) have to ask we’ve seen video of this and it’s been talked about on the HIM forums and everything…The concert in Tilburg during the Venus Doom tour.
VV: Oh with the vibrator?
ERR; Yes, Yes. The lady that threw that up there .. Her name is Wendy by the way um.. she wanted to know what you thought when that came up cause she said your face was priceless when you saw that though.
VV: It’s, it’s let say that it’s one of the few moments I’ll won’t forget especially when it comes to gigs so, so um. It was fun thing and a great thing since you know she probably knew that I’ve been working in sex shop. I kinda know how those things work. I was checking out the brand and stuff like that. I was, I was uh just laughing my ass off but then the funny thing happened after that, after the gig then. Somehow the Finnish press got wind of that thing and they started speculating since whether I lost my mind. They thought that I brought that vibrator on that gig and I’m using that vibrator as a prop you know during a gig and it’s not necessarily a bad idea but it’s not necessarily a good one either. So, so that was a punchline to the whole thing. It got totally out of hand.
ERR: (laughs) But it was hilarious though. There is video of it all over youtube.
VV: Oh yeah. It was great. I’m extremely happy for it.
ERR: (laughs) All right here is one more, We’ll do, oh two more of these and then we may let you go.
VV: Sure.
ERR: And enjoy your night.
VV: Fair enough.
ERR; ha, ha this one is from Sophie. Um she says um “Fame seems to separate people in some way and I wonder whether all this attention, makes you feel like an outsider who is somehow separated from the normal people.”
VV: uh what do you mean by that? Or what does she mean by that?
ERR: Well uh I think you know uh It’s not so much in Finland from what I heard but uh if you’re, if you’re very famous and you’re walking down the streets in the US… You pretty much get mobbed. You can’t go anywhere, you got people following you around or like for instance, people that kind of stalk around your house.
VV: uh well that’s that just stupid.
ERR: ( laughs)
VV: I hate those people. You know I don’t hate a lot of people but uh, but uh I hate the fact that there is one and only safe haven that I have which is my home and I write all the songs and you know well, well like two weeks ago I had to call the cops on a girl.
ERR: Oh lord.
VV: Since like uh uh she wouldn’t leave, she, she kept on knocking. She was full-blown drunk probably under 18. Kept on knocking on my door for three hours straight.
ERR: Oh my god.
VV: And I, you know, I told her to get out, you know it’s private property so uh get out . I’m working on a song, I’m working on stuff, stuff that probably made you come here, knocking on my door in the first place…
ERR: Right.
VV: And um so I’ve got my face in a paper and um a vibrator in my hand on stage somewhere in Tilburg.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: So um so it’s jus, just that was just so weird you know..c’mon.
ERR: hmm hmm um
VV: You know? That’s just terrible. Nah uh you know besides from that it’s uh you know it’s easy…People do have to respect and we are not that well known and I can’t (mumbles) um give a fuck . people, people, people talk to people.
ERR: hmm.
VV: And look at people and if you start feeling paranoid that that doesn’t have to do anything with fame.
ERR: True yeah.
VV: You know? It’s it’s like one of those things when when you know ( pauses and lets out breath) like let’s say a couple of actresses in America, you know how can’t you not be seen if you walk with shades the size of the sun on your face?
ERR: ( giggles)
VV: And like brag and have an entourage of a zillion people and uh have like massive bodyguards and like all that, other people are going to look at you and , and think who are you?
ERR: Right.
VV: and they don’t even know who you are. But they,they are just thnking who is that crazy girl?
ERR: hmm hmm.
VV: so that’s um one way a lot of people actually um direct the attention towards them because they are so paranoid.
ERR: hmm hmm.
VV: So um nah you know maybe,maybe I’m saving for the money you know cool, cool bodyguards and the shades obviously.
ERR: (laughs)
VV; So uh it will take a while.
ERR: (laughs) well one more question and um we got this from several people that uh they love it when you talk about the books or things you’re reading because you actually have a lot of people who will go out and get them, them and m books you mentioned that you like uh people will go out and buy so uh is there any in particular you are reading right now.
VV: ummm
ERR: Or just something you read recently?
VV: um hold on I’m reading a couple of art books and um and um I’ve started collecting porn you know.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: For the first time in my life but uh you can’t you know talk about that.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: I can’t say the name of the magazine but that name is sort of fantastic..it’s the new, It’s called The New C, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep.
ERR: (giggles) alright ok.
VV: And uh it’s so good. It’s from the 70s in Denmark. So uh, so uh I’ve been collecting that stuff now um but um but um hold on I’m just in my bedroom…trying to figure out what I’ve been reading.
ERR: ( inaudible in the background - Brandy saying ‘He’s just opened the flood gates’).
VV: (sighs) hold on, I’m on my bed now uh I’ve got shitloads of books…
ERR: (laughs)
VV: um I’m reading one now on um on an artist called Hans Bellmar.
ERR: ok.
VV: It’s called uh “ Death, Desire and the Doll. The life and art of Hans Bellmer” by , by uh Peter Webb so check that one out. He’s uh He was a fairly interesting character.
ERR: Oh cool ok.
VV: And uh, you know so I haven’t been reading that much to be honest with you I’ve been been uh I’ve just been a, I’ve just been a…
ERR: (laughs)
VV: You know working on songs and if you read too much, you get too much in the vibe of a book.
ERR: Right.
VV: And uh and like it does influence you’re writing a bit And I wouldn’t to that too much. Just read bits and pieces and usually I read poetry when, when writing songs so uh it helps me out with lyrics and stuff but uh uh I don’t know maybe I’ve just been lazy.
ERR: (laughs)
VV: To be honest with you.
ERR: Ok hold on for a second for me. We are going to get everybody back on some music and uh we’ll let them listen to a little Killing Loneliness and again thank you very much for doing this.
VV: A pleasure, a pleasure.

Transcribing by Cappie for Euro-Rock Radio