Ville Valo & P?tk? interview at Jyrki
/1997/

Translation by Kezza

MM: Monday is going to be a great day: finally the long-awaited first album from HIM, Greatest Lovesongs will be released. Why are you celebrating the occasion at a sex club?
Ville: Why not? These release parties are often quite dull, they?re usually at an ordinary restaurant, and as we?re a band not all journalist know about yet, we feel it?s necessary to give a good impression.
P?tk?: Yea, to make people be there.

MM: I?m gonna be there! .. I remember when I talked to Katja [St?hl] who is from your record company, and she said that HIM is starting a whole new genre with the release of GLS, it?s called love metal. What is that?
Ville: It?s pseudo-satanic appraisal of decadent love.

MM: Um, ok... And I also heard it described "Twin Peaks meets Marilyn Manson". Do you find that accurate?
Ville: Don?t know what Marilyn Manson has to do with our music, but we?ve stolen some things directly from Twin Peaks. Although the song we just played was not a good example of what our record?s like, because it?s not as soft as that. It?s going to be metal, after all.
P?tk?: And it?s by no means a calm record, like someone suggested. People who say that know nothing!

MM: So why did you choose to play this lovely and calm song on this Thursday afternoon?
P?tk?: Wanna hear the truth?

MM: Okay, here we go: because that?s all you could play?
P?tk?: No offence, but every time we play loud in here, the sounds are really fucking awful.

[Someone from the crew joking:] Whaaat?! That?s not true!

Ville: This studio is so weird, it distorts the sound, so we thought maybe a softer song would work better.

MM: It worked pretty well, if you ask me! ... It?s kind of funny that a band who?s only releasing their first record, names it "The Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666". Expectations are extremely high. Are you scared, because of us [journalists?], and on behalf of the record company?
Ville: Yes and no. We?ve "shatted ourselves" a while ago already, so.. People in the music industry have liked the album, but what about the record-buying public -- that we?re going to find out when the record goes on sale. A video, btw, is coming at the end of November.

MM: Good! It?s going to be better than the Wicked Game video that we saw in the spring.
P?tk?: We?ll see...

MM: Next week you?ll be listening to the radio to hear how your record did in the charts.. How do you measure success: if it?s below 20, are you happy? What if you?re in top20?
Ville: Well, if you?re at 19, you of course want to get higher. We?re aiming at nr one anyway. I?m having a good feeling about this.
P?tk?: We ought to be happy if it?s on the charts in the first place..
Ville: Yea, and at the end of the day we?re happy that we got the chance to do the kind of album that we like ourselves -- and hopefully even other people like.

MM: But how important is chart success to you?
Ville: Well of course, it?s an indication of how much people like and care. Because we?re doing this for the people, not to express our own perverse artistic instincts...
P?tk?: .. at least not in music we aren?t!
Ville: Yea, it?s people we?re doing this for. We get the most satisfaction from positive response from the audience. When young and pretty women stop us on the street and say how wonderful our record was, it makes you feel warm inside. I?ve had no heating on in my flat for three days, so I need all the warmth we can get.