Our Diabolikal club
/12.03.2006/

ODC: Hello Ville, first of all welcome to Greece!
Ville: Oh,thank you all!
ODC: It's really nice to have you here again...
Ville: Well, it's good to be back!
ODC: It's a great honour for us that you visit us so often!
Ville: We try our best.

1. ODC: Which are the virtues and vices of being a rock-star?
Ville: Ehm...Travelling is good but that also means that you don't have enough time to sit at home. And...Free beer!

2. ODC: What would you change in your life if you had the chance?
Ville: I hope I was more popular! Or there is a possibility that we could write some better songs.

3. ODC: Do you ever wish that you could have made a carreer in another job?
Ville: Ehm,I'd like to be a yogi, living in India.

4. ODC: Was the American market as you imagined? Were your gigs there better or worst than you expected?
Ville: Well, we didn't expect a lot. We just went there and wanted to improvise to see what happens so actually everything went a lot better than we hoped for.
ODC: Also BAM helped you a lot.
Ville: Sure, BAM is a friend and he's been using Heartagram all around and stuff like that.

5. ODC: Are you satisfied from the sales of ''Dark Light'' album until know?
Ville: I don't know how much they've been sold but I think pretty good.
ODC: Here it's Golden!
Ville: Yeah indeed, and that's amazing! Hopefully platinum one day...

6. ODC: Have you ever thought of taking a 2nd guitarist in the band?
Ville: We had 2 guitar players when we started out. We didn't have keyboards. That was in the very-very beginning... And no because I don't think that we'll ever be able to find a better guitar player than Linde! And we don't wont to find someone else...
ODC: Indeed,I think that in our days it's hard to find a guitarist with so personal style as Linde.
Ville: Yeah, he's very good in what he does and we've been talking that maybe in the future I'll be playing guitar in some songs!
ODC: Really? Like during the Razorblade Romance tour for example that you were playing 'Gone with the Sin' with an Acoustic guitar or like 'Please don't let it Go' during the 2001 shows?
Ville: Yeah! Maybe...We'll see what happens...

7. ODC: Music industry is pushing the bands more and more to use electronic elements in their music. Do you believe that in the near future HIM will may also adopt electronic elements like those, or even change their style a bit? (For example like Paradise Lost)
Ville: No, I don't think so because... I like the electronic music a lot but what's bad about it is the fact that would mean that we'd have to play with sequencer. And that would also mean that we can't improvise. And we like to fuck things around a bit on stage, you know...Improvise a bit and change the things every now and then.
ODC: HIM is basically a rock band.
Ville: Yeah,we're more a rock band than an electronic one.But I'm a big fan of ''Paradise Lost''!

8. ODC: Talking about Rock now...It has been one of the most popular music during the last 30 years and it has some of the most fanatic supporters. Do you believe that it will continue its way through the years by gaining even more fans or do you think that it will may dissapear during the next years?
Ville: Well,it seems that rock dies and gets reborn again. But you know, I remember that in a very popular way rock started in 50s with Elvis Presley, so it's been going half century already and I don't think its going to die... Even though Lenny Kravitz sings about it being dead.

9. ODC: Are you the only song writer in HIM,or you also accept ideas from the other members?
Ville: We arrange everything together.So everybody brings in their own ideas but when going to the melodies and the basic ideas always start with my ideas. Linde is a pretty good song-writer but he's writing songs for other stuff...
ODC: Linde had written the riffs in the songs 'For You' and 'Our Diabolikal Rapture'?
Ville: Hmmm yeah,he did bits and pieces when we started out but you know he's a dad now and he hasn't got the time.He's changing diapers,not changing riffs.

10. ODC: What would you do if one of your band's members would like to leave the band?
Ville: Oh, then I'd be very sad! But you know, things in life tend to change so you never know. If there's somebody that doesn't feel happy with the band,then he'd better leave the band. The same with me you know. If things are not fun anymore then it's the time to quit.

11. ODC: Well, I don't know if you've seen the new video from the band Negative but some fans of HIM are a bit dissapointed because it's concept is nearly the same with 'Killing Loneliness' video. What happened in that case?
Ville: That's so funny because I've seen like fifty seconds of that Negative video maybe two weeks ago and it was our band's idea. Nobody in the band ever saw anything and we had the idea that we're killing people's loneliness by playing. And we had the idea that we're playing in a stript club but usually in videos there's always ladies in the stript clubs so we wanted to do it in a different way that people would kill their loneliness by watching us being a part of the peep show. And it's amazing that it was so close to have the idea. And same with the Rasmus: They use a lot of butterflies and we did the same. It's really cool! I was laughing my ass off because that's really rare, it's funny how those things happened at the same time!
ODC: So none of them is copying the other.
Ville: No, nobody is copying anybody. As it seems it's just that everybody tapped in the same sauce of creativity at the same time!
ODC: You're all Finnish also!
Ville: Yeah, we are all lunatics!

12. ODC: About the Killing Loneliness video now... We heared that it wasn't good enough for the American market, so you'll have a remake?
Ville: We're gonna fly over at this tour to L.A. to shoot the new version. It's funny what you said because what I totally understand is the fact that we have to re-shoot it. That's a waste of money and time. But it seems that in Europe we are pretty well-known, we've done maybe fifteen videos already and they know how the band looks like. But in America they don't...
ODC: So that's the reason you'll do it.
Ville: Yeah,it's gonna be really simple. It's gonna be like...Do you remember that Marilyn Manson video, the party one, the cover song?
ODC: Tainted Love?
Ville: Yeah, it's gonna be closer to a rap video than a rock video. It's gonna be something like the Blade movie with strange looking people and stuff like that.
ODC: So, it will be more gothic?Maybe you should add some extensions etc.
Ville: Heh, it will probably be more gothic. We'll see what happens... Cause is some videos...I don't know if you also say it in Greek, but you buy a pig in a bag. So you never know what you can get. You spend a lot of money but you don't know how they'll end up...
ODC: OK.So in that video will you also use your own ideas or only your producer's?
Ville: It depends...Usually we also use our ideas... But there are also videos, like In Joy and Sorrow for example that we haven't talked with the director at all.
ODC: I see...Can I ask you,why haven't you done a video for the songs ''It's all Tears'' or ''Your Sweet 666''?
Ville: It's all Tears was not an official single. It was more like a...It was in Germany in the clubs, just to give a sample to the djs. Your Sweet 666 was also a single in the time we just started out the whole band so that was a time that we didn't shoot any videos.

13. ODC: Could you tell me your 3 favorite songs from every album?
Ville: From Greatest Lovesongs let's say: Our diabolikal Rapture, Your Sweet 666 and I'd say Wicked Game. It's not our song but it's really important for us and the sound of the band.
ODC: In my opinion it's one of the best cover songs ever, it has completely become like a HIM song.
Ville: Oh,thanks man. Yeah, I think it's really good. From Razorblade Romance let's say: Razorblade Kiss,I like it a lot. And then Gone with the Sin and then maybe...Bury Me Deep inside Your Heart. I also like the One Last Time a lot. From Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlight: Love You like I do.

14. ODC: You had once said that 'Dark Light' is your favorite album, the best thing you've ever done. You have the same opinion until now?
Ville: Hm, I think that it's the best combination with everything we've done before. It's got a bit of all the atmosphere we've done before. It's got a bit of cinematic keyboards, it's got a bit of Black Sabbathy riffs and lots of vocals.
ODC: But there are not so many fast songs, for example like 'Love Metal' has. The fastest song is 'Under the Rose'.
Ville: Yeah, that's faster than anything else I think...There are also some other pretty fast songs but not as fast as in Love Metal. But in during the live we play them faster. The Face of God is my favorite song from the 'Dark Light' album.

15. ODC: Why don't you play live anymore some older or rare tracks? Like 'Our Diabolikal Rapture' for example?
Ville: That's because the tuning in the guitar has changed. We used to play with really down tuning in the first and second album. But not anymore, because we want to do the arpeggios and stuff...
ODC: But I think that you could still be playing 'For You' since it's an easy song...
Ville: Yeah, it's a nice song but it has something that not all the people like. So we prefer to play ''It's all Tears'' or ''Razorblade Kiss''.
ODC: I think that European people would prefer to listen more to the old tracks.
Ville: Well, we try to do the best we can. We don't want to bore people to death. So,that's the reason why we play about 4 or 5 tracks from the new one and then like 3 from each album. Tonight maybe we'll play something a bit different as well.

16. ODC: OK, and something that mostly female fans are cared for...Some of them believe that you are already married with Jonna. If not, will you let publicity know when you'll decide to get married?
Ville: Well, if that's gonna happen one day we won't have a public wedding. It's gonna be small ceremony and there gonna take part the band members, our parents and that's it.

17. ODC: OK, and here's the last question:Have you ever thought of changing again your image like in one of the previous albums, especially like the one you had during Razorblade Romance? More glitter and make-up, more glammy generally etc?
Ville: Ehm, I think that those things happen naturally. You don't want to wear the same shit everyday. So you need some changes. But basically what I'd like to do is to turn into an old man and having a walking stick as soon as possible!
ODC: Why!?
Ville: Because I think that will be cooler than younger.
ODC: If you become a little bit older,will you think leave HIM and for example work again in the SEX Shop or something like that?
Ville: Hm, I think that we'll be so fed up with music that we'll form a SEX-Shop of our own!
ODC: Really?
Ville: Yeah, that's the plan!

ODC: OK, so... Will you say something to your fans from Our Diabolikal club?
Ville: Hm...As always, there's quotations from movies. So, be nice to your parents and try to be as educated as you can! That's the only true way of defeating your enemies.

ODC: Thank you very much, we hope to see you soon again!
Ville: Well yeah, we're still playing tonight you know! Hahaha

credit: www.ourdiabolikalclub.gr