About Me
This is the
Official HIM Street Team Sweden
HIM is a band from Finland formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Linde, and bassist Mige Amour. They have released five full length albums to date.
As of 2006, they are the first and only Finnish rock band to sell Gold in the United States. The band was originally called His Infernal Majesty, but they soon changed this to simply HIM. (see below). Also for a short time they were know as either "HER" or "HIM and HER", in the United States and Europe, respectively
Album History
HIM started out as a cover band, covering songs of artists such as KISS, Type O Negative, Danzig, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode. After many lineup changes and a hiatus from 1991 to 1995 caused by the members' military services, the band now consists of the three founding members plus keyboardist Janne Johannes "Burton" Puurtinen and drummer Mika Kristian "Gas" Karppinen.
Recent Events
HIM released their third compilation album titled Uneasy Listening Vol. 1 in November 2006. Valo announced in the UK magazine Kerrang! in an interview during 2006, that HIM will start recording their next studio album in the summer of the following year and that it would be released around September or October of 2007. Working song titles for the new album are "Bleed Well" and "Passions Killing Floor". It is also expected, before their new studio album is released, to release Uneasy Listening Vol. 2 on about April 25, 2007.
Ville Valo recorded a duet with German soap opera star Natalia Avelon for the movie "8 Miles High". The track, a cover of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's song "Summer Wine", was released as a single in January 2007.
It was announced on January 17, 2007 that HIM will be one of the headliners at Give It A Name 2007. Ville Valo stated that the band will hopefully be playing new songs.
Heartagram
Heartagram is the name of a trademarked symbol of HIM. It is a cross between a heart and an inverted pentagram. Valo created the Heartagram around the age of 21. The heartagram has been falsely associated with satanism, so some believe HIM is satanic, which is false according to Valo. The heartagram symbolizes the contrast or perfect balance between life and death, love and hatred, darkness and light, good and evil, or even love and death together. Valo has said that "the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity, and for 'love metal' in general,".
Many fans of the band have heartagram tattoos or tattoos of other HIM emblems (such as the single heart on Valo's right wrist). Fan-submitted photos of such tattoos decorated the lyric booklet for the limited edition of Dark Light.
Ville Valo has allowed his close friend, Jackass star, professional skateboarder Bam Margera to share the license on the image and Margera is accordingly entitled to use it for his promotional purposes, for example most of his Adio shoes have the symbol. Because of that many people think it's Bam's logo, but even so it has been profitable for the band because it gives them a lot of publicity, and according to Ville in one of his interviews, more people know the band because of the symbol and Bam than because of their music.
HIM is currently running a contest to design the new Heartagram
Name confusion
Their first bandname was His Infernal Majesty (chosen spontaneously, as a complete joke). But as their popularity rose, they needed to change their name because:
Finnish people were having difficulties pronouncing the name
The band name was never actually serious
The band started getting unwanted occult associations
Consequently, the band changed the name to HIM from the "Wicked Game" single (The "Your Sweet Six Six Six" single included a 'His Infernal Majesty' sticker) onwards. Some people, mainly American fans and journalists, incorrectly use "H.I.M.".
In the official HIM biography, Synnin Viemää, Ville Valo admitted to making things up and joking about the name during interviews, leading to conflicting accounts of the origin of the name and the confusion that exists today. During an interview, Valo has said:
"In almost every interview someone asks what does HIM stand for. I can't even remember our latest lie about that. When Hanson was hot, we said it means Hanson Is Murder. The name doesn't have a particular history. His Infernal Majesty was a totally different band. I think HIM derives from some death metal joke. And it was our protest to Haile Selassie's rastafarian religion, he used to be called His Imperial Majesty. But nowadays because of Linde's hair, we actually might be supporting him."
Their second major US release, Razorblade Romance, was released under the name HER because a New York based post-rock band named HiM held the trademark on the name. While they toured Europe, primarily Germany, at this time, they used the name HIM and HER. HIM eventually bought the rights to the name "HIM" in the United States and used it worldwide from thereon.
Genre
HIM's genre is debated in some circles; their musical style is often referred to as "love metal" by Valo and by the group's fans. Musically the band mix influences from gothic rock, hard rock and early heavy metal. Ville Valo has stated that the band started as a "Black Sabbath tribute band of sorts"[5], which further solidifies the band's heavy metal leanings. Valo stated in an interview on the 'Love Metal Archives' DVD, that he was fed up of journalists and interviewers asking him (Valo), and the rest of the band what the genre of HIM was. He said in answer to that question, they created the Love Metal album.
Critics commonly refer to them as gothic metal or gothic rock. However, their musical style varies between albums, and even between songs. Some of the more common genres applied (correctly or not) to their music include:
Alternative rock
Goth metal
Goth rock
Heavy metal
Members
Ville Valo — Lead vocals (1991–Present)
Linde — Guitar (1991-Present)
Migé Amour — Bass Guitar, backing vocals (1991-Present)
Emerson Burton — Keyboards, backing vocals (2001-Present)
Gas Lipstick — Drums (1999-Present)
Former members
Antto Einari Melasniemi — Keyboards (1995-1998)
Zoltan Pluto — Keyboards (1998-2000)
Juippi — Drums (1991-1992)
Tarvonen — Drums (1991-1992)
Pätkä — Drums (1995-1999)
Oki — Rhythm Guitar (1992-1996)
Discography
"Witches and Other Night Fears" - (1992)
"This is Only the Beginning" - (1995)
"666 Ways to Love: Prologue" - (1996)
"Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666" - (1997)
"Razorblade Romance" - (2000)
"Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights " - (2001)
"The Single Collection" - (2002)
"Love Metal" - (2003)
"And Love Said No: The Greatest Hits 1997-2004" - (2004)
"Dark Light" - (2005)
"Uneasy Listening Vol. 1" - (2006)
"Uneasy Listening Vol. 2" - (2007)
Ville Valo "Ville Vallo"
Ville Hermanni Valo (born November 22, 1976) is the vocalist, songwriter and frontman of the Finnish alternative rock band HIM. They have released five full length albums, and as of 2006, they are the first and only Finnish rock band to sell Gold in the United States.
Below is a list of Valo's side projects and collaborations.
Skreppers & Ville Valo (1995)
Apocalyptica & Ville Valo (1996)
The 69 Eyes & Ville Valo (1997)
Tehosekoitin & Ville Valo (1999)
The 69 Eyes & Ville Valo (1999)
Neljä Ruusua & HIM (1999)
Agents & Ville Valo (1999)
Tributti Tuomari Nurmio: Ville Valo & Others (2000)
The 69 Eyes & Ville Valo (2000)
Musta Paraati, Ville Valo, Gas Lipstick & Others (2001)
Daniel Lioneye And The Rollers/Daniel Lioneye And The Blues Explosion (2001)
The 69 Eyes & Thulsa Doom (2001)
Five Fifteen & Ville Valo (2001)
The 69 Eyes & Ville Valo (2002)
The Skreppers, Ville Valo, Migé Amour & Lily Lazer (2002)
The Mission & Ville Valo (2002)
Lowemotor Corporation & Ville Valo (2003/2004)
The Skreppers & Ville Valo (2004)
The 69 Eyes & Ville Valo (2004)
Apocalyptica feat. Ville Valo & Lauri Ylönen - Bittersweet (2004)
Two Witches & Ville Valo (2005)
Bloodhound Gang feat. Ville Valo - Something Diabolical (2005)
Isabelle..s Gift feat. Ville Valo - If I Die Tonight (2006)
Cradle Of Filth feat. Ville Valo - The Byronic Man (2006)
Ville Valo & Tommi Viksten - Kun Minä Kotoani Läksin (2006)
Kari Tapio & Ville Valo - Tällä Pohjantähden Alla (2006)
Ville Valo & Natalia Avelon - Summer Wine (2007)
