Ville Valo

Ville Hermanni Valo (Helsinki, November 22, 1976) is a Finnish singer, musician, and composer, leader of the extinct Finnish band HIM, of which he is one of the founders. Valo was also the drummer for the band Daniel Lioneye, which features HIM guitarist Mikko Lindström as singer. He is the inventor of the Heartagram, the band's hallmark. He is currently working on his new VV project. Using the Heartagram symbol with a new design, Valo decided to bring the Heartagram project to life and on March 19, 2020 through his official page "Heartagram", he announced his new project called VV, (Ville Valo), with the publication of the new EP titled "Gothica Fennica Vol. 1.." With 3 songs that make up the EP, "Salute The Sanguine", "Run Away From The Sun" and "Saturnine Saturnalia", with which Ville Valo returns to the most powerful activity, in a musical line very close to the one that gave HIM worldwide fame. In the year 2022 Ville Valo announces the release of his album & # 34; Neon Noir & # 34;, debut solo album under the name of VV. Ville Valo published on April 8, 2022 a new single entitled "Loveletting", a preview of what will be his next debut solo album that will be released in 2023 and will be accompanied by a tour of Europe and USA.

Biography

His childhood and beginnings

During his childhood and youth he lived in the neighborhood of Oulunkylä. His family consisted of his father Kari , his mother Anita (of Hungarian origin) and his brother Jesse , 6 years younger than him. he, who practices Thai boxing as a hobby.

He was born in Finland. The first months of her life she lived with his parents in the old part of Vallila, and then they moved to Oulunkylä, where she spent the next seventeen years. She went to school in Oulunkylä. He studied higher education at the Käpylä night school, where he met the guitarist Petri Valli of the old group Kingston Wall.

His father used to repair old cars and his mother has had the same job for 20 years.

Valo had many animals growing up, including dogs, fish, and turtles. According to Valo, when his dog died, he suffered a trauma and became allergic and asthmatic.

The first "musical" What his parents have of him is from a family party where, around midnight, Jallu, an Elvis Presley impersonator family friend, started playing "Are You Lonesome Tonight." Valo crawled around in his pajamas to pick up some bongos and start drumming to the Elvis song. At that moment his parents said to each other: "This is sure that he will end up a musician." He went to art classes for a while, but soon after music took up all his time, so in third year he switched to music classes and they had to decide which instrument to play, Valo chose bass as he admired Gene Simmons. His parents got a second-hand bass, his teacher Hannu Takalo was the one who taught him to play it and his mother forced him to practice. He preferred to learn pop/rock music, so he doesn't have classical music backgrounds.

Ville Valo in Provinssirock (2006).

Musical Influences

From a young age he was influenced by the music his parents liked, from singers such as Tapio Rautavaara and Rauli, as well as Rolling Stones, Cat Stevens, John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley.

In his official biography he has commented that it was his cousin who introduced him to rock after having recommended listening to Kiss, for this reason the first album he bought was Animalize. His older cousin also influenced him through bands such as the aforementioned Kiss, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. At the age of 8 he realized his passion for rock music. His interests expanded, with Blues styles, and music with Country touches and airs, such as Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Neil Young. Valo even mentioned in an interview for the Reforma newspaper in Mexico that he was proud to have been compared on some occasions to Ozzy Osbourne's former band. Similarly, he mentioned in an interview for Virgin Records that he had grown up listening to bands like Jane's Addiction, Bad Brains and Soundgarden, all bands with lyrics in English and therefore had decided to write their music in the same language.

From a very young age, Valo's enthusiasm for music got him involved in various Helsinki bands, such as B.L.O.O.D. (1986-89), Eloveena Boys (1987-88), Kemotherapy (1989-97) and several more, all of which were somewhat dark projects.

Their first groups

In fourth or fifth grade he formed his first group B.L.O.O.D., they put dots between the letters like "W.A.S.P.", "we didn't know why the dots were there, in any case it looked good like this", they played music that had some meaning to them, especially Iron Maiden, they had two drummers, one for rehearsals and one to play in public, since he suffered from stage fright. They played for the music class, before the sixth grade boys.

Later, he met Linde, in seventh grade, and sometimes they played together and little by little he got to know the other boys and they started playing at school parties under the name Elovena Boys, in which Valo was the bass player; they played songs by U2 and Dire Straits and he wrote his first song for the group; Later, several groups followed, such as Aurora, where Valo was the drummer and Linde played the guitar.

As an end-of-year trip they went to Amsterdam, by bus, and did some performances in schools in the Netherlands.

Apart from music, he also practiced judo, and later took up skateboarding.

HIM

At the age of 18, her parents gave her a small studio, which she moved into, and she worked in the sex shop "Adults Toyshop Aikuisten Lelukauppa" that belongs to her father.

In 1995, due to dissatisfaction with existing music, he formed HIM, which was initially intended as a cover group for bands like Kiss, Danzig, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode, but developed a style they called Love Metal.

In the beginning, he was going to be the bassist, but since Migé was also the bassist, he became the vocalist and composer of the group, and he is usually the one who is in charge of giving the interviews.

There was a time when HIM broke up because Migé started doing military service; After Migé had just presented his military service, the band got back together.

He has combined his work at HIM with other projects, collaborating with groups like The 69 Eyes and being part of Linde's project, Daniel Lioneye.

In 2005, he was engaged to model and Mtv Finland presenter Jonna Nygren, ending the relationship a year later, due to problems during HIM's American tour, Valo's alcoholism, and depression and abuse of sleeping medications by part of Jonna, being today the only single member of the band.

In 2007, he entered a detoxification clinic, due to his alcoholism, since then he has remained sober, and has been the subject of his interviews during the presentation of the Venus Doom album. He has currently declared that he has also quit his smoking habit, although in several interviews he has said that he is only a & # 34;Break & # 34; because of his health.

In 2013, the band was scheduled to tour North America but it was postponed. The band justified the sudden change of plans by issuing a statement in which they informed their fans that Ville Valo had been diagnosed with severe asthma and a possible case of pneumonitis. The band also commented that the tickets purchased would be refunded and that they hoped to resume touring with Volbeat soon.

Tattoos

Ville Valo has a vast collection of ink on his skin. Some of her tattoos include the Heartagram, the official logo of the band HIM. Ville even gave an interview to Inked Magazine in which she detailed about her tattoos, the origin and reason for each one of them. He pointed out that his first tattoo was done by a friend of his, originally from Helsinki who played in a couple of bands and had been a small heart on his right wrist. He said that it had been small since it was a test to see what he felt and what the matter was about. Having passed the test, Ville decided to go ahead and tattoo his entire left arm. The full-sleeve tattoo that adorns Ville's arm took quite some time to complete, as the singer claims that he used to hang out with his friend for drinks during sessions and it was very difficult to tattoo when he was drunk.

Personal Life

Ville Valo first met his now good friend, Kat Von D in 2005 while the band HIM was recording their album Dark Light in Silverlake California. They had originally met on a date to discuss some of Ville's ideas for a tattoo, however the two ended up getting along so well that a great friendship developed. Kat even appears in a version of the video for HIM's single Killing Loneliness. This friendship, however, seems to have been deeper than what appeared to the naked eye. In the book published in 2013 Go Big or Go Home, written by Kat Von D herself, a more intimate relationship between the singer and the tattoo artist is revealed. An almost impossible romance that ended before it could begin and that Kat describes in a way similar to a tragic novel.

Ville has been questioned about his perspective on matters of love, to which the singer replies that he is like a little child. He explained that the hope in him grows every five minutes and he hopes to find that ideal person, then his hope falls and he must pick up a guitar and write a nostalgic song, then his hope grows again. He has also been questioned about his point of view about one-night stands, to which Ville replied that they have never interested him since they are always inconsiderate for one of those involved.

In an interview with Ville on May 7, 2013 on AOL, the singer confirmed that he is in a serious relationship. He mentioned having been living for a few months with a woman about whom he did not give any information, however the type of relationship he has with her was confirmed since he clarified that he did not call her hers & # 34; girlfriend of her & # 34; because this term seemed commonplace to him. He also pointed out that the presence of a female being in his house had helped to stabilize his life a bit.

He is currently in a relationship with Finnish model Christel Karhu.

Bands in which he has participated

• B.L.O.D. [1986/87-1989] Battery
• Elovena Boys [1987/1988?] Letters, composition and bass
• Kemotherapy [1989 until the early 90's] Letters, composition, Bass and Battery
• Therapy [1990] Vocalist
• Winha [1990] Vocalist
• Unga Kaskelottär [1990?/1992?] Vocalist, Letters, Composition, Percussion, Bass and Guitar
• Aurora [1992] Battery
• HIM [since 1991] Vocalist
• Donits Osmo Experience [1992/1993] Low
• Daniel Lioneye [2001, in the new album he did not participate] Battery
• VV [2020] solo project with an EP entitled "Gothica Fennica Vol. 1".
• VV [2022] solo project with a single titled "Loveletting" song preview to his next album entitled "Neon Noir" that will be published in early 2023.

Other participations

• Valo has made several appearances on television and cinema. In 1998, he had a small role in the short film Asphalto led by Ilppo Pohjola. In 2008, Valo lent his voice to Moto Moto on the Finnish fold Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Valo has also appeared in several Bam Margera projects included Jackas Number Two and Viva La Bam. While he has received offers for several small performance papers, Valo has argued that he is not an actor, making a joke in 2013: "I have always felt that [HIM needs] sell about 80 million more copies to become an actor. a painter, an opera singer or a TV personality." In 2005, Valo designed a limited line of cans of Coca-Cola Light and the profits went to the Red Cross. In 2020, Paulig named Valo as the new face of Presidentti coffee.

Discography

With Him

• Witches and Other Night Fears (Demo) (1992)
• This Is Only the Beginning (Demo) (1995)
• 666 Ways to Love: Prologue (EP) (1996)
• Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666 (1997)
• Razorblade Romance (2000)
• Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights (2001)
• Single Collection (Box set) (2002)
• Love Metal (2003)
• And Love Said No: The Greatest Hits 1997-2004 (2004)
• The Video Collection (DVD)
• Love Metal Archives (DVD)
• Dark Light (2005)
• Uneasy Listening Vol. 1 (2006)
• Uneasy Listening Vol. 2 (2007)
• Venus Doom (2007)
• Digital Versatile Doom CD+DVD (2008)
• Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice (2010)
• Tears on Tape (2013)

With VV (Solo Project)

• Gothica Fennica Vol. 1 (EP) (2020)
• Neon Noir (2023)

"Neon Noir" track listing:

1. Echolocate Your Love

2. Run Away From the Sun

3. neo noir

4. loveletting

5. The Forever Lost

6. Baby Lacrimarium

7. Salute the Sanguine

8. In Trenodia

9. Heartful of Ghosts

10. Saturnine Saturnalia

11. Zener Solitaire

12. Vertigo Eyes

Others

• 1997
  • Wrap your troubles in dreams (The 69 Eyes; Valo as a background voice)
• 1998
  • Hunningolla (Neljä Ruusua; Valo appears as guest artist in the video)
  • Laulava Sydän (Agents; Ville Valo sings 3 songs in this album in Finnish)
• 1999
  • Ikkunaprinsessa (Agents and Ville Valo)
  • Paratiisi (Agents and Ville Valo)
  • Jykevää on rakkaus (Agents and Ville Valo) [Used for the CKY4 show: The Latest and Greatest in 2004]
  • Freak Out (Tehosekoitin; Valo as a background voice)
  • Wasting The Dawn (The 69 Eyes; Valo as a background voice)
  • Whispers in the Chaos (written by Valo, for "Sweet Desire" by Lullacry)
• 2000
  • Blessed Be (The 69 Eyes; Valo as a background voice)
• 2001
  • Thulsa Doom (HIM like Thulsa Doom, a band that teloneates The 69 Eyes at the Tavastia Club)
  • Death Of A Clown (5.15 - Five Fifteen; Wall as background voice)
  • The King Of Rock'n Roll (Album of Daniel Lioneye (HIM guitarist); Valo makes drummer and additional voice)
• 2002
  • Hedonis Hellcats (The Skreppers; Valo makes the additional voices together with Migé and Lily)
  • Support Band von The Skreppers (Lux Airam/Ville, Miguelo/Migé and D. Lioneye/Lily)
  • Paris Kills (The 69 Eyes; Valo makes additional voices)
  • AurA (The Mission; Valo as a background voice)
• 2004
  • Saturnalia (Lowe Motor Corporation; Wall as background voice)
  • Bittersweet (Apocalyptica; Ville Valo next to Lauri Ylönen de The Rasmus)
  • The Call Of The Trash (The Skreppers; Valo as a background voice)
  • Devils (The 69 Eyes; Valo as a background voice)
• 2005
  • American Idle (Isabelle's Gift; I play as a background in the song 'If I Die Tonight')
  • Something Diabolical (Bloodhound Gang; next to Ville Valo)
• 2006
  • The Byronic Man (Cradle Of Filth; next to Ville Valo)
  • Inner Silence (Anathema; next to Ville Valo)
  • Synkkien Laulujen Maa (Ville Valo sings the song Kun Minä Kotoani Läksin with Tommi Viksten in this compilation album, see http://www.synkkienlaulujenmaa.fi)
• 2007
  • Summer Wine (Natalia Avelon; along with Ville Valo, for the OST of 8 Miles High)
  • Just for tonight (Manna; next to Ville Valo)
• 2019
  • Ville Vallo " Agents (Ville Vallo " Agents)