VILLE VALO of HIM - The NEON NOIR interview

Ville Valo chats about his solo album Neon Noir and why he doesn’t think too much about what HIM fans will make of it while he’s writing. Pre-order Neon Noir here: In the annals of 21st-century alternative rock history there are few artists who cast a longer or more peculiar shadow than Finnish Love Metal pioneer Ville Valo. After all, his band HIM were easily among the most iconic and idiosyncratic groups of the millennium. Zealously revered, gleefully reviled but impossible to ignore, their music left an indelible mark on a worldwide legion of fans. The scarlet letters stood for His Infernal Majesty. Their founder stood for something delightedly out of step with the status quo. “As fun as the funeral rites for HIM were, it took me more than a few moons to lick my wounds in the shadow of the Heartagram and come up with an excuse to strum and hum again. Eventually, I decided to put a leash on my beloved black dog and we started howlin