HIM

[Ponyone]

Ponyone has downloaded the new album, "Dark Light"!!!!!
I'll put up a review as soon as I'm finished listening. I'd describe it as very similar to "Love Metal", but maybe a little bit more pop-sounding even, but a sure must have for HIM fans...

[Ponyone]

A review of "Dark Light" is up at Ponyone.net. Check it out...

www.ponyone.net/cdreviews_him_darklight

[muthagoose]

I have posted a few pics of the special edition of "Dark Light" to The Camera As A Weapon Project...

muthagoose.textamerica.com/

[muthagoose]

HIM has launched there new website...

www.heartagram.com/

[muthagoose]

Finnish goth-metallers H.I.M. have sold an impressive 46,394 copies of their new album, "Dark Light", in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 18 on next week's The Billboard 200 chart.

As previously reported, "Dark Light" entered the Finnish national album chart at position No. 1. This is the band's fourth consecutive chart-topper in their home country. View the whole chart at this location.

The follow-up to 2003's "Love Metal", "Dark Light" was recorded in Los Angeles and mixed at New York's Electric Lady studios with producer Tim Palmer (DAVID BOWIE, OZZY OSBOURNE).

H.I.M. will be ringing in the New Year at the HellDone Festival in Finland. The three-day event runs from Thursday, December 29 through Saturday, December 31. Other confirmed acts include THE 69 EYES, NEGATIVE, CHARON, BLOODPIT, SUNRIDE and DEEP INSIGHT. There will be both one-day tickets for each evening and three-day tickets available and customers can only purchase two tickets each. You must be 18 and over to attend.

H.I.M. will embark on a U.S. tour with FINCH and SKINDRED beginning on October 5 in Portland, Oregon.

For a full H.I.M. discography, including international chart positions, visit www.Rockdetector.com.

[muthagoose]

Finnish goth-metallers H.I.M. shot a video for their next single off their "Dark Light" album, "Killing Loneliness", earlier in the week in the Los Angeles area.

"Dark Light" has sold 85,000 copies in the United States in its first three weks of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The follow-up to 2003's "Love Metal" was recorded in Los Angeles and mixed at New York's Electric Lady studios with producer Tim Palmer (DAVID BOWIE, OZZY OSBOURNE).

H.I.M. will be ringing in the New Year at the HellDone Festival in Finland. The three-day event runs from Thursday, December 29 through Saturday, December 31. Other confirmed acts include THE 69 EYES, NEGATIVE, CHARON, BLOODPIT, SUNRIDE and DEEP INSIGHT. There will be both one-day tickets for each evening and three-day tickets available and customers can only purchase two tickets each. You must be 18 and over to attend.

[muthagoose]

ContactMusic.com is reporting that Finnish goth-metal band H.I.M. prefer to indulge in group masturbation sessions rather than succumb to the allure of groupies, because they are scared of bedding a transsexual by mistake.

Frontman Ville Valo claims that joint viewing of pornographic channels on hotel televisions keeps their sexual desires at bay, and avoids any band members getting into embarrassing situations.

Valo says, "There's always temptation, but it's not hard to resist.

"In H.I.M. we synchronise our watches by having collective masturbation sessions. It keeps the urges down. Thank God for hotel porn.

"Why would I want to pick up a girl from the front row and go straight at it? Especially nowadays, you can never be sure — there's so many 'shemales' around.

"Plus, I'm not so fast that I could do it in one night."

[muthagoose]

Bam Margera's Viva La Bands Tour Featuring HIM
Tuesday, 11/22/05, 7:30PM EST
9:30 Club - Washington, DC, USA

THIS SHOW IS NOW SOLD OUT!

[muthagoose]

Here are a few pictures from HIM at The 930 Club that I uncovered...

[muthagoose]

ContactMusic.com is reporting that H.I.M. frontman Ville Valo fell victim to a brazen robbery after his drink was spiked in a Minneapolis, Minnesota, bar during his recent U.S. tour — and he has vowed to stay sober ever since.

The Finnish rocker was drinking with strangers the evening before a gig on October 21, 2005 when the drugging took place, leaving him suffering minor injuries and with his pockets cleaned out.

And the singer is now so terrified of a repeat incident, he is staying off alcohol for the foreseeable future.

He says, "They put some drugs in my pint of beer. I blacked out and woke up in a hotel room I'd never seen before.

"Somebody had stolen my jacket, my asthma medicine, my fags (cigarettes), my credit cards and my cell phone.

"I had a couple of scratches, probably from falling down, but nothing worse.

"I've been sober ever since."

[muthagoose]

H.I.M.'s video for their new single, "Killing Loneliness", has been posted online at MTV Europe. The song comes off the Finnish goth metallers' latest album, "Dark Light", which has sold 149,000 copies in the United States since its late September release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The follow-up to 2003's "Love Metal" was recorded in Los Angeles and mixed at New York's Electric Lady studios with producer Tim Palmer (DAVID BOWIE, OZZY OSBOURNE).

Check it out:
www.mtve.com/common/mediaplayer/playMedia_big2.php?TrackId=2509&ArticleId=4845

[MASON]

It is amazing that this band has yet to record a song that I do not like. Long Live HIM!

[muthagoose]

According to HIMonline.tv, H.I.M. guitarist Mikko "Linde" Lindstrom suffered a fractured wristbone on his left hand after falling on a slippery street after the band's New Year's Eve at Helsinki's Tavastia. As a result, Linde will be forced to keep a cast until the end of January, causing the postponement of the band's tour of U.K./Ireland. The rescheduled dates are as follows:

Apr. 18 - Manchester, UK @ Apollo
Apr. 19 - Manchester, UK @ Apollo
Apr. 20 - Birmingham, UK @ Academy
Apr. 21 - Birmingham, UK @ Academy
Apr. 23 - Glasgow, UK @ Academy
Apr. 24 - Newcastle, UK @ Academy
Apr. 25 - Brixton, UK @ Academy
Apr. 27 - Dublin, IRE @ Ambassador
Apr. 28 - Dublin, IRE @ Ambassador

All other dates in Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand will go ahead as planned. Please note that the January tickets will be good for the April shows.

H.I.M.'s latest album, "Dark Light", has sold 227,000 copies in the United States since its late September release, according to Nleisen SoundScan.

[MASON]

Looks like Ma$oN will once again venture "across the pond."

[muthagoose]

A decent article on Ville Valo that I turned up...

- - >

Goth-rock hero's dark secrets

Despite his perceived status as the love god of goth metal, Ville Valo, the lead singer with the Finnish band Him, is not a ladies man; or not tonight, anyway.



Ville Valo
Inner torment: Ville Valo of Him

The poster boy of the Kerrang! community, whose pale, eyelinered presence on the cover of any of the hard rock mags has for several years guaranteed an immediate rise in circulation, appears to be more of a talker than a hellraiser.

An hour or so after Him finished their set at the Paradiso club in Amsterdam, Valo is back in the hotel bar studiously ignoring a gaggle of silently adoring female fans who have somehow managed to trace him here.

This tiny fraction of the girl-led mob milling around the venue after the show ended are now disappointedly cradling drinks while their hero presides over an all-male coterie comprising his bandmates, manager and an English journalist (me).

Valo is holding forth on the appeal of being on the road - where Him have been since the release of their fifth album, Dark Light, last autumn and will continue to be until their biggest world tour so far ends in summer. "I f***ing love the fact that you can be on a bus with your old schoolmates, then turn up in a new place, play a show and make people happy maybe." The best bit, though, is what happens afterwards. "Then go and have a drink, and sit and talk about linguistics!"

This is not some strange Finnish joke. Language, particularly the English language, is indeed Valo's obsession. Take the title of the new album, Dark Light, for instance. Anybody unfamiliar with Him's lyrics, which are all his own work, might suppose this to be a moody gothic nonsense. "It's an oxymoron," says Valo. "I love it because it expresses a physical impossibility, the Yin and the Yang all mixed up together." Trying to find a balance between these opposed states is, he says, "what it's all about for me".

Next to music, reading is his favourite pastime. Dark Light is also the title of a novel by one of his favourite writers, the Norwegian novelist Mette Newth. And here, he points out, tattooed on his upper arm is the likeness of another of his literary heroes, a Finnish author who recently drank himself to death.

But the person who has helped him most recently in his battle with words and meanings is - no kidding - John Humphrys, the presenter of Radio 4's Today programme. "I just finished reading his book Lost for Words," says Valo. "I love people who are passionate about their language and appreciate the history of it."

Idiosyncratic might be the word to describe Valo and the band's career so far. The band formed as teenagers attending the same school in Helsinki in the early 1990s. At the time, Valo was working part-time in his father's porn shop, "which was weird because I had no sexual experience at the time. I came very late to sex".

Him were emphatically not conceived to speed his development in this area. "None of us had a clue about girls or drugs or booze, we were just big fans of Black Sabbath." Valo found the example of the Birmingham foursome inspirational - "such a great Cinderella story, these four not-so-good-looking blokes who made it big internationally" - and wanted to attempt a Finnish version. "Our traditional popular music, which I have grown up with, is very melancholic, like the Russian: dramatic, dark, diabolic almost. And it's not so much about the song as the lyric."

Eleven years of slow but steady progress later - "we've been haunting Europe like Casper the Friendly Ghost" - Him have built a solid fan-base and carved a distinctive niche for themselves.

Their songs are an intriguing blend of buzzsaw-guitar mayhem and elegantly doom-laden melodies, the latter delivered in a deep baritone by a vocalist who might have been styled by Hammer Horror.

Their cover versions are interestingly chosen, too. H.I.M. do a Ramones tune, Poison Heart, "because I like the way their songs are celebratory about being hopeless". Another live favourite is Chris Isaak's Wicked Game, "which is more gothic than anything the Sisters of Mercy ever did".

Why this preoccupation with inner torment? Valo's answer doesn't offer much encouragement to the girls at the back. "We have to torment ourselves to become better personalities and move on to the next spiritual level."

[muthagoose]

H.I.M. Frontman Doesn't Know If He Was Raped

ContactMusic.com is reporting that H.I.M. frontman Ville Valo is unsure if he was raped after being given a date rape drug and robbed in a bar in Minneapolis last October.

But the H.I.M. singer insists it would serve his attacker right if he was sexually assaulted — because he was suffering an uncomfortable condition at the time.

Valo explains, "At that point I had a horrendous case of haemorrhoids — which often happens on tour — so it would have served that particular party right if they had taken their wicked way with me.

"Haemorrhoids and all the evil things that happen in the anal area. That would have been my revenge."

Valo also admitted he is so terrified of sexually predatory groupies, he sometimes wishes he is gay (like Kiefer Sutherland).

Ville is stunned by how forward and liberated female fans are.

He says, "The overt sexuality of groupies shocks me.

"It feels odd that people think they can just sleep with us. We actually think, sometimes, in the band, that it would all be a lot easier if we were all gay (like Kiefer Sutherland) because what better than going on stage having just sucked each other off — we'd all be so happy.

"But you know, hairy balls are not really my thing."

[Chick-O-Stick]

[muthagoose]

MTV2 will be premiering a 30-minute H.I.M. concert special, "H.I.M.: Live in Detroit", on Saturday, January 21 beginning at 8:00 p.m. EST.

[muthagoose]

Ville Valo arrested after threatening to kill his neighbor!

ccording to the Finnish tabloid newspaper Iltalehti, H.I.M. frontman Ville Valo was taken into custody by the Finnish police over the weekend for allegedly threatening to kill his neighbor and resisting arrest.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. on Monday (Feb. 6), Valo allegedly became belligerent and violent while spending time at his apartment building (photo), which is located in the Eira district of Helsinki. For reasons that are unclear, Ville is said to have thrown a flower pot at his neighbor's door, after which he was confronted by his neighbor and a brawl ensued. The police were called by the neighbor's wife and two officers came to the scene but were unable to calm Valo down, who reportedly had to be restrained with handcuffs.

Valo, 29, spent the night in police custody and reportedly admitted threatening the neighbor but failed to provide a clear motive for his actions.

No injuries were reported in the incident, although the neighbor's door did suffer some minor damage.

According to Iltalehti, Valo was involved in previous disturbances within the same housing organization.

Ville's neighbors refused to comment the incident, according to the report.

[muthagoose]

H.I.M. Frontman Talks About Recent Arrest

H.I.M. singer Ville Valo has spoken out about his recent arrest in Finland on charges that he threatened his neighbor and resisted arrest.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 6, Valo allegedly became belligerent and violent while spending time at his apartment building, which is located in the Eira district of Helsinki. According to a report in the Iltalehti newspaper, Ville threw a flower pot at his neighbor's door, after which he was confronted by his neighbor and a brawl ensued. The police were called by the neighbor's wife and two officers came to the scene but were unable to calm Valo down, who reportedly had to be restrained with handcuffs. No one was injured, but the door did suffer some minor damage.

In a recent appearance on the "Loveline" talk show on Los Angeles' KROQ 106.7 radio station, Valo was asked to comment on the incident and explain the circumstances that led to his arrest.

"It was a guy just talking a lot of bull about me and my fiancée," Ville said. "And I just heard about that. He was claiming that we were junkies to people he didn't know. And you know, around in Helsinki, it's a small city, where I live, it's tiny, so if someone keeps on spreading bad word, everybody's gonna know it sooner or later. And I got pissed off, I went to his door, I kicked the door down — not literally down — I kicked the door, he opened the door and I told him that if he was ever gonna talk badly about me and my girl, he was gonna end up being dead, and I punched him in the face, and that's the whole thing. And I've never done anything like that since I was in school."

Q: Did he say anything provocative to get you more riled up?

Ville: "No, I was just so pissed off because you don't do that. Especially in the little tiny building where we live — it's just eight apartments or whatever, and it's in the better part of the city."

Q: And he's been saying this repeatedly about you?

Ville: "Yeah. I heard it through my friend's mother in the dog park. [laughs] He was like talking, 'We live with these junkies and they behave so bad. They have parties every night.' I was like, 'C'mon, last year, I was like nine months away from home. I was recording an album here in L.A. So I haven't even been home.' So it's like weird. So basically I'm gonna sue him for slander."

Q: Can you do that?

Ville: "Yeah, sure. I've got witnesses, so we should be fine. We'll see what happens."

[Ponyone]

I really don't understand why he would even care about some loser in an apartment building...He should read all the shit they say about him on Blabbermouth....Anyways - Valo is still the man...

[muthagoose]

H.I.M. To Film New Version Of 'Killing Loneliness' Video

Finnish goth metallers H.I.M. will be filming a new video for their song "Killing Loneliness" after the video's original version had met with a "poor American response," according to the group's frontman, Ville Valo. H.I.M. will be joined in the new clip — which is being directed by Nathan Cox (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MARILYN MANSON, KORN, LINKIN PARK, STAIND, DISTURBED) — by noted Heartagram tattoo artist Kat Von D — whose work has been featured on the TV show "Miami Ink".

To view the original version of the "Killing Loneliness" video, click here...
www.mtve.com/common/mediaplayer/playMedia_big2.php?TrackId=2509&ArticleId=4845

"Killing Loneliness" comes off H.I.M.'s latest album, "Dark Light", which has sold 317,000 copies in the United States since its late September release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The follow-up to 2003's "Love Metal" was recorded in Los Angeles and mixed at New York's Electric Lady studios with producer Tim Palmer (DAVID BOWIE, OZZY OSBOURNE).

[muthagoose]

H.I.M. To Tour U.S. With AIDEN -

H.I.M. will be embarking on a U.S. tour with AIDEN beginning on May 2. The venues on the trek are still being confirmed, but the tour is expected to run through June 9.

In other news, the Spanish web site www.Terra.es has uploaded three high-quality video clips from H.I.M.'s live performance in Madrid on March 3, 2006.

As previously reported, H.I.M. were scheduled to film a new video for their song "Killing Loneliness" after the video's original version had met with a "poor American response," according to the group's frontman, Ville Valo. H.I.M. will be joined in the new clip — which is being directed by Nathan Cox (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MARILYN MANSON, KORN, LINKIN PARK, STAIND, DISTURBED) — by noted Heartagram tattoo artist Kat Von D — whose work has been featured on the TV show "Miami Ink".

To view the original version of the "Killing Loneliness" video, click here.

"Killing Loneliness" comes off H.I.M.'s latest album, "Dark Light", which has sold 331,000 copies in the United States since its late September release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The follow-up to 2003's "Love Metal" was recorded in Los Angeles and mixed at New York's Electric Lady studios with producer Tim Palmer (DAVID BOWIE, OZZY OSBOURNE).

[muthagoose]

H.I.M.: U.S. Tour Dates Announced

MTV.com is reporting that Finnish goth metallers H.I.M. will be back on North American soil this spring for a 22-date road trip that's scheduled to launch May 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and conclude in Las Vegas on June 8. The run includes two previously announced appearances: one at the Bamboozle Festival — with FALL OUT BOY, TAKING BACK SUNDAY, AFI, HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS, THURSDAY and others — in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on May 7, and one at the Sasquatch Music Festival in George, Washington, which is set for May 26. NINE INCH NAILS, BECK, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE and QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE are also on the bill. Support on the trek will come from AIDEN.

H.I.M. are scheduled to film a new video this month for their song "Killing Loneliness" after the video's original version had met with a "poor American response," according to the group's frontman, Ville Valo. H.I.M. will be joined in the new clip — which is being directed by Nathan Cox (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, MARILYN MANSON, KORN, LINKIN PARK, STAIND, DISTURBED) — by tattoo artist Kat Von D; she is one of the featured artists on the Discovery Channel's "Miami Ink" series and has made a name for herself as the go-to gal for H.I.M. fans who'd like to mark their bodies with the band's logo, the heartagram.

"Killing Loneliness" comes off H.I.M.'s latest album, "Dark Light", which has sold 331,000 copies in the United States since its late September release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The follow-up to 2003's "Love Metal" was recorded in Los Angeles and mixed at New York's Electric Lady studios with producer Tim Palmer (DAVID BOWIE, OZZY OSBOURNE).

H.I.M. tour dates, according to the band's publicist:

May 02 - Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
May 03 - Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
May 04 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
May 05 - Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
May 07 - East Rutherford, NJ @ Meadowlands (Bamboozle Festival)
May 15 - Toronto, ON @ The Docks
May 16 - Detroit, MI @ State Theatre
May 17 - Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre
May 18 - Columbus, OH @ Promowest Pavilion
May 20 - St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
May 21 - Omaha, NE @ Sokol Hall
May 22 - St. Paul, MN @ Myth
May 24 - Salt Lake City, UT @ TBD
May 26 - George, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre (Sasquatch Music Festival)
May 31 - Houston, TX @ Verizon Wireless Theater
Jun. 01 - San Antonio, TX @ Sunset Station
Jun. 02 - Grand Prairie, TX @ Nokia Live
Jun. 04 - El Paso, TX @ The Zone
Jun. 05 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theatre
Jun. 06 - Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Amphitheatre
Jun. 08 - Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues

[muthagoose]

H.I.M. Bassist Comments On BAM MARGERA Factor

Beat magazine caught up with H.I.M. bassist Migè (real name: Mikko Heinrik Julius Paananen) and asked if he ever finds the "Viva La Bam"/Bam Margera craze that has sewpt up his band a little suffocating.

"Well, there are lots of smart people who say 'all publicity is good publicity,'" he said. "Um, how should I put it? Perhaps this genre of our band is part of this kind of uh... entertainment that he does. All the 'Jackass' stuff and Steve-O stuff, perhaps it's not exactly what we represent — he's a skateboarder and comedian basically and we are this sort of tongue-in-cheek, serious heavy metal band, so I think it's kind of interesting to see what comes out when these people get together and do things. So I don't see it as a burden or as a negative thing; it's more like an experiment. And we've been hanging around with Bam so much that it's actually more of a friendship between us instead of combining our poor talents."