Kerrang!Radio Interview March 12, 2013 with Matt Stocks
Kerrang!Radio Interview March 12, 2013 Matt Stocks
Transcribed by realitydistortd of HIMfected - do not remove
Matt Stocks: It’s time to get HIM now on the show, Ville and Mige from the band join me via phone line – let’s get them on. Hello!
Mige: Hey! What’s up! Hey. Ville’s gone to take a leak so he’s going to be back in a few seconds.
MS: No problem as long as it’s a number one!
M: Laughs. Well, you never know when you approach middle age.
MS: That’s right! It could just turn into a number two, unplanned.
MS: So how are you? Have you had a good morning?
M: Yeah, pretty good, yeah, it’s uhh…
MS: and is Finland still home? Do you all still live over there?
M: Oh yeah. We’re all still based there, everybody lives there.
MS: I was in LA recently - that was a shock to my system. I haven’t seen sunshine in
MS: It’s like t-shirt weather even in winter.
M: Oh, well, now he’s back. He has relieved himself.
MS: Well, that was a quick one.
Ville: I feel so relieved – not mentally but that’s how it is. Hello there, sorry about the…
MS: How are you fellas? Alright! We got the both of you now – we’re in!
MS: We’re locked in and ready to go. You guys are legally old enough to drink now, aren’t you?
MS: Twenty-One years old! Two decades in the band.
V: I was thinking, “drinking what?”
V: There’s several ways of counting how old the band is. Basically me and Mige started the first – we decided on the name of the band, His Infernal Majesty… that was done is about ’92, that’s about 21 years now.
MS: Yeah, that’s about the legal age now.
MS: Do you remember the day you two met? Do ou remember encountering each other for the first time?
M: We were pretty young; it was back when we were in school. I don’t remember the particular day or the moment.
M: Yeah, there wasn’t like a typical…
MS: There wasn’t like a moment when you gazed into each other’s eyes and it was
like the first time you heard the Beatles.
V: No, that happened way later. Laughs. That happened in the dark hours on the tour bus back in 2003.
M: Yeah, you need puberty for that kind of anger.
MS: I’m sure you get this a lot but I’ve got a confession to make.
MS: In my teenage years, when I was exploring my sexuality…
MS: … and having sexual experiences for the first time, the soundtrack to a lot of those encounters was your band.
M: Uh. Were you alone or were you…
MS: Laughs I was practicing in my room in the dark.
M: Then it’s okay. Laughs
MS: No no no. I was with girls. But yeah, there was a lot of HIM going on all the time – I’m sure you get that a lot. But is Love kind of your pre-occupation in terms of the theme and content and subject matter with the music? Was love your favorite topic to address and explore?
V: Well, I think it’s such a complicated and multi-layered topic that it’s a topic that never ceases to amaze me, you know, everything that love means. I think the Eskimos have - was it, 32 words for snow? I think we should have as many, or at least that as many words for love. It’s such a complicated thing, there’s just so many things hiding behind that one word that it never ceases to amaze me, you know? I’m not a political person and I’m not religious really and that doesn’t leave me much choice when it comes to song writing.
MS: Your spirituality is found in love and relationships and connections with people in that way.
M: Yes. Don’t forget the grand all.
MS: Do you find it easier to write music when you’re happy and in love or do you find it easier perhaps when you’re out of love and experiencing pain and difficulties and separation?
V: Well, I think that there is a melancholy even in happy relationships, you know, you can’t always be good and in joy so I try to take advantage of those situations and may be pull the carpet from beneath my own legs at times just to be able to write a couple of more ditties and get the tours going.
MS: And how do you go about the music and the lyrics? Does one come before the other or do they both kind of flow organically through time with each other when writing?
V: It’s always different, I think, that makes it interesting at least for me. So there’s always a surprise element and other times I get the skeletal, acoustic, idea for a song, the chord structure and the melodies together and … but that’s not the best time to write lyrics because then we need to put in the meat on the bones and that’s when the band comes in with their fuzzy guitars. And we have the whole kind of idea of how the song is going to sound, then that dictates how weepy and soppy and wimpy I can be with the lyrics.
MS: I’ve just watched Sound City last night, the new Dave Grohl documentary, have you guys seen it? Have you had the chance?
V: I’ve just watched it about a week ago, yeah.
MS: It’s great, isn’t it?
MS: It’s not a great movie or film but the subject and the story – I didn’t realize how many albums in those studios were made what like, Dio, and Rick Springfield. I mean, where do you guys rehearse and record? Do you find the surroundings to be an important factor in writing?
V: Not necessarily writing but recording, definitely. That was one of the reasons, for example, for recording Razorblade Romance in Rockfield in Wales. It’s a classic studio where Queen did their stuff and Black Sabbath and Fields of Nephilim and all sorts of bands that we adore so it does hold significance. The latest one, Tears on Tape, we recorded back at home in Helsinki.
M: Yeah, Finnvox Studios which is something quite legendary. It’s something like between Twin Peaks and Fawlty Towers so it’s a very impressive location.
MC: Are you guys big David Lynch fans? I know you guys have covered Wicked Game, of course, and Chris Issak was in the Twin Peaks series and his song was featured in Wild At Heart. Do you guys draw influence from, and I know, Ville, that you have a tattoo of Klaus Kinski – which is amazing I was reading – one of my favorite actors ever…
MC: Do you draw on cinema and other art forms as well when writing music?
V: I think everything should be an influence. You know, the pop talk and then reading in depth biographies on Austin Osman Spares, it can be a combination, it doesn’t have to be one or the other; it can be the mundane meeting the celestial.
MC: There is a lot of snake imagery on the album, Tears on Tape.
V: Well. Yeah, on the physical format, right?
M: Yeah, it’s also a metaphor for many things, you know, wisdom, phallus, if you’d like, and um, it’s a very strong totem.
MS: Would you guys ever own a snake as a pet?
V: I thought we’d leave Alice Cooper to do that.
V: He’s good with constrictors.
M: I wonder what he names his snakes.
MS: Because I can’t figure out if I find them sexy or scary, they kind of walk that line of danger.
V: Have you ever held one?
MS: I’ve been a part of a large group that’s held like, a python, yeah, so I wasn’t anywhere near the face.
V: It feels so funny though, like, they feel like soft baby skin – they feel so soft.
M: I also like worms and maggots.
V: Oh! Good for you! So you might be a snake yourself!
MS: Or a maggot! And that’s not a euphemism either.
MS: So this new album, is this album number 8 for you guys, Tears on Tape?
MS: It comes out the end of April, and how many songs you got on there? You’ve got 10? You’ve got 12?
V: Uh, it’s going to be 13 all together and basically it’s 9 songs, proper, and there’s like intros and interludes in that 70’s, Sabbath-ies type of way. I wanted to, for the first time, to have an intro we could use on tour as well. So it starts off with this Dario Argento/John Carpenter type of horror movie vibe and it’s going to be released on this fanpack edition that has like bonuses. And I think the itunes version is going to have some bonus videos and there’s going to be different formats. We can’t wait for the vinyl – we’re vinyl freaks in the band – and also hoping to get the whole thing released on tape.
MS: That would make sense, Tears on Tape. I love cassettes. You mentioned Dario Argento. I watched Suspiria again the other night, what was the band he collaborates with? Goblin?
MS: What a fantastic score that is.
V: We actually used to use the theme as the intro tape for us for years. We’re huge fans. Actually, we’re supposed to be meeting Dario like, 5 or 6 years ago, when we were talking about him directing a video for us but unfortunately that never happened. I think we weren’t able to give him enough money and blood.
MS: There is always time. Is there a video online yet for All Lips Go Blue?
V: Not yet. We’ve still yet to shoot it. I’m hoping the whole thing will be done in 2 or 3 weeks and then it should be out. But at the same time we’re in the funny position that there’s going to be different songs released as singles all over the world so … in some parts - in northern Scandinavia, there’s going to be a song called, Into the Night, is going to be released as a single, then in Germany, they’re going to release the title track. So I think it’s going to be a blast for the fanatic HIM fans that they’re going to be 3 videos out pretty soon so you can get the whole idea what the album’s about from 3 different angles on the same topic.
MS: Has that been an occurring theme in a lot of your career, when releasing an album, having to release different singles in different parts of the world?
V: At times but this time this is way more colorful and confusing way of getting all that stuff out. But I do think it’s a cool thing. We just shot videos for the two tracks I’ve mentioned, Tears on Tape and Into the Night – they’re nearly done. And I’m trying to figure out when and how to pull off All Lips Go Blue, but it’ll be a blast!
MS: How would you, if you had to, like, listen to one of your albums from the past – which would you say this happens to be the most like?
V: I’d definitely say, Love Metal, from 2003. We actually used the same studio – the Fawlty Towers/Twin Peaks thingy. Maybe some Black Eye Jacks. Laughs But we were working with the same producer, the Finnish guy called Hiili Hiilesmaa, and then was mixed in London by Tim Palmer – the same team, basically, so it has the similarities production/sound-wise also.
MS: SO we can expect that, Buried Alive By Love, heavy guitars?
V: It’s going to be heavier but at the same time it’s going to be like a mixture of Buried Alive By Love and The Funeral of Hearts. Like, a lot of melancholy, croonery type of vocals but at the same time having really Sabbathy, Cathedral-like bang your head to the wall knuckle-head riffs.
MS: So, sounds like the perfect package for anyone who’s a fan of your band, both sides of what you do.
M: Hopefully… We’re confident.
V: Laugh Yeah, you really sound confident
M: Y-y-yeah, we’re c-c-confident… mommy!
MS: Are you a Roy Orbison fan, Ville?
V: Bits and bobs, yeah. I do like the – well he’s a great singer or was a good singer, well, I don’t own all his albums. I love – I’ve been basically, folk-wise, listening to Chris Whitley, if you know that fella.
V: Maybe you should check out Chris Whitley, Dirt Floor.
MS: Is it Whitley with a H?
V: Yeah. Yes, it is. He’s a fella that passed away, unfortunately, a few years back and he does several different types of albums but you should definitely check out, Dirt Floor. It’s pretty tough to get. It’s just a man and a dobro and he’s got this gravelly, Mark Lanegan type of voice. It was just recorded in a cabin in one night and it sounds amazing – it sounds bigger than a lot of big production albums. That’s one of my main influences when I started writing on Tears on Tape.
MS: Nice. And when are we going to see you performing some dates in the UK?
V: Well the one first, we’re going to be doing some record release type party/showcase gigs around Europe and the U.S. We’re playing Dingwalls in London late April and unfortunately, it’s sold out. Well, luck for us,
MS: Yea, that’s good for you.
V: yeah, we’re going to be doing some small cluby things and doing some festivals but then playing Download so that will be wonderful.
V: And when the school starts, let’s say, mid-August or whatever, that’s when we will start our tour proper. At the moment we are booking gigs and trying to figure out where we are starting from but uh… Wolverhampton, here we come!
MS: Alright! Well, let’s get you in when you have time, come in and pop by the studio in Birmingham and say hello.
V: We’re going to play Brum, I’m sure.
M: Yeah, if you’ll have us.
MS: Of Course we will, it will be my pleasure. Thank you, guys, very much for your time.
MS: It’s been an absolute pleasure, I can’t wait for the album to come out, Tears on Tape, 29th of April over here in the UK. And here’s to hoping we get a trilogy of movies unleashed onto the world on the same day soon as well.
kaledo-art
kianamaiart
andulkaphoto
tangentwithtanner
areudirty
yousharknotpass
