Help
This topic is locked
Quote
Finnish gothic metal group HIM frontman Ville Valo spoke to Metal Hammer in a recent leaked interview about his unexpected decision to leave his main band behind, and his plans to head in a more commercial direction with some better-known names in the industry, most notably MTV's honey Bam Magera.
"This is a decision that really has to be considered by any musician in the industry," he recalls candidly. "At first, sure, every band's going to have these aspirations of making it 'big' in the music business while staying true to your ideals, but when you're playing a genre that's pretty niche, you basically have to keep yourself open to new opportunities. When I first met Bam, I knew I was potentially onto something. Bam's a great guy, but my association with him in the beginning was mostly intended to just grant us some extra exposure."
He continues, "We'd talked about this for a while, and we decided it best to begin a new band, to capitalize on our status quo with this new band. HIM was a band that I loved being in and writing material for, but it just wasn't paying the bills. I've started Bam on guitar, and he pulled off his first power chord today. With that, we're already able to start a punk band, so we're writing a lot of new material in that direction."
Thus far, Ville has declined to comment on who the rest of the band's lineup would be comprised of.
In addition to the new musical direction being taken, Valo has also opted to ride on the success of Bam's clothing line-- the new VILLE line will bear the old 'heartagram' Bam uses for his own, but most notably with the word 'BAM' changed to 'VILLE'.
Ville's opinion on this is somewhat jovial: "Well hey, he ripped off our logo, so I'm going to rip off his clothing line. It's really just a case of 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours', and that's working out fine between us so far."
HIM has released no official statement on their future without Valo in the fold, but drummer Mika Kristian "Gas" Karppinen has been quoted as saying he was "Disgusted" with the decision, calling Valo a "fucking sellout". Fans on the official HIM message board have speculated the band may part ways upon the release of their next album in July.
The name of Ville's new band with Bam has still not been decided, and will be forthcoming.
The May issue of Metal Hammer containing the interview hits newsstands on April 28.
"This is a decision that really has to be considered by any musician in the industry," he recalls candidly. "At first, sure, every band's going to have these aspirations of making it 'big' in the music business while staying true to your ideals, but when you're playing a genre that's pretty niche, you basically have to keep yourself open to new opportunities. When I first met Bam, I knew I was potentially onto something. Bam's a great guy, but my association with him in the beginning was mostly intended to just grant us some extra exposure."
He continues, "We'd talked about this for a while, and we decided it best to begin a new band, to capitalize on our status quo with this new band. HIM was a band that I loved being in and writing material for, but it just wasn't paying the bills. I've started Bam on guitar, and he pulled off his first power chord today. With that, we're already able to start a punk band, so we're writing a lot of new material in that direction."
Thus far, Ville has declined to comment on who the rest of the band's lineup would be comprised of.
In addition to the new musical direction being taken, Valo has also opted to ride on the success of Bam's clothing line-- the new VILLE line will bear the old 'heartagram' Bam uses for his own, but most notably with the word 'BAM' changed to 'VILLE'.
Ville's opinion on this is somewhat jovial: "Well hey, he ripped off our logo, so I'm going to rip off his clothing line. It's really just a case of 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours', and that's working out fine between us so far."
HIM has released no official statement on their future without Valo in the fold, but drummer Mika Kristian "Gas" Karppinen has been quoted as saying he was "Disgusted" with the decision, calling Valo a "fucking sellout". Fans on the official HIM message board have speculated the band may part ways upon the release of their next album in July.
The name of Ville's new band with Bam has still not been decided, and will be forthcoming.
The May issue of Metal Hammer containing the interview hits newsstands on April 28.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermo...ewsitemID=65691
This post has been edited by Belial: 01 April 2007 - 06:45 PM
:thumbsup:
And stupid me totally forgot about April Fool's Day. 
☆NGT☆
