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During the listening-session one thing became very clear: HIM changed their melancholic-pop of the past to harsh combination between metal and prog-rock.

Sonic: Ville, Venus Doom is an obvious change of direction going to harder, rougher sounds. How come?

Ville: Oh cool! That was exactly my idea! Because love and pain, the themes we’re concentrating on can be pretty tough as well sometimes. And somehow we’ve been in all directions of the spectrum already. Look at Dark Light the last album. It consisted of a lot of layers. So it wasn’t really direct and reminded me of U2 a lot which was okay. But you can’t do the same all over again you’ve got to try something different. Just as you use different coloured pencils to paint different paintings. And this time we just wanted an album that kicks their listeners asses! That was the idea. Plus I had enough of keyboards…


Sonic:So the album is a direct reaction to the one before?

Ville: Yes but it’s the same with every record. And we did a lot of them until today. So I just hope this is going to be a positive surprise. I’m conviced of it. And I’m very happy about it, just as the band. Imagine, we’ve got a real drum-solo at the beginning and a bass-solo as well. This is so naïve and so uncool that it’s damn cool eventually.

Sonic: Including your doom and prog-rock loans?
Ville: (proud) A great thing. I mean prog-rock is good for you. And I’ve always been a big fan of Yes, Jethro Tull and that kinda stuff. The funny thing with this album was that for the first time we didn’t have any insructions. We seriously were standing in our rehearsal place in Helsinki and were laughing our asses off and asking ourselves: ”Why not?” That’s always the best question. Of course I love pop-songs and we did loads of them over the past few years. But now the time has come to break with this and to do something different.

Sonic: This might be a serious problem for your younger female fans. A calculated risk?
Ville: Exactly. This album is more for adults- for civilized grown-up people. No but seriously it would be boring to repeat the same old thing that once has been successful. And this record feels awesome because it’s so aggressive and dirty. I’m a big fan of My Bloody Valentine and love their album “Loveless”. Just these massive guitars that still leave space for sentiment. It’s (Venus Doom) a great album that made my days brighter and happier and my depressions deeper (laughs). And it’s the 1st rock-album in which you can hear a female ejaculation.

Sonic: In which song?
Ville: You have to buy the record to find it out! But you can hear it very clearly. So if you want to find it out you’ll succeed. Unfortunately it’s not a live record of it just because for some reason finnish girls don’t ejaculate (laughs). We had to use an american porno, not a really good one by the way.


Sonic: May I ask what the label says to all this. Because with DL you just started being successful in the US?
Ville: They stand behind us, absolutely. The last album was the 1st we made for Warner and we didn’t expect anything, really. We were just happy that we could release worldwide, finally. I’m pretty excited and nervous what’s going to happen this time. Because I like to be in the States. It’s great to e in cities like San Antonio, to experience new places and new food. Or to fly to Japan or to Australia for the 1st time, such things. And all that just because of the record company.

Sonic:How come Warner postponed the release of VD again, to mid-september this time. Are you angry about that?
Ville: Yes of course I’m angry about that, really much indeed. I mean I could have taken my time with it, then. But they said they had 2 big releases of “Taking Back Sunday” and the “Smashing Pumpkins”the same day it’s been too much work for them. That’s why they pushed our date back. They definitely couldn’ve done that with Billy Corgan!


Sonic: how did you come to the title VD and what does it mean?
Ville: Well, it has got nothing to do with planets. I thought of the Goddess of love. And the title follows the tradition we got in every album- this yin and yang, black and white, whatever. The play of contradictions. But it happened that I woke up some morning and had the title in my mind- Venus Doom. For me it stand for a combination of the Goddess of destruction and reincarnation.


Sonic: 2 contradictory terms that complete each other perfectl?
Ville: Unfortunately, yes. It’s pretty crazy. But that’s exactly what love and relatinships are for me: you have to destroy yourself and then put the pieces back together to be even able to love!


Sonic: A kind of self-therapy- like the whole lyrics in which you deal with he experiences of a raven-black year?
Ville: Usually something like this should have a cathartic, cleansing function. But it doesn’t work for me. It still hurts so much- I can’t even listen to some of the songs. I almost have to cry because they are so honest. Though I know from other musicians that it is a thing that could work- just not for me: the one thing excludes the other!


Sonic: There’s this one song about your friend who died.
Ville: Yes. Kiss of Dawn is about my buddy Thurston who killed himself. That’s why I wrote a song about life is always going on even when it’s absolutely unbearable. But you are right, it’s been a hard time and so much bullshit happened to me.But it wasn’t the 1st time and it won’t be the last time…


Sonic: Including the cancelled engagement to MTV-moderator Jonna Nygren…
Ville: Fuck, yes, I still got the ring, though (points at his left ringfinger). That’s the problem with tattoos:It’s hard to get rid of them. I’ve been thinking about changing it. But luckily “J” can also stand for Jesus and that would be a way out of my own craziness: turn to religion. Who knows? Maybe I’m gonna do this: go to the monastery and live in asceticism! (laughs)


Sonic: How come it didn’t work? Are rock’n’roll and long-term relationships things that exclude each other?
Ville: Oh, no! it’s pretty tough but it can work of course. It’s not impossible you juast have to find the right partner. And I’m still looking for that person. Even though I’m getting the feeling that I’m not made for long-term relationships- that’s why it never lasts long for me. But you should never forget: If someone seriously means something to you it doesn’t matter where you are. When you close your eyes and go to bed you are thinking of the person you truly love! And that just wasn’t the case with us. We weren’t as close as I was thinking we were in the beginning. That’s why I ended it before it was too late.


Sonic: Plus you had some serious trouble with your neighbor…
Ville: When I was still living in that 8 apartement house I always had trouble with my neighbors because I was playing guitar at 2am. If I was in their position I would be angry, too, but hey, what should I do, it’s my profession!


Sonic: And you take it so seriously that you spent a night in jail for that because you were fighting and resisting against the police?
Ville: That was just stupid and wouldn’t have happened if I had been a bit more calm and stable. But 2006 wasn’t a good year indeed. That really touched me. Well, in that fight I flipped-out. Nothing really happened apart from a damaged door and some broken flowe-pots.


Sonic: And now you are living in an old tower in Munkkiniemi?
Ville: Exactly.That’s probably the onky tower in helsinki and I didn’t even know about it. It was built in 1842 and I like the fact that it has got 4 stories and a basement with sauna. Every story is a room. It’s like a museum, I really love it. That’s the 1st time I really feel like home. Unfortunately I can’t enjoy it now because we’ll be on tour for the next couple of months or maybe for the whole next year.


Sonic: The new songs are very comlpex. How can you perform them live? Will it be difficult?
Ville: We’ll see. We definately have to work on that because there’s a lot of songs with more than 2 guitars and backing vocals, and stuff like that. And the guys are no Pavarottis when you know what I mean. They rather sound like Family Munster, on their own sick way which is kinda funny.


Sonic: That means you are like lordi without the masks?
Ville: I think Lordi did steal their whole image from our bassist- and he doesn’t need a mask, honestly. But the emotional side on this album is very difficult, too. In former times writing lyrics had a cathartic, cleansing effect to me. Like freeing yourself from all your sins so that you become a new person. This album is more like a maelstrom of craziness. And to sing these songs is really hard for me because it’s very hard stories. I can’t even tell you everything, some things are so personal. But what am I doing here? I’m telling the same old shit like every rocker. So: “the album will be more personal, better, whatever” same old thing (laughs)


Sonic: How did you react when Lordi won Eurovision Song Contest 2006?
Ville: I was laughing and was happy for them. I’m a fan and know Mr. Lordi for ages. It’s not that we are close friends but he’s been president of the finnish KISS-fanclub. Once I played a gig with some friends in which we imitated KISS songs with “pet-sounds”, that’s how I met him. And I admire him because he’s a fan and doesn’t hide it, that’s very rare in our business. I always confessed that I was a KISS fan. I don’t reinvent the wheel, he doesn’t reinvent the wheel, we both just hail our Gods!


Sonic: Can you imagine to do the Eurivision… with HIM?
Ville: Never! (laughs) It’s been a good thing for Lordi, definitely but it’s also a thing that sticks with you for-ever. That’s something we don’t wont. We prefer staying losers.

Are you there?It is  wonderful to know...All the ghosts freak my selfish out. My mind is happy...Need to learn to let it go, and I know you'd do no harm to me. But since you've been gone I've been lost inside, tried and failed as we walked by the riverside. And I wish you could see the love in my eyes...But what can I say now? It couldn't be more wrong...because there's no one there, unmistakably lost and without a care. Did we lose all the love that we could have shared? And its wearing me down,it's turning me round, and I can't find a way.Where are you when I need you...

As I drift away... far away from you, I feel all alone... Thinking to myself "there's no escape from this fear, regret, loneliness...". I wish I didn't know now that I never knew then... Sometimes I remember all the pain that I have seen. Sometimes I wonder what might have been... Visions of love and hate, a collage behind my eyes... Remnants of dying laughter,  echoes of silent cries... Is it the emptiest of all your broken hearted feelings? A serious misconception to choose a path that led to ruin... And I... I live for today, I can't get away from the burning inside. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust... I could stare for a thousand years, penetrate your deepest fears, leave you cold with a faceless embrace... then disappear without a trace. But I won’t. Speak to me... for I have seen your scars concealed. Do you know you're not alone?  Sleep tonight... Wasted moments wont return, and we will never feel again. How I feel that no one can find me here in my soul... Kicking and screaming out of control...Calm myself down... now nobody knows. Hooked on your problems... Do I know why? And if you come my way again would I lend a hand? Would I understand? Solitude was never.. never seen as loneliness. And things need... they need time. The inequity of fate, the pains of love and hate, the heart-sick memories that brought you to your knees... Seeing is believing,  but I don't want to see you broken. Walk on through the wasteland... I just can't let go face down... I just break down when I see you cry all the time. Behind those green and lonely eyes forgotten by time, reality is dawning... Your spirit is awakening, hope is waiting, crying in the distance and calling out your name.  All is not lost ...and never to be forgotten.  And I often sigh, I often wonder why I'm still here and I still cry.  And I often cry, I often spill a tear over you. Please ease my burden... The bittersweet taste of fate... A strength I never lost. I know there is a way, your future is not set... For the tide it has turned, but still you never learned to live without grief.

Life’s just got interesting for love metal’s dark knight.It isn’t heartbreak.As Alexander Milas finds out, Ville Valo’s standing at the crossroads of his life.Selling his soul: Mick Hutson.

It’s hardly a scene of roc’n’roll mayhem.A multiplying cluster of empty cigarette packs are nessly strewn near a stack of newly bought books and DVDs.Movies like “Forgo” and “A scanner Darkly” freely intermingle unopened rock biographies like “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” and a well-thumbed copy of “Making waves: The autobiography” by David Hasselhoff.Anywhere else there’d be nothing to distinguish the room from countless other dwellings around the world.Considering it’s set inside the plush interior of London’s Soho Hotel on a Friday night- with the bustling night of one of the world’s cosmopolitan cities just a few metres below- and that’s acurrently occupied by one Ville Valo, H.I.M. frontman.It is a scene of bored despair.Right now, that’s just the way he likes it.It’s here that for the past three days he’s watched daytime life go by through the window, only to hit the city’s dingiest, most booze-soaked night spots at sundown with the intention of “getting annihilated”.It’s impossible not to wonder what His Infernal Majesty, currently sporting flowing locks and recently grown facia hair of Shakespearean proportions, is doin here, and in this state.Considering he’s just finished a year of worth of dogged touring on the back of 2005’s hopleslly romantic “Dark Light” album, not forgetting the modest purchase of a five floor defensive tower built in 1842 on the outskirts of his hometown Helsinki, it’s surprising to find him here.But study this mundane scene a little closer, and you’ll notice an item of distinct interest.. It’s a five-track demo of H.I.M. next record, and for the past couple of days Valo’s been in an intense series meetings with his label to decide exactly what the next step will be in H.I.M.’s ongoing evolution.But that isn’t right now, and what isn’t what Valo wants to talk about.If anything can be said about the Finnish frontman who’s ostensibly seen less than a million faces but no doubt genuinely appreciated them all, he’s terminally, reclusive, shy, and perpetual stages appearances aside-seems far happier to blend into the shadows of his adoptive city than bask in its easly found limelight.What’s really on his mind right now isn’t music fame or ever growing cult of  celebrity.It’s that he comes here for peace because he gets little at home.He doesn’t blame the ghosts mind you, which he confesses he’s convinced live there as he clutches a second can of Stella from a dozen bought for the very occasion of this interview.

“I leave the lights on for them” he says with his usual wink, always leaving you to decide wether he’s completely serious or not. “I’m scared of a lot of things, but not ghosts”.

What does scare him tough isa seemingly endless stream of slightly over dedicated H.I.M. fans on the prowl in Helsinki, searching for the baritone singer’s abode.Some of them find it, and because text messagers are the key to the castle, Valo’s having his door bell removed.

“It’s a pain in the ass because people start knocking on the door at nine in the morning” he says. “There’s nothing really negative, but it’s my home. It’s the only place where I can have my peace, wear Spongebob Squarepants jimmies, and listen to 80’s disco.Sometimes I’ll look out and there will be someone waiting underneath a three outside for a really long time not doing anything.That’s kind of weird”.

But as settled as Ville Valo is beginning to sound, there’s very little to anchor him anywhere.You might have gleaned the fact that he’s been fronting a band that’s been globetrotting for the better part of a decade, or one third of his lifetime, that he doesn’t mind the treatment lifestyle.But as cliched as he’ll admit it sounds it really is the road where he finds a home.And it isn’t the confortable lifestyle of touring that he seeks.If anything is anonymity that from what you’d assume one of the mos recognizable man in music he craves more than anything.London is where he finds it.

Maybe there are bomb threats or whatever but I’ve considered miving here. He says, settling back in his seat.”I think a lot of people are running away from a lot of issues and I might be one of them.I love the English sense of humour, the pubs.And you don’t get rednecks here.I hate New York.It’s like London’s big bad brother.This is where I find kindred spirits.For a while my whole plan was just getting a storage room for all my gear and carrying about where I live.Getting money to be able to be like a hobo for a year.I still want to do it one day”.

As for those kindred spirits at the top of Valo’s first is ex Napalm Death/Cathedral frontman and Londonder Le Dorrian, who hasn’t just served as an inspiration ( “I’ve always got a copy of “forest of Equilibrum” with me” he says at the band’s 1991’s ,asterwork).Valo counts him among his best friends and it’s often that the two are spotted in random London haunts going about the business of drinking.

As for the doomy aspects of H.I.M.’s new album, Valo makes no mistery of where his inspiration comes from.

“The first time I met him I was shitting my pants because he’s a legend” says Valo..”We met maybe five years ago.We’ve got similar ways of looking at things.And I admire him lyrically and as a person.I mean he made me vegetarian”.

He winces and bends over to pry off a pair of black and white gangster style wingotip shoes he’s been taking on excruciating walks trough London for the past few days.They are positively ungainly but as Valo explains they were bought to wear to a recent party that took place on December 6, Finnis Indepndence day.It isn’t an occasion he normally celebrates, but this particularly party was hosted by none other than Finnish President Tarja Halonen.He’d already turned down a few invitations to meet her on account of being away on tour.

“She was great” he says. “Really cool and I had these great vibes from people but I kep getting pised off because they served beer in less than a pint glass and it’s warm so I kept having to go back.It was the most boring party I’ve ever been to”.

Were you proud?

“well, he says pausing to drink deep from his beery chalice. “My parents were….OK, it’s the biggest honour you can have.”

You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that Ville Valo isn’t entirely convinced as he downs the rest of his Stela and cracks open another, expertly arming the fag hanginf from his lips away from the spray.

The story of H.I.M.’s next album really begins with the last one.Recorded at LA’s Paramour Studios, “Dark Light” was both ultimate refinement of the band’s intent to take America.While endless touring there pushed the release to gold status, a coup by anyone’s reckoning, Valo’s only appeared regret is that probably H.I.M. spent too much time there, that the “world’s a fucking big place” and that you can’to it all.

“We didn’t tour Eastern Europe, we didn’t do anything in Finland, we skipped places because of demand” he says.”Look, you only have 300-something days a year and at the end of the day we’ve got our own shit to do.Mige(Amour) has got to charge diapers and I’ve got to write songs and sleep in the bathtub.I’m super proud of everything.I’m in the beautiful position to still be talking about my music.I’ve never had an aspiration to be anything else.I neve tought that this world would bring me wether I’d traveling around the world or having at home.It’s all natural. There ‘s nothing to compare the existence with”

But what really happened during the last record wasn’t bigge and better touring- what he describes as  “ selling the gospel” – or record sales. To Valo, the real significance  of “Dark Light” was that, perhaps for the first time , he’d truly  found his musical voice. It was the most time H.I.M.  had ever spent writing on album, so Valo chose to  search for inspiration on the Sunset Strip instead of the confies of a studio. The resulting album was what Valo  describes now  “ the most rewarding thing ever ”.

“It was like a diary of my time there and it was a great thing to do,” he says. “A lot of people want to write about what they’ve done but not me. I was writing about what I thought about because of what I was doing”.

But ask Valo whether the last year of his life has been happy one and looks surprised, perplexed even. He struggles to recall anything he’s done.

          ‘You know, I was talking with a couple of friends about this and being a musician isn’t even close to another job,” he says. “People work five days a week but we might do six gigs, or no gigs. Your whole life doesn’t go by in years. It goes by in albums.”

          As for the next one, it’s due to be completed on the 26^th of may at Los Angeles’ Paramount C studios, perhaps better known for its rap and hip-hop artist than its goth-inspired songsmiths. Under the guidance of  “Dark Light” producer Tim Palmer. Tentatively titled “Venus Doom” , it’s infused with all the romantic sisillusion of the name implies.

          “The whole album is going to be about heaving sex with the Devil,” says Valo. It’s about something diabolical and profound. It’s a bed of nails. You either try to sleep standind or you  lie down. It’s the most personal album I’ve eved made.”

          And with  that he’s cajoled into getting up and putting the demo disk into the stereo. The most immediate and striking impression it gives it the aggression of the guitars. Guitar solos that wouldn’d offend Zakk Wylde and crunching distortion yield only to crooning lyrics like : “My heart is a graveyard baby and to evil will make love” and the more cryptic , “ At first kiss the seeds of hatred are sown”.

          As smooths as the delivery is there’s an anger and indignation there that hasn’t been heared before. As to the source of it Valo won’t elaborate, but there’s a thread to these firet inklinks  of a record and it’s dyed an an angry red. Is Valo getting jaded? He has just turned 30 after all, or in Ville-world, exactly three years older than his idol  Jim Morrison was when he died.

          “But I’m three years younger that Jessus,” he says with a laugh . “I’m waiting to be crucified.

The reviews are ready to come.

          “Indeed, indeed,” he says , still grinning. ‘It’s my personal way to Golgotha”

But the notion  that “Venus Doom” will really be H.I.M.’s first foray into a new, disillusioned world is swiftly shot down by the frontman. As he sees it, it’s just a new chapter in an old book written not by him but everyone who’s ever suffered a broken heart. Still is’s impossible to void the question whether by saying the same things over and over again- and even the most casualperusal of H.I.M.’s back- catalogue reveals that these themes are nothing new- you lose some sincerity after a while. Valo appreciates the analysis. Then rips it up.

          “Think about the hundreds of millions of people saying their prayers every night,” he says. “You can repeat certain things unti they become a mantra, and ‘I loveyou’ is the mantra in the world. People grow. Maybe it’s their beer gut or in the way they look at things, but changes in your life gives you new angles on old things and they let you see things you didn’t  see before. I love being able to pour my heart out. And I need to.”

          But it doesn’t sound like  you’re very in love with the idea of being in love at the moment.

          “I’m getting older but no more jaded,” he says with the puff of smoke, finishing. “that’s bullshit. And the sex really does get better.”

          But “at first kiss the seeds of hatred are sown”? ‘My heart is a graveyard”? That is certainly cynical by anyone’s standard.

          ‘But I think that’s so true, and so complete a sentence,” he says.  “‘ My heart is a graveyard baby/ And to evil will make love on passion’s killing floor / In my arms you won’t sleep safely/ and of lust we are reborn on passion’s killing floor ‘ “, he corrects. “It’s funny and deep at the same time. That’s the way I like it,” he says, shrugging apologetically. “All the songs are really about sex anyway.”

          “It’s a mental struggle, an emotional struggle,” he says. “I’m talking about ideals here. At the end of the day you completely trust the person you’re the most vulnerable you’ve ever been since being  in the womb. It’s about the security that you give up, and what you lose rather than gain being with someone. Shit will hit the fan, just hopefully not on the first night ”.

          But however convinced Valo is that he isn’t a broken record on the love front, he’s the first to admit that he has other interests and not even H.I.M. will necessarily be his only pursuit for the rest of his life. Just a few nights prior, on a drunken bender with some other London based friends. He laid the groundwork of  “ Crack Smoking Ninja Pirates On Speed”, which he explins is his retirement plan. Basically, waiting until he’s 70 and no longer has any responsabilities, he’ll buy a pirate ship and support a crack habit through the maritime plunder of small Scandinavian sports. But press him on the matter, and he becomes far more serious bout the endeavour. The joke isn’t actually  that far from the truth.

          ‘I’ve actually always wanted to be a hunter, a cowboy.” He says, though not of the animal killing – kind he’s quick to point out. “I’ve always been into the idea of serching out the truth behind the Bermuda triangle. In the western World you’re in a very egocentric position, very self-centred, and it’s easy to deny things you can’t explain. A lot of people deny things just because they can’t explain them”

Valo’s fascination with the occult- specifically Aleister Crowley  - 19the century secret societies, and all paranormal and the downright odd, no dubts fuels his fascination with such things, and his plans for investigating such things are very real. Just a year ago he was working on a documentary on the said Bermuda Triangle with a friend, and ex- H.I.M. member who played synthetise on their first demo.

          “Traveling the world and eating monkey brains” is, as Valo says, ‘ really fucking great idea”, but then, “I’m living a life now where I can’t really do anything like that anymore”.

Your life is  all about life’s mysteries …

          “Yeah,” he says, smilling. “The Bermuda Triangle isn’t that far away from love is it?  It’s like the universal experience of hundreds of millions of people. Love actually resembles the Bermuda Triangle when you think about it,” he stops there, his eyes light up, and can’t help himself.  “Especially if she has a really big bush”.

But are you happy?

          “Umm..” the laughter and the smile is immediately wiped from his face. “I’m going in the right direction. The end is always around the corner.”

The new Darkness.

The lowd town on “Venus Doom” and its completed tracks.

“Love in cold blood”

Doomy, Cathedral-worshipping guitars and a heavy crunch kick off primal dirge.This is the heaviest H.I.M. have ever sounded, until a gorgeously catchy chorus channels them into more familiar terriyory-sounding territory.

“The kiss of down”

Valo describes it as their Metallica moment and he isn’t kidding.It’s mean dirty, and has some of the heaviest sounds to ever come out of the Finnish quintet,This is Valo at his most primal.

“Dead lovers’ lane”

Infectious as fuck and probably the most “Dark Light” sounding song of the demo, and though unproduced a singulary lonely piano undercuts the richly layered wall of guitar and bass sounds.Dark? “It’s always dark” says Valo.

“Passion’s killing floor”

Originally chosen to be the album’s title track and replete with all the hallmarks of H.I.M.’s highly embellished sound, it opens with Ville crooning “My heart’s a  graveyard” and “ at first kiss the seeds of hatred are sown”.Valo denies he’s speaking autobiographically here.As he sees it, he’s speaking for anyone who’s ever kissed anyone.

Life is good for H.I.M. frontman Ville Valo right now.He’s working, he’s focused and he’s happy.And things are about to get even better.

Ville Valo has been in a good mood of late.He appears to have shed some of the demons that haunted him previously, the smile returning to his newrly bearded face.In part that’s because the pressure of touring and promoting 2005’s “Dark Light” has lifted, replaced by a fresh sense of optimism inspired by working on H.I.M.’s forthcoming new album.The previous album was one, Valo said at that time, that forced him into the darker comers of his mind.However,the new material is based, he says today, on, “Just wanting to rock out”, while he promises it will be heavier than anything the band have attempted before.

It means, that here,In London, despite being over to see friends, the frontman can do little else but talk about the new songs, occasionally taking out a notebook to jot something down-a lyric, an idea, or a thought-potentially to end up on the as-yet-untitled record.

As he leans back into a plush sofa in an even plusher hotel,Valo looks much like a man at ease with himself.He sips on a beer, draws on a cigarette and smiles.

“Shall we begin?” he asks.

If you were to take a snapshot of your life at the moment, what would you be in it?

V :An average day starts with [keyboardist,Emerson] Burton and I having a big fight at our rehearsal place, nearly kicking each other out of the band, then falling back in love again afterwards.Then I’ll go to my local pub, have a pizza, go home and watch “Lost”.The next day, I’ll do exactly the same again.

Creatively, do you see H.I.M. as a band on the up or are you happy with where you are now?

V: I think we’re stil on the up.

Do you ever look back and wish any of your previous albums had been different?

V: No, I’m proud of everything we’ve done because it was all done for a reason, wether good or bad.It’s been a learning process.A lot of people write off what they’ve done in the past but I don’t.The first album was necessary for the second album and so on.

So you see it as a learning curve?

V: We’ve been learning how to fly.And we’re all super-excited about the new stuff because it’s so heavy.It’s like Cathedral, you can really bang your head on it.Maybe I wasn’t ready to write that stuff before.

Where has that come from, why go heavier?

V: I just want to rock out! We’ve been playing live a lot, and that makes you sound rougher, which I think has been an influence.”Dark Light” had pretty silk production and we certainly don’t want to do anything silker than that, so we thought we’d make a U-turn.We want to blow the speakers out, we want to make a proper rock album, a metal album.

Do you thing people will be surprised, or don’t you care about that sort of thing?

V: I care, of course, but people have different tastes.You can’t please everybody.It’s a game of chance.

Does that means you’re writing for yourself rather than for fans?

V: Yes, that’s the only way to do it.I’ve never understood bands that could mathematically plan how to write a hit.Hits just happen.

Do you care about hits?

V: Yes, sure.I want to be as big as possible.It’s cool to play in big places and it’s cool to be liked.

How do you write- do you have to make time for it?

V: No, I do it all the time.I always carry a notebook with me, if I hear a good line, I’ll steal it.My brain is always thinking about writing.I’ll hum things into my cellphone.You have to always be receptive to ideas, you have to keep your eyes and your ears open.

If you’re constantly thinking about songs, does that make you hard to live with?

V: Well, yeah, it probably does.I’m a right bastard.I have an addicted personality.If I get into something I get a one-track mind.I can’t do a lot of things at the same time, or at least not emotionally challenging things.At the moment, I’m spending almost all my time thinking about the new album or where it will take us.I’ve even got a whole schedule for the year mapped out in front of me already.That’s the funny thing about being musician, you get everything mapped out for you.I could tell you exactly where I’m going to be in August…

Go on then.

(leafing trough a stack of papers on his lap)V: America, on tour.

Is it nice to have your future planed for you?

V: It’s crazy,it’s weird.A lot o people think it would be depressing to know all this in advance but I kind of like it.I’ve grown used to do it.I think it makes things easier too.I’m the sort of person who likes desdlines,it makes things clearer in my head.It makes me organized.

If someone had told your 21-year-old self that this is how your life would plan out, what would you have thought?

My 21-year-old self would probably say “Is that all?”.Actually, if I’m really honest, I’d probably have said “I thought so”.

Have you learned much since then?

V: Oh yes,of course.I’m a lot smarter than I was whan I was 21.That’s just experience.I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I don’t want to make them twice.I’ve done a couple of good things by accident and they’ve helped me grow as a person.I’m not so egocentric.I have more of a sense of humour about things now.

You seem to be very happy at the moment.

V: Everything is more or less in order.At the moment I’m spending all the energy on the album, on the songs, and I’m happy.I’m happy because of music.I can’t wait to get back out there.