Ville Valo Reflects on HIM Breakup: “We Didn’t Go Down the Metallica Road”
It’s been well-documented that Metallica worked hard to pull the band back together in their time of turmoil, but not every band goes down the same route. In a new interview, HIM frontman Ville Valo recalls why the band let things die at the end of the 2017 farewell tour, 26 years after things began.
“It took quite a long time for us to realize that the story of HIM had ended. After Tears On Tape, Gas [Lipstick, a.k.a. Mika Kristian Karppinen], the drummer, left the band. Then we found a new guy. We toured a bit. We tried to get everything to work. But it just didn’t sound as good as we wanted to. I think that we lost the spark, so to speak. And we tried to be adult about it and realized that maybe it’s just not our time, because you couldn’t blame us for not trying. We really tried to figure out… We didn’t go to any therapy sessions — we didn’t go down the Metallica road — but we sat down long and hard and tried to figure out if there’s anything we could give the world musically and decided that it’s the perfect time to end it.”
2017 isn’t that long ago and HIM could totally get back together in the future if they wanted, but sometimes it’s nice to see a band hang it up before they’ve sucked the creative life out of a project. You’ll have plenty of chances to hear HIM songs with Valo’s upcoming tour, anyway.
1/13 – Tavastia, Helsinki (FI)
2/14 – Proxima, Warsaw (PL)
2/15 – Kwadrat, Krakow (PL)
2/16 – Lucerna Music Bar, Prague (CZ)
2/17 – Huxley’s, Berlin (DE)
2/18 – Fabrik, Hamburg (DE)
2/20 – Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL)
2/21 – Batschkapp, Frankfurt (DE)
2/22 – Komplex, Zurich (CH)
2/24 – Razzmatazz, Barcelona (ES)
2/25 – La Riviera, Madrid (ES)
2/26 – Cineteatro Capitolio, Lisbon (PT)
2/27 – Hard Club, Porto (PT)
3/2 – Alcatraz, Milan (IT)
3/3 – Backstage Werk, Munich (DE)
3/4 – Barba Negra, Budapest (HU)
3/5 – Arena, Vienna (AT)
3/7 – Rockhal, Esch-sur-Alzette (LU)
3/8 – LMH, Cologne (DE)
3/9 – Le Trabendo, Paris (FR)
3/10 – O2 Academy, Bristol (GB)
3/11 – Rock City, Nottingham (GB)
3/13 – Garage, Glasgow (GB)
3/14 – O2 Ritz, Manchester (GB)
3/15 – O2 Forum Kentish Town, London (GB)
4/1 – Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia PA (USA)
4/2 – Big Night Live, Boston MA (USA)
4/4 – Roxian Theater, Pittsburgh PA (USA)
4/5 – House of Blues, Cleveland OH (USA)
4/6 – St. Andrews Hall, Detroit MI (USA)
4/7 – Bogarts, Cincinnati OH (USA)
4/9 -House of Blues, Chicago IL (USA)
4/11 – Varsity Theater, Minneapolis MN (USA)
4/13 – Summit Music Hall, Denver CO (USA)
4/14 – The Depot, Salt Lake City UT (USA)
4/16 – Ace of Spades, Sacramento CA (USA)
4/17 – The Fillmore, San Francisco CA (USA)
4/18 – Belasco, Los Angeles CA (USA)
4/21 – House of Blues, Las Vegas NV (USA)
4/22 – House of Blues, San Diego CA (USA)
4/23 – Van Buren, Phoenix AZ (USA)
4/25 – House of Blues, Dallas TX (USA)
4/26 – Aztec Theater, San Antonio TX (USA)
4/27 – House of Blues, Houston TX (USA)
4/28 – House of Blues, New Orleans LA (USA)
4/30 – House of Blues, Orlando FL (USA)
5/1 – Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale FL (USA)
