19.1. Ville Valo Yle interview with translation!

Interview with VV by Olga Ketonen (19th Jan 2023) at Radio Suomen ilta

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Lovely interview. RIP Olga Ketonen

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(1) [introduction] O: Ville Valo aka VV is here again, well of course he has existed all this time but I mean, through his work. Last week he performed in Helsinki at Tavastia, the new album Neon Noir is now available for everybody to listen and touring has started with those Tavastia gigs, and will soon start properly. We’ll be here until 8 pm with Ville Valo talking about various things, for example the meaning of photos in for his career, but, first, VV, have a taste on the word “new”. [interview begins - done before the Tavastia gig] V: New, as such. New me, or new album - it’s not the same thing as a new pair of pants bought from a store. We’re talking about the same old me with new songs and with a fresher world of sounds. I hope that what I do is very recognizable and I don’t wish to throw my identity off the curve (HEITTÄÄ LEPIKKOON). The only real chameleon in this industry has been the late David Bowie who did it in such a fantastic way one can only look up to that. [Olga continues introduction] O: When this interview was made it was Bowie’s birthday. That was a week ago on Monday, our capital was covered in a heavy blizzard then. So Ville Valo is talking now in Radio Suomen torstai-ilta about the things said and done then. First we talked about the new album, it’s called Neon Noir- well, this interviewer got the name mixed at first and talked about “nordic noir” but it wasn’t that off either.

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(2) [interview finally begins :D] V: It’s film noir but it’s also precisely nordic noir, which also connects to the color neon that is important for me, and the 80s. If Neon Noir was a movie, it would likely be Blade Runner. It has a lot of that combining of styles without any prejudices. It also has even romance and excitement, and film noir and- O: What was the labor of Neon Noir like? Was it long and painful or a rapid one, how did it see the light of day? V: I think it’s always a struggle to make a song. And when you know that beforehand it doesn’t come as a surprise. Every song is like a rite of survival. You try to point out to yourself that this song gives me the right to exist on this planet. It’s very often that deep. And that’s how it’s supposed to be. You need to care tremendously about the song. And with that song, and other ones as well, you need to show to yourself and others what you’re made of. 2:20 O: Last week there was a post going around in social media where Ville from Helsinki was looking for an apartment in downtown Berlin, at least 35 square meters and rent no more than 800 euros. Now, aunties of my age were discussing how it was a fake one, was it real? V: Um, I just heard about it. Pretty precise details, 35 square meters and so on... did it have my name? O: Yeah. V: A-ha! Well there are other people named Ville Valo as well. So it might be just one of them. But no, I didn’t, no no no...I’d never take that small, by no means! 2:50 *laughter* O: Well that’s what my friends just said, why would he go live in just 35 square meters! What size of an apartment is big enough for Ville Valo these days? V:Um, the ego is a completely different story but I like living in hotel rooms and tour buses so you don’t really need space around you. But when I’m in Helsinki at my home- I made this album and recorded all the singing parts for the Agents album there- so there are all kinds of music equipment. And I’m a collector. My parents are the same. Lots of all kinds of junk and stuff that is important to me, books and records and instruments, you name it. I really try to go for a minimalist way of thinking, at least mentally, that you don’t need anything but yeah. There’s a Remu (Aaltonen, drummer of Hurriganes) living inside me so that a home needs to be a total chaos filled with loads of interesting things. O: Which item comes to your mind now, something you like very much? On a windy Monday like this? 3:45 V: At home...I have a statue of Marilyn Monroe, a half-body one, which was at the window of my dad’s shop, Aikuisten lelukauppa, for a very, very long time, for many years. And it has taken some hits along the way, it’s a bit broken and so but it’s one of those nice items that give you a lovely feeling each time you walk past it on your way to the kitchen to fetch some coffee. O: Do you pat it on - I don’t know if it has buttocks or boobs - V: No no no, of course not. She can’t answer to the attention so it doesn’t give me any right to- hasn’t even crossed my mind. It’s taken so much hits, that creature, one shouldn’t dare touching it or it will completely fall apart.

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(3) O: I’m an old person, you’re not. I don’t mean that one only looks to the past but I want to do that a little bit now. What would this Ville Valo who sits right here on this windy Monday say to the Ville who played with his friends in His Infernal Majesty in Helsinki, Oulunkylä in around ’91? 4:45 V: What would I say to him...just let it rock. Something like that. I wouldn’t be here without all the good and bad that took place along the way. Everyone has things that they hope they didn’t do but we grow through mistakes. If we don’t repeatedly fail we won’t learn anything. And in that sense one can think- and what also is the theme of Neon Noir- is a celebration of mistakes. The idea is that we won’t do the same mistakes again but we prepare ourselves for the next mistakes coming up because it’s the only way, I think, how we can become better persons and understand better where we belong and- wasn’t it William Blake who said back in the day that “you are not able to know what is enough when you don’t know what is too much” . Maybe a bit naive thing to say, but it suits at least my personality well. I juggle too many things but I’ve also learned to say I’m sorry when it’s needed, even if it feels quite a stretch. O: I believe that too and I want to believe, as long as I’m still sane, that learning is the thing in life- not the purpose of it, but we are made to do. It’s a piece in us that is meant to be there and one should let it bloom. 5:59 V: Yeah, one should maybe talk about growing. Yeah I guess it is so. And the key thing is not the end result but the process. That has been with all of these. An album is a proof of the fact that I’ve created the music but no one gets access to the process of making it, and that’s not even meant to happen as it is a very personal thing. And that’s why I think it’s an interesting combination that you do something very personal, where you completely strip yourself when doing it, and then the proof of that work becomes available for the world around you. Then they can make of it what they wish to. Hopefully something, and positive. But we have to wait and see as there are still a few days to go. O: It has to have a feeling. What ever that is, but there must be some feeling. V: Yeah, if it doesn’t tickle you then it’s bad. O: I’ve seen you Ville Valo for the first time when Katja Ståhl, a record company person at the time, brought a wonderful young man to Radio Mafia’s studio and that wonderful young man - did I say he was wonderful - had done a version of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. And he was wearing a brick-red velvet suit, the pants were just a little bit too short- do you remember that suit yourself? V: I think I still have that same suit. I still have all the old suits from the 70s. I thought your punch line was going to be that the young man was Samu Haber! This so fantastic young man brought in by Katja Ståhl, this Samu, is also an aquaintance of yours, could you tell me more about him. But yeah, I still have all those clothes. Haven’t seen Katja in a long time, except on TV, but she was this great- well, mentor is maybe a little bit too much, sounds too old school, but she helped us a lot in the beginning when we knew nothing about anything. She’d be there to keep the lines straight.

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(4) O: And her attitude that the audience loves in this Elämäni biisi program has always been like no fuzzing or hustling, pure matter-of-fact with a big heart, and at the same time she’s fun as hell. I can imagine that she was a wonderful couch for young lads at the time on how one is supposed to behave oneself. 7:54 V: Which is easier said than done. And one should also remember that Katja, too, was a bit younger back then //O: A little, yes // so, she was, well, rock n roll all the way. So yeah, I believe she too has learned a thing or two along the way...also there was Tiina Vuorinen who is still selling shows and has done that a lot; Seppo Vesterinen, already passed on, our HIM manager, yeah. Nobody can survive alone in this world. [playing Wicked Game] O: One must always hear that final hiccup, HIM - Wicked Game by Chris Isaak, a bit different version than the original one. This Wicked Game was heard in 1996 on the EP, 666 Ways to Love, a prologue- can’t pronounce that. This song was not associated with heavy rock, and in an old interview Ville Valo tells how the song was one of his favorites since many years and that the rest of the band were such hillbillies the only way he got them to play it was to have enough volume and heavy guitars. Well, it did have those already in the first bars. Now, as I was sitting down with Ville Valo, I asked him why in a recent interview with Suomen Kuvalehti did he say that HIM should have quitted earlier than 2018? 9:08 V: [laughing] Well, that’s just a game of what ifs. You were talking about looking to the past earlier, one might have gained one album more in that, I could have started my own career a little earlier then but no- With HIM we left no stone unturned. We tried out every possibility. It was the biggest project of our youth and of our childhood, quitting it was not done lightly. We thought a lot about how to quit, and with what could we still make it work but the smartest thing was that we realized that we are not going to be able to turn this into something we could be proud of, and that’s why we decided to- of course the final tour, which was a success, and then to end it at Tavastia. It went well. I wouldn’t change a day, to quote Tapsa [Tapio Rautavaara: En päivääkään vaihtaisi pois]. O: I have with me a book, and the previous interviewer already talked about photos with you, but I love this Rock Finlandia by Jouko Lehtola, and you are on the cover of it wearing a Hanoi Rocks T-shirt and very low-cut pants. Jouko Lehtola, a photographer who is no longer here with us, well, at least not in this form as we are sitting here now, don't know in which form his spirit may move around here- Pictures, Ville Valo, in your career: this incredibly divine appearance of yours - it doesn’t count, the appearance, but you have been blessed with a beautiful one. The meaning of pictures along your way to become the artist you are now, what’s your take on that? A little bit over-the-top question, but I would like to ask that. As you look at yourself right there, with that cigarrette in your mouth, being so wonderful as you are there, on the cover? 10:41 V: Yeah, had I never smoked I wouldn’t be there, that’s how it goes! Well, in rock n roll and also in pop music visual things mean a lot, of course. The first band whose album I bought in the 80s was by KISS, and they were nothing more than explosions and make-up and such, so I understand well the power that it has. And of course, if you want to be in a rock band you want to look at your best and gladly make an impression if it’s only possible. But with these kinds of things one has to remember that there are so many coincidences involved, for example that we met Jouko Lehtola. And for the first album, the person took the cover photo of that, was Vertti Teräsvuori. And he has a very unique touch as well. Those things are the ones that people remember, expecially when it’s a new artist, that’s the first photo. And in this case the photo by Vertti was that one but abroad it was the one with the pink background, that was the cover of our second album, that was taken by Jönssi aka Jouko Lehtola. That took us really far. But there are also conscious things involved, that I liked, for example the color pink was not used in rock or heavy genres at all before. And I’ve always liked pink and other bright colors, like that neon type of things. So there are many of those coincidences. It’s nice in a way that it’s been such a mayhem, being a part of it is an honor, but it’s so hard to say what effects which part. But yeah, one always tries to check that there’s no toilet paper attached to one’s shoes, that the zipper is closed and that type of basic things. And they are always festive occasions, for example this one, that we are sitting here now. I can’t come here wearing (REINOT) slippers. 12:23

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(5) O: Do you enjoy being photographed? V: Yeah, it’s a kind of a twisted thing- like hearing your own voice on a record. It took me maybe 28 years that I didn’t feel ashamed about it and that goes for pictures as well. You somehow learn to adjust to that, kind of like immunotherapy. What I’ve enjoyd in photographs is to be able to hang out with photographers, because they are, in some cases, even more artistic than musicians, they are real characters. And they have very different technical ways of doing things- styles, feelings- and I’m really proud about that. Well, at least happy, that there have been tens of very high quality photographers all around the world that I learned something from. And pretty often you also learn something about yourself. So in that way- I, myself, I’m terrible at taking pictures. If I take a portrait with my phone there’s always some toe instead of a face in the picture but- Mige, the bassist in HIM, Mikko Henrik Julius Paananen to be exact, he’s really good at taking pictures. He took many photos using actual film on tour and I hanged a lot with him so- I’m remembering now what was going on during the times when I was drunk (=juoppomuistelen). 13:29 O: Well I’ve just been thinking about how- when you are an artist yourself and then, like you, Ville Valo, just said, photographers are- it’s such an incredible form of art and well, our time is bursting of pictures but if we are talking about - well, all kinds of pictures - how to see yourself through someone else? Native Americans believed that the camera takes away your soul. The feeling that “oh our band is also like this” when the other person has decided, has perceived you in his own way. You are visible to someone else. And that is also very essential in love. 13:59 V: Yeah. Wow, that’s a multidimensional idea. I’ll quickly point to this new album, that the cover of it is a great example of that. The photo is taken by my dear friend Joonas Brandt, and it was taken with film. It was just one click at my home, we didn’t think about it at all, it just happened. Even more than in music, with pictures it’s about that moment. It’s that magical nanosecond that something is just right. Like we all know with photojournalism that you just have those right moments, it also works in this type of a portrait photo. In that way the new album cover is also important that there is this Robert Mapplethorpe and fantasy style from the turn of the century, France at the turn of the 20th century, that type of bohemian romance vibe and it combines just the things I like. Part of them have been conscious, part of them have been shy wishes of “oh, how I’d really like this one to work out” and then part is just pure luck, not forgetting of course the professionalism of Joonas. It’s like petting in various ways. But you can never decide on it, like when doing music, you can’t make up your mind that I will write a great song now. It’s someone else that gives it to you. You don’t have to believe in anything but it’s a pile and sum of many things when just the right notes and rhythms happen. And often it’s not about commercial success, but about making a song that resonates with someone else. It’s incredible how music can travel and how it can be supporting and comforting in both wonderful and horrible life situations, and that’s such a powerful thing. And to me, music has always been that same for me, too. I’ve always been a fan. Fan of pictures of other artists, and that book and- Jönssi was a little bit older than me so I never got to know him that well but through his pictures we can learn new things about him now that he no longer can tell us those things in person. [15:55] O: Ville Valo, when I say Agents, what say you? V: Esa Pulliainen. O: Right, and what comes into your mind then when you say that name, you said it with a completely different tone? V: Did I? Haha! Esa gives me good vibes every time. He’s such an interesting character. With two or three sentences he can find aspects in a person that no one else is able to see. He’s very insightful. O: Is it frightning? V: No, the way I see it he’s done it quite gently. He’s extremely talented in what he does, so in that way it’s really easy to communicate with him. I always miss Esa. I should come up with some idea how to get him involved in this production as well, like, he could give me support over the phone or something. One cannot but appreciate him, of course his career but also, once you learn to know him as a person you get more of the whole package. And how he has produced and recorded music and been involved with many projects, and he knows so much about music. And through Esa I got a little kick in the butt for having the guts to record at home as well by myself, which then led to this album. Esa and also the other guys in Agents as well, but Esa is the one who I communicate with the most, and with him we shaped Rauli’s (Rauli Badding Somerjoki) ideas into more finalised ones.

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(6) O: Yeah, in 2019 the album Ville Valo and the Agents came out. You toured dance halls and festivals with that bunch, you as the leader of the Agents. Was it a kind of retreat or sanitarium to you from HIM? 17:24 V: Interesting two options you give me...I’d say it’s very rare in life that you get these things in front of you where you immediately go “yes” without even thinking about it, like it’s clear as day that it needs to be done. That was probably one of the very few. I just simply couldn’t let that be undone, let that stone be unturned. And to me it was taking up on a challenge on purpose. I didn’t know at all what to expect from the public, for one. The fact that you’re singing Rauli’s and partly also Topi’s (Sorsakoski) songs- I know how important they are to many people and you don’t want to rape them in any way. I myself, I sing with my own style, I’m not Topi or Rauli but I hope there was something, like, that people sensed how I honor these two artists. And also my parents are connected to this. Mom and dad listened a lot of Badding when I was just a baby, I have all of their vinyls at my home now so it was the best way to thank my parents as well, it was like a cycle that became complete- to thank them of this gift that they have helped me and suffered with me all these years. So it was lovely to see them in the audience, my mom there singing the songs she used to listen to when she was young. Such a cool timetravel what music also often is, in that it doesn’t know the time or place. [The Agents’ album] was absolutely an important thing. But it was also very exciting, I don’t see it as a retreat in that sense that it would have been easy, or that now we can just chill out- on the contrary, the pressure was quite hard. But that’s why we are here and it’s a good thing to keep oneself on his toes, if everything turns into a routine or too easy then I always think it’s time for a complete 180. I probably wouldn’t have started to do my own music in English unless Agents hadn’t happened in between. It would have been too similar. It’s important to do something completely different. And I learned a lot with a band whose dynamics are very different, you couldn’t hide yourself in the sound walls of distorted guitars that HIM has, had. And the feeling and structure are completely different, it’s gentle and we had a lot of gigs in daylight, like Pori Jazz and such- don’t know if I’d do it again though, that I don’t know, but it was wonderful as long as it lasted. And I loved the fact that when we began the project we already decided when it will be over. I think it’s one of the healthiest things that one can do with projects, not to leave them hanging. One could have continued with that for some time but yeah, there was this bittersweet taste in your mouth the whole time when you knew “now it’s only three shows left” which, I think, brings more emotional value to that and suits that type of music really well too, to have that longing and have the idea in your head that “it will all come to an end soon”, that suits us Finns! 20:17 O: Yes! Last summer I went to see Maustetytöt live together with Agents - yes they really were there! There they were in their morning robes, these girls- and with their very minimalistic gestures, and then Pulliainen taking a step forward with his guitar, it worked really well. V: Excellent. I regrettably didn’t get to see that and I’ve heard all kinds of feedback from that- O: Of course it was hated at first, to have women singing these songs- V: I think it’s totally right. These things need to be done in a bit- how else to do that? If you want to do those songs with a twist, what other way is there? People would have said that “oh you just take the easy way out”. The only one who could beat this Rauli show and Maustetytöt show would be if Jorma (Kääriäinen) came back. Because he is so good on stage! I hope that they will get the chance one day, or that they decide to do music together someday again- that’s the Agents I’ve seen live and danced to, and I like Jorma a lot. He has that old school charisma. It doesn’t matter where he’s singing, it could be at the corner of some pizza place but when he starts singing, everybody gets this twinkle in their eye. Go Jorma!

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