Former HIM singer VILLE VALO says IRON MAIDEN in 1986 was the first concert he went to
Former HIM frontman Ville Valo asked recently Impericon the three best concerts he has ever seen. He replied (written BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “My first big concert was IRON COUNTRIES who played in the Helsinki Ice Hall. I think it was -86. They toured the album titled “Sometime” and they had WASP as a support measure. And it was the first concert I went to. I still have the t-shirt; I spent all my weekly allowance on a t-shirt. It’s a bit small – it would look funny to me now – but I’m hoping to meet the guys at some point so I can ask them to sign it. It would be great. But it was a big deal to me.
“It would be the same way KISS when they did their reunion tour,” he continued. “So we took the ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm. I think it was -96. [They] we put the masks back on and did an old 70’s show. It was such a big deal. And we had such a great atmosphere there. I think it was two or three hundred KISS fans from Finland, and we kind of took over the board, and everything was just KISS, KISS, KISS and KISS. And it was an amazing experience. And also I got to see them really close – close to the stage; I was maybe ten meters from the stage – and it was one of the biggest shows I’ve ever seen.
“Third… There were a lot of good ones. I’d say… I can’t remember the year, it was the late 90s. It was the monster MAGNET,” Ville added. “It was a funny incident. I was partying with a band that had tickets to the show, but they all passed out, so I was able to get one ticket and go in. And I was let in. I think I was 17, and the place was only over 18. So I remember that gig because then… I was so drunk too, but it was amazing.”
Lightdebut solo album, “Neon Noir” arrives through January 13 Heartagram Recordsdistributor UMG/Spinefarm.
Ville has released three singles so far “Neon Noir”: “The Forever Lost”, “Echolocate Your Love”and “making love”. The latter marked Villethe band’s first new music in over two years, after releasing three songs “Gothica Fennica Vol. 1” EP, also released VV banner in March 2020.
Like “Echolocate Your Love” and “making love”, “Gothica Fennica Vol. 1” strongly resembled musically HIM and performed songs “Salute Sanguine”, “Escape from the Sun” and “Saturnine Saturnalia”.
HIM completed a farewell tour in 2017, closing the final chapter in the band’s 26-year career.
Founded in 1991 Lightguitarist Mikko “Linde” Lindström and bassist Mikko “Migé” Paananen, HIM offered the world a new perspective on the metal genre that became known as “love metal” (also the name of their fourth album).
HIM in 2015, the roads parted ways with their longtime drummer, Mika Kristian Karppinen (alias Gas lipstick), and replaced him with the word Jukka “Kosmo” Kröger (previously MR PRIDE & THE PEOPLE).
Three years ago, Light together with the guitar legend Esa Pulliainen records an album based on the songs of the late legendary Finnish singer Rauli “Badding” Somerjoki. A self-titled album VILLE VALO & AGENTS was released in February 2019 and was followed by a short tour.
Image credit: Juha Mustonen