Articles by "Ville Valo"
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North American gothic metal fans were met with cause for elation last week, when genre-leading outfits BLACK VEIL BRIDES & VV (Ville Valo) announced an epic co-headlining tour for autumn of this year. The announcement has proven to be an omen of what is still to come, as today, Black Veil Brides have released their cover of the Sisters of Mercy classic, “Temple of Love” featuring VV!

Leading with foreboding organs that quickly kick into a dark double time pace, the track tells tales of the perils of love in gothic storms, and bades the listener beware the wrought elegance it weaves. With an ominous tone, “Temple of Love” is the solemn backdrop to which these love metal paragons begin their union and sets the unholy couple off on their upcoming concert tour.

Committed to uncompromising expression, with a foundation in hard rock tradition and rule-breaking iconoclasm, BLACK VEIL BRIDES is a transcendent celebration of life-affirming power and anthemic catharsis. A gothic vision first summoned in a small town by an isolated kid fascinated with death, rock, theatricality, and monsters (both real and imagined), BLACK VEIL BRIDES is now a postmodern heavy metal institution with a legion of like-minded fans and supporters worldwide.

"I first discovered Sisters of Mercy in my freshman year of high school, I had a poster of AFI from the 'Art of Drowning' era and Davey was wearing a SOM shirt and so as was often the case back then I went on the hunt to find the music that had inspired my favorite musicians. The very first song I heard by SOM was the ‘92 version of ‘Temple of Love’ and I became obsessed with their entire catalog. We’ve talked about doing a BVB version of this song for years and when given the opportunity to collaborate with fellow SOM fan and goth rock icon VV, it seems liked the perfect situation. We are thrilled with how it turned out and hope that anyone who’s familiar with the track enjoys our spin on it and those who have never heard the original enjoy it and maybe this will lead them down the path to the greatness that is SOM like that poster of AFI did for me when I was a kid." - Andy Biersack

A darkly romantic icon himself, VV (Ville Valo), frontman for Love Metal pioneers HIM, casts a long and pervasive shadow that is still delightedly out of step with the status quo. VV’s recently released debut solo album, ‘Neon Noir’ belongs to the same forlorn world of woe and whimsy once conceived and governed by Valo in HIM, but with the nuanced notes of a finely aged Cabernet. 

Check out the single over HERE.

11:15 PM
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 This fall, the classic season for dark and romantic music, BLACK VEIL BRIDES and VV (VILLE VALO) will co-headline a massive tour in select cities across North America. Presented by Hot Topic, the BVB & VV 2023 Tour (featuring special guests DARK DIVINE) combines three unique bands who champion the heavy-hearted, hopeless, and broken with mixtures of high intensity and melody.

“We cannot wait to join forces with VILLE VALO and give both of our audiences in North America an unforgettable experience each night,” says BLACK VEIL BRIDES frontman Andy Biersack. “This run has been in the works for quite a while. We couldn't be happier now that we can finally share the news. VILLE is an icon. We have all been fans of his, not only for his work in the hugely influential band HIM but as a torchbearer for an entire generation of rock fans and musicians.”

“There's something tinnitus-inducingly romantic about the idea of being sandwiched nightly between BLACK VEIL BRIDES and DARK DIVINE on this autumnal trek across North America,” muses VALO. “And imagining us explore the architecture of doom and gloom from three distinctly different musical perspectives has already made the bats in my belfry suitably ravenous.”

Andy adds, “This tour is a dream come true and will be something special. DARK DIVINE is new to the scene but garnering a lot of attention quickly and rightfully so. They are hands down one of the best young bands out there, and we are certain the BVB Army and VV fans will love them.”

 

TOUR DATES:



Sept 10 - Louisville, KY - Paristown Hall

Sept 11 - Birmingham, AL - Avondale Brewing Company

Sept 12 - St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Live

Sept 14 - Myrtle Beach, SC - House of Blues

Sept 15 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live!*

Sept 16 - Niagara Falls, NY - The Rapids Theater*

Sept 17 - Toronto, ON - HISTORY

Sept 19 - Montreal, QC - MTELUS

Sept 20 - Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Sept 22 - Wallingford, CT - Dome at Toyota Oakdale Theater

Sept 23 - Bethlehem, PA - Wind Creek Event Center

Sept 24 - Montclair, NJ - The Wellmont Theater

Sept 25 - Huntington, NY - The Paramount

Sept 27 - Grand Rapids, MI - GLC Live at 20 Monroe

Sept 28 - Gary, IN - Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana*

Sept 29 - Columbus, OH - KEMBA Live!*

Sept 30 - Indianapolis, IN - Egyptian Room at Old National Centre

Oct 01 - Chesterfield, MO - The Factory

Oct 03 - Austin, TX - ACL Live

Oct 05 - Tulsa, OK - Tulsa Theater*

Oct 06 - Omaha, NE - Steelhouse Omaha

Oct 07 - Madison, WI - The Sylvee

Oct 09 - Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings Theatre

Oct 11 - Edmonton, AB - Edmonton Convention Centre

Oct 12 - Calgary, AB - Grey Eagle Event Centre

Oct 14 - Vancouver, BC - Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre

Oct 15 - Spokane, WA - The Podium

Oct 16 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre

Oct 18 - Garden City, ID - Revolution Concert House

Oct 19 - Wheatland, CA - Hard Rock Live

Oct 20 - Riverside, CA - Riverside Municipal Auditorium


*Not A Live Nation Date

3:19 PM
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Finnish Love Metal pioneer, Ville Valo (VV) of HIM, has today released his debut solo album, 'Neon Noir'. 

Available via Heartagram Records, distributed by UMG/Spinefarm, all digital and physical versions can be found HERE.

Ville Valo comments, "I firmly believe 'Neon Noir' sprinkles some much-missed glitter all over modern day doom and gloom. It's 12 lessons in reckless abandon without spilling the red."

Watch VV's brand new video for album title track, "Neon Noir," HERE.

11:15 AM
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Finnish Love Metal pioneer, Ville Valo, will release a new single, "Loveletting," on April 8 under the VV banner. "Loveletting" is taken from VV's forthcoming debut album Neon Noir. 

He explains, "As fun as the funeral rites for HIM were, it took me more than a few moons to lick my wounds in the shadow of the Heartagram and come up with an excuse to strum and hum again. Eventually, I decided to put a leash on my beloved black dog and we started howling together instead of barking at each other. That's how 'Loveletting' was born."

 "Loveletting" will be made available across all digital platforms right now over HERE.

VV's debut album Neon Noir is scheduled for release in early 2023; belonging to the same forlorn world of woe and whimsy once conceived and governed by Valo in HIM, VV arrives with additional nuanced notes of a fine aged Cabernet.


Valo adds, "Artistically speaking, the main difference between HIM and VV is the extra line in the Heartagram, but what an exquisite line it is! It's the Mamas and the Papas dressed up as Metallica on their way to a Halloween bash at the Studio 54, and now who wouldn't want to witness that?"

Further details around Neon Noir will be released in due course. In the meantime, fans are invited to any number of VV's headline tour dates taking place next year across Europe, the UK, and North America. Naturally starting in Helsinki, Finland, the 2023 extensive run reaches the UK in March, before heading to America come April. 


TOUR DATES:

4/1—Philadelphia, PA—Theatre of Living Arts 

4/2—Boston, MA—Big Night Live 

4/4—Pittsburgh, PA—Roxian Theatre 

4/5—Cleveland, OH—House of Blues 

4/6—Detroit, MI—St Andrews Hall 

4/8—Cincinnati, OH—Bogarts 

4/9—Chicago, IL—House of Blues 

4/11—Minneapolis, MN—Varsity Theater 

4/13—Denver, CO—Summit 

4/14—Salt Lake City, UT—The Depot 

4/16—Sacramento, CA—Ace of Spades 

4/17—San Francisco, CA—The Fillmore 

4/18—Los Angeles, CA—The Belasco 

4/21—Las Vegas, NV—House of Blues 

4/22—San Diego, CA—House of Blues 

4/23—Phoenix, AZ—The Van Buren 

4/25—Dallas, TX—House of Blues 

4/26—San Antonio, TX—Aztec Theater 

4/27—Houston, TX—House of Blues 

4/28—New Orleans, LA—House of Blues 

4/30—Orlando, FL—House of Blues 

5/1—Ft Lauderdale, FL—Revolution 

5/3—Atlanta, GA—Buckhead Theatre 

5/4—Nashville, TN—Brooklyn Bowl 

5/5—Charlotte, NC—Underground 

5/7—Silver Spring, MD—The Fillmore 

5/8—New York, NY—Irving Plaza 

7:44 PM
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HIM's frontman vocalist Ville Valo has revealed that he's got a solo project Rambo Rimbaud where he performed for the first time ever at the Helldone Festival this past December in Helsinki, Finland.

Helldone Festival describes the Rambo Rimbaud project as This mysterious act from 'somewhere behind God's back' has until now kept the lowest of low profiles. The few who managed to catch a glimpse of RAMBO RIMBAUD's live appearances under various monikers in the mid noughties confess in unison that they had been blown away. 'It's hard to put a finger on the music, other than it being out of this world, emotional and very powerful. I actually remember wondering where they have disappeared!' After these humble beginnings, a series of unfortunate events brought about a forced hiatus of almost ten years, but now RAMBO RIMBAUD is finally working on its debut album, tentatively entitled 'Militantly Violent Libertine'."

Check out performance footage of the concert HERE.
11:14 AM
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Finnish icons HIM has been around for over 20 years since then they have toured relentlessly, recorded various albums and still to this day have not stepped down from doing what they love. Going onto what is there eighth album to date, "Tears On Tape" is straight to point being more noisy, grungy, just heavier than what they have covered before making it even spooky at times. With that, frontman vocalist ad acoustic guitarist Ville Valo himself took some time to discuss this album's expectations and further plans for HIM.


1. You're on album number eight did you ever see this day to arrive?

Ville: No obviously not. It's always stuff that keeps us on our toes and if we were to speculate at any album even like our 13th it's not how we do it, for us it works one day at a time as AA says.

2. What were you trying to achieve with Tears on Tape?

Ville: Keep ourselves entertained. It's such a big part of our lives when we formed over 20 years ago so we try to spice things up a bit.

3. What was on your mind when you were writing the album?

Ville: Probably the lack of sleep I didn't get, everything else was just a blur but afterwards we just went with the flow. Me I just get the ideas down then show it to the guys while at rehearsal. So from there we just bang our heads having a good time so that's the best way we do it. We don't have a strict plan on doing things, I think it's just great to have that magic and excitement not knowing what you're going to get, it's just like opening a box of chocolates.

4. Can you tell us how this album differs from the previous ones? What can we expect and what is the message behind it?

Ville: I think there is no message. It's more of the process that evolves. We're not political or religious so there is no statement behind our music. So with this one it's more noisy, grungy, and straight to the point, much heavier than our last one and spooky at times. It has everything we are known for we tried experimenting a bit but I never write the same song twice so it's left to the ear of the beholder to decide on whether or not if it's something new or not.

5. What are your expectations for the CD?

Ville: I think the basics would be to be surprised, touring, meeting some new people, just wanting to be successful in this industry taking a lot of timing and luck. We don't know what's really going to happen with it but we are happy with it, the style and sound of it so by that we have fulfilled our expectations of it already. So now we just have to wait on what the people think of it whenever they get it.

6. How did the deal with Razor and Tie come about?

Ville: It was an odd situation, we were signed to Warner Brothers and everything changed. So we wanted to see if there would be alternatives out there so we went with Razor and Tie, due to them giving us a decent deal, so it's important to have a situation when calling a record label and having all of this assistance available. So we will see what happens next.

7. Will we ever see Ville Valo flying solo doing a solo career?

Ville: Not me, our bass player did a solo project and our guitarist worked on a side project, since I am the main song writer for HIM that's enough for me. If I did go and write something it would probably sound just like HIM if not sound worse so I am happy with the band the way it is.

8. Why did you want to do this mini tour in support of this album?

Ville: Since the album is coming out late in the Spring time, all of the summer festivals coming up, we had wanted to do this tour to let everyone know that there is a record coming out and we are around, after that tour we will be doing another in the fall but not sure of where it will start. We just wanted to do more intimate shows for the loyal fanatics out there.

9. You have done work in the past with the guys of The 69 Eyes, would you ever consider touring with them in the U.S.?

Ville:  We've known each other for years like 90 something, singing backing vocals on the albums, but there busy so whenever we're in the studio they're touring or if they're in the studio we're touring so our paths never cross. But yeah it would be nice to do so I gota ask them next time I see them what they want to do.

10. What are your favorite things about touring in the U.S.?

Ville: The scenery, big skies, like touring in the U.K. the cities are like 100 miles from one another where in the U.S. it's constant traveling and makes it great. Seeing these shady motels, gas stations, it's nothing like a tourist you get to see the different sides of things. All of the states have different things it's the best of both worlds when it comes to touring.

11. You guys have toured a lot over the years but where hasn't HIM set foot in?

Ville: We've never played Africa, India, Alaska, Latin America, only played Japan once, there are a lot of places we would love to go to, to see what it's like but the problem with touring is that if you wanted to see all of those countries and cities you'd be on tour for years. By doing that touring can be tiring being away from home, so we're still trying to find a balance between being in the studio and being out touring it's a fine line, so hopefully we'll get to see some new places soon.


12. What can the fans expect to see from you for this year?

Ville: Hoping that there will be fans because without them we wouldn't get to do what we love to do. We'll just be touring as much as possible, just shot 3 new videos which should be out soon, next week we will be working on the live set list bringing back my acoustic guitar for some songs, and playing songs we haven't played in a long time. So just switching things around just a tiny bit to get people's interest up.

13. Anything else you want to add for your fans?

Ville: I think we covered all of the basics and I think that's the toughest question in the world.
10:39 AM

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