Ville Valo Reveals: There's Music Of Burning Churches Coming

HIM have been touring abroad industriously. However, they devoted this weekend to gigs in Finland by performing in Jurassicrock and Miljoonarock.

Singer Ville Valo told Iltalehti about the plans the band has for the rest of the year, the album making process and living in the moment.

- There are a few festivals left in this continent. In the turn of August and September, we'll go to China. Let's hope that the festival stages won't fall down on us and the weather won't be so challenging as it was the last time, says Valo and refers to the gig that the authorities had to cancel due to a sandstorm.

- After the gig in China there's a short break marked in our calendar.

The band's next goal is the traditional gig of New Year's Eve, HellDone festival.

- There are supposed to come also other interesting performers. That way there would be also other people than HIM fans in the audience, Valo plans.

The previous album Tears On Tape came out last year. In the middle of industrious touring, they're already working on the material of the next album. Valo reveals that the next album will be released by 6th of December on 2016.

- Making songs is hard while touring. You have to live simultaneously in the past, in the future and in this moment. The tour is the NOW where you play stuff from the past. If you're simultaneously making songs that are future, it's pretty problematic existentially, Valo philosophizes.

- I don't like it much. In my opinion it's best to enjoy what you see and focus on the gigs themselves on the tours. That's how you suck in information and new ideas.

When Valo has a few days off, he opens his guitar bag and starts to strum something new.

- At the moment, the songs that I'm working on are sacral and hymn-like in a Christless way. That's what I dig, what I've always dug. Now we'll see if we'll get more of that to the songs of the upcoming album. The kind of fragile music of burning churches. Atmospheric stuff, Valo tells about the upcoming production.

The band is a thing that Valo wouldn't like to live without. New songs are being planned in hotel rooms after gigs and on tours, the band is welded together closely.

- We focus more on this moment. It's the best thing that has happened in our band within the last 10 years. In rock stuff it's easy to fill your calendar for at least a year ahead. But you never know what condition you'll be in or what will happen. That's why you have to focus on what you have now and enjoy it. And not live in the future all the time, the singer ponders.

As a cool rocker and interpretator of dark shades, Valo surprises when he's asked what he enjoys.

- I enjoy what the rest of the Finns enjoy when it's summer, in other words the warmth. It's rarely great to be sweating all the time. For the first time ever, it's been colder on the tours in Europe than it is here. It's been really fun. On August and September, when trees will start dropping their leaves, it's great to be able to hang out outside without it being cold.

On darkening autumn evenings, Valo likes to make and listen to music.

- And also to enjoy the silence, to sit around marveling at things. To look at the starry sky and calm down, the shylyy smiling star paints.

(The 1st caption: In addition to Finnish fans, also hundreds of thousands of foreign fans of HIM had come to Jurassic Rock in Mikkeli.)

(The 2nd caption: Ville Valo enjoys and becomes inspired while touring in the most special places.)