HIM (BAND)

:''This article refers to the Finnish band. For the US group, see HiM (band).''
:''For other uses, see HIM (disambiguation).''
'HIM' is a rock band from Finland formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Lindström, and bassist Mikko Paananen.^[1] They have released five full length albums to date. The band was originally called His Infernal Majesty, but they soon changed this to simply ''HIM''. As of 2006, they are the first and only Finnish rock band to sell Gold in the United States.

History

Early career

HIM started out as a cover band, covering songs of artists such as KISS, Type O Negative, Danzig, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode.^[2] After many lineup changes and a hiatus from 1991 to 1995 caused by the members' military services, the band now consists of the three founding members plus keyboardist Janne Johannes "Burton" Puurtinen and drummer Mika Kristian "Gas" Karppinen.
In 1992, HIM made a demo tape called Witches and Other Night Fears, but it is rumored that Ville Valo is the only person to have a copy.
In late fall of 1995, HIM released This is Only the Beginning. This too was a demo tape, with only 100 copies made and sold in specially chosen stores on Helsinki. It featured the first version HIM had done of "Wicked Game" and "The Heartless". The tape also includes rare songs "Serpent Ride", "Borellus", "Stigmata Diaboli" and "The Phantom Gate". This album was done only with Ville singing and playing drums, while Linde was playing guitar and bass.

''666 Ways to Love: Prologue (EP)''

was released in 1996 solely in Finland, and only 1,000 copies of this album were sold. This makes it very rare for HIM collectors and fans. Recently an almost mint condition copy of the bands EP was listed on eBay for around $600. The lady on the cover is said to be Valo's mother. Who (from an interview with Valo) worked in a shoe shop at the time. It was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, and was recorded at Finnvox Studios, MD and Peacemakers, Helsinki.

''Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666''

The band released their first full-length studio album, ''Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666'', on November 20, 1997. It features covers of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". Four singles were released from the album. The album was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, who also produced their EP ''. Like the EP, the album was recorded at Finnvox, MD and Peacemakers in Helsinki, Finland. Guest vocals were provided by Sanna-June Hyde and Asta Hannula on "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "For You", respectively. A special digipak version was also released with "For You" moved to the first track. Another special edition was released in Germany with the bonus track "Stigmata Diaboli", taken from ''666 Ways to Love: Prologue''. In keeping with the theme of 666, the album's length is 66 minutes and 6 seconds and contains a total of 66 tracks (56 of which are blank). There is another track which starts at 6 minutes into the 66th track, called HIM 666, or alternatively (666). This album is also the only HIM album so far to have hidden bonus tracks. Many people have thought that this album contained satanic references, Thou 666 is pertaining to satan, Valo did not intend for people to take this release as a demonic album, when in fact none of the songs actually contain any lyrics that are encouraging the listener to worship or even to think about satan.

''Razorblade Romance''

After gaining popularity in Europe, particularly in their homeland, HIM released their second album in 1999, titled ''Razorblade Romance''. This is when the band's popularity began to rise, their single "Join Me in Death" from the album reached #1 on the German music charts, selling over 500,000 of this single in two months.
Following this German success they released two more Germany only singles from this album; "Right Here in My Arms" and "Gone With the Sin", which reached #20 and #19 on the charts respectively. Around this time they were also becoming more well known in other parts of Europe, such as the United Kingdom. The album itself reached #1 in both Germany and their native Finland.
In 2002, ''Razorblade Romance'' was re-released and put into stores in the United States. HIM was not allowed to use their name for sales because of the American band, HiM, owned the rights to that name. Therefore, they changed the name to 'HER' in the United States. Eventually, they were able to buy the full rights to the name HIM, and copies of the album began to be manufactured with their desired name on the packaging. Only 1000 copies of the album exist with the HER band name, which makes it a rare collectible among fans.
The original working title for ''Razorblade Romance'' was in fact "Slippery When Dead" [session], and a (demo) song from this session leaked onto the internet, titled "Too Happy To Be Alive", which is very similar to another song of HIM's, "Death Is In Love With Us". A drum machine was used for this particular session due to Patka leaving the band.

Daniel Lioneye

During 2001, before the group's third release, the members of HIM formed a new band, Daniel Lioneye, it was aimed to be a solo project of guitarist Linde, who took on the vocal spot and the stage name Daniel Lioneye for it.
The style of music played on the album falls between bluesy-hard rock, with sleaze rock themes such as sex, alcohol and rock 'n' roll. Migé Amour played bass, Ville Valo was on drums, with Hiili on keyboards, and Ike on sound effects. They released one album, ''The King of Rock'n Roll'', in September 2001, and have only performed together for four shows. Although it was not a commercial success, it retains a cult following.

''Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights''

After the Daniel Lioneye project, HIM released ''Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights'' in August 2001. This was the band's first album with new keyboardist Emerson Burton, the final addition to the current line-up. Once again the album shot to #1 in their Finnish homeland, making them the most dominant homegrown band in their country since Hanoi Rocks in the 1980s, it also reached #2 in Germany. Three singles were released from it: "Pretending" (which reached #10 in Germany), "In Joy and Sorrow" and a double single featuring both "Heartache Every Moment" and "Close to the Flame". Such success further facilitated their gradual emergence into the mainstream.

''Love Metal''

On April 14, 2003, HIM released ''Love Metal''. This was the first album that did not feature singer/songwriter Ville Valo on the cover. Instead, it featured a gold heartagram, the band's well-known logo. "The Funeral of Hearts" was the first single and their first high appearance on the United Kingdom charts at #14, it also hit #3 in Germany. It was followed by "Buried Alive By Love" and "The Sacrament". (The Sacrament was recently used as the ending for the anime film )
Around the time of the ''Love Metal'' album the group became more well-known in America and internationally when professional skateboarder and TV personality Bam Margera began using the band's heartagram logo and promoting them extensively on his MTV series ''Viva La Bam''. Margera produced their video for "Buried Alive By Love", which featured a guest appearance from ''Natural Born Killers'' actress Juliette Lewis. They played at Download Festival in 2003 on the second stage with The Hellacopters; the following year they would go on to headline the same stage.

''And Love Said No''

'' is HIM's first greatest hits album. It contains two unreleased songs: "And Love Said No" and "Solitary Man", the latter of which is a Neil Diamond cover. It also had a rerecorded version of "When Love And Death Embrace" and the British version also had a rerecorded version of "It's All Tears (Drown In This Love)". The digipak version of this album came with a DVD with six songs live at Semifinal Club in Helsinki.

''Dark Light''

HIM performing live in 2005.

HIM's fifth studio album, 2005's ''Dark Light'', became their full breakout in the United States, debuting in the top 20 of the Billboard Top 200 and spawning two major rock hits, "Wings of a Butterfly" and "Killing Loneliness", both of which have accompanying videos. In the summer of 2005 they played the mainstage of Download Festival with Black Sabbath and Velvet Revolver.
The success of ''Dark Light'' has also allowed a number of HIM's previous albums (including ''Love Metal'') to chart in the United States. In October 2006 the band's official website announced that ''Dark Light'' had been certified Gold in the U.S. by the RIAA. This made HIM the first band from Finland to sell over 500,000 records in the US.
Some time during their tour to promote ''Dark Light'', Mige and Burton put a song together called "Plasma Mullet" that is completely different from their other work and is not on any official release of the band. The only time it has been released to the public is when it was played on skateboarder Bam Margera's half-hour radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio or at various concerts after their performance. Margera refers to it as their "jokey song".

''Uneasy Listening''

In 2006/2007, HIM released their second and third compilation albums titled Uneasy Listening Vol. 1 and Uneasy Listening Vol. 2, respectively.
''Uneasy Listening Vol. 1'' was released in 2006 on October 27 in Germany, October 30 in the United Kingdom and November 14 in the United States. It contains special versions of various songs from their albums ''Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666'', ''Razorblade Romance'', ''Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights'' and ''Love Metal''. Most of which has already been released on various special limited editions of the maxi-singles.
''Uneasy Listening Vol. 2'' was released in 2007 on April 20 in Germany, April 24 and 25 in rest of Europe, May 22 in the United States and May 25 in Australia. It contains many rare tracks such as "Hand of Doom". (It actually was released in the Love Metal Archives DVD). It also contains the much sought after version of "Buried Alive By Love" which only orginally appeared on the CKY4: The Latest and The Greatest DVD.

''Venus Doom''

''Venus Doom'' is scheduled for release on September 14, 2007 in Germany, September 17, 2007 internationally and September 18, 2007 in the US. It is said that it will be HIM's heaviest material to date. At the "Give It A Name Festival 07'" HIM played a song from ''Venus Doom'' named "Dead Lovers' Lane". In an interview with The Gauntlet^[3], Ville stated that the longest song on the album is 10 - 11 minutes while the shortest song is 5 and a half minutes. Venus Doom will be guitar-oriented album with a pronounced lack of keyboards. The song "Passion's Killing Floor" is on the Transformers movie soundtrack. The first single will be "The Kiss of Dawn", which the band has already performed during several 2007 tour dates, and
the video can be found on iTunes. The video for "The Kiss of Dawn" debuted in the UK on Scuzz TV on August 10, 2007.

Recent events/Releases

HIM released their second compilation album titled ''Uneasy Listening Vol. 1'' in November 2006.
The Band released ''Uneasy Listening Vol. 2'' on April 20 2007 in Germany and on April 24/25, in Finland and the rest of Europe.^[4]
Ville Valo recorded a duet with Polish actress Natalia Avelon for the movie "Das Wilde Leben"/"The Wild Life". The track, a cover of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's song "Summer Wine", was released as a single in January 2007. HIM have postponed their album Venus Doom until September of this year due to touring in America with
Projekt Revolution.
Ville Valo recorded "Just For Tonight" with Linde's common law partner Manna.

Tours

HIM has taken the stage with Linkin Park and various other acts, such as Saosin, My Chemical Romance, Placebo, the Bled, Mindless Self Indulgence, and Taking Back Sunday for this year's . HIM are currently supporting Metallica in a European tour. They have also announced a UK tour at the end of 2007.

Heartagram

The Heartagram

The 'heartagram' is the trademarked symbol of HIM, best described as a combination of a heart and a pentagram, created by Valo the day after his twentieth birthday. Valo has said that "the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity, and for 'love metal' in general." ^[5] Many fans of the band have heartagram tattoos, or tattoos of other HIM emblems — such as the single heart on Valo's right wrist, and a number of fan-submitted photos of same decorated the lyric booklet for the limited edition of ''Dark Light''.
Ville Valo has allowed his close friend, ''Jackass'' star and professional skateboarder, Bam Margera to share the license on the heartagram image and Margera has accordingly used it for his promotional purposes, including using it on his Adio shoes and Element skateboards. Because of the shared license, the symbol is often thought to belong solely to Margera. According to Valo, the band has become better known for their logo than their music.^[6]
A heartagram appears at the end of the music video for the song DARE by the band Gorillaz. It was also parodied, as the "horseagram" — a combination of a horse shoe and a pentagram — in the episode "Ode To Sue" of the video game comedy troupe Mega64.

Name confusion

:''HIM, formerly known as 'His Infernal Majesty', is not to be confused with Infernäl Mäjesty, a Canadian thrash metal band, formed in Toronto in 1986.''
Their first bandname was 'His Infernal Majesty' (chosen spontaneously, as a complete joke). But as their popularity rose, they needed to change their name because:

★ Finnish people were having difficulties pronouncing the name

★ The band name was never actually serious

★ The band started getting unwanted occult associations and people started to think of the band as satanic when it is not.
Consequently, the band changed the name to HIM from the "Wicked Game" single onwards, Though the single for "Your Sweet Six Six Six" included a 'His Infernal Majesty' sticker.
Their second major US release, ''Razorblade Romance'', was released under the name 'HER' because a Chicago based post-rock band named HiM held the trademark on the name. While they toured Europe, primarily Germany, at this time, they used the name 'HIM and HER'. HIM eventually bought the rights to the name "HIM" in the United States and used it worldwide from there on.
In the official HIM biography, ''Synnin Viemää'', Ville Valo admitted to making things up and joking about the name during interviews, leading to conflicting accounts of the origin of the name and the confusion that exists today. During an interview, Valo has said:

"In almost every interview someone asks what does HIM stand for. I can't even remember our latest lie about that. When Hanson was hot, we said it means Hanson Is Murder. The name doesn't have a particular history. His Infernal Majesty was a totally different band. I think HIM derives from some death metal joke. And it was our protest to Haile Selassie's rastafarian religion, he used to be called His Imperial Majesty. But nowadays because of Linde's hair, we actually might be supporting him."

Genre

HIM's genre is debated in some circles; their musical style is often referred to as "love metal" by Valo and by the group's fans. Musically the band mix influences from hard rock and early heavy metal. Ville Valo has stated that the band started as a "Black Sabbath tribute band of sorts"^[7]. Valo stated in an interview on the 'Love Metal Archives' DVD, that he was fed up of journalists and interviewers asking him (Valo), and the rest of the band what the genre of HIM was. He said in answer to that question, they created the album entitled Love Metal.
Critics commonly refer to them as alternative rock, gothic rock or gothic metal. However, their musical style varies between albums, and even between songs. Some of the more common genres applied (correctly or not) to their music include:

★ Alternative rock^[8]

★ Gothic metal^[9]

★ Goth rock^[10]^[11]

★ Heavy metal^[12]

Discography

Main articles: HIM discography

Current members

★ Ville Valo — Lead vocals (1991–Present)

★ Mikko "Linde" Lindström — Guitar (1991-Present)

★ Mikko "Migé" Paananen — Bass Guitar, backing vocals (1991-Present)

★ Janne "Burton" Puurtinen — Keyboards, backing vocals (2001-Present)

★ Mika "Gas" Karppinen — Drums (1999-Present)

Former members

★ Juippi — Drums (1991-1992)

★ Tarvonen — Drums (1991-1992)

★ Oki — Rhythm Guitar (1992-1996)

★ Antto "Zoltan" Melasniemi — Keyboards (1995-1998)

★ Sergei Ovalov — Keyboards (1999 touring only)

★ Juhana Tuomas "Pätkä" Rantala — Drums (1995-1999)

★ Jussi-Mikko "Juska" Salminen — Keyboards (1998-2000)

References

1. MTV Bio
2. The First Years of HIM
3. The Gauntlet
4. Finnish goth rockers HIM presents two new releases
5. Heartagram - Valo
6. Interview With Ville on the Heartagram
7. Black Sabbath - Tribute
8. MetaCritic
9. Metal-Observer
10. AllMusic
11. RockDetector
12. NNDB.com

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