Ville Valo wishes Him had ended sooner than it did: “The spark was no longer there”

Ville Valo with a cloak over his head — (Image credit: John McMurtrie)

Ville Valo on the cover of the new issue of Metal Hammer — (Image credit: Future)

Ville Valo has revealed that he wishes Him had split up earlier than they did.

The Finnish goth metal band called it a day in 2017, four years after releasing their final album, Tears On Tape. Speaking in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer ahead of the release of his debut solo album Neon Noir, the singer admits that “the spark was no longer there” despite the band working on new music.

“It didn’t happen didn’t happen overnight – we’d started having trouble after Tears On Tape,” says Ville of the run-up to the split. “Gas [Lipstick. drummer] had left the band and we found a new drummer, which was fantastic for a time, but we just couldn’t find it in ourselves – a new album. We started working on ideas, but they didn’t sound very good. The adult way to approach things is that if it’s something you really do love, you have to love them enough to let them go when the right moment comes.

“The spark was no longer there, so timing-wise, it was good – I wouldn’t have minded it to happen a little earlier because now I see the end of my own career in the distance. I never wanted it to feel like a job. You’ll see bands touring where it quite clearly is. Something so central needs to be full of passion and laughter and joy and tears – dramatic, like a pint of milk.”

In the same interview, Ville reveals that he was struck down by a “tinge of depression” after the band finally split.

“I had a month where I didn’t get out of bed. Around that long, at least. I was pretty worried about it,” he says. “I forced myself up and back to music through conversations with mates, you know, getting my spirits up a bit, but it was a weird feeling.

“It’s not like you can’t get up. You just don’t want to get up. You don’t want to do anything and you can’t really do anything: just super-tired, some form of post-traumatic stress after all the years. It could be that it took a while for it to hit, and it coincided with a pandemic. I wasn’t able to do anything, so my body and my mind told me to get the sleep I missed back in the day.”

You can read the full interview with Ville, in which he gives us the lowdown on Him’s split, talks us through the making of Neon Noir and reveals that he only recently discovered the meaning of the aubergine emoji, in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer. Order it online now and get it delivered straight to your front door.

in the new issue of Metal Hammer — (Image credit: Future)

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