Better known as the frontman and co-founder of Finnish love metal group HIM from 1991 until their dissolution in 2017, Ville Valo recently released his debut solo outing, Neon Noir, under the moniker VV. Last here on Australian soil in 2014 with HIM, he returns in solo mode in March for an Australian east coast jaunt.
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“I’ve always enjoyed immensely visiting your country,” Ville told me recently.
“It feels like a different kind of magnetism whenever I’m there.
“I’m not a touristy person, so I like walking around, and I like looking out the window and absorbing the feel of the place.
“I’m not the sort of guy rushing from museum to another museum and having a really tight schedule in trying to see everything.
“For a Finn, it’s such a faraway place and feels like an imaginary land.
“To be able to fly over to Australia is not a given, and not something as a musician, that anybody can take for granted.
“So, it always feels very special.”
Valo affirms the upcoming Australian shows will feature a mixture of HIM’s gothic-infused rock classics such as The Funeral Of Hearts and Wings Of A Butterfly along with newer material off his solo album.
“We’ll be zig-zagging between the old and new,” he says.
“It is important to me to keep the tension up, as there are people who know me way better through HIM and know the history of HIM and those songs.
“So, I feel it would be unfair not to play Join Me In Death or Buried Alive By Love; they all come from the same songbook.
“I wouldn’t feel that the show would be whole without playing the HIM tracks.”
The post-pandemic world of touring has brought Valo a new sense of comfort and freshness compared to his previous touring with HIM.
“I was never a huge fan of touring, as I always felt it was lacking because it was hard to sing at times and hear myself due to my tinnitus,” he says.
“I was always fighting the ringing in my ears, and with HIM since we always had amps on stage, it moved a lot of air, so the bass would really rattle the stage, and you would feel it.
“But for whatever reason, after the pandemic and touring this album, I feel really comfortable on stage.
“Also, in such a profound way, the pandemic threatened all of us, to take away the stuff that a lot of times we take for granted, such as gigs and the continuity of it all.
“So, there is still an inkling of that whenever I hit the stage.
“It feels like such a special thing that it could kind of end at any moment.
“Which, when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll, gives it a great edge, so it’s not necessarily a negative thing.”
For tickets and further tour info, go to www.thephoenix.au
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This week’s music charts
Australia ARIA Top 50 No.1: Cruel Summer – Taylor Swift
US Billboard Hot 100 No.1: Lovin On Me - Jack Harlow
UK Singles Top 100 No.1: Texas Hold ‘Em – Beyonce
Behind the song – Sweet Child O’ Mine (1987)
As one of the most popular and anthemic rock songs of the 1980s, Sweet Child O’ Mine continues to solidify its musical legacy in the continuing evolution of music history. The instantly recognisable guitar riff that kicks off the song has gone on to become one of the most influential guitar riffs of all time.
Over the years, I have interviewed Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash on several occasions, and during one of those meetings, I asked Slash how the song came to be written.
“Guns N’ Roses were sitting around in this house we were living in at the time,” he recalled to me in 2004.
“And we were sitting around, and I began noodling around on the guitar, and that intro riff came out of that.”
“As I was playing it, Izzy [Stradlin] started playing some chords behind it, then Axl [Rose] heard it and all of a sudden was inspired to write the whole lyrics, which had to do topically with his then-girlfriend [Erin Everly].
“So, the song was written pretty much all there on the spot.
“Before we went in to record it, we worked up the song in pre-production and rehearsal just to make sure we knew what we had to do to play (it), to get the thing (done) properly.
“In the studio, we had it down by the third take.
“And for the longest time, I hated it because Guns N’ Roses was such a flat-out hard rock band that I just hated ballads.
“It’s really ironic now because it’s become one of the band’s most popular songs.
“But it wasn’t until years later that I actually started appreciating the song for what it is and enjoyed playing it.”
Fun fact
The 1975 disco hit Fly, Robin Fly by Silver Convention holds the distinction of being the only non-instrumental US number one to have only six words of lyrics; ‘Fly, robin, fly / up, up to the sky’, which is sung repeatedly throughout the song.
Joe Matera is a local singer-songwriter, recording artist, guitarist and music journalist providing readers with all the latest music news.
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