Ville Valo is a man with a million stories to tell, and some of them are even true. He’s charming and witty, peppering conversations with brilliant poetic statements that could be printed on t-shirts. He could also sell you your own teeth. Because Ville Valo is a bullshitter extraordinaire. Not a liar, more a master in the art of twisted tales and exaggerated truths.
The story of HIM – the band he formed in Helsinki, Finland in the early 90s with schoolmates Mikko ‘Mige’ Paananen (bass) and Mikko ‘Linde’ Lindström (guitars) – has the kind of dramatic twists and turns that would make for a great Hollywood biopic. Albums recorded during historic storms, being handcuffed to a bed by armed police, actual brushes with death. As the saying goes, ‘Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.’
