Here's the translation for this video. It's the conversation between Ville and philosopher Pekka Himanen from October 2009:



Pekka Himanen: What’s up?

Ville Valo: Well, nothing much. Give me a hug.

PH: Great to see you.

VV: How has your day been?

PH: Really good. This has been an incredible week of extremes--from Hillary Clinton and the White House to today’s visit to Compton, there where the gangs were killing each other.

VV: I’ve been too scared to go there.

***
VV: I have started a new hobby, walking. I have been walking ten kilometers a day, five kilometers to the studio and five back. I get a little… I can smoke more.

PH: At what point is the making of the album?

VV: It’s at the point where the album is recorded. We started rehearsing with the guys in February, and I have been here for two and a half months and the guys just flew back home. Every last scream and drum beat is on tape and it’s being mixed at the moment. The idea is that it would be finished for Halloween. That’s good, I figured that from Valentine’s to Halloween. That’s a good working period.

PH: What I find interesting is that no matter what field people are in, they have gone through very similar things. Like at the beginning people doubted themselves, then they have had adversities and trials and they have almost given up.

VV: At the beginning, I wanted to throw myself into music, but it was hard when my fingers were bleeding and my bass wasn’t good enough and Steve Harris from Iron Maiden was so much better than I was. So I was about to give up lots of times, but that’s where my parents came in. My mom kicked my ass and told me to rehearse. I don’t know. I’m a professional quitter who always at the last moment gets his head above the surface. At least until now. I give up every night and every morning, and then I drink a cup of coffee and then everything is okay again. At least with music it’s so unpredictable for me--the competition is tough and there are talented people all over the place, and music isn’t just music but it’s being away from home a lot and it’s a lot of hard work too. Aren’t these existentialist musings part of life? Maybe it’s because through music I have remained at the mental level of a fourteen year old. My teenage years don’t seem to ever end and that’s why it’s so hard. But in a delightful way.

PH: So you have had time to get used to the angst too.

VV: Exactly. Angst is a muscle that needs to be exercised.

PH: A teenager is bothered by it because he hasn’t had enough time to get used to it yet.

VV: Yes. It’s a muscle just like singing is a muscle, like riding the bike. Once you learn that pain, it’s hard to forget it. [laughs]

PH: Has there been a moment in HIM’s history where for example the record company would have said no to your first demo or something?

VV: Yes, constantly. But it’s not so much about the first demo, it’s that people speculate that some songs don’t seem good enough and when you have people you respect, for example Asko Kallonen with whom we worked for a long time… Asko as an A&R pushed me so that I would make the songs better. He said that this is a good start but this could be so much better. Of course I fought him tooth and nail but little by little I learned that Asko doesn’t say that to be mean, he doesn’t mean bad, he’s just trying to get everything out of his artist and make the artist realize that perhaps he has more to give. That kind of situations arise all the time, but in that sense we are in a good place. Of course the rest of the guys and I are all pretty critical people. That’s how things get better. The worst thing would be to get lazy, to think that things are under control because things are never under control. They can be closer to it or farther from it but they are never totally under your control. If they are, then it’s time for you to be laid to rest.

PH: Actually that’s the advice they gave to Obama. That the most important thing is that there are people around you who don’t just say what you want to hear.

VV: Yes men are completely useless. And as a Finn I can’t take praise, I’d rather fight against criticism. You know it yourself when something works and you have done a good job. And the work itself can be a big achievement. For me the making of this new album has been important in the sense that for the first time I haven’t had a single beer. I have put all the energy I used to spend in pubs and hangovers into this record and that’s a reward in itself for me. But of course it’s not enough.

PH: Yes.

VV: That’s why we keep on working here until the very end. The album is finished when it’s finished, and then we can think about the next thing to boldly immerse ourselves in. Probably some gigs in Australia at the end of February.

PH: Yeah, yeah. [Finnish composer Jean] Sibelius said that in the end there has never been a statue erected for a critic.

VV: Yet. [smirks] We have to make sure that that happens. There are as many opinions as there are assholes. But aren’t the toughest people always their own worst critics and there have been statues dedicated to them so… In that case…

PH: I also think that if a person cares too much about the opinions of those around him then he in a way takes upon himself the role of a prisoner. Makes his surroundings a prison for himself…

VV: [laughing] Am I your prisoner, Pekka? Am I in your chains? Because you kinda are my surroundings right now.

PH: [laughing] Let’s not talk now about what we’re going to do later…

VV: Did you drop by Aikuisten Lelukauppa to get some…

PH: I have something for you from your father…

VV: We have to make sure that the bedposts are sturdy enough. [both laugh] I think that people are more or less prisoners of their own ideas or ideologies. It doesn’t work either if you isolate yourself completely from everything. It’s the middle course that you should take. I don’t know… Does it exist? It’s the eternal compromise. Like Hiili Hiilesmaa, Finnish super producer, said: ”Let’s compromise”. I think that’s a damn good attitude. You trust and love the people you’re dealing with enough to say that let’s make a few compromises. As a joke. Because a compromise is often a negative thing, but you have to make them all the time.

PH: Since you have done and achieved such big things, how would you advice others on how to see their own worth and believe in their own thing and make it happen?

VV: It’s hard to say, it depends on the person. Everyone has their own way. I have been so fortunate myself that I have been able to just live my daydreams right from the start and I have never given up. Some people dream ever since they are kids of having a family, a few kids and a nine-to-five job. Those people are the heroes of their own lives. I don’t know… I think it’s through difficulties to the stars in the sense that problems exist to be solved. It's a kind of mathematics of life. It would feel stupid to give up. In any way.

PH: When I think about this Dignity Project, the first thing that comes to mind is your "nerve" as an attitude… [The Finnish word used here is "pokka" which means the nerve or brass or guts to do something.]

VV: I wonder what happened to it.

PH: What’s the philosophy behind your nerve in short?

VV: The philosophy of my nerve is our Mikko Henrik Julius Paananen’s classic "if you don’t like what’s happening, you can always get the fuck out". I think that’s a good piece of life advice. Meaning that you should do what you want to do and give it all you've got. It’s not like any of us have much time left since 2012 is approaching and the Mayan calendar is talking its last breath. I believe that just stubbornly pushing through adversities which Finns do really well is a good approach to everything. Because everyone has dreams and I believe that most of them can be made to come true. I wonder how much nerve I have daily, and maybe it’s like being a horse on a race track with blinders, having tunnel vision and just looking ahead and concentrating on something and not letting anything get in the way. It’s pretty outrageous in a way, but it has worked at least for us. You know, like get out of our way. A little Juha Mieto [very famous Finnish former cross-country skier]--just let the snot run down your face, it doesn’t matter as long as your skis are working.

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