The Interview

HIM, The Rasmus and Negative toured together in February in Germany! YAM! (name of the magazine) asked Ville Valo (29), Lauri Ylönen (26) and Jonne Aaron (22) for a three-man-talk…

YAM: How did you get the idea for your three-band-tour?
Ville: We all played in little clubs in Germany. But together we can rock the bigger halls and show our fans something special.

YAM: And how is it going on?
Jonne: Super! For Negative it’s a good chance to reach many people.
Lauri: And there’s a great feeling in the air. When Negative play their awesome show, it goads me on to make it better!
Jonne: Thanks for the compliment- it makes me happy! Especially because I’m very nervous before gigs.

YAM: Do you think you are competitors?
Ville: Yes, but in a good way. If you would release all simultaneous a CD and the CD of HIM wouldn’t be the number one, I would be angry.
Lauri (grins): Therefore we synchronize our releases.

YAM: Do you listen to the albums of your colleagues?
Jonne: If I am at home I listen much to the radio. They play HIM & The Rasmus all the time. It’s ideal for cleaning.
Ville: I think it’s difficult, to listen to music of friends. If you know somebody very good, the magic of the songs dissapears. How should I listen to a song, when I saw the singer crapping?
Lauri: You have what?!
Ville: That was a joke! But if you are sitting sweaty in the backstage-area and talking shit, you hear the songs in other way.

YAM: If you could change something of the other bands…
Lauri: If I would be Ville, in any case I would smoke not so much (to Ville) You’ve got asthma….
Ville: Like Jim Morrisson of The Doors.
Lauri: Yes, and he is dead.
Ville: But not because of his asthma… Really: These three bands are good like they are, you don’t have to change anything.

YAM: How long do you know each other?
Lauri: Ville and me met in 1998 at a gig in the icehall in Mikkelli, Finland. We crossed the way in the fitness-room.
Jonne: I met Ville and Lauri in 2003 at some gigs.
Ville: Lauri and Jonne were totally shy- I had to have a effect like an asshole to them!
Lauri: Well, at the beginning the relation was quite bad, but this changed.
Ville: In the meantime Lauri turned to an asshole (laughs). At Jonne I’m not sure if he’s really shy. But I know it after this tour.

YAM: Do you meet private?
Ville: Sure! It’s pity that Jonne lives in an other town, we don’t see him often. But Lauri and me eat often together, if we are both in Helsinki.
Lauri (shocked): I’ve just remembered that I owe you a dinner!

YAM: You all are womanizer, who of you gets the most feminine attention?
Ville: We three appeal to very different kinds of women. For example the fat Gothic-Chicks love me…
Jonne: Me the hairy men!
Ville: And Lauri gets the rest!

YAM: Which characteristics you share?
Ville: We all have a big passion for music. And the biggest difference is, that Lauri and Jonne are very young, but I am an damn old man…
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