Current Members:
Ville Hermanni Valo – vocals (1991-present)
Mikko Viljami “Linde” Lindström a.k.a. Lily Lazer – guitar (1991-present)
Mikko Paananen a.k.a. Migé Amour – bass guitar (1991-present )
Janne Purttinen a.k.a. Emerson Burton – keyboards (2001-present)
Mika Karppinen a.k.a. Gas Lipstick – drums (1999-present)
Former members:
Antto Einari Melasniemi – keyboards (1994-1998)
Jussi-Miko “Juska” Salminen alias Zoltan Pluto – keyboards (1998-2000)
Juhana Tuomas “Pätkä” Rantala – drums (1994-1999)
H.I.M is a love-metal band from Finland.The name used to stand for His-Internal-Majesty but now is simply used as an acronym, and the band has even said that the name of their band doesn’t really have any significance and is easily translatable in many languages. Some people classify them as either goth-metal or dealing with satanism but this isn’t the case as H.I.M. discusses issues on an emotional level that doesn’t deal with anything bad or evil. One of the reasons people get mixed up about the band’s intentions is their band’s logo which has a pentagram and a heart mixed together.
The logo is merely a symbol of emotion and doesn’t deal with anything satanic or evil in any way. The band says the heartagram deals with the contrast between love and hate or love and death. One of the reasons that H.I.M. has managed to reach such success is their ability to sing in english. The band started to sing english songs in their home country which took many people by surprise since other bands in the area were signing their native Scandinavian language.
One of the first songs that got the band noticed was a cover of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ which got radio play around Finland. HIM’s first full length album, Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666 was released in 1997 and gave the band significant exposure in the Scandinavian and German regions. The groups second album, Razorblade Romance was released on January 24, 2000. Their second album sold huge in other countries in Europe like Germany and helped H.I.M. reach platinum status. One of their singles, ‘Join Me In Death’ became the biggest selling hit song in Finnish history.The album made its way to the United States under the name HER because a Chicago Jazz band owned the rights to the name H.I.M. and wouldn’t license the band name to them.
The album was released on Jimmy Pop Records who is also one of the main members of the band ‘The BloodHound Gang’. Both Jimmy and the band managed to buy back the rights to H.I.M. from the jazz band and currently go by H.I.M. now in the USA. Razorblade Romance eventually got re-released nationwide under Universal Studios. Deep Shadows And Brilliant Highlights, the band’s third studio album, was released on August 27, 2001, but was met with harsh criticism for being too American which the band denies.The band still hadn’t reached major success in the USA until the release of their fourth album, Love Metal in April of 2005.
The album was made popular thanks to the help of MTV personality and professional skateboarder, Bam Margera, who is obsessed with the band and even has the band’s logo tattooed on his body. The band was also featured on his television show, ‘Viva La Bam’, numerous times as well as the cult films ‘CKY’ (not to be confused with the band CKY although the band is tied in with the movies as well in a way).
The band’s fifth album, Dark Light, was released on September 26, 2005. “Rip Out The Wings of a Butterfly” was released as a single. The album reached #18 in both the US and the UK. You can currently buy their latest album in stores nationwide and their latest single can be listened to for a while on BoobNewb’s own radio Jukebox.
Some biography information courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.org
[audio:https://boobnewb.com/blog/audio/HIM_ArtistSpotlight.mp3][ratings]
Entries (RSS)