The singer will be touring North America next year
HIM frontman Ville Valo has announced his debut solo album. The forthcoming LP titled Neon Noir is set for release early next year. The album’s first single “Loveletting” premieres tomorrow, Friday, April 8.
“As fun as the funeral rites for HIM were, it took me more than a few moons to lick my wounds in the shadow of the Heartagram and come up with an excuse to strum and hum again. Eventually, I decided to put a leash on my beloved black dog and we started howling together instead of barking at each other. That’s how ‘Loveletting’ was born.”
Artistically speaking, the main difference between HIM and VV is the extra line in the Heartagram, but what an exquisite line it is! It’s the Mamas and the Papas dressed up as Metallica on their way to a Halloween bash at the Studio 54, and now who wouldn’t want to witness that?”
Additionally, Valo will embark on a world tour to support the album. The trek begins in Europe in Helsinki, FI on January 13, 2023. He will come overseas and kick off the U.S. leg in Philadelphia on April 1, 2023. Tickets for the European shows go on sale April 11, 2022 at 10am CET. Tickets for all U.S. shows go on sale April 15, 2022 10am local time. Check out the official tour trailer below.
All tickets can be purchase HERE.
In the annals of 21st century alternative rock history, there are few artists who cast a longer or more peculiar shadow than Finnish Love Metal pioneer Ville Valo. After all, his band HIM was easily among the most iconic and idiosyncratic groups of the millennium. Zealously revered, gleefully reviled, but impossible to ignore, their music left an indelible mark on a worldwide legion of fans. The scarlet letters stood for His Infernal Majesty. Their founder stood for something delightedly out of step with the status quo.
“We only hoped to temporarily redirect hard rock’s blood flow from the nether regions towards the heart,” reminisces Ville Valo, the singer, songwriter and primus motor of HIM.
Judging by the monolithic presence of the Heartagram in any account of music this side of the millennium it’s apparent that he succeeded. Inspired by everyone from Poe to Bukowski, and tinged by a penchant for perfumed Sabbathian gloom, Valo’s creative lovechild would produce eight era-defining studio releases and over 10 million record sales, not forgetting a Grammy nomination, countless magazine covers, critical acclaim, and the veneration of a generation. Thus it came as no surprise that the news of a farewell tour in 2017 was greeted with shock and disbelief among devotees and endless speculation as to what or who was to take up the velvet mantle.
Ville Valo: World Tour 2023
Europe + UK
1/13—Tavastia, Helsinki (FI)
2/14—Proxima, Warsaw (PL)
2/15—Kwadrat, Krakow (PL)
2/16—Lucerna Music Bar, Prague (CZ)
2/17—Huxley’s, Berlin (DE)
2/18—Fabrik, Hamburg (DE)
2/20—Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL)
2/21—Batschkapp, Frankfurt (DE)
2/22—Komplex, Zurich (CH)
2/23—Razzmatazz, Barcelona (ES)
2/25—La Riviera, Madrid (ES)
2/26—Cineteatro Capitolio, Lisbon (PT)
2/27—Hard Club, Porto (PT)
3/2—Alcatraz, Milan (IT)
3/3—Backstage Werk, Munich (DE)
3/4—Barba Negra, Budapest (HU)
3/5—Arena, Vienna (AT)
3/7—Rockhal, Esch-sur-Alzette (LU)
3/8—LMH, Cologne (DE)
3/9—Le Trabendo, Paris (FR)
3/10—O2 Academy, Bristol (GB)
3/11—Rock City, Nottingham (GB)
3/12—Garage, Glasgow (GB)
3/13—O2 Ritz, Manchester (GB)
3/15—O2 Forum Kentish Town, London (GB)
United States
4/1—Philadelphia, PA—Theatre of Living Arts
4/2—Boston, MA—Big Night Live
4/4—Pittsburgh, PA—Roxian Theatre
4/5—Cleveland, OH—House of Blues
4/6—Detroit, MI—St Andrews Hall
4/8—Cincinnati, OH—Bogarts
4/9—Chicago, IL—House of Blues
4/11—Minneapolis, MN—Varsity Theater
4/13—Denver, CO—Summit
4/14—Salt Lake City, UT—The Depot
4/16—Sacramento, CA—Ace of Spades
4/17—San Francisco, CA—The Fillmore
4/18—Los Angeles, CA—The Belasco
4/21—Las Vegas, NV—House of Blues
4/22—San Diego, CA—House of Blues
4/23—Phoenix, AZ—The Van Buren
4/25—Dallas, TX—House of Blues
4/26—San Antonio, TX—Aztec Theater
4/27—Houston, TX—House of Blues
4/28—New Orleans, LA—House of Blues
4/30—Orlando, FL—House of Blues
5/1—Ft Lauderdale, FL—Revolution
5/3—Atlanta, GA—Buckhead Theatre
5/4—Nashville, TN—Brooklyn Bowl
5/5—Charlotte, NC—Underground
5/7—Silver Spring, MD—The Fillmore
5/8—New York, NY—Irving Plaza