H.I.M (His Infernal Majesty) (HIM and HER)

Him is a Helsinki band from Finland whose success is incrising all over the world. With its melancolic sound the gothic love metal is opening a new window to the gothic culture.

Current Members:

Ville Valo – (vocals, acoustic guitar)

Mikko “Linde” Lindström – (acoustic and eletric guitar)

Mikko “Migé Amour” Paananen – (bass)

Mika “Gas Lipstick” Karppinen – (drums)

Janne “Emerson Burton” Puurtinen – (keyboard)

Former Members:

Juippi — drums, percussion (1991–1992)

Tarvonen — drums, percussion (1991–1992)

Oki — guitar (1992–1996)

Antto Melasniemi — keyboards (1995–1999)

Sergei Ovalov — keyboards (1999 touring only)

Juhana Tuomas “Pätkä” Rantala — drums, percussion (1995–1999)

Jussi-Mikko “Juska” Salminen — keyboards (1998–2000)

Discography:

1992- Witches and other night fears

1993- This is only the beginning

1996- 666 ways to love

1997- Greatest love songs Vol. 666

1999- Razorblade Romance

2001- Deep shadows and brilliant highlights

2002- The single collection

2003- Love Metal

2004- And love said no: The greatest hits: 1997-2004

2005- Dark Light

2006- Uneasy Listening Vol.1

2007- Uneasy Listening Vol.2

2007- Venus Doom

2008- Digital versatile doom: Live at Orpheum theatre

 THE HEARTAGRAM

The heartagram is the trademarked symbol of HIM, best described as a combination of a heart and an inverted pentagram (love & hate), created by Ville Valo the day of his twentieth birthday. Valo has said that “the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity, and for ‘love metal’ in general.” Many fans of the band have heartagram tattoos, or tattoos of other HIM emblems — such as the single heart on Valo’s right wrist, and a number of fan-submitted photos of same decorated the lyric booklet for the limited edition of Dark Light. Ville Valo has allowed his close friend, Jackass star, actor, and professional skateboarder, Bam Margera to share the license on the heartagram image and Margera has accordingly used it for his promotional purposes, including using it on his Adio shoes and Element skateboards. Because of the shared license, the symbol is often thought to belong solely to Margera. According to Valo, the band has become better known for their logo than their music.

In a video interview, Ville has stated that the Heartagram is a “Modern Yin Yang,” the heart being the Yin and the inverted pentacle being the Yang.

A heartagram appears at the end of the music video for the song DARE by the band Gorillaz, where Murdoc wakes up, on the wall to the left hand side. It was also parodied, as the “horseagram” — a combination of a horse shoe and a pentagram — in the episode “Ode to Sue” of the video game comedy troupe Mega64.

During the filming of Jackass Number Two, cast member Steve-O got a parody tattoo of a heartagram called a “Dickagram”.

 

Why all those names??

 

HIM, also known as ‘HIS Infernal Majesty’, is not to be confused with Infernäl Mäjesty, a Canadian thrash metal band, formed in Toronto in 1986. Or HiM an American post-rock band

Their first band name was His Infernal Majesty. The band changed the name to HIM from the “Wicked Game” single onwards, though the single for “Your Sweet Six Six Six” includes a ‘His Infernal Majesty’ sticker.

Their second major US release, Razorblade Romance, was released under the name HER because a Chicago based post-rock band named HiM held the trademark on the name. While they toured Europe, primarily Germany, at this time, they used the name HIM and HER. HIM eventually bought the rights to the name “HIM” in the United States and used it worldwide from there on. HIM has also had other names like Black Salem,Thulsa doom back in 2000-2002,when as stated above the band had problems with the name in USA.Those names have been used in several gigs,mostly in Finland,in HIM’s native country.

In the official HIM biography, Synnin Viemää, Ville Valo admitted to making things up and joking about the name during interviews, leading to conflicting accounts of the origin of the name and the confusion that exists today. During an interview, Valo has said:

 

“In almost every interview someone asks what does HIM stand for. I can’t even remember our latest lie about that. When Hanson was hot, we said it means Hanson Is Murder. The name doesn’t have a particular history. His Infernal Majesty was a totally different band. I think HIM derives from some death metal joke. And it was our protest to Haile Selassie‘s rastafarian religion, he used to be called His Imperial Majesty. But nowadays because of Linde’s hair, we actually might be supporting him.”