I f Ville Valo’s debut solo album Neon Noir was a movie, the poster for it would read: ‘The King Of Goth Returns To Reclaim His Throne’. But Valo is having none of it. “I wouldn’t say I’m the King Of Goth,” he says. “Crown Prince, maybe. Or Clown Prince.” Still, fans of HIM will find much to love about Neon Noir, released under the name VV. It taps into the same dark vein of romanticism, placing its creator squarely back in the spotlight five years after the Finns took their final bow. “It’s good to hide in the shadows for a wee bit,” says Ville. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
After HIM split, the first thing you did was record a Finnishlanguage album with the veteran MOR/rock’n’roll band Agents. Why was that?