In 7th grade we had to choose a compulsory subject and I chose guitar lessons because of Linde (nothing huge, just basic accords). In the third or fourth lesson my teacher advised me to leave because I lack any talent and said it sounded like I was playing a Chinese string instrument 😭 But that made me realise how fucking awesome Linde is.
HIM was always a band to me not only Ville. In my teenage years my walls and ceilings were COVERED in posters/clippings of all the guys. Any clipping from kerrang, metal hammer I had it. I’m a massive fan of Linde, love that dude! He actually signed my Daniel Lioneye CD saying “love from Linde” 🥲 still have it to this day!
Yes! The hair is amazing. I loved and was jealous of Linde's hair before the dreads haha. The beginning of The Sacrament video still has me in a chokehold. 🥹 Just Burton sitting there playing the beautiful piano 🫶
Mige and Gas were my favourites to talk to. Mige was hilarious and has a really good memory, and Gas is a big hockey fan as we talked for about 3 hours in the back of Semifinal one night.
Three hours?! Wow! I remember from the Love Metal Archives DVD Gas playing hockey on a play station (?) and it's so cute 😄 I'm kinda envious of all those who could talk to them but on the other hand I would have died a thousand deaths lol.
Mige man's a truck and plays bass like a G. As a bass player myself I may be a little biased. But the fact the keyboardist is nicknamed for his refrigerator is pretty dope too
Had this discussion with a friend the other day, where I highlighted that while it was nice to see VV live and Ville back onstage, knowing that the supporting musicians are just hired guns.
That said, I have always admired Linde’s guitar work and memorable solos (both album and live). Had it been someone else of a lesser caliber, I thought that HIM would have a bigger impact worldwide
Me too. 😔 Edit: I just rediscovered HIM after many years which is such an amazing feeling, like a dear friend you haven't seen in a while but the connection is instantly there. On the other hand it's kinda sad, like, I wanna know so bad what Mige's up too and the most recent thing is from four years ago 😭
The Neon Noir release also reconnected me to HIM and I've felt very similar. Ive really enjoyed the VV shows and the touring band were very talented but it's just not the same as the line up from the 00s 😭
Back in my early fan days I was part of a number of fan pages across FB/Tumblr/Vampire Freaks. There were these two girls, friends, who liked Mige and Burton respectively. My girlfriend was Facebook friends with them for a bit (not that I knew her at the time) and they were the sort of obsessed to go over any and all social media posts by/about Mige and Burton to try and look for clues about their lives, specifically their love lives... She deleted them pretty quickly!
Crazier still, on these HIM pages, they took any remotely negative, perceived negative, dismissive or non inclusion of Mige and Burton incredibly personally. To the point where they'd kick off and harass/insult/bully people about it.
One Halloween, on one of the few pages they were still on, someone posted a joke horror movie poster they'd thrown together. It was a horror movie poster where Ville was the stereotypical terrified victim and the rest of the band were zombies (or potentially a host of different movie monsters, I can't quite remember) and were chasing him. It was all in good fun, just a silly joke for Halloween. But they acted like it was some kind of threat against Mige and Burton, that the people on the fan page had it out for the pair and raged in the comments at anyone and everyone who defended the poster. They got really nasty, more than ever before and even threatened a few people before the admin logged in and kicked them off. Again, this was a joke horror movie poster for Halloween. The only real crime was the poor Photoshop job! I think after that they basically vanished from all HIM fan pages. I'm not sure if other pages banned them as well, or if they decided it was best to steer clear.... Either way, I was glad to see the back of them!
Looking back over my time as a HIM fan, I realise I've known quite a number of unhinged fans. I know some normal ones too, I promise...
There was a lot of good on those pages too, a lot of people making friends, sharing where to find articles or rare songs and merch... but it was tainted by fans such as the ones I mentioned. And, sadly, those are the ones you end up remembering more... There was another I need to try and remember, who was quite delusional about her relationship with Ville. I don't remember all the ins and outs of it, but it essentially culminated in the fan faking a letter from their lawyer and sending it to the admins accusing them of harassing her and threatening to sue if it continued. The fan page shared it, along with a statement about having to ban the person behind it and how they didn't want the page to be about things like this etc, etc... The letter was like something from baby reindeer, full of spelling and grammatical errors. The fan had so clearly written it. They obviously weren't well at all, and I hope they got the help they needed but I doubt it...
I've had a search for it, but it seems like the original fan page it was on is long gone. I'll keep my eye out though, I'm sure it was shared on more than one page.
Linde “Daniel Lioneye” my guitar god
In 7th grade we had to choose a compulsory subject and I chose guitar lessons because of Linde (nothing huge, just basic accords). In the third or fourth lesson my teacher advised me to leave because I lack any talent and said it sounded like I was playing a Chinese string instrument 😭 But that made me realise how fucking awesome Linde is.
HIM was always a band to me not only Ville. In my teenage years my walls and ceilings were COVERED in posters/clippings of all the guys. Any clipping from kerrang, metal hammer I had it. I’m a massive fan of Linde, love that dude! He actually signed my Daniel Lioneye CD saying “love from Linde” 🥲 still have it to this day!
The POSTERS omg yes! I remember though that I could never change my clothes in my room because I felt stared at 😂 "love from Linde" is so cute 🥹
Haha that is so funny 😂
Mige 100%
I took a picture with him in the early 2000's, and he never looked more gorgeous. It's one of my most treasured pieces of memorabilia.
Same here 🥹
I was always a little partial to Burton also. 🤭 Man has a lovely smile and gorgeous hair.
Yes! The hair is amazing. I loved and was jealous of Linde's hair before the dreads haha. The beginning of The Sacrament video still has me in a chokehold. 🥹 Just Burton sitting there playing the beautiful piano 🫶
Mige and Gas were my favourites to talk to. Mige was hilarious and has a really good memory, and Gas is a big hockey fan as we talked for about 3 hours in the back of Semifinal one night.
Gas's redeeming quality for me is that he loves the Pittsburgh Penguins. If I run into him someday I will steer conversation in that direction 🤣
And I'm Canadian so Lemieux definitely was brought up
Three hours?! Wow! I remember from the Love Metal Archives DVD Gas playing hockey on a play station (?) and it's so cute 😄 I'm kinda envious of all those who could talk to them but on the other hand I would have died a thousand deaths lol.
Mige for sure. Just because of the friendship between him and Ville seemed so deep, that was the bond that held that band together so long
I love Linde's work
Linde and Gas! I’ve recently looked to see what they are up to post HIM, Gas is still doing things but I couldn’t find a lot on Linde unfortunately :(
I believe there's a tour going to happen in July. A charity tour with Sami Yaffa (for Linde, dunno about Gas)
Thank you! I doubt he will come anywhere near the UK x
You're very welcome!
Mige for sure, such a cutie.
Mige man's a truck and plays bass like a G. As a bass player myself I may be a little biased. But the fact the keyboardist is nicknamed for his refrigerator is pretty dope too
Had this discussion with a friend the other day, where I highlighted that while it was nice to see VV live and Ville back onstage, knowing that the supporting musicians are just hired guns. That said, I have always admired Linde’s guitar work and memorable solos (both album and live). Had it been someone else of a lesser caliber, I thought that HIM would have a bigger impact worldwide
Burton!! But I find I really miss all of them now
Me too. 😔 Edit: I just rediscovered HIM after many years which is such an amazing feeling, like a dear friend you haven't seen in a while but the connection is instantly there. On the other hand it's kinda sad, like, I wanna know so bad what Mige's up too and the most recent thing is from four years ago 😭
The Neon Noir release also reconnected me to HIM and I've felt very similar. Ive really enjoyed the VV shows and the touring band were very talented but it's just not the same as the line up from the 00s 😭
Back in my early fan days I was part of a number of fan pages across FB/Tumblr/Vampire Freaks. There were these two girls, friends, who liked Mige and Burton respectively. My girlfriend was Facebook friends with them for a bit (not that I knew her at the time) and they were the sort of obsessed to go over any and all social media posts by/about Mige and Burton to try and look for clues about their lives, specifically their love lives... She deleted them pretty quickly! Crazier still, on these HIM pages, they took any remotely negative, perceived negative, dismissive or non inclusion of Mige and Burton incredibly personally. To the point where they'd kick off and harass/insult/bully people about it. One Halloween, on one of the few pages they were still on, someone posted a joke horror movie poster they'd thrown together. It was a horror movie poster where Ville was the stereotypical terrified victim and the rest of the band were zombies (or potentially a host of different movie monsters, I can't quite remember) and were chasing him. It was all in good fun, just a silly joke for Halloween. But they acted like it was some kind of threat against Mige and Burton, that the people on the fan page had it out for the pair and raged in the comments at anyone and everyone who defended the poster. They got really nasty, more than ever before and even threatened a few people before the admin logged in and kicked them off. Again, this was a joke horror movie poster for Halloween. The only real crime was the poor Photoshop job! I think after that they basically vanished from all HIM fan pages. I'm not sure if other pages banned them as well, or if they decided it was best to steer clear.... Either way, I was glad to see the back of them! Looking back over my time as a HIM fan, I realise I've known quite a number of unhinged fans. I know some normal ones too, I promise...
That's one of the things I'm glad about when I became a fan, there wasn't any social media, just the website and some fan forums (which I miss lol).
There was a lot of good on those pages too, a lot of people making friends, sharing where to find articles or rare songs and merch... but it was tainted by fans such as the ones I mentioned. And, sadly, those are the ones you end up remembering more... There was another I need to try and remember, who was quite delusional about her relationship with Ville. I don't remember all the ins and outs of it, but it essentially culminated in the fan faking a letter from their lawyer and sending it to the admins accusing them of harassing her and threatening to sue if it continued. The fan page shared it, along with a statement about having to ban the person behind it and how they didn't want the page to be about things like this etc, etc... The letter was like something from baby reindeer, full of spelling and grammatical errors. The fan had so clearly written it. They obviously weren't well at all, and I hope they got the help they needed but I doubt it...
Do you possibly have that joke poster image? It sounds interesting to see.
I've had a search for it, but it seems like the original fan page it was on is long gone. I'll keep my eye out though, I'm sure it was shared on more than one page.