Hyvää Uuttavuotta! Unbelievable New Year's at Helldone

When I arrived in Helsinki last week, the city was about to move into its second consecutive New Year's without snow, the Helldone Festival was about to begin its third consecutive year as a full on festival splitting bands between Tavastia and neighboring Semifinal, and I was in the city for the event for the first time. Given photo access and a guest list welcome, I spent three nights at Tavastia checking out the local color, seeing a classic goth band perform, and experiencing a New Year's for the books.

Each night I was there I saw men dressed up not as Bam Margera, as you find in the States, but as Ville Valo himself. There were blazers and beanies and high cheekbones. There was also this guy who looked straight out of DSBH: the build, the hair, the make-up, and tight flared jeans with the ironically patterned man-blouse. There were many at Tavastia paying homage to their living idol all three nights. Mostly, however, there was just a lot of black clothes and hardcore gothic-types (not necessarily HIM fans) who seemed very serious about their "thing". Gorgeous and quiet most of them were, and some I couldn't peel away from.

My first night at Tavastia gave me the opportunity to see some less-known, local bands like The Black League and Swallow the Sun. Formed in 1998 by lead singer Taneli Jarva, The Black League looked and sounded like a traditional southern rock band: visions of Lynyrd Skynyrd and a bit of twang. This band has four albums under their belt and worked their asses off onstage from what I saw. Finnish death/doom metal act Swallow the Sun rocked the hell out of the venue on the first night. I couldn't understand a word lead singer Mikko Kotamäki screamed, but I couldn't care less. He had the audience wrapped around his little finger, and that is always great to watch for an up and coming band. One thing I liked as well, was that although I don't get into the vacuum cleaner vocal styling, the music had a certain melodic quality which makes it a helluvalot more accessible to me. Incidentally, the band's third album, Hope, has guest vocals from Amorphis' Tomi Joutsen and Katatonia's Jonas Renske, so this band has the respect from fellow more successful peers, which is something to always note, in my opinion. Jussi69 was in the bar on this night.

On the second night, I had a taste of Finnish Black Metal with band Ajatarra. Amorphis' former lead singer, Pasi Koskinen, aka Ruoja, now fronts this band. It was quite an experience. I am clearly not the audience for this music. I heard a drunk-looking Brit tell his friend that they should go to Semifinal since this band "sucks". I honestly could not tell if they sucked or not- how sad is that.

One of Katatonia's named influences performed as the headliner on the festival's second night. English 80s goth band Fields of the Nephilim were personally asked by Ville Valo to perform as guest of honor. Much like the New York Dolls, Fields of the Nephilim did not experience mainstream success; rather, they influenced their scene with their dust and death imagery and music. Knowing this, I got a chill when the lights went low and the smoke curled and the death cowboys ominously took the stage. It should be noted that of all the performances I took pics for at Helldone, FotN's was the most heavily populated by photogs. There were so many that we could barely move around each other. On this night I had a brush with Ville Valo, though in a flash he had disappeared backstage. Jesse Valo was also in the crowd, looking chic with a fedora hat and good genes.

On the last night, as I stood in line to check in with the staff, I heard some folks behind me talking about how last year's total line-up was far superior with bands like Cathedral, Anathema, and Amorphis. It just goes to show that you can't please everyone.

Performing on the third night just before HIM was the energetic punk/ rockabilly band The Skreppers. These guys recently headlined the Helsinki Burlesque Festival which seems like a most entertaining event. Anyway, you can check out The Skreppers video for He's My Sister here.

Considering that I had spent some of my afternoon chatting with Kari Valo in his now infamous sex shop Aikuisten Lelukauppa, I got the feeling while watching The Skreppers perform that 12/31/2007 might be a day meant for confession. Besides blushing at the HIM branded multi-stranded hand whip that he showed me and some other fans who had found their way into the store, I assessed the best Finnish porn mags with Mr. Valo to buy for a friend of mine back in the states (seriously). I know, it all seems so inappropriate, doesn't it? More unusual was that I was in a sex shop at 1:00 PM in Helsinki discussing what magazine would be the best representation of Finnish porn with the intention of it being a souvenir. Forget that I was discussing it with the father of Ville Valo.

After The Skreppers left the stage it was time for me to check in with the photog group and wait to be herded into the front of the stage. Around this time I ran into Ville's dad and said hello again. A very charming man, he's more than willing to help you increase your HIM memorabilia collection by selling you all the naughty HIM gear you can't find in Hot Topic! Ville's mother, Anita, was standing next to Kari. She is a petite little thing with gorgeous skin and a stunning smile. Ville featured her on their very first EP '666 Ways to Love', now out of print. I wonder if those two congratulate each other every day for producing such beautiful offspring.

Before midnight, a fellow photographer and I were situated just in front of Ville's microphone and shared a few stories about the event. In a few minutes everyone focused on the owner of Tavastia, who had taken the stage to count down the last few moments of 2007. At midnight, he popped open a bottle of champagne and sprayed every one of us that were close enough to the stage. In this situation, having a little camera helped, because I could hear the collective gasps of the fellow photogs who came in with all their gear that was now quite wet from the champagne! At 12:05 AM on 1/1/2008, the Helsinki hometown heroes that have put Finland on the map appeared before the capacity crowd ready to play to hundreds of fans, friends, and family.

HIM started strong with Passions Killing Floor and moved through a rocking set that included favorites such as Vampire Heart, Poison Girl, and Bleed Well. You can see Ville's champagne drenched setlist here, but highlights for me were Vampire Heart, Funeral of Hearts (which was presented to us by a shirtless Ville. Very nice.), Join Me (which always makes me fondly think of M stripping) and It's All Tears.



Halfway through the set, the four Karhu beers I drank had not yet kicked in, but once they did I called my parents back home screaming into the phone that I was having the time of my life. Oh dear lord. I think there may have been some shits, f*cks, and damns in there, but I can't be sure.

At some point during the show, someone threw their American (I think) passport onstage. Ville picked it up, delivered some witty banter, and then said something like "well, at least now I will know where your tits will grow up." Did I hear that right? Ha! Seriously, who throws their passport? I'm a fan, but I'd much sooner throw Euros onstage than my passport. You need that shit to get home!

Besides gifting us with a shirtless performance for the latter part of the set, the band performed The Sacrament and Razorblade Romance as encores. Yes, we got encores, which is a rare treat with these guys.

A Russian fan emailed me and said that Ville's performance was like night and day from last year's, when he seemed to jeer at the fools who bothered to come. To many who attended this year, he seemed connected, appreciative, charming, and once again to love what he does. He appeared skinny, but healthy, and his voice, as it did during the last US tour, was rich again. He even got playful, replacing "I want you to love me" with "I want you to f*ck me" in Razorblade Romance's Razorblade Kiss.

As I was leaving, I got slammed up next to Kari Valo and so I said hello. Again. I was mortified that he thought I was stalking him.

Helldone was one of the most extraordinary events in my blogger career. I think that it's fair to say that though it was a small event in comparison to other outdoor festivals, it was the most well-organized and easy events I've ever been to, though presence of security was not the obvious reason for it! Indeed, I hardly found any security at all and yet well-known and less-known musicians mingled with the crowd as though we were all equal- wow, that's a notion that is new, isn't it. As a festival, Helldone strips the idea that one artist is better than the other. It seems to be a forum in which live music, not corporate sponsorship, reigns no matter if you are a veteran of goth rock, a band whose following is ever-growing, or a lead singer who can turn a performance into an X-rated affair by just taking his shirt off. It was worth the long journey and the tears I cried on the way home. -K

Check out the rest of the HIM pictures I took on our buzznet page. There are a lot, so enjoy!