Daniel Lioneye in Rumba 7/2010 and Sue 5/2010
There have been a few articles on Linde in the music magazines over here because of the release of the new Daniel Lioneye album Vol. II. Here you can read my translations of the interviews in Rumba and Sue.
RUMBA 07/10
DANIEL LIONEYE
WHO
Mikko Viljami ”Linde” Lindström, born on August 12, 1976 in Klaukkala. The guitarist of HIM, also known as Lily Lazer and Daniel Lioneye.
WHY
Released his second solo album under the name Daniel Lioneye. The title track from his debut album The Kind of Rock’n’Roll (2001) was the theme song of Bam Margera’s show Viva La Bam. At one point, it was the second most played Finnish song in the world. The most played one was Sibelius’s Violin Concerto. HIM is currently on tour in the US [sic] and will play at the Sonisphere festival in Pori in August. Daniel Lioneye will play gigs once HIM is done with touring.
LINDE’S TOP3 FESTIVAL MEMORIES
Ruisrock 1993
"This was the first festival I ever went to. I think Faith No More were headlining. Me and my friends drove to Turku in a van, and I was so nervous about my first festival that I spent the whole way there throwing up in a plastic bag. I mean I hadn’t drunk anything yet. Once there, people started putting up their tents, I mean everyone but me. I figured I’d have time to do it later. When we got back to the “camping site”, everyone else’s tents and stuff had been stolen. I happily got into my wrinkled tent lying on the ground, which wasn’t even up, and passed out. The next morning, I woke up with my head sticking out of the “tent” only to find out that a million mosquitoes had sucked my face full of gigantic bumps."
Provinssirock 2006
"My third festival memory has to do with Provinssirock and a late band called Strapping Young Lad. HIM was playing at the same festival, and just before our set, Gas dragged me to see this band SYL who I had never heard of, but I was told that they had a fucking tough fat drummer. And he was, but SYL was so much more! Devin Townsend is a genius. Gene Hoglan is a fucking tough fat drummer, and the whole band is brilliant! Back then Devin still had a legendary skullet. Also the shark hand puppet that Devin sometimes talked to made a big impression on me."
Marilyn Manson in Germany
"At one point, we played a lot of the same festivals as Marilyn Manson. At one of these gigs, Manson had technical difficulties. His mike wasn’t working at all, so Manson broke his mike stand to pieces and walked off the stage. The gig had lasted for three songs at that point. After a little while, they had gotten a new mike stand and Manson returned to the stage, but still no sound from the mike. In his lady’s rage, he once again broke the mike stand to pieces and left. For the third time, the unlucky stage technician put up the mike stand and hoped for the best. Manson walked on stage, and the mike still wasn’t working. That time he smashed his mike stand to pieces on his poor stage technician and left for good. The audience was not happy about that, since Manson was after all the headliner, and started a riot and burned the stage. Luckily we managed to get out of the way!"
***
HIM guitarist Linde’s alter ego Daniel Lioneye is an outrageous character. That’s why we told him to pick the five most outrageous albums that first came to his mind.
1. Impaled Nazarene: Suomi Finland Perkele (1994)
"One of the first extreme metal bands that I got into fairly young. Their legendary gig at Tavastia made a lasting impression on me. The atmosphere was chaotic and violent. Part of the audience had showed up just to punch the band members in the face, and they fought back the audience with fists and broken bottles. Luttinen, quite craftily, turned his mike stand into a huge club that he used to pummel the “fans” in the first row. The whole thing was so outrageous that I had to go outside every now and then to figure out whether this was alright. I chose this album because it has a lovely track called Vitutuksen multihuipennus."
2. Iggy Pop: Naughty Little Doggie (1996)
"Iggy is my big hero. For some strange reason, this album hasn’t gotten much attention even though it is full of classic material. Iggy is an ingenious lyricist, and the gem of the album is without a doubt Pussywalk. It is outrageous in the traditional sense [=obscene]. The effect is heightened when Iggy performs it wearing his see-through rubber pants."
3. Ultra Bra: Kalifornia (1999)
"I honestly don’t have anything against Ultra Bra. Jäätelöauto just happens to be such an outrageous song that I had to include this album. The melody of the chorus kind of reminds me of the Nokia ringtone, and that combined with the sound of the female vocalists makes this song legendary."
4. Matti Nykänen: Ehkä otin ehkä en (2006)
"I have been listening to this album a lot! In the tour bus, backstage, at parties, everywhere! The perfect party album and mood raiser! The final track, the duet Maan korvessa, has been HIM’s intro a few times, and for good reason. Jussi Niemi’s sensitive interpretation and Matti’s all-over-the-place take on things is an absolutely blood-stopping combo."
5. John Frusciante: Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-shirt (1994)
"John Frusciante regrets making this album. I don’t get it. I do understand that it might evoke unpleasant drug-hazed memories, but that’s not a reason to diss this album. This album represents total freedom from all kinds of unpleasant shackles and a let’s-do-it attitude. In the promo pics, if I remember correctly, he showed off his testicles. Didn’t he leave the Peppers again? Hopefully, he’ll do more of this kind of material in the future. John’s new solo albums have been too commercial and boring, and there are too many of them."
SUE 5/2010
LINDE THE LIONHEART
Guitarist Mikko “Linde” Lindström is the quiet member of HIM. His voice is Daniel Lioneye, and now Daniel hisses mean, black rock metal.
- I guess I’m a sort of quiet guy, Linde ponders. - I do like talking with people if there’s something to talk about. Otherwise not.
Now there are things to talk about because Linde’s alter ego Daniel Lioneye has made a feared follow-up to the 2001 debut album The Kind of Rock’n’Roll.
- Daniel Lioneye was an accident that happened when we started jamming after HIM’s rehearsals. Ville Valo played the drums, Mige played the bass and I “sang” and played the guitar. We realized that this is an insanely tough, psychedelic stoner rock trio that has to make a record. We booked ourselves studio time right away. After five chaotic days, the record was finished even though we hadn’t had a single song ready going into the studio.
The Daniel Lioneye you hear on Vol. II is a different band from the one in 2001. The drummer is Bolton from Enochian Crescent, and the songs reek strongly of extreme metal.
- It’s refreshing to try out new things and test your limits. I dig Impaled Nazarene, Immortal and SYL, and it has been a dream of mine for a long time to make a really heavy metal album. HIM took a break before Screamworks, so I decided to do it. Vol II wanted to come out of me so bad that I didn’t have the slightest chance not to make the record.
But why is Vol. II released now that HIM is busy and on tour?
- It could have come out before Screamworks, but that wasn’t okay with the record company. In Finland, the album is released by Warner and in the rest of the world by The End, and it’s been nice collaborating with both of them. The American Warner, on the other hand, turned out to be surprisingly difficult. There were I don’t know how many lawyers involved. For a moment, I feared that some asshole would prevent the whole album from being released. But even though the album has been ready for a long time, it sounds fucking good!
Linde has described Vol. II as a channel through which he can relieve pressure. He specifies that this is not a whining album.
- Vol. II is a positive album, a panacea for all ills! I don’t want to analyze the content of the album, I rather leave it open. It acquires new meanings for me all the time as well.
Linde is also the vocalist of Daniel Lioneye. Singing is a tough thing for a lot of quiet people.
- At the beginning, it was unpleasant, but I got used to it. I mean can someone actually listen to their own voice and love it? I can’t! I recorded all the vocals for Vol. II at home by myself, and that made it a lot easier.
- I don’t like the fact that on many albums the vocals are too loud. The human voice doesn’t sound good enough to my ear to be something to brag about. It’s an instrument like all the others.
Linde’s girlfriend’s father is the Black Sabbath legend Tomy Iommi, without whom Linde’s playing and a big part of rock music would sound completely different. How was the first time he met his "father-in-law"?
- I often wonder how surreal everything is. I was nervous the first time I met him, but we get along really well! Tony is a really nice and kind gentleman who makes sure that I feel welcome. He’s a big fan of red wine and we have had many a fun conversation over a bottle of wine.
What do you talk about?
- Tony has a lot of stories starting from the early days of Black Sabbath and I have no objection to hearing them! A lot of times we talk about everyday things--dogs and stuff like that. I’m sure we’ll play together at some point too. But let’s talk about that when it happens.
Yes, let’s talk about it then. Let’s talk just a little, but about things that matter.
[NOTE: For such a quiet guy, they sure needed a lot of exclamation marks to convey his speech. ;)]
Please don't copy-paste and post this translation anywhere without my permission. If you think others would like to read it, just post a link to this page. Thank you.
RUMBA 07/10
DANIEL LIONEYE
WHO
Mikko Viljami ”Linde” Lindström, born on August 12, 1976 in Klaukkala. The guitarist of HIM, also known as Lily Lazer and Daniel Lioneye.
WHY
Released his second solo album under the name Daniel Lioneye. The title track from his debut album The Kind of Rock’n’Roll (2001) was the theme song of Bam Margera’s show Viva La Bam. At one point, it was the second most played Finnish song in the world. The most played one was Sibelius’s Violin Concerto. HIM is currently on tour in the US [sic] and will play at the Sonisphere festival in Pori in August. Daniel Lioneye will play gigs once HIM is done with touring.
LINDE’S TOP3 FESTIVAL MEMORIES
Ruisrock 1993
"This was the first festival I ever went to. I think Faith No More were headlining. Me and my friends drove to Turku in a van, and I was so nervous about my first festival that I spent the whole way there throwing up in a plastic bag. I mean I hadn’t drunk anything yet. Once there, people started putting up their tents, I mean everyone but me. I figured I’d have time to do it later. When we got back to the “camping site”, everyone else’s tents and stuff had been stolen. I happily got into my wrinkled tent lying on the ground, which wasn’t even up, and passed out. The next morning, I woke up with my head sticking out of the “tent” only to find out that a million mosquitoes had sucked my face full of gigantic bumps."
Provinssirock 2006
"My third festival memory has to do with Provinssirock and a late band called Strapping Young Lad. HIM was playing at the same festival, and just before our set, Gas dragged me to see this band SYL who I had never heard of, but I was told that they had a fucking tough fat drummer. And he was, but SYL was so much more! Devin Townsend is a genius. Gene Hoglan is a fucking tough fat drummer, and the whole band is brilliant! Back then Devin still had a legendary skullet. Also the shark hand puppet that Devin sometimes talked to made a big impression on me."
Marilyn Manson in Germany
"At one point, we played a lot of the same festivals as Marilyn Manson. At one of these gigs, Manson had technical difficulties. His mike wasn’t working at all, so Manson broke his mike stand to pieces and walked off the stage. The gig had lasted for three songs at that point. After a little while, they had gotten a new mike stand and Manson returned to the stage, but still no sound from the mike. In his lady’s rage, he once again broke the mike stand to pieces and left. For the third time, the unlucky stage technician put up the mike stand and hoped for the best. Manson walked on stage, and the mike still wasn’t working. That time he smashed his mike stand to pieces on his poor stage technician and left for good. The audience was not happy about that, since Manson was after all the headliner, and started a riot and burned the stage. Luckily we managed to get out of the way!"
***
HIM guitarist Linde’s alter ego Daniel Lioneye is an outrageous character. That’s why we told him to pick the five most outrageous albums that first came to his mind.
1. Impaled Nazarene: Suomi Finland Perkele (1994)
"One of the first extreme metal bands that I got into fairly young. Their legendary gig at Tavastia made a lasting impression on me. The atmosphere was chaotic and violent. Part of the audience had showed up just to punch the band members in the face, and they fought back the audience with fists and broken bottles. Luttinen, quite craftily, turned his mike stand into a huge club that he used to pummel the “fans” in the first row. The whole thing was so outrageous that I had to go outside every now and then to figure out whether this was alright. I chose this album because it has a lovely track called Vitutuksen multihuipennus."
2. Iggy Pop: Naughty Little Doggie (1996)
"Iggy is my big hero. For some strange reason, this album hasn’t gotten much attention even though it is full of classic material. Iggy is an ingenious lyricist, and the gem of the album is without a doubt Pussywalk. It is outrageous in the traditional sense [=obscene]. The effect is heightened when Iggy performs it wearing his see-through rubber pants."
3. Ultra Bra: Kalifornia (1999)
"I honestly don’t have anything against Ultra Bra. Jäätelöauto just happens to be such an outrageous song that I had to include this album. The melody of the chorus kind of reminds me of the Nokia ringtone, and that combined with the sound of the female vocalists makes this song legendary."
4. Matti Nykänen: Ehkä otin ehkä en (2006)
"I have been listening to this album a lot! In the tour bus, backstage, at parties, everywhere! The perfect party album and mood raiser! The final track, the duet Maan korvessa, has been HIM’s intro a few times, and for good reason. Jussi Niemi’s sensitive interpretation and Matti’s all-over-the-place take on things is an absolutely blood-stopping combo."
5. John Frusciante: Niandra Lades and Usually Just a T-shirt (1994)
"John Frusciante regrets making this album. I don’t get it. I do understand that it might evoke unpleasant drug-hazed memories, but that’s not a reason to diss this album. This album represents total freedom from all kinds of unpleasant shackles and a let’s-do-it attitude. In the promo pics, if I remember correctly, he showed off his testicles. Didn’t he leave the Peppers again? Hopefully, he’ll do more of this kind of material in the future. John’s new solo albums have been too commercial and boring, and there are too many of them."
SUE 5/2010
LINDE THE LIONHEART
Guitarist Mikko “Linde” Lindström is the quiet member of HIM. His voice is Daniel Lioneye, and now Daniel hisses mean, black rock metal.
- I guess I’m a sort of quiet guy, Linde ponders. - I do like talking with people if there’s something to talk about. Otherwise not.
Now there are things to talk about because Linde’s alter ego Daniel Lioneye has made a feared follow-up to the 2001 debut album The Kind of Rock’n’Roll.
- Daniel Lioneye was an accident that happened when we started jamming after HIM’s rehearsals. Ville Valo played the drums, Mige played the bass and I “sang” and played the guitar. We realized that this is an insanely tough, psychedelic stoner rock trio that has to make a record. We booked ourselves studio time right away. After five chaotic days, the record was finished even though we hadn’t had a single song ready going into the studio.
The Daniel Lioneye you hear on Vol. II is a different band from the one in 2001. The drummer is Bolton from Enochian Crescent, and the songs reek strongly of extreme metal.
- It’s refreshing to try out new things and test your limits. I dig Impaled Nazarene, Immortal and SYL, and it has been a dream of mine for a long time to make a really heavy metal album. HIM took a break before Screamworks, so I decided to do it. Vol II wanted to come out of me so bad that I didn’t have the slightest chance not to make the record.
But why is Vol. II released now that HIM is busy and on tour?
- It could have come out before Screamworks, but that wasn’t okay with the record company. In Finland, the album is released by Warner and in the rest of the world by The End, and it’s been nice collaborating with both of them. The American Warner, on the other hand, turned out to be surprisingly difficult. There were I don’t know how many lawyers involved. For a moment, I feared that some asshole would prevent the whole album from being released. But even though the album has been ready for a long time, it sounds fucking good!
Linde has described Vol. II as a channel through which he can relieve pressure. He specifies that this is not a whining album.
- Vol. II is a positive album, a panacea for all ills! I don’t want to analyze the content of the album, I rather leave it open. It acquires new meanings for me all the time as well.
Linde is also the vocalist of Daniel Lioneye. Singing is a tough thing for a lot of quiet people.
- At the beginning, it was unpleasant, but I got used to it. I mean can someone actually listen to their own voice and love it? I can’t! I recorded all the vocals for Vol. II at home by myself, and that made it a lot easier.
- I don’t like the fact that on many albums the vocals are too loud. The human voice doesn’t sound good enough to my ear to be something to brag about. It’s an instrument like all the others.
Linde’s girlfriend’s father is the Black Sabbath legend Tomy Iommi, without whom Linde’s playing and a big part of rock music would sound completely different. How was the first time he met his "father-in-law"?
- I often wonder how surreal everything is. I was nervous the first time I met him, but we get along really well! Tony is a really nice and kind gentleman who makes sure that I feel welcome. He’s a big fan of red wine and we have had many a fun conversation over a bottle of wine.
What do you talk about?
- Tony has a lot of stories starting from the early days of Black Sabbath and I have no objection to hearing them! A lot of times we talk about everyday things--dogs and stuff like that. I’m sure we’ll play together at some point too. But let’s talk about that when it happens.
Yes, let’s talk about it then. Let’s talk just a little, but about things that matter.
[NOTE: For such a quiet guy, they sure needed a lot of exclamation marks to convey his speech. ;)]
Please don't copy-paste and post this translation anywhere without my permission. If you think others would like to read it, just post a link to this page. Thank you.