Ville Valo for San Francisco Examiner

Short interview with Ville Valo for San Francisco Examiner by Tom Lanham during U.S. Screamworks tour.

First English, than Slovak (as almost always :)

So what changes did you experience at 33?
You get small complexes as you grow older. But it's a funny thing — I spent such a long time living a debauched rock and roll lifestyle, and I kind of felt really old at the end of it. And then when I stopped all intoxicants, all of a sudden I feel like I'm 14 again. It's an amazing situation to be in.

The last time I saw you, you were glugging booze backstage on a HIM tour sponsored by Jägermeister. How did you get the final message to quit?
When I felt so bad that I had to go to the doctor, and the doctor told me that I would have heart failure if I didn't stop. And he told me to go to the emergency room straight away, to which I replied — and this is like a scene from a bad movie, "I can't, because I've got interviews to do!" So that's how it went. But when it starts to affect you, not only mentally, but physically, to the point that you're just a shell or a shadow of a man? I was in a bad way, and there had to be a change.

How did you quit?
I ended up going to a place in Malibu. And the first week and a half was all shiver and shake, but after that it was all good. But when I was in rehab, doing my serenity prayers or whatever they call them, I was always saying "Black Sabbath, give me the serenity to ..." Or "Ozzy, give me the serenity ..." And people were kind of angry with me at first, but then they started laughing about it.

How's touring now?
I don't want to even tempt myself with a glass of red wine, because alcohol is not meant for civil conversation. And you don't enjoy Champagne by the glass, at least not in my case — it was by the bottle.

Takže aké zmeny si pocítil s vekom 33?
Vekom získaš určité komplexy. Ale je to zábavné – tak dlho som fungoval zhýralým rock and roll životným štýlom a na konci som sa určitým spôsobom cítil skutočne starý. A potom, keď som stopol užívanie všetkých intoxikantov, z ničoho nič som sa opäť cítil na 14. Je to úžasná situácia.

Posledne čo som ťa videl, bolo to popíjajúc alkohol v zákulisí HIM turné sponzorovanej Jägermeister. Kedy si pochopil, že treba prestať?
Keď som sa cítil tak zle, že som musel zájsť za lekárom a lekár mi povedal, že by mohlo u mňa dôjsť k zlyhaniu srdca pokiaľ s tým neprestanem. A povedal mi, že rovno mám ísť na príjem pohotovosti, na čom som odpovedal replikou ako vystrihnutou zo zlého filmu "nemôže, musím poskytnúť rozhovor". Takže takto to bolo. Ale keď ťa to začne ovplyvňovať, nie len mentálne ale aj fyzicky, až do takej podoby, že si len schránka respektíve tieň muža? Bol som v zlom stave a muselo dôjsť k zmene.

Ako si prestal?
Skončil som na odvikačke v Malibu. Prvý týždeň a pol som strávil v triaškach, ale potom to už bolo ok. Keď som bol na rehabilitácii a prosil v silu alebo akokoľvek to nazývajú, vždy som hovoril "Black Sabbath, daj mi silu na...!" alebo "Ozzy, daj mi silu pre..." a ľudia sa spočiatku na to hnevali, ale neskôr sa smiali.

Aké je to byť teraz na turné?
Nechcem sa pokúšať ani len pohárom červeného vína, pretože alkohol nie je určený na slušnú konverzáciu. A šampanské si z jedného pohára nevychutnáš, aspoň nie v mojom prípade – u mňa to bola fľaša.

Source/zdroj: San Francisco Examiner
Photo: © Todd Owyoung