Making video "Bittersweet"

from Dutch magazine "YAM", 2004

Ville has never been the humble type, but when he says: "I hope that this song will be on top of every country’s charts" he may be right. That the three Finnish rock bands HIM, The Rasmus & Apocalyptica are co-operating, is really just about the limit. The result of this colaboration is the ballad "Bittersweet" (release date 29 Nov.), also the title song of the computer game "Die Siedler. Das Erbe der Konige".

How did it come to that? Ville: "I have known the boys from Apo for almost 10 years. We always wanted to record a song together, but we never found the time. Now finally, we’ve managed." It was him, who had the idea to sing a duet with Lauri from The Rasmus. While Apocalyptica composed the song, Lauri and Ville met to write the lyrics for "Bittersweet". Not that easy!

"It was totally odd, because I hardly knew Lauri", says Ville. "After a couple of beers everything went smoothly: Lauri and I have a lot in common. We have become close friends." Lauri agrees with Ville: "I have never done lyrics with somebody before, but the chemistry between Ville and myself had been right immediately. Or was it the beer?"

However, at this stag party things got very emotional. "We are singing about an unlucky love. We won’t tell whom we had in mind, we want to leave room for a lot of imagination." Ville says.

Of course a dark video belongs to the dark, melancholic song. The atmosphere suits November. Fog is billowing, burning candles are extinguished as if by a ghost’s hand. Lauri and Ville are sitting at opposite sides of a long table, which is covered by mysterious symbols. Both are playing a mystic game. It is heart-rendering, as they sing: "Break the bittersweet spell on me". The object of their desire is played by a blond Finnish model.

While the scenes with Lauri and Ville were relatively easy to shoot, Apocalyptica had to suffer more. Not only that in one performance, they were sunk knee-deep in the swamp – in one scene, Eicca, Perttu and Paavo are hanging upside-down from the ceiling! To shoot that, the cellos and chairs were fixed to the ceiling and the three were strapped to them with seatbelts. By that time, Ville and Lauri had already been on their way to work with their own bands again. Ville makes it clear: "Although we’ve had a lot of fun, this will remain a one-off thing. Now HIM is ranking first again."