Ville Valo

"Art is always criticized and always an outsider gets the blame."

"Falling in love is the best way to kill your heart because then it's not yours anymore. It's laid in a coffin, waiting to be cremated."

"Music's always been really cathartic. It's the best drug for me to get away from the everyday pressures just for a second via a good song."

"It's the same with visual arts, you have some really cool, wonderful striking images that make you think and then again you have wonderful striking images that just take you away from the existing world for a second. And I like the latter a bit more."

"I haven't been baptised. My dad's not in the church and is not a religious person. My mum is more spiritual - she does Thai-chi and goes to Stonehenge and things like that. I'm proud to be pagan. Finland is not really a religious country. I'm still looking for my god."

"I didn't have any role models really. My best friend was a dog. My mum and dad saved a dog from the gutter and that dog was my brother before Jesse was born. Sami was his name and he was my role model."