HIM To Kick Off U.S. Tour In March

HIM frontman Ville Valo tells Billboard.com that the band will start touring in mid-February, with showcase dates in Europe and followed by a run on the Soundwave tour in Australia with JANE'S ADDICTION and FAITH NO MORE. The Finnish hard rockers will then tour the U.K. and hit North America for a lengthy tour starting in mid-March. HIM also plans to play the European festival circuit this summer.

Regarding HIM's forthcoming seventh studio album, "Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice", Valo says, "This is the first album I wrote fully sober, and I wanted to put all the energy I used to put into hanging out in pubs into working on the music. So it was pretty insane, working 18-hour days for the past year, year and a half. We really went for all those details and didn't leave any stone unturned. Hopefully it shows."

"Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice" will be released by Sire Records on February 9, 2010. Recorded at The Lair in Los Angeles, the CD was produced by Matt Squire (TAKING BACK SUNDAY, THE USED, SAOSIN) and mixed by Neal Avron (LINKIN PARK, WEEZER, FALL OUT BOY).

"Since I don't drive," Valo tells Billboard.com, "I was walking to the studio or walking to the house where the rest of the guys were staying, walking five miles everyday, enjoying the sun. Normally I don't do that. I even got a bit of a tan, and people were surprised. But I was in good shape, getting rid of all the excess flab of doing nothing back home."

Read more from Billboard.com.