It's Been 10 Years Already??

[Jay]

I just realized that we started this site December 15, 2003!

Thanks to everyone that has kept this place going even in the dark days when I wasn't around for months at a time.  I'd give each and every one of you a hug (girls) and a high five (guys).  I wish there could have been something planned...maybe Helldone next year?  Or in year 13, which seems fitting.

Anyway, here's the very first post on this site.  Feel free to admire the world class journalism! 

Welcome to The Sacrament! - Posted by: Jay (12.15.23)
? Alright, after a month of planning (read 'being a lazy ass') we've finally got this bitch ready to go! Because I felt there weren't many American HIM sites, we decided to make our own.

Let me answer some questions before you even ask:

"Where is the forum?"
- Well, I hate forums. In my opinion, forums are just a place for people to bitch at one another over stupid shit. So what if somebody wants to be completely unoriginal and get the exact same tattoo as Ville and Bam, let them. It's not your body. Also, it's annoying and sickening when kids today can't even spell correctly and use numbers to get their point across. I blame Avril Lavigne.

But I know a lot of you would like a forum, so here are my two choices besides the 9th Circle Street Team Board.

HIM Club - Bam Margera Message Board


"Is this site 100% complete?"
- Not really. We'll never be complete. Eventually I'll add a guitar tab page because I play guitar and am tired of seeing the same shitty tabs all over the place. When I find some that are accurate, I'll post them for you all.

Ahh, the BMMB!  Those were the days.  I was a die hard Bam fan  back then.  Thankfully I grew out of that.  The guitar tab page still seems like a good idea.  A lot of you are doing amazing covers already. 

Thank you all again!  Remember that I don't do this for the money (I'd be broke if that was the case, honestly I don't even know why I still have the ads running) and this is all just because we love the band.  I'm so glad that I changed my mind and brought in a forum of our own.  I highly doubt this would have lasted without the community.  I would be just posting for myself in this dark room.  Now at least I can still be in this dark room posting to the 8 of you!

[SwagSaget]

My first HIM forum was the BMMB. So many great memories there. I'm not gonna lie, I still wonder sometimes what people like Havoc, Rod, Nug, Saucy Jack, and Bark At The Moon, just to name a few, are up to these days and if they still keep up with the band or not. Wish I could go back to those times. There was always something interesting going on and someone to talk to and something to talk about. Message boards are a dying breed, and it sucks because if it weren't for message boards I wouldn't be as big of a fan of the band as I am today.

By the way, the official HIM message boards have always sucked. Remember the format they had back in the Love Metal days? Terrible. Haha. Bring back the Bamtards! Bring back the people who don't know anything about the band! Bring back someone, anyone, to talk to!

Congratulations to The Sacrament, and congratulations to you, Jay! I like to think I've done my part here to make things more interesting. For better or for worse, of course.

[Jay]

Haha, absolutely.  I think you hold the record for most bans/unbans.  But look at what you've become!   

I agree though, message boards just aren't what they used to be.  I loved the BMMB too, it was THE HIM board for me and the general gossip was always interesting too. Back then, the cKy crew at that time seemed so accessible and just like everyone else.  The official boards did always suck.  Even the Heartagram board sucked.  I didn't post there much.

I still enjoy what we have here, even if it's posted in sparingly.  It's really fun when new albums come around.  There's just so much social media it's hard to keep everything straight at times.  It's nice to have a central place to bullshit.

[Daedalus]

I've been wasting ten years of my life? Oh man. 

[SwagSaget]

Where do people even talk about HIM at anymore? No disrespect to this place, but I'm just curious. What happened to everybody? I realize for a lot of people the band was just a phase/fad so they've moved on, but there's gotta be a central place now where old fans and new fans alike meet to talk about the band. I've tried joining different groups on Facebook, but they're mostly filled with young and old women obsessing about Ville. It really sucks if there's no one out there or nowhere anymore where the diehard fans can gather and talk about the stuff we used to talk about on here. I miss the old times. I know I'm never getting them back, but I'll keep on trying.

Like I said, no disrespect to this place, but even during what you could call the busy times on here it's just the same few people posting. Where is everybody else?!

[Zhivago]

This is pretty much the only place I know of.
I don't follow many HIM groups on Facebook. Once they start fangirling I delete them.

[SwagSaget]

Judging from Facebook, the majority of HIM's fans nowadays are middle aged women. There seems to be more of those than the young ones nowadays.

[616]

they are just obsessed about Ville, mostly.
thats why the community of HIM now sucks in my opinion, i mean there were always some crazy obsessed women just loving everything Ville said, farted, whatever. But now the true fans like the other bands have are gone, thats also why there is a minimum of bootlegs, because these obsessed girls are not taping, they are interested more in Villes photos and craps like that + there are also guys obsessed with Ville and that is pretty odd and i dont like it , i mean its good when you have some idol and you wanna to be like him but it is not normal to copy the style and everything, the same t-shirts, the same haircut, the same beanie, the same style of speaking, the same eyeliner shit and the same mustache , that sucks when boys do this, its sick
I saw this one guy who had the same T-shirt as Ville was wearing in 2000 (on the Rockpalast gig), the same coloured leather jacket as Vile in 2000, the same tattoos, the same haircut, the same eye line , the same jacket with the tape on it like Ville used to have and he was acting just like Ville, it was so freaking sick , seriously i am afraid of this kind of individuals

i mean in one hand it sucks, but at least they are buying the bands stuff and they are supporting, but i prefer more music oriented fans than just "OH MY GOD VILLE I LOVE YOU!"-fans....... you know what i mean?

[SwagSaget]

Yeah, the community is pretty shitty now. Like I said, the band was just a fad and a phase for most. They've moved on to other bands and other things now. Those of us on here, we're honestly the only ones left that don't care about looking at pictures of Ville and obsessing over him. We're the only ones left that actually care about the music. Those retarded fangirls wouldn't give a shit about the band if Ville didn't look the way he does. If Slippery When Dead would've been found in 2004/2005 or something like that, can you imagine how big of a deal that would've been? Nowadays, you're lucky if you can even find someone who knows what it is, let alone someone who would get excited about it. It used to be the Holy Grail amongst HIM fans. I almost has a heart attack when I talked to someone who had it, then I almost died when I got to listen to it. No one cares anymore, and it's sad. From what it used to be to what it is know. I don't think there's any way of resurrecting how things used to be. It's too far gone.

[616]

I dont know why we have to put SWD into every discussion, but i think the Holy Grail for most of the "so-called" fans nowadays is real photo of naked Ville 

[SwagSaget]

I guess you would've had to have been around when Too Happy To Be Alive was first brought up and shared to understand why I use the full demo tape now to show the major difference between those days and how it is today.

[Inferno]

I guess you would've had to have been around when Too Happy To Be Alive was first brought up and shared to understand why I use the full demo tape now to show the major difference between those days and how it is today.

I agree it really is THAT great... I STILL think I'm dreaming every time.

[616]

i was there (well actually not on this board) but i was around when Too happy was leaked back in the days before DL was released
but it was always marked as B-side to RR so i took it like it. Dont forget that i listen to HIM since 2001 , when THTBA was leaked i got it from one friend who had everything back in the days - believe me But my first impression on THTBA wasnt that great because it sounded weird and i didnt like the "too happy to be alive" part in the chorus 

and i never heard anything from SWD  so ,... 

[vampireheart616]

i was there (well actually not on this board) but i was around when Too happy was leaked back in the days before DL was released
but it was always marked as B-side to RR so i took it like it. Dont forget that i listen to HIM since 2001 , when THTBA was leaked i got it from one friend who has everything - believe me

and i never heard anything from SWD  so ,... 

I haven't either, been trying to find it along with more of those  screamworks demos

[Jay]

I've been wasting ten years of my life? Oh man. 

You and me both, my good man.

Judging from Facebook, the majority of HIM's fans nowadays are middle aged women. There seems to be more of those than the young ones nowadays.

*Cough* I'm a middle aged man....

I'm not sure that there IS a central place for the fans.  With facebook infecting everyone and everything we do, there are too many pages that are alike.  I don't want to "like" 15 different Ville Fans/VillePics/Ville's Heartagram pages to get news.  Then you have the splinter country pages that have better news than even the official pages/twitters/facebook.

[Jaded_Heart]

Congratulations on 10 years guys!! I think the site is still awesome. I come here for actual info on the band, not b.s. crap like who Ville is screwing, etc.  Now I am probably the oldest one here on the board and I am a woman, so hopefully that doesn't count against me or get me lumped into some stupid category.   

Honestly, I think everyone is a fan for their own reason, I just happen to love the lyrics. I think Ville is one of the most brilliant song writers around - but do I want to jump his bones? Uh, no.  But I can say that the message boards back then in 2005 (when I got into the band) really had a lot to do with the excitement of seeing them play live and getting their new albums. I met my best HIM friend on a message board so they have to account for something. To this day we still pack up and do road trips whenever they tour.

And  I don't know every single last little tidbit about the band, nor do I claim to know half the info that you gentleman do, but I certainly appreciate the honesty of the site and the low tolerance for utter bullshit. And the helpfulness and willingness to answer questions is awesome. So for that I raise a glass of Jack Daniels and Coke and say "Cheers!" to you all - job well done fellas! YOU GUYS ROCK!

[Jay]

Congratulations on 10 years guys!! I think the site is still awesome. I come here for actual info on the band, not b.s. crap like who Ville is screwing, etc....

Who IS Ville screwing?  :p

Thank you for your kind words, it's much appreciated.

[AcousticFuneral]

I guess I missed this post but congratulations on 10 years it's great to have somewhere we can talk about the band without people fangirling about Ville, from what Cory speaks about I wish I would of been around here when HIM were actually a big deal unfortunately I didn't get into HIM until late 2005 and was only on the heartagram boards from maybe 2007. So I assume there was quite a bit of fanfare when THTBA leaked?

[SwagSaget]

It wasn't like the internet almost exploded when the full version of THTBA was first shared on the BMMB, but it was a pretty cool moment. I think Rod was the one who actually uploaded it for everyone, but he got it from MMH (correct me if I'm wrong on that name, although I'm pretty sure that's who it was) who was the one who originally got it from someone he knew somehow that sent it to him and said he might enjoy it. If I remember correctly, the guy he got it from was a music reviewer somewhere, but I don't think he ever said how he got his hands on the song in the first place. Anyways, it was just much better times to be a fan back then. You had the BMMB, which was THE place to be at the time. HIMOnline.tv wasn't too bad either, but I always preferred the BMMB. I didn't really bother with HIMClub too much, and you can't forget about The 9th Circle if you were lucky enough to be able to use it. Once the "Bamtards" took over the BMMB, a few of the members decided to create their own message board called The Third Seal, if I'm remembering right. It didn't last very long, and then The Sacrament came along. Message boards in general are pretty much a thing of the past now, though. Facebook is where it's at. Much easier and convenient for people, but the community isn't the same as it once was, even on Facebook, and it's hard finding enough people with enough excitement, enthusiasm, and knowledge about the band to discuss things with. There's a guy out there, and I'm sure some of you know who he is, that's actively seeking out demos and other unreleased material with some success so far. That's how Slippery When Dead came to be. According to him, though, the people on this forum don't deserve to hear any of that stuff. He says he doesn't like the "gimme" attitude of the people on here, and he doesn't feel like we respect the material enough, or at least on the same level that he does. I'm not trying to start any shit, but that's honestly the truth of it. That's just simply one of the reasons why I feel like the HIM community is shit these days, though. You have these elitists now that want to put a stranglehold on this stuff and keep it all to themselves out of greed and envy. It's kind of sad you have a few people that want to ruin it for everyone else, and it wasn't like that back in the day. Me personally, I've been able to work around that, and I've done my job by sending out a few Screamworks demos and a few Slippery When Dead demos here and there to people I've talked to on Facebook, not because I want them to think I'm some kind of insider with the band or something, but because I enjoy seeing their responses of how excited they are to hear the songs. I tried to do the same on here, but a moderator told me that I'm not allowed to and some things should be kept rare. I kind of went off completely in a different direction, but yeah, it's not the greatest time to be a HIM fan on the internet right now haha. There's really nothing else to talk about with the band besides this unreleased stuff, but you'll never hear any of it unless you know the right people and they like you. Don't let them fool you, they're only out for themselves. The moral of the story? I don't know. I just think it's shitty some people have everyone fooled and people go along with whatever they say and bow down to them like they're royalty.

[AcousticFuneral]

Thanks for writing out a detailed reply, wow it's hard to believe now that there was that much interest. It's interesting for me to hear this as I wasn't a HIM fan back them so it's hard to imagine them being that popular. I know what you're saying about the elitists and I have been lucky enough to get the Screamworks demos sent to me, and like you shared them with a few people but I've never heard a whisper about anyone having the SWD ones. I think there's no harm in people sharing the rarer stuff but people seem to like the I have something you want but you can't have it shit.

[Inferno]

Honestly, in my opinion, let stuff be rare. That doesn't necessarily mean don't share... I'd love to share what I have and I'm right along with Swag when it comes to the satisfaction of sharing things with people. It's not about the moment of being cool or whatnot, it's about giving someone else the chance to experience what you felt when you first received something special. I'm all for sharing everything and could care less if it gets scattered all over the net... It will only end up in the hands of those looking for it any way (real fans) If you don't want to give them everything then give them something not as good... For example, if you have the actual CD or FLACs from it then share it in a compressed format like 128. It's not complete shit, but it's good enough to experience and keep the FLACs/CDs to yourself. Just look at the demos from '95 that you can find on the internet... They're shit quality, but it's still available for those who'd like to hear them.

[Jay]

I pretty much expect everyone to bow to me and kiss my ring.  What makes it creepy is that I don't wear a ring.

[616]

if you are not Ville Valo or if you dont own the rights to these materials you just simply cannot release it to the general public no matter how generous you want to be. In fact you should be happy that you got something and i am sure that you wont get anything else in the future ever(And thats correct and right). Or you can still fool and betray someone, it wont be anything new for you....

at least there is still a lot of stuff undetected and hidden before the public attention .....

some people just cant handle the stuff they got.
Of course everyone wants to hear and have it, but if you want to do THIS, then its pretty offensive to the band and i am sure that they will be fucking pissed like hell, they wont be able to release it in the future, everything would be ruined because of some ego wanker

every fucking thread in this forum leads to the SWD, no matter if its about bands new merchandise or CDs on ebay it all ends up with SWD shit. Someone is still bitching about how much he wants to share it to the general public....... ridiculous

in fact i am not surprised at all, but i am disgusted

[Inferno]

Where is there fooling/betrayal going on?

[616]

thats not the point in here and i wont talk about it anymore, theres more behind it than just SWD