But Lordi can.
Since its first live show in 2002, Lordi has mesmerized audiences with its energetic hard rock, horror-inspired costumes and extravagant pyrotechnics. In 2006, Lordi shocked viewers all over Europe as it represented Finland in the annual Eurovision Song Contest.
There used to be a saying that hell would freeze over before Finland would win Eurovision, Europe's oldest and most-watched televised music competition with 37 participating countries and an audience of up to 600 million each year. Not only did self-proclaimed “monster
s of rock” Lordi win both the semi-final and the final, the band's anthem, "Hard Rock Hallelujah," also received the highest score in the 50-year history of Eurovision.Although Finns were initially skeptical about the image of their country that a metal band in monster costumes would present to the rest of the world, opinions changed dramatically once Lordi's song became a success at Eurovision.
“When we actually went to the finals at Eurovision, the whole thing changed,” says Lordi's vocalist Tomi Putaansuu, who goes by Mr. Lordi when in costume. “Over one night we became national heroes and just the other day we were national shame.”
After Lordi's Eurovision victory, the band received an award for exemplary work from the Finnish president and a square in Putaansuu's hometown, Rovaniemi, was renamed “Lordi Square.” By breaking Finland's 40-year losing streak at Eurovision, Lordi had helped its home country gain international recognition.
For a hard rock band like Lordi to win the Eurovision Song Contest was a surprise to many viewers, as the contest normally showcases what Putaansuu refers to as “brainless pop.” Occasionally, however, Eurovision can help more progressive artists gain publicity. “The first band that was really different here was ABBA in the 70's and then I think the next one was Celine Dion in the 80's, and then there was us,” Putaansuu says. “It seems that every 10 or 15 years there is something that really makes a difference.”
Despite the popularity Lordi gained from Eurovision, Putaansuu notes that the band is glad that it is over. “Even though it opened really good windows and opportunities for us, in some ways it's already like a really big burden,” he says. “There has been enough Eurovision for one rock band's career already. We were a rock band before Eurovision and we continue to be a rock band after.”
Lordi formed in 1992, but it took Putaansuu ten years to find a record label willing to sign the band. “No record label really understood the whole concept,” he says. “They thought that the music was crappy but the image was good or the music was good but the image was crappy.”
While at first glance Lordi appears to be just another hard metal band, its music is actually far more melodic than the monster image may imply. It can best be described as heavy metal meets 80's hard rock with killer guitar riffs and catchy choruses. Among the band’s influences are Kiss, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister and W.A.S.P. According to Putaansuu, a paper in Europe “intentionally misheard or misunderstood” Amen, Lordi's guitar player, and quoted him as saying that Lordi is better than Kiss or Alice Cooper. “Now some parts of the media are taking up on that and are really trying to provoke Alice Cooper and Kiss fans,” Putaansuu says. “There are thousands of other interviews where we say they are our big idols and then there's this one where it says that we are better than them, which is something that we never would have said. But, of course, that creates a scandal and sells papers.”
Lordi played its very first show five years ago at a major venue in Helsinki, just after its first album was released.
“For a band like this to go out and play before the album was out in little clubs would have definitely watered down the whole thing. It has to be kind of 'big' from the get-go,” Putaansuu notes. “Of course, that was a huge gamble in a way, but it paid off.”
It was at this very first show that Putaansuu’s worst pyrotechnic mishap occurred.
“Of course when you have pyrotechnic shit something happens every once in a while,” Putaansuu says. “I have this dynamite stick on stage that I point to the audience and it shoots fire and explodes over the audience, but I was holding it upside down, so it actually blew to my balls! But then again, I have lots of leather and latex covering me, so I just felt the warmth for a little bit. All the costumes are so thick and heavy and they are made of rubber so they are not flammable at all.”
Lordi's costumes, made from a layer of latex over foam rubber and leather, are influenced by a variety of its favorite bands, horror films and comic books, including Kiss, Alice Cooper, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, and the Incredible Hulk. “I like to think that I have taken a little bit of each of my favorite monsters and put them all up together,” says Putaansuu.
Although the Lordi characters always remain the same (a mummy, a bulltaur, a vampire countess, an alien manbeast and Mr. Lordi as “The Most Fearsome Khan of All”), their outfits are redesigned for each new album and need constant repairing. “It's prosthetic makeup really, not costumes, so it's not meant to be used day after day after day,” Putaansuu says. “So, of course we need to do constant repairing all the time...like every two days or so.”
While wearing costumes onstage sets Lordi apart from most metal bands, it takes a significant time commitment to get into character. Putaansuu spends five hours putting on his makeup and costume to before each show and ninety minutes afterwards to take it all off.
The band members repeat this process before all photo shoots, interviews and performances because they refuse to show their real faces. In 2005, a Finnish tabloid posted photographs of the band members without their makeup, causing a huge backlash from fans.
“[How we look is] not relevant at all. That's not the band, that's not what the whole concept is about,” Putaansuu says. “If you go to Disney World, how cool would it be if Goofy took off the head?…Our fans are really, really strict on this. They don't want to know about our personal life and they don't want to know about the way we look because they are fans of our characters and our music and this band, but not of our civil personas.”
Despite, or perhaps because of, never having been seen without their costumes, the Lordi characters have become sex symbols in some countries. “I don't know what it is about them but the thing is, the
uglier you are, the more girls you get,” Putaansuu says. “Think of Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead or even Gene Simmons. He’s not the prettiest boy on the block.”Because Lordi is so heavily influenced by the horror genre and Putaansuu is a former film student, it seems only natural that the band would create horror films of its own. In 2004, Lordi released a short film Called “The Kin” on the album Monsterican Dream. In February 2008, its first full-length horror film, will be released. The film, titled “Dark Floors,” stars a young autistic girl who must save the world from a monster attack. Putaansuu wrote the script and designed the monsters for "Dark Floors," which will be directed by Pete Riski, Putaansuu's best friend since childhood, and filmed by Jean Noel Mustonen, who has shot all of Lordi's music videos. “Dark Floors” will not be released in US theaters but Putaansuu hopes that it will eventually be distributed in the US, at least on DVD.
To add to its music and film repertoire, Lordi has taken after its heroes Kiss and created a variety of different Lordi merchandise. “I've always thought that it doesn't take anything away from the band and it's the other way around if you have something else on the side, even though the band and the music is the main thing,” Putaansuu says. “It just makes the thing bigger.”
Finnish fans can buy Lordi-brand cola and a variety of Lordi candies. Copies of
the single “It Snows in Hell” (a tongue-in-cheek reference to those who believed Finland would never win Eurovision) can be purchased at Finnish post offices. Lordi even has its own restaurant in Finland, Lordi's Rocktaurant, serving what Putaansuu refers to as “all the good stuff,” including reindeer, steaks, burgers and a la carte food.Lordi has definitely come a long way since 1992. With a new album out in 2008 and the plans for more tours on more continents, Putaansuu is optimistic about the future of the band.
“Lordi has been going on for 15 years already so I don’t see us stopping,” he says. “It’s the only thing I know how to do and the only thing I want to do. As long as there’s a record label who wants to put out our music and as long as there are venues and people who want to see us live, I think the future is bright.”
Published in the Oregon Voice
