Interview with Lordi
“I don't think any of us even imagined about that. I mean we were a wrong band at the wrong place at the wrong time. Nobody knows how the hell that happened,” reflects Mr. Ox. Four years later and Finnish band, Lordi cannot make sense of their win at the Eurovision Contest. The Eurovision contest declared 2006 as the most unpredictable year with the Monster Hard Rockers taking the highest points.
Heavily influenced by band KISS, Lordi has been very particular with the creation of their costumes and imagery. Not only does it add the shock value at a live performance – it also creates a sense of mystery. In fact, nobody knows the true faces behind the monster costumes as the Lordi members are never portrayed without their masks. As Mr. Ox describes, “Yeah, we take our music very seriously but also the costumes and the performance. They all go hand in hand. First we discuss together what we'd like to have in our characters and then Mr. Lordi designs and makes the costumes himself. He's a genius in that. Self-educated since he was a kid. It takes months to get them done.”
Lordi’s primal success came from their Eurovision song, Hard Rock Hallelujah! With Finland supporting the backs of Lordi as well as the original KISS manager, Bill Aucoin – the band soared reaching mainstream success across Europe as well as the United States of America . It can be said that Lordi looks Heavy Metal but sound Hard Rock.
Lordi’s new album, Babez For Breakfast, which was released in August 2010 remains true to that theory as Mr. Ox enlightens, “The guest appearances just happened. I don't think we tried to achieve anything. Bruce Kulick worked with us earlier too. This time Mr. Lordi flew to LA to write songs with Mr. Kulick and Jeremy Rubolino. Michael Wagener [Platinum producer, mixer and engineer for Alice Cooper] knows Mark Slaughter, so he just called Mr. Slaughter and he agreed and came to the studio to do the "Dad-part" in Granny's Gone Crazy. These are mind-blowing things. I'm a huge Slaughter and Kiss fan so it's amazing to hear your idols on the same track that you play on!”
The Europe for Breakfast tour is underway and Lordi have verified that they are conscientious and creative. Mr. Ox tells, “This whole tour was kind of a challenge, because we had to get a new drummer like 2 weeks before the tour starts. But our new drummer Otus did a fucking great job! Got a new costume in one week, learned all the songs in one week and kicked ass on the tour! We still did it. And I think we did pretty well! Highlights are always the good shows with good crowds. The low-light must have been when we got kicked out of the train at in Russia because our visas expired couple hours earlier!”
Either way, The Europe for Breakfast Tour is an experience for both Lordi and the fans. It is a Hard Rock Must go see!
For more information on Lordi and tour dates - please visit: http://www.lordi.fi/
Published on Air Guitar Blog
