Mr. Lordi discusses challenges in maintaining band’s visual spectacle

Lordi founder, lead singer, songwriter, visual artist, and costume designer Mr. Lordi discussed the 20th anniversary of the band’s 2006 international breakthrough by winning the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” in a recent interview hosted by seasoned music journalist Darrell Craig Harris, as per Blabbermouth. They received more points than any other performers in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest up until that moment, and they are Finland’s only champions to date.Mr. Lordi made this statement on his initial goal for Lordi, which was founded in 1992, and the group’s longevity.

I gotta tell you the secret. So I’ve lasted for all this time. The rest of the band has — the lineup has changed quite a few times, actually. It’s like Jon Bon Jovi and BON JOVI. It’s like that. The whole thing, LORDI — I mean, Lordi is my nickname, since the late ’80s — it was given to me by my friend’s mom — and it’s also the name of the band and name of my alter ego,” he explained. “And it’s a combination of things that I love — it’s melodic hard rock or heavy metal, if you will, or classic rock nowadays, I guess, it’s called, the style. And with monsters. I’m a big horror and sci-fi fan and monsters and SFX [special effects] fan, so it’s a combination of all these things put together through the grinder. That’s what it is. To put it in a nutshell, that’s what it is.

Which bands did he like growing up?

KISS, the main influence, obviously, KISS. I wanted to be Gene Simmons. That’s why I’m here today. Well, I could be still here today without Gene Simmons, but not as LORDI. Well, I mean, for sure we wouldn’t be doing this little chat now without Gene Simmons and the influence of KISS. But, of course, also TWISTED SISTER, Alice Cooper, so on, so on, so on.

Mr. Lordi also discussed the development of Lordi’s live performance, which has consistently emphasized the band’s musical prowess and visual aesthetic.

Let me put it this way. I’ve always been a guy that I don’t wanna go see a band if there’s nothing worth seeing for, if you know what I mean, any band sounds better on your stereo, from CD or vinyl or whatever you use, fucking MP3, whatever, it sounds better than live. I mean, that’s just my humble opinion. You don’t go to hear a band. In any language, you don’t say that, ‘Hey, let’s go listen to a band.’ You go see a band. There should be something worth seeing for. And I’ve never been into the bands — musically, yeah, sure — but I’ve never been into going to see a band when I know that there’s nothing worth seeing for. So that’s where — well, then again, my influences, like I said, KISS, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, W.A.S.P., all these bands, they have something worth seeing for. And that’s what we’re trying to do.

It’s getting harder and harder all the time because of all these restrictions and rules in every single country and the venues and the rock clubs and the arenas and whatever, ice rinks and shit, there’s all these new rules and restrictions all the time. And the craziest thing is that the days of using pyro at a rock club, those are long gone. So then we are, ‘Okay, let’s use smokes. Let’s try to do some effects with smokes and confetti and fake blood’ and stuff like that. But even now, those are forbidden in many of the venues. You couldn’t believe it. It’s, like, ‘Why can’t I throw a confetti?’ ‘Oh, because of the cleaning fees. Because it gets stuck in the ventilation system, and it’s a fire hazard.’ ‘How? Clean it up.’ ‘Well, we don’t wanna clean it up. We have to pay overtime for cleaners.’ And it’s, like, ‘Why can’t I spray fake blood?’ ‘Oh, it’s a cleaning issue.’ Well, you have fucking 1,000 people spilling beer on the floor and the floor is so sticky and nobody has mopped the goddamn venue floor in a decade.

So you mean that a few cups of fake blood would make — ‘Oh, oh, that would be terrible. That would be terrible.’ And shit like that. But you know what I mean? It’s so stupid. And then even the smoke bombs. And now — this is the insanest part — in some venues, in some cities, in some countries, a normal smoke machine is already too much because it is considered a pyro, and it’s just fog. It’s vaporized fucking water. It’s not smoke. Nothing’s burning there, but it’s considered as pyro effect. And that is so stupid. I mean, there’s way too many restrictions and rules and laws now. And it’s getting harder. If I look at some clips from our shows, like let’s say 20 years ago, or even 15 years ago, we could do so much more than we are allowed to do today. It’s just insane. And it’s sad.