LORDI

LORDI To Perform On Germany's "Ulitmative Chart Show"

Drakkar Entertainment report that on February 20th, Finland's LORDI will head to Germany "to emphasise their position in the "Ulitmative Chart Show" with a performance."

Says Drakkar, "So you, the mortal fans of these immortal monsters will have the opportunity to watch the show on February 23rd at 9:15 PM on RTL, or the repetition on February 24th at 3:55 PM."

Lordi's The Arockalypse album will be released in North America on March 20th (The End Records).

LORDI Scheduled To Perform Belgian TV Special

Belgovision.com has issued the following report:

On Saturday, March 24th, VRT and RTBF will join hands together to organize a huge musical television show on the Esplanade of the Atomium. This way, Belgium's Flemish and French broadcasters want to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The three-hour show will feature thirty European top artists.

Beside Belgian stars such as Arno, Axelle Red, Maurane and Helmut Lotti, many European artists will be flying over to Brussels: Demis Roussos, The Corrs, Simply Red, Zucchero, Kim Wilde, but also familiar Eurovision Song Contest faces such as Clouseau, Julio Iglesias and LORDI. All of them will provide a musical spectacle under the balls of the Atomium.

Beside the concert, exhibitions and other initiatives will be held to commemorate the birth of what grew into the European Union. On March 25th, 1957, two treaties were signed in Rome by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, founding the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom

LORDI Frontman About Breaking Into North America - "We Have To Start From Scratch, Because Nobody Knows About Us"

The following report is courtesy of Christa Titus from Billboard:

It took 10 years for metal band LORDI to get a record deal and another four for it to make international headlines as Finland's contender for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. But when the band won the competition in a landslide, its fortunes reversed overnight.

Winning Eurovision is giving Lordi a chance to captivate another country: the United States. Brooklyn, N.Y.-based the End Records is releasing "The Arockalypse" March 20 stateside with bonus tracks and a DVD.

To support the album, Lordi will commence its first North American tour in late April, playing approximately 12 markets in venues with 700-1,500 seats. Lordi will cap the tour by playing the Bamboozle festival (May 5-6) in East Rutherford, N.J., alongside such rock stars as My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park.

It's a lot to be excited about, but Mr. Lordi knows America isn't being handed to him on a silver platter. "We have to start from scratch, because nobody knows about us -- well, I hope somebody knows," he says with a laugh. "It's going to be, in a way, really good for us to be humble again, to play at the clubs and not take things for granted, and we have to work for our audience."

Read more here.

A Year In The Life Of LORDI

The following report is courtesy of Esctoday.com :

Winning the Eurovision Song Contest was a real career boost for the monsters. Unpredicted success followed and opened them doors to places that in the end have nothing to do with Eurovision. Mr Lordi, however, is not sad at all to pass on the trophy to someone else in two weeks in Helsinki. They have a busy year behind them and 2007 will be no different.

If there was a word to describe LORDI’s year it must be hectic. “Hectic and busy, yes. There is no other way to describe it” admits Mr Lordi or Tomi Putaansuu himself. “Nothing has really changed except the amount: more gigs, bigger audiences, more interviews, more TV, more visibility, more sales – you can add zeros in the end of all those figures compared to 2005. We are now where we would have been maybe in five years, but with much more work. Winning the Eurovision was a really unexpected struck of luck. But nothing stays forever, we know it. Even MICHAEL JACKSON is no longer what he was, the king of pop!”

Lordi’s year in Finland has been one of breaking records and being first in many things in the Finnish music history: first ever Eurovision winner, best selling album, biggest ever crowd to see them live in Helsinki’s Market square after their victory… the list goes on. Is Mr Lordi full of himself and looking at himself in the mirror with pride? “Hell no, I am as I was before. I have no sense of competition and capacity to tell others how good or successful I am. But somehow it feels like everything went like it was supposed to go. This was our goal and here we are. Funny thing is how success doesn’t change things if you don’t let it. I thought that after selling a lot of records and making big money I would want to drive around in the limousine and have dolce vita but no, your socks still get torn and your underwear dirty, you walk your dogs and you go to Lidl to do your grocery shopping!”

He isn’t afraid when their year as reigning champions is nearing the end. “On the contrary. It has given us a lot but it is already time to move on and put Eurovision to rest. After all we are a hard rock band and we don’t want to be labelled Eurovision band forever even if it has given us so much. Helsinki will be our last engagement with Eurovision.”

Lordi has been doing concerts in all sort of places over the year, from small clubs to big arenas and MTV Music Awards. Where has been their best gig so far? “Well, the best gig is never the same to all band members. For me it was maybe the first gig in Rovaniemi after winning the Eurovision. And quite funnily it was not sold out, there was one seat left! For some reason that has stuck into my mind. But for me it was great. It was home. Really cool.”

Meanwhile in Europe the concert places got bigger and bigger and the audience was filled with the hats featuring Finnish flag and the Lappish Four winds hat Mr Lordi wore himself after winning in Athens. In some gigs there was no sign of Eurovision. “In Download Festival in England it was just like the previous year. No one cared about the Eurovision, it was not important.”

Lordi’s record company has marketed Lordi in very different ways in various countries. In Sweden for example the marketing was aimed to kids and Lordi was asked (and they refused) to perform in various children’s TV shows. In Germany on the other hand they wanted Lordi in porn magazines posing with naked ladies. From kids to porn: the same band and music, this is how no one seems to know how to categorize Lordi.

These days Lordi has been busy in Japan and the United States before coming home for the final of the Eurovision song contest 2007 in Helsinki. They also feature in the opening video of the final, shot by Antti J. Jokinen in Rovaniemi and Lapland recently. After Eurovision the filming of their first movie Dark floors will begin before going to tour the United States in the summer. Mr Lordi’s restaurant in Rovaniemi is doing well and May 9 the stamp will be issued with his face along with the other Finnish Eurovision stars.

Lordi’s year can be viewed here.

LORDI Frontman: "We're Ready For North America... We're Ready To Rock Bamboozle!"




Finland’s monster rock n’ roll band LORDI begin their "monster invasion" of North America this weekend with a two-night stint at The Bamboozle festival in New Jersey.

About the shows and what fans can expect, frontman Mr. Lordi comments, "We've had to shorten our set because unlike a headlining show back home, festival shows are a bit different. We'll have a different set list and because The Arockalypse is the only album known here for the most part, we will be playing a good chunk of songs from there. It'll be different for us - the songs and the set-up - but we're ready for North America. We're ready to rock Bamboozle!"

"We don't know what to expect from these two shows but they will definitely be an indication to us of how we are being received here in North America that's for sure," he adds, "A lot of our fans are travelling from far away to see us I've read on our website and that is exciting. It will be great to see them at Bamboozle."

The band has been in New York City for the past week doing press for the recently released album The Arockalypse on The End Records. The album was released as a special 2 CD/DVD with bonus tracks/videos.

"It has been great to be in New York City doing press for a few days and getting ready for Bamboozle. New York is much different than it was when I was last here in 1997. We're all enjoying it."

In other Lordi news, the band will also take part in the much-anticipated annual OZZFest 2007 tour across North America this summer. They have been selected as one of the mainstage acts, alongside mainstage headliners OZZY OSBOURNE and LAMB OF GOD.

View a recently launched Lordi e-card at this location.