Lordi
It’s Impossible To Shock People Anymore

01.04.2020

The COVID19 crisis we are going through has disrupted all the plans for the entire music industry, but when we spoke to Mr Lordi, frontman of the Finnish heavy metal band Lordi, this was yet far away on the horizon. We had different troubles to overcome: my Internet connection was rubbish, whereas Mr Lordi had to find a quiet place as his dogs were greeting him with joyous barking every time he was in their eyesight. Nevertheless, we managed to discuss what the band’s latest album, “Killection”, has to offer, how they managed to record a Kiss song that had never been released before, and, of course, monsters.

Throughout the history of Lordi, there were some members joining and leaving the band. Can you tell us a bit about how new onstage characters are born as musicians change? Do the new members always know which character they will represent or does it come as a surprise?

There are two separate things of course. When one joins the band we are not thinking about the characters yet. Obviously, a person joins the band with other persons – you know what I mean. At first the decision is made that he or she is going to be in the band, and then we start thinking about the character which he or she will be. We always try to discuss this with the new guy or the new girl. It’s been quite a few times. We have 9 or 11 ex-members already, which is quite a lot. It’s sad, but well, what can you do. I always sit down with the new person and start talking about what kind of a monster they would want to be. Because one of the most important things is that whatever character you gonna be as a member of Lordi, you have to be your biggest fan yourself. Your character has to be your favorite character of the band. Otherwise it won’t work. And also your character has to be fitting your own personality. I think the best example of this was when Mana (drummer) joined the band. As a person he’s very calm, very – not quiet, but down to earth, – he thinks about what he says, he really takes his time with stuff. So he told me, “I cannot be a raging werewolf, because that’s just not me”. I mean, all the characters are fit with the people who play them.  But there are also some exceptions to this general rule because, for example, when Kita (ex-drummer) joined the band back in the days, I already had a costume pretty much ready, so I said, “Well, you’re gonna be like this!” And he said, “Okay!” So there have been situations like that. And with Enary (ex-keyboardist) back in the days it was something like, “Well, you gonna be like this!” But you know, she did not really like it. But then you live and learn. Nowadays if there is an unfortunate event again that somebody wants to leave, it is something that we talk through with a member.

Can you tell a bit about the idea of this fictional compilation in your latest album “Killection”? Where did it come from?

The idea has been growing for a long time actually – for a little bit longer than usual. The thing is – I don’t know – for 4 or 5 albums, there has been that one fact that really got me angry and frustrated. Every single album that is done by Lordi or any other band in the world ever is always sounding the same – I mean, all the songs on one album are united by the same sound. The drum sounds the same, the bass sounds the same, the guitar sounds the same. And you can always tell which songs are from the same album, because of the sound and the production. So many times the situation gets shitty, because when you are recording an album there are a lot of songs you create. For example, with Lordi, I write a lot of material, there is something like 30 or 40 songs for every album, out of which we choose 10 or 11. And that means that usually there are 20 or 30 songs that have been left out. They are usually the songs, which the band and the label and everybody thinks are great, but they do not fit the production or they do not fit the overall sound of the album. And it has been bugging me really bad for many albums already. These are good songs, and everybody agrees that they are good, they just do not fit the production. And I’ve said it many times on many occasions: in my opinion, the main thing should be the songs and the music and not the fucking production or the overall sound. And this is where this whole idea started rolling from. I had this concept for our previous album “Sexorsism” (2018) already, but then we decided to leave it out for our 10th album, which is this album now. So ever since “Sexorsism” the whole idea started growing, because we had the time of two years until the next album. The snowball started getting bigger and bigger and then I had the idea that if we’re gonna do this, let’s do it full force now. That’s why I started writing songs with a certain method. I was like: okay, let’s try to do this one like a 70s song, and this one like an 80s song – and all kinds of different songs. They were all actually purposely very different from what you can usually hear from Lordi and simultaneously very different from each other. So it’s like a time capsule: you just pick a style of certain history. Here I go back to the main point: your priority should be releasing the best songs you have written so far. And leaving these songs out just because they don’t fit the production is a completely wrong way. It should be the opposite. You should select the best songs and then make the production and the sound. Start with the songs, not the other way around, the songs should not be serving the production. That’s how it started!

Isn’t what you did on “Monstereophonic” (2016) – when you had this kind of combination of classical and more experimental things?

You are correct. On “Monstereophonic” there was a mix of two different styles, two different sounds. But it was not as various as I wanted it to be. It was not as diverse. I wanted to have two sides of the album with a completely different sound. But Nino (Laurenne), the producer, did not do it as much. And that’s why I am the producer of this new album. I was the one who was making the decisions with the sound in general and on every single song. Because the problem that we had in the past with some sound engineers or producers is that they did not really want to do exactly the sound that I would want them to do. There is only one exception to the rule: Michael Wagener, we did two albums with him. He did the sound exactly like I was asking, it was precisely what we wanted. He was an exception. Although yes, Mikko Karmila also – he was doing our previous album – managed to do the sounds that we were looking for – pretty much. But overall because producers are working all the time with different bands, they want… How shall I put this? They are quite hesitant to do something different from their usual sound because maybe they are scared that they would lose their jobs if they make something that other people might say sounds bad or whatever. So, it’s a bit of a tricky thing. And that’s why very early on we decided that I was gonna produce this current album myself so that we wouldn’t have that problem. Because imagine if I were in the situation where we want to do something that sounds like a 70s song and then all of a sudden the producer says, “No, I don’t feel like it; no, I am not gonna do this sound for you, guys”.

Yeah, that would be pretty annoying.

That would kind of ruin the whole fucking thing, you know!

Can you elaborate on the song “Like A Bee To The Honey”? How did it even happen that it’s on your record?

Well, it was a funny little trail of consequences.  An accident of sorts. Well, not exactly an accident, but a little coincidence. So, Jean Beauvoir, the famous writer dude, he is a friend of Amen, our guitar player, and they’d been in contact for years, but they never met in person. I mean, they were in contact otherwise. So I think it was last January or February when Jean contacted Amen and he was writing something. That was their plan that once they would sit down together. And Amen called me and said, “Hey, do you wanna come and write with us?” Because the thing is that usually I am the writer, I write 99% of the stuff, whereas other band member always bring about 1% of the material. So I said, “Absolutely, I wanna come”. We went to our rehearsal loft with Jean and Amen and we actually wrote seven songs together. And one of those songs made it to our album, which is “Scream Demon”, the last song. We were actually writing the same style songs and Jean was like – okay, he understood our idea of fictional compilation album – so he said, “Well, what kind of songs shall we start writing?” And I said, “Obviously, because it’s you, being Jean Beauvoir, I think we should try to do something very melodic, very harmonic, you know, 80s kind of style. So let’s do it like, hair metal songs!” And then he said, “Wait, but why don’t we actually use a song that is already there, so we don’t have to pretend that it is from the 80s, what if we actually have a song that is really from the 80s?” And before he left the States he already had this idea in mind, so he took his demo with him – of “Like A Bee To The Honey”. He played it to us and was like: “Okay?” This is a song that Paul Stanley and him wrote in 1988 or 1989 – he does not really remember, which year it was! (laughs) They wrote that song and then they forgot about it for all these bloody decades!

So it just sat on the shelf all this time?

Exactly! So we listened to the song and it was like: wow! The first reaction to the Kiss name – me and Amen, we are huge Kiss fans – it was just woooow, what the fuck! That feeling of hearing a song that you have never heard before and you know that there has to be only a handful of people who have ever heard it. Because otherwise if that song had been known to Kiss fans it would have been listened to all over for years or decades already. But I guess because it was laying on Jean’s shelf for all these years nobody ever heard it. The whole idea was to actually listen to that song and then to be offered that song. And Paul was more than welcoming. He was like, “Yeah, sure, guys, you can have it, please do it!” So we were like: weeee, yaaay! So we took it and we tried to be very, very close to the original recording of that song that Paul and Jean made in the 80s. The sound is as much the same as it is in the original recording with everything: drums, bass, keyboard sounds. And even with a saxophone solo. Because in the original recording there was a saxophone solo. So we thought: obviously we’re gonna gave a saxophone solo too.

That’s something new to you, right? You have not used that instrument before.

No, we have never ever had a saxophone before on a Lordi album. And it was cool. Then we thought: who should play it? And there was only one person who came to mind – it was Michael Monroe. So I called Michael and said, “Would you be willing to do a little guest starring on a Lordi record?” And he said, “Sure, what do you want me to do?” – “Well, Michael, we want you to play a saxophone solo”. He said, “Alright!”

Amazing.

(laughs) That was amazing!

It all sounds so natural as well.

Well, it is natural! Because… I mean, you know, we are not kids anymore, but it does not mean that we are not big fanboys! I feel like a huge teenage fanboy still. And so is the same for the whole band. We are really enthusiastic fans and especially I am a huge Kiss fan! And Amen is a huge Michael Monroe fan. So there are these little things, these moments in time that are, like: huh! You know, that makes you go, “Whoa! What the fuck has just happened?” But it’s cool because we knew Michael from way back already. I mean, we played shows together quite a few times and he is such a nice guy! So it was no problem. And I noticed that in most of the cases when you grow up listening to some of your idols, then later on in life when you work in the same field, which is music in this case, those people are not necessarily considering you as their fan but they are treating you as their colleague. Which is fucking cool and sometimes really weird. For example, there is Udo, Udo Dirkschneider, who is now a good friend of mine. But I always remind him that I am still a huge fanboy of him. I even have his face tattooed on my arm! I am a huge fan but eventually we have become friends and colleagues. That is really cool! And there are lots of people like that who are still my idols but we are also simultaneously colleagues and with some of them even friends. So that’s how it is natural.

I’ve read in some of your interviews and judging from your videos and everything, it seems that you quite like the method of provocation. You have quite provocative videos and lyrics. And I’ve heard from the artists who also like to shock their audience that nowadays it is getting harder and harder to receive a reaction from the listeners to such provocative things. What is your opinion on that?

Yeah, I’ve been saying this since the first album: it’s impossible to shock people anymore. And that’s never really been the case with Lordi or myself. It never ever has been the main thing – to shock people with the lyrics or anything. Let’s face it, I think the last one who was shocking somehow – was Marilyn Manson when he just appeared. And maybe Slipknot in their first few years when they only started. That was still shocking for some people. Back in the days, of course, there were W.A.S.P., Alice Cooper. But there were only – I don’t know – 10 or 15 bands in the world in the whole history of rock that actually shocked people. Starting with Elvis and The Beatles and so on. So it is something that nowadays – I mean, for the past 20 years – has been impossible already. You cannot shock people. Everything has already been done. And if you are trying to shock people, then you’ve already lost it, you’ve already lost the game. Sometimes by accident some people get shocked. But that is not the main point. Sometimes some of my lyrics are shocking for some people but it has nothing to do with my intention: I do not write songs to try and shock the audience. Because these people who are shocked with my lyrics or song titles are usually the people for whom this stuff is not meant to be anyway. They are usually the people who don’t like the band, don’t listen to the band, neither understand nor want to understand the band anyway. Song titles like “How to Slice a Whore” or something like that – they are not meant to be shocking. And for example, “How to Slice a Whore” is a line from a TV-show “Dexter”! So it’s from a mainstream goddamn TV-show! But all of a sudden if you put it as a song title people are like: “Nooooo! You cannot do that!” Or, like, right now – “Shake The Baby Silent”. Some people are like: “No-no-no!” Ah, come on! I am not urging anyone to shake their babies silent or dead! I just find it fucking funny! To me it is funny! And my sense of humor is kind of on the dark side. I love jokes about death and dying and shit like that. It’s just my sense of humor. And it does not mean that I am serious about it. But then there are people who are taking things way too serious. Come on, it’s just rock music.

I also want to come back to the costumes once again – how do they affect your behavior on stage? Is it hard to play in them, do they restrict you anyhow from doing something?

No, they are part of it. They do not really restrict me personally in any way. Obviously, we have to create new costumes every time. We do it for every album, and we have quite a few reasons for this actually. Every time the evolution of the costumes makes them a little bit more user-friendly. I’ll give you an example. Some people ask, why did our drummer, Mana, wore his long hair loose on the first album but ever since then it was a pony tail? Well, there is a very good technical reason for that. Because initially he did not know and I did not know that his playing style is bringing his drum sticks very close to his hair, and because of it his drum sticks started sticking in his hair. That’s why. And those are kind of reasons that we don’t find out with each costume until we actually have played in them. So that’s why, for example, Mr Lordi’s costume does not change anymore that much, because I already know everything and the current one is the 11th or 12th version of it. When you were asking if it is difficult, if there are restrictions caused by the costumes, here is what I need to say. For me, personally, it is already really weird to even do a soundcheck without a costume on me! Because for me it comes so naturally that when you’re on stage you have the costume on, you have the mask on, and it belongs to the whole experience of performing. And when you’re doing the soundcheck in your civil clothes I feel really strange, I feel as if something is missing. And our sound guy always says that I actually sing a lot louder live than I do on the soundcheck. So it also gives me some extra energy. And I think it’s the same for the other members as well. It gives a little extra gear, extra boost, the costumes. Even though having the costume on is not as comfortable as if you would wear just a t-shirt, trousers and sneakers. I mean, obviously, my costume weights over 20 kilos, so…

Yeah, that’s why I asked!

But still, it gives you extra energy.

Yes, it’s a part of acting as well. Turning into someone else.

Exactly.

Okay, the last question. I know you’ve been to Russia many times and it dates back to 2006, I guess. So I would assume the things were very different back then and there were some changes going on, both for better and for worse. I am wondering what your overall experience was. Do you have any vision of this country?

I have a vision of the country, yeah! I mean, the first time we were there was 2005. In the end of 2005 we had 2 shows – in Moscow and in St. Petersburg. Usually if we have gigs in Russia, we always have one in Moscow and one in St. Petersburg. That’s where we play. And the first time ever we were there we still had Kalma (former bassist) in the band, but Enary has already left. So that was the only time we played with such lineup. Enary was not in the band anymore but Awa (another former keyboardist) was, so for a few shows in Russia we had a lineup that included both Awa and Kalma in the same band. But anyway – that was the first time we played in Russia. And over the years we observed the whole rock scene in Russia: every year or every two years we were coming back to the country and we were going to the clubs. Because usually we tour there for every album: the pattern seems to be that we usually get an offer at some point in time and we go to Russia for a few shows. So I see that every time it gets better and better. I think over the years the technical development went really fast, it became really good in Russia! And the whole production also went exponentially: wooo. Well, people are the same everywhere. Sometimes the people are nice, sometimes… There’s one thing that I don’t like. It’s the border control. (laughs). The officials! It is the hardest goddamn border control in the world! Getting in or out of the country is like a nightmare! I mean, there are always stories that it is difficult to get to the USA, for example. But it’s like a walk in the park compared to coming to Russia. Once you are in the country everything is fine, but when you are crossing the border trying to get in or out it’s a hassle. And honestly I don’t understand why it has to be so fucking difficult! If I understood right, for Russians it is not difficult of course to get into their own country or to get out of there. But it seems that for everybody else it is pretty difficult! The officials in Russia never smile and they are, to be honest, quite rude. You know, they are a bit like robots, acting like Darth Vader! Because usually everywhere else the officials try to be very nice to people, try to be polite, try to be very helpful and smiley, try to make everything a little bit easier. But in the Russian border control – just nope. It’s completely different. And it brings a weird thing: when you are dealing with officials and you know that you have done nothing wrong but you get the feeling that you must have done something wrong, because people are acting really mean to you. I am like, “I am coming here to do 3 shows!” And then I get this evil stare and I go, “Yeah, sorry”. And then I am, in fact, apologizing that I am coming to the country or leaving. So I don’t know why, but it’s weird.

Yes, I understand you. And do you think you will be coming to Russia this time or…?

I would think – I don’t know, I am just guessing, it’s just my estimate – that yeah, probably we will come during the fall there. Probably. Because that’s what usually happens. Usually we have a few shows in Russia for every album.

Lordi on the Internet: https://www.lordi.fi/

Special thanks to Irina Ivanova (AFM Records) for arranging this interview

Interview by Olga Stebleva
Promo photos courtesy of AFM Records
Live photos by Natalia “Snakeheart” Patrashova
January 17, 2020
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