Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah brought Finland its first ever Eurovision win
Lordi, the victorious Finnish heavy metal group in this year's Eurovision song contest in Athens, spent an undoubtedly hot night answering a volley of questions from the world's media in their latex monster masks and body armour into the wee hours of Sunday. Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah brought Finland its first ever Eurovision win and broke new ground for the contest.
"How strange this is! And how wonderful! Just think about it: a rock band won a pop song contest. This is extraordinary, weird and interesting. Our victory is dedicated to all rock fans, to the friends of hard rock, to the patrons of metal music and to fans of the band Kiss. And it was not only us who won. We won this contest for all Finland," Tomi Putaansuu, the vocalist, told the Finnish News Agency (STT) and proceeded to perform his own rendition of We Are The Winners [of Eurovision], the Lithuanian entry.
"We won the contest despite looking, well, like we do. This proves that Europe cannot be a very bad place."
He added that the group had not originally planned to represent Finland in the contest.
"It did not even cross our minds. We were contacted and asked to be one of the contestants in the Finnish selection. At first we thought they had misdialled. We eventually agreed to join the contest in order to promote our new album. And then we found ourselves receiving 42 per cent of the votes cast in the trials."
"VICTORY FOR OPEN-MINDEDNESS"
The record 292 points won by Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah is important for Finland but will also make the entire contest a more heterogenic event than it currently is, the vocalist added.
"Our victory is also a victory for open-mindedness. This time, Eurovision fans approved of something other than pop and ballads. Hopefully more and more rock and heavy rock bands will join future contests."
Lordi are vexed by persistent accusations of links with dark forces.
"I will say this for the millionth time: we are not satanists and we do not worship the devil."
"This is entertainment. Our masks and costumes form our trademark and we will never perform without them. If we went on stage without the masks it would be the same if Father Christmas, giving the presents to the children, retorted: 'By the way, I'm your father'."
"HORROR IS A SUBGENUS OF HUMOUR"
The thrill of victory in Athens inspired the lead monster to sketch a definition of the group.
"Mr Lordi is a monster of monsters who leads a group of five monsters. The monsters led by Mr Lordi represent a range of eras and monster cultures. Together, these monsters form a band that plays rock, heavy rock and melodic rock with the spirit of the 1980s."
Mr Putaansuu/Lordi added his situation at times bore resemblance to the struggle between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
"That's the way it goes. There are many things I would not do if not dressed as a monster. Mr Lordi summons something inside me that I do not represent unmasked. But Mr Lordi and Tomi do share the same brain."
"Somebody once said that horror was a subgenus of humour. I agree."
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