ESC FINLAND: LORDI: WRONG BAND, WRONG PLACE, RIGHT TIMING

May 20 it will be exactly ten years hell froze over and quite a few Finns ate a hatful of sh*t. Finland won the Eurovision song contest after 45 years of hoping and praying. When all the hope was gone the monsters saved the day, the Eurovision nightmare bubble was blown away and Finns started to think about it again as it is. A song contest. And not so dead serious.

Mr Lordi or Tomi Putaansuu remembers now how it all begun and how it has been with them since. When they were asked to take part, four members of five said Yes. One said Yes only after sleeping it over. "It was a good decisions. We got loadfuls of sh*t for it but in the end it has been a positive thing for the band" he says. Mr Lordi had high fever when the Finnish final took place on March 10, 2006 in Turku and says he remembers pretty much nothing. After the national selection win the war started in media: Can we send such monsters to Eurovision? People were really pro or against. Some said they will emigrate if Lordi go to Athens and they must be disqualified. Others said they will eat a hatful of sh't if they win. But later when the votes started rolling in and the band returned home as national heroes all of sudden everyone was their fan and friends and "always said they would win it!" Yeah right.

Two weeks in Athens were sweaty and smelly. The band kept their masks on everytime they were in public - meaning 18 hrs a day. They had interested the international media already beforehand but in Athens it was a full blast media circus. "We didn't have time to think about it, that we were interviewed much more than anybody else. The performances went like any other, we had been rehearsing for so long it wasn't any different. I was only stressing if we win do we have time to fix the wings and do we have pyros, all kind of technical details were on my mind only".

After returning home he retired immediately to his summer house for a day or two to recover. Then it was back to Helsinki's Market Place for the triumphant homecoming show. 90.000 people showed up, the President of the Republic was there as was the Mayor, it was live on television.... Finland practically stopped during it. Helsinki city traffic was jammed. Nothing happened but Lordi on stage and tv screens. "We kinda missed all that. We were on stage and saw only those people we could see. We saw it all later on video and newspapers".

The hype didn't last long, less than a year. "It really sucked. Years of work was dismissed for a song contest. All that work, We were "only" Eurovision winners now. Like "they did it, now they can stop". We still don't have gigs in Finland. Only maybe one a year in some festival. Abroad we tour regularly and we are treated like just another heavy band without the Eurovision label." Mr Lordi concludes with a little bitter voice.

But it's not over, the band has a lot of plans. This summer they will be touring festivals again, abroad that is, and then it's time for a new album. In Finland they have only one gig, in Tuska festival where they will play their 2006 set again.

In May there will be an exhibition in Helsinki to celebrate the Eurovision win that has for example their masks and wardrobe. As we remember they have a new one for each album, the current one is already 7th Lordi look.

(Original story and photos)

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