Mr. Lordi: The plan is that we will hit the studio next year and hopefully the new album will come out in November or December of 2008. That means we need to get into the studio this December or next January. I write material all the time. We actually end up with too many songs to choose from. On all our albums there have been 50 or 60 demos to choose from. Only 1 of 6 makes it to the album. You would think the more songs you have the easier the selection process is, but it’s the other way around. It’s going to be interesting once again. We have a bunch of new songs, and also all the old demos to go through. It’s going to take a while to choose the songs.
Will U.S. audiences be seeing your full light and pyro show on this tour?
If it were up to me, I would say yes, but we are newcomers and nobody knows us over there and we don’t have the budget to bring over the whole show. We want to bring as much as we can. This is our first album there. Hopefully everything goes well and then we’ll be able to bring the full production. Thanks to the internet we already have a small but loyal fan base in the U.S. that have been there since our first single. Those guys have seen the DVDs and videos and have watched You Tube to see our shows in Europe. But they know they won’t see that full show the first time we go there. But there is one thing for certain: we’ll look prettier than any other band.
Speaking of that, how long does it take you to get in and out of the costumes?
For me it takes around three hours for the face. I have to glue all the prosthetic pieces on my face and hide the edges of the pieces. The costume takes 10 to 15 minutes to put on. The rest of the band can get into their costumes and characters a lot faster. It takes them anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half. Then after the concert it takes me an hour and a half because I have to get all the latex and glue out of my hair and beard before I go to sleep.
Have the costumes evolved over the years, or have they remained pretty much the same?
The characters don’t change, but the outfits change a little on each album.
How is the restaurant doing that you opened in Finland?
Good. My friends and I talked about it for a long time. It’s in our hometown in the north of Finland in the Arctic Circle. It’s doing well. It’s a horror and rock restaurant. There are a lot of costumes on display from us and things on display from other Finnish and international bands. It’s a really cool looking place that’s pretty unique.
How did Lordi get started?
The first incarnation of Lordi was in 1992 when the first demo was produced. Back then it was just me. I thought the band would never appear live, that I would just play all the instruments. In 1994 I started making it into a real band. That’s when the image thing came. In 1996 the first lineup of Lordi met. I was and still am the president of the Kiss Army in Finland. I gathered all the people in the group that I knew played instruments. I asked fellow Kiss fanatics to join the band. I wanted Lordi to be an extreme version of Kiss. That was the original lineup for Lordi’s first album. The current lineup has been together since 1999.
