Lordi continues to catch the attention of the worlds press.

Finland's rock monsters go pop

A cola soft drink has been launched in Finland to honour the hard rock group Lordi, who won the Eurovision Song Contest this year.
Ritva Sinisalo, the head of soft drinks products at the brewer Olvi Group, said Lordi Cola — which will have labels featuring the monster-masked band members — is targeted at all consumers “from babies to grandparents”.
The group ended Finland’s 40 years without a Eurovision success with their tune Hard Rock Hallelujah.

The Times    17 August 2006

The Lionising of Lordi!

BEFORE the Finnish heavy metal band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest in May with its anthem Hard Rock Hallelujah, its many critics warned that the latex-wearing monster mutants would embarrass Finland, inspire Satanic worship and scare children by blowing up Barbie dolls on stage.

But after ending Finland's 40-year losing streak at the Eurovision contest, the world's biggest celebration of pop-music kitsch, the quintet has been transformed from national scourges into national heroes - suggesting the winner still takes all, even in self-effacing Finland and even when the winners dress like Gothic trolls.

The lionising of the former outcasts has reached such surreal heights that there are plans in the works for a Lordi postage stamp, Lordi action figures, a Lordi comic book series, Lordi commemorative coins and Lordi the movie - a horror film starring the band members as themselves.
The President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, once lobbied by horrified Finns to withdraw Lordi from Eurovision, recently praised their retractable Satan wings and slasher-film inspired lyrics as "Finnish quality work". Pepsi has begun advertising its drinks in Finland with the slogan "Hard Drink Hallelujah," and Finnish magazines are publishing cut-out Lordi monster masks that children can wear at school.
Town officials in Rovaniemi, the home of Lordi's lead singer, Tomi Putaansuu (aka Mr Lordi), near the Arctic Circle, recently renamed a central square after Lordi and built a wall of fame with the band's handprints.

Previously derided for polluting the morals of Finnish youth, the band's drummer, Kita, has had a youth centre named after him in his home town, Karkkila, in south Finland.
Mantasala, the birthplace of Amen, the band's guitar-playing mummy, has paid homage by erecting an abstract rock sculpture called "Hard Rock" near his old high school.

Finnish observers say the Lordi fever is part of a general sense of cultural assertion as Finland grows into its role as the holder of the revolving presidency of the European Union, basks in its high-technology economy and sheds any complexes it might have about what it means to be Finnish.
Even the Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, is solidifying his heavy metal credentials: he was recently photographed with the band, his pinky, index finger and thumb raised in a rock-music salute.
"We are now seen as the miracle of the north, the land of Nokia and high-tech, one of the most competitive economies in the world, and a country that is rocking and rolling," said Alex Stubb, a Finnish member of the European Parliament.

Putaansuu, also the band's leader, has a theory about Lordi's sudden rehabilitation.
"Being a hero is easy: You just have to win the Eurovision Song Contest, apparently," he said recently. "Until a few weeks ago the whole nation was against us totally - they did not want us to represent Finland. Now all the magazines in Finland are printing Lordi masks for children. There's not much logic going on inside. But let's face it, people are stupid."

The New York Times 15 August 2006

To link to the Lordi official website click here.