Initially formed by vocalist and costume designer Tomi Petteri Putaansuu or Mr. Lordi as a solo project in 1992, Lordi released his demo album “Napalm Market” in 2002, led by the single “Inferno”. After organising a Kiss cruise for Finnish Kiss fans heading to Sweden, Mr. Lordi met guitarist Amen and bassist G-Stealer who recorded the band’s debut “Bend Over And Pray The Lord”, however due to the label's lack of resources the album never got its release.
Lordi has long been indebted to the band Kiss, not least for the theatrical stage performances and elaborate make-up and masks (which they never take off) but it is in the shared appreciation for Kiss how most of the members met. In 1999 G-Stealer left the band and was replaced by Magnum who Mr. Lordi met at Kiss Army Finland, and who, alongside drummer Kita, recorded the band’s proper debut album “Get Heavy” in 2002. The album shot to No. 3 in the Finnish chart, has been certified triple-platinum and spawned the No. 1 single “Would You Love A Monsterman?”. The subsequent European tour propelled the band to popularity, especially in Germany, and aided the band signing with German record label Drakkar.
Magnum was fired just after the album release, however his replacement Pekka Tarvenen (Kalma) only stayed with the band for the release of Lordi’s sophomore album “The Monsterican Dream” in 2004. With Kalma replaced by Samer el Nahhal (Ox) and Siikavirta replaced by Leena Peisa (Awa) the band released their third studio album “The Arockalypse" in May 2006. The album spawned the No. 1 single “Hard Rock Hallelujah” and was appointed Finland’s official single entry in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, which some religious leaders denounced as supporting the devil.
Their song eventually won the Eurovision Song Contest, scoring the most points in the contest’s history, catapulting the band to further international popularity and starting a wave of media outlets wanting to capture the band without their masks. Lordi celebrated the victory with a free open-air performance in Helsinki’s Market Square. The band’s impressively elaborate and pyrotechnically inclined live show was then showcased in America for the first time, with Lordi playing shows at Bamboozle and Ozzfest, before touring alongside Type O Negative.
Lordi’s fourth studio album “Deadache” was released in 2008 with a more keyboard and horror focused direction, and featured songwriting contributions from all members of the band. After Lordi spent time recording with Jeremy Rubolino and formed Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, Lordi released the single “This is Heavy Metal” ahead of their fifth studio album “Babez For Breakfast” in 2010. The album marked the departure of drummer Kita who was replaced by Otus, who surprisingly died shortly afterwards, leading the band to cancel a number of their shows in early 2011.
The band has subsequently released the 20th anniversary CD/DVD compilation “Scarchives Vol. 1” in 2012, Lordi’s sixth full-length album “To Beast or Not to Beast" in September 2012, led by the single “The Riff”, and “Scare Force One” in 2014.
Guy Theodore Sebastian is one of Australia's most successful artists who received his commercial break after being crowned the victor of the first season of Australian Idol in 2003. Following on from his talent show background he was chosen as a judge of the Australian X Factor between 2010 and 2012. His first album titled 'Just As I Am' was released shortly after his win and topped the Australian album charts upon release, it now holds a six times platinum selling certificate. The following six albums all hit the top 10 on the albums chart and hold at least a platinum selling certificiate. He has enjoyed similar success with his singles, appearing twelve times on the top ten, six of which topped the chart. To date Sebastian is the only male artist in Australian chart history to score six number one singles.
'Battle Scars' is perhaps his most successful single to date, achieving six times platinum selling certificate in Australia as well as charting on numerous international charts including New Zealand, Norway and the United States. To date Scott has accumulated 51 platinum certificates and four gold making him the most successful Australian Idol contestant of all time and one of Australia's best selling artists.
His career has also been a critical success, to date he has been nominated 24 times for ARIA Awards nominations and has won four. When Australia released their list of thehighest selling singles of the decade, Sebastian's first release 'Angels Brought Me Here' was named as the top selling song.
Lordi are one of the biggest bands to come out of Finland still maintaining their title as the only hard rock act to win the Eurovision Song Contest, and they are the only Finnish winner too. They have been a band for over twenty years and are still doing what they’re doing, releasing an album like clockwork every couple of years and then following the release with a world tour.
Watching this band my first thought is, how on earth do they perform in those huge suits? They must be boiling. Mr. Lordi, leads the proceedings ever so well though, regardless. The theatrics that accompany this band are on such a large scale, with the strobe lights and the set combined with the costumes and masks to create the aesthetics of a horror movie scene, in the best way possible. It’s a evening, I do think that this audience could give a little more though, considering the effort that Lordi have put in. Hard Rock Hallelujiah rounds of the evening nicely complete with pyrotechnics.
The only male artist to make Australian chart history by achieving six number one singles started his career by being the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. After a successful career, Guy Sebastian even went on to be a judge in the 2010-2012 Australian X Factor show. There's no question that the singer has talent, he wouldn't have been able to get away with gaining his success through auto tune as he won the talent show with his gorgeous voice alone singing Stevie Wonder's 'Ribbon in the Sky'. His second album 'Beautiful Life' included songs he wrote with Robin Thicke and took a more R&B style to it than his usual music, which had a great response from his fans. He has such clear admiration and appreciation for his fans, which is evident from his performance on the Australian X Factor in 2012 as he kept thanking the public for his success. It's extremely refreshing to see someone talented, who has come so far to be down to earth and understanding of how they got there. I don’t think much of him as a performer, his acts are a bit standard and he needs lots of fire and backing dancers to make it more interesting, but there’s no questioning his singing ability which left me with goose bumps.