Lordi

Lordi is a Finnish hard rock and heavy metal band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu), Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts and music videos. The band rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single "Would You Love a Monsterman?", and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". Lordi has toured and recorded actively since 2002, and Mr Lordi upgrades the band's costumes and masks for each album. The band has gone through several line-up changes with Mr Lordi being the only consistent member of the band since their foundation. Members of Lordi have stated their desire for their unmasked faces to remain private. However, they have made a number of unmasked appearances in several news outlets. History Formation (1992–2002) Lordi was formed in 1992 as a solo project by Mr Lordi. Lordi's very first demo album Napalm Market was done in 1993. The album included the song "Inferno", which also got a music video, all done by Mr Lordi. In the music video, Mr Lordi performed unmasked but he had made monster make-up for his friends who played secondary roles in the video. After the video was done, Mr Lordi got an idea of a band of monsters. "Inferno" was later released in the Finnish "Rockmurskaa" compilation album in 1995. In 1996 Mr Lordi organized a Kiss cruise for Finnish Kiss fans from Finland to Sweden. During the cruise, he met musicians Amen and G-Stealer and told them about his music project called Lordi. After the cruise, they joined the band. One year later Enary joined the band on keyboard and the band recorded their first album, Bend Over and Pray The Lord. At the time when the album was recorded, the band didn't have a drummer and they used MIDI drum tracks in place of a real drummer.