LORDI Mainman: 'We Can Sell Out Stadiums By Ourselves In Finland'

John Black of BostonNOW recently conducted an interview with LORDI mainman Mr. Lordi.

"It's weird, but I came up with the concept for this band — the look and the music —10 years ago, and nobody wanted it. Some record companies said they liked the music, but the look was too dark. Others said they liked the look, but they didn't like the music and hated the singer," Mr. Lordi said with that laugh. "Well, I'm a pretty stubborn guy; it's my way or the highway, so I told them both no deal. Who's laughing now?"

LORDI took the world by storm in 2006 when they won the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest, a more global version of "American Idol" that is usually won by photogenic pop princes and princesses, not the self-proclaimed spawn of Satan. The Finland natives received the highest scores in the history of the contest with their anthem, "Hard Rock Hallelujah".

Now they're out to conquer America.

"We can sell out stadiums by ourselves in Finland, but now we're playing as part of the Ozzfest, and it's been great," Mr. Lordi said, then laughs. "We have to work very hard to win over the people who have never heard of us before, and we really love the challenge. We play before 10,000 people, and maybe 9,000 of them hate us, but there's still 1,000 who didn't, and we'll just build from there."

LORDI's latest album, "The Arockalypse", has sold 20,000 copies in the United States since its March 20, 2007 release via The End Records, according to Nielsen SoundScan.