This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is just a matter of days away, and the competition is fierce.
While the United Kingdom is backing its new entrant, Mae Muller, she’ll have some powerful acts to take down on the way to the final – including Germany’s Lord of the Lost.
The industrial metal band hails from Hamburg and is renowned for delivering intense solos, guttural vocals, and an unmissable penchant for theatrics.
The band’s guitarist, Pi, recently spoke to Express.co.uk where he confessed the band isn’t too worried about looking like fools when they hit the stage. Mostly because they’re already a well-loved and established band with 14 years of tours and experience under their latex harnesses and leather belts.
“As you can tell,” Pi smirked over Zoom. “We are not spending too much time with the thought that we might end up last – because it can happen. But, then again – coming from Germany – it’s not like that hasn’t happened before!”
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Pi explained that, even if Lord of the Lost did come last, they would not be “falling too far”. This year, they’re supporting the legendary Iron Maiden on an arena tour, as well as making a bunch of festival appearances and embarking on their own enormous headline tour at the end of the year.
“Quite frankly, it doesn’t really matter most of the time,” he mused. “You have those moments where it’s like, it would kind of suck [to come last], but what made us apply in the first place – because we have been applying for years – why not? In the end, even if it’s not in the scope of the alternative music realm, it is the biggest musical event, so to speak, on Earth!”
Pi noted that, traditionally, an artist or band competing in Eurovision has “never not been something positive”.
Pi continued: “There are always people in Eurovision who [have] just started their careers closely prior to it all, [but] we’ve existed for almost 14 years. So even, I think, Eurovision – with its sheer size – even that isn’t something that can disrupt us.”
Lord of the Lost are mostly concerned, Pi told me, with putting on a damn good show. And they’ve got a massive hit on their hands to do it. The infectious and riff-heavy Blood & Glitter is nothing less than a staggering showcase of just how universal alternative music can be; especially to those who, perhaps, aren’t well-versed in it.
Although, Pi understands how the song’s official music video may not give off that vibe. “I mean,” he laughed. “When you look at the video, I get [why] some people think it is morbid because we’re standing in a blood shower … I get that! But, first and foremost, our music, we like it to be a bit polarising and edgy … but in its essence, Blood & Glitter is meant in a very, very peaceful way, so to speak. In a very uniting way. Because it’s a song that, at its core, has the message: we are from the same blood. We are one.
“Even though we all have our individualities – all our own glitter in a world that makes the world ours – we are all from the same blood. And, in the end, that’s what unites us.”
Considering Lord of the Lost look and act so starkly different to 90 percent of the other Eurovision acts this year, does Pi worry that they’ll somehow let Germany down?
“We’re not thinking about it in that way,” he reiterated. “Like we’re representing Germany, or we’re proud Germans… because I think it has a weird ring to it when you say we’re proud Germans! [laughs]”
“Also,” Pi said. “We’re not going [to Eurovision] with the mindset that we’re representing Germany. We’re going with the mindset that we’re representing alternative music, in a way. We’re adding to that whole palette that is there.”
Ultimately, Pi believes Eurovision fans (and music fans as a whole) should make up their own minds on whether Britain should award Germany their highly coveted 12 points.
Although he was quick to point out that King Charles was a lover of their music when he visited Germany back in March, he wants people to focus on their music.
“If you are into our style of music,” he smiled. “If you like our clothes, you think we’re nice guys – because we sometimes are – I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t get 12 points [from the UK].”
The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final hits BBC One screens on Saturday, May 13, 2023, at 8pm.
