BILD.de and Chris

Vocalist Chris Harms about marriage proposals, masturbating fans and the dark side of the music.

 

Gloomy guises, dark melodies – and an obscure Lord, who makes the girls scream.

 

The band Lord of the Lost from Hamburg is the shooting star of the gothic-scene. Listen to their new album “From The Flame Into The Fire” exclusively.

BILD talked with vocalist Chris Harms about marriage proposals, masturbating fans and the dark side of the music.

 

BILD: In recent years, there was only few new stuff from the dark scene. Mono Inc. were next with their breakthrough two years ago, now Lord of the Lost. Why you now? And why yet again a band from Hamburg?

Chris: The dynamic of the music industry is difficult to understand, even for analysts. Principally, I see our success only partial linked with the dark scene. With one foot we're firmly standing in the dark domain, with the other one we were always standing in the significantly more widespread field of handmade and cheerful rock music. Lord of the Lost was never a pitch-black band, we perceive ourselves more as dark-colorful. We released, just as Mono Inc., CDs with extremely much diligence, perseverance and high speed and toured a lot. It was just a question of time, until more people took notice of us. Why Hamburg? We're from St. Pauli, there life is crazy and it impels us. I doubt we would have the same energy if we were coming from a little country village.

 

BILD: You as a Hamburger, are you especially close to the dark side? Keyword HSV...

Chris: Do we get on the BILD-readers' bad side when I say none of us isn't anywhere near being interested in soccer? (laughs)

 

BILD: Where do you see your musical roots?

Chris: My musical roots are in the classic. Since I was five, I had a classical education for the cello and learned other instruments by myself bit by bit. A classical education is compositionaly the best foundation. In my youth, I was the biggest Roxette-fan of the world, later the obligatory guitar-music from the 90's: Guns N'Roses, Nirvana and also Metallica. During my late puberty, I was fascinated by Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, HIM. But I also always stuck with my earliest roots, which is for sure also a foundation for Lord of the Lost's variety.

 

BILD: How much of you is hidden in your stage-personality?

Chris: Everything of me, and everything of me, I don't realize in my everyday life. We can act out everything which hasn't, or shouldn't have, a place in our normal life, in our music, the texts and our stage performance.

 

BILD: Among others, you already covered Lady Gaga – unusual for a gothic-band. Why have you done it anyway?

Chris: I was always a big fan of extremely staged art and and nice pop-songs. If someone is able to accomplish joining these two things together, it's Lady Gaga. I'm still waiting for a response upon all my marriage proposals.

 

BILD: Your single “La Bomba” also steps out of line – do you like to play with provocation?

Chris: Absolutely. Good art was always radical. And a good artist never takes himself serious for 100%. “La Bomba” is a wink with both eyes and wakes the play instinct in every pale goth. Think about Rammstein's “Pussy”. No human, no matter how deep he is into the dark scene, can appreciate the black, if he doesn't get to know color. Yes, we love our scene and we feel like a part of it. But we also love many more music genres and don't put the perceived ideal of a scene before our general ideals of openness in music and art.

 

BILD: Are you happy when you can provoke the guardians of the scene?

Chris: No, it's not about provoking someone. But whoever is that humorless and thinks the scene has been betrayed with this song, shouldn't expect any tolerance from the rest of the world, if he doesn't act like this himself.

 

BILD: You did your first US-tour in march – for sure not an easy venture for a German band, right?

Chris: Totally right. But since we have the most crazy and best fans of the world, it was possible to get a 12,000 dollar starting capital through crowdfunding for flights, visa and tour bus. Unbelievable!

 

BILD: Have you already fallen for the “dark” side when you were a child?

Chris: I've always been fascinated by the extremes, the conflict between light and shadow, good and bad, right and wrong. Love, death and devil... It already captivated me when I was a child.

 

BILD: You got your tattoo (“Lord”) already tattooed, before you founded the band...

Chris: As a child, I was always a visionary and my plans and wishes were latent megalomaniac. That's why I already got the nickname “Lord” when I was a teen. After a crazy night at St. Pauli, I had the tattoo the next afternoon.

 

BILD: Do you feel like a sex symbol?

Chris: No. I understand the mechanism, the own internal dynamic about sex symbols, but I can't see myself like this. And that's good. I think to think of yourself as a sex symbol makes totally unattractive.

 

BILD: Are you the hottest export hit of the gothic-scene?

Chris: Me alone no, but we five. And I'm not saying this because I'm arrogant, but because we're the comprehensibly fastest growing band in our scene in the last two years.

 

BILD: During your tour, your fans had the chance to call you at night. What was the most absurd thing you heard?

Chris: We had many absurd talks on the phone at the night in the tour bus, especially crazy are for sure straight offers for immediate phone sex from already masturbating dialog partners. But we see it as a compliment. The invention of the Fandy (Fan + Handy [mobile phone] = Fandy) was a great idea and we will carry it on.

 

BILD: How many marriage proposals have you got so far?

Chris: I stopped counting after it got four-digit.

 

BILD: Why should everyone listen to your album?

Chris: We haven't reinvented the wheel, but in contrast to many dark-rock or gothic-bands, we're very multifaceted. There is no stagnation and boredom with us. We suggest: Listen to it and form your opinion!