Interview with Chris about tattoos

 

At the beginning of our new section, we met Chris Harms, charismatic front-man of Lord of the Lost, right before their concert in Leipzig, to talk over a can coke about megalomania, favorite tattoos and fountain pens…

 

Orkus: Which tattoo was your first one?

Chris: An extremely interesting tribal on my left shoulder blade. Back then, when I was 18 years old, I just wanted to have a tattoo. The picture didn't really matter for me. At that time, not every rascal – like today – was tattooed. I felt really bad ass with it. (laughs)

 

Orkus: Your buddies were also really impressed?

Chris: Sure, they were very impressed. It was shortly before a school trip to Rome, and I was a really cool motherfucker, because I was tattooed. It was quite cute, thinking about it today.

 

Orkus: What did your parents think about it?

Chris: They didn't know about it, until I was 20 – because I managed, despite still living at home back then, to hide it. Sorry, mum and dad. Now they think it's pretty cool, but at that time, I couldn't show them. I think they would have reacted much better, if I just had trusted them.

 

Orkus: Which tattoo is the most recent one?

Chris: I have to think about it. I think it's the little heart on my middle finger. Like this you can perfectly say “I love you” with your middle finger.

 

Orkus: Did one or another also emerge while being jolly?

Chris: I decided to get a dolphin inked on my leg while being jolly. I promised this Dr. Mark Benecke. I couldn't remember my promise, but I saw the evidence on video, when we were in Helsinki. We asked a tattooist to come to the backstage spontaneously.

 

Orkus: Did he promise to do something in return?

Chris: Yes, but I don't remember what it was.

 

Orkus: Which tattoos are currently being planned?

Chris: I have several construction sites on my legs. Many are half-finished images, which started somewhere and now have to grow together. Here is one of those females, holding something, I don't even remember what it is exactly. I don't look at it closely; especially about the things, which are at the back, I already forgot what it is.

 

Orkus: Have you ever regretted a tattoo?

Chris: In general I would start, if I was young and not tattooed again, differently. If I knew I'm going to be full of tattoos, I would think of a nice overall concept. But I don't really regret it, no. Because every tattoo belongs to some lifetime and phase of life and is hence perfectly right. I'm someone who feels comfortable with his body and all his faults, and the tattoos are a part of it – an act of assimilation. Once the tattoo is there, it is a part of me, no matter how ugly it might be in the eyes of others, I couldn't care less.

 

Orkus: How did you get the “Lord”-tattoo on your chest?

Chris: I have the nickname Lord already for a long time, because I was, even as a child, a megalomaniac boy, who aimed high, and many people said: “Well, well, the little Lord.” And someday I thought it'd be very funny to get this inked like a banner on my chest. My girlfriend back then thought the idea was disgusting, but after we broke off, I got it tattooed in 2006. So the tattoo was there, even before the band Lord of the Lost was formed. Actually we wanted our band to have the name Lord at the beginning, but there were some legal concerns.

 

Orkus: Do you have a favorite tattoo?

Chris: Not really. Somehow it's always the recent one. The last song you write is also always the one by which you're most euphoric. The last one is always fascinating and soon you don't even realize anymore it's there. But I'm also not one of these tattoo nerds, which know everything about the technique and tell the tattooist a lot about the settings of the machine. For me, the emotional element is in the first place.

 

Orkus: Which part of the body would you never get tattooed?

Chris: I don't understand why you want to endure the pain while getting your genitals inked. Although: when I get inked “Lord” there, I could advertise – pulled out there could be written “lordofthelost.de/” and the complete merch-url. I think the soles of your feet and palms must be very painful. I don't want to have anything on my neck or tongue. Face in general is silly in my opinion. But: I could get inked “Orkus” on the inner surface of my lip. *thinks*

 

Orkus: When did you get your first piercing?

Chris: I actually tried to pierce myself at a party of a classmate when I was 17. But I won't reveal where. My first real piercing was very unspectacular in my ears – quite late, when I was 24 or 25. I always thought piercings are quite uninteresting. I once had one in my lip and labial frenulum, but it outgrew. There was even a brilliant in it – I was playing in a glam-rock-band, therefore you can do everything. (laughs)

 

Orkus: How about other body modifications? Tongue splitting et cetera?

Chris: Everything quite nasty for me, no matter if tongue splitting, burning, cutting things out, amputating, shoving things under the skin... I think it's interesting to see this on others, but it doesn't turn me on.

 

Orkus: Have you ever stung someone?

Chris: Yes, tattooed…

 

Orkus: Like in school with a compass?

Chris: Right, I tattooed someone by accident. Stupid Sarah assaulted me again, so I just stabbed her with my fountain pen. But she parried with her hand and now she has to live with this tattoo – was unintended and the subject is also not really pretty…

 

Author: Nadine Ahlig