[0:15] Paddy: Hello and welcome to the 215th episode of Crazy Clip TV with special guest Chris of LOTL. Hello Chris.

 

[0:22] Chris: Hi!

 

[0:27] Paddy: Your favorite beer? That’s a really important question. 

 

[0:29] Chris: With this question  you can make yourself really unpopular. It‘s region– specific. I became a big fan of „Fucking Hell“. Don‘t know if you heard about it. That‘s a beer from Austria or Switzerland, I don‘t know. I think it‘s Austria. There is a village named „Fucking“. And they brew a light (german: hell) beer. And I decided in this very moment that this is my favorite beer. 

 

[0:52] Paddy: LOTL exists since 2007. But you also had many projects before. How did you come to LOTL? 

 

[0:58] Chris: Um... you rather have to ask, how LOTL came to me. Many years I did other projects because I had as a young person somehow broken up  with the whole gothic music. I felt like I wanted to try other things, do glam rock or other crazy things, make electro. And then during songwriting I figured out, that I want to make the music I was originally coming from. Music that I would have loved to listen to as a young person. And then I noticed, all the songs I wrote didn’t fit to the projects that I at that time played in. Ok, so I decided to record an album by myself, just for fun. Just for myself, without a target. So I did it and got pretty far with it, I noticed that it apparently was pretty good. So I thought, it‘s possible to found a band with that, because all alone on the stage I can‘t do all the instruments. And then things went really fast, we found a label, and there were  ambitions to do it as a profession, to make the band something big. I think it‘s a great thing, that it was nothing planned. It just happened in a natural way. 

 

[2:03] Paddy: Let‘s talk about sex appeal, it plays a major role for you and the band. Does it stand in your way sometimes or do you think it‘s positive? 

 

[2:12] Chris: Both. It‘s really funny and you have to say „sex sells“. And this factor fits with LOTL. It‘s the basic optic of the band and the winking eyes, to play with it and we don‘t take ourselves too seriously. That would be stupid and brazen. On the other hand, it stands in the way as sometimes I get reactions about our live shows, our CDs, that have nothing to do with the music. There you notice that there are different kinds of fans. There are fans, who come for the look. They come, because they want a great show, like the Chippendales or something like that. The gothic Chippendales (laugh). It’s confusing sometimes. I had to learn to deal with it, that there are different ways we entertain people. That partly is not about the music only. I‘m happy the most, when people tell me, that the song gave them something, the song, the music was important. When others say „you looked really cool today on stage!“,  - we are musicians, not models. So I‘m more happy about musical feedback. But in the end it‘s the choice of each individual which kind of entertainment they want. And if it‘s the optical way, it‘s granted to everyone. 

 

[3:46] Paddy: It can‘t hurt. 

 

[3:47] Chris: I don‘t think so, no. 

 

[3:48] Paddy: Did you count, how many performances you had since 2007?

 

[3:51] Chris: Yes, we just recently had the 100th.  

 

[3:55] Paddy: Jubilee! 

 

[3:56] Chris: Yes, at the beginning we didn’t have that much. In the past 1.5 years this has added up a lot. The biggest part of these performances have taken place in the past 1.5 years. 

 

[4:04] Paddy: Wow! This year I was on the Amphi Festival and saw this really big poster of the band. Isn't that kind of strange if you‘re walking by? 

 

[4:12] Chris: It was strange, because I didn't know about it beforehand. I didn't know what‘s going on and on the first day we arrived there just as guests. And I walked to the booth from Out Of Line, our label, and they told me „Hey, look around the corner!“. And then you see yourself in 6x6 meters cinema poster size. It was great. Nice to see, the band „arrives“ somehow.   Now you‘re a part of it. You‘re a part of this whole circus. At the beginning I was a little bit jealous. I came in at the entrance of the Amphi and there my friend Alex from Eisbrecher was on a giant poster. And I thought to myself, “wow, someday I also want such a big poster of myself!”. But now, ours was much larger! I was really happy with that. 

 

[4:59] Paddy: So you‘re making music for a while now, is there the point of „feeling home“ somehow? Do you at some point get to where you wanted to be, or are you still on your way...do you always go on further and further, trying out new things? 

 

[5:08] Chris: I hope, I never get that feeling. If you "feel home", the youthful energy gets lost somehow. The ability to do impulsive actions. The pain, the hurt, the overwhelming joy. The immaculate, the belief that you are able to make a change. That‘s a big problem I see with many musicians, without wanting to run it down. Take Marilyn Manson for example. I was a big Manson fan, because this youthful aggression was there. I want to look at it objectively, but look at the last years, the last recordings, I think these recordings were produced well, but it sounds like it’s from someone who has got where he wants to be. The pain and hurt is lost, and that was what made it a good Manson song. It‘s difficult to make a record with the same energy, when you‘re sitting in your house on the Hollywood Hills. So I hope this will never happen to us, that with increasing success, there comes a feeling of rest and satisfaction. That we‘re no longer able to set this big energy free, or if it‘s even still there. I‘m a little bit afraid of this. 

 

[6:40] Paddy: The new album is called „Die Tomorrow“. It sounds a little bit like a James Bond movie. 

 

[6:45] Chris: It‘s because of... what was its name? Die...Tomorrow never dies...die... live and die. Um... yes. That was something that wasn't planned this way. I noticed, it sounds a little like James Bond. It doesn't bother me anyway. It doesn't have to do with James Bond in any way. It means, live the moment, now, as good as it is possible, because it could be over tomorrow. Like the credo „Live today, die tomorrow“. A little bit like the Rock‘n‘Roll cliche „Live fast, die young“, which is more like sex, drugs and Rock‘n’roll.  In our case it‘s more like some „Carpe diem“ thing. Make the best of every moment, because it could be over tomorrow. That was the achievement we wanted to have with the album, some kind of enjoyment of life, or seize the precious moments... like this here, we‘re sitting here in Hamburg at the sunset. I think many people don‘t notice the beauty of such moments any more, because they are so distracted by the whole everyday life/routine. 

 

[7:50] Paddy: You used the contacts that came with Out Of Line, and lively cooperations have been going on with many colleagues, like Erk or Ulrike of Blutengel. 

 

[8:04] Chris: Yes, that’s a nice thing. You get to meet many people because of this big black circus. And Erk and me were on tour through Europe back then, him with Hocico and Rabia Sorda and I played in UnterART, the support band. Already back then we said, we want to do something together. And then the song "Marching Into Sunset" arose, that needed exactly an evil, dirty voice like Erk’s. While I had written the song with the part „I am the devil...“ I always heard his voice in my head and months later I thought I just had to call him, ask him if he wants to sing in it. And he just said yes. The story with Blutengel, with Ulrike, that‘s a song I have written with Martin of Mono Inc. some months ago and just in the beginning of it we noticed it would be a duet, and during the songwriting Martin and me sang the female voices on the demo, which sounds pretty funny. 

 

[9:12] Paddy: Can we hear this somehow? 

 

[9:13] Chris: Um... I don‘t know. You have to ask Martin. For me it would be no problem. And then I always heard Ulrike's voice in my head. She has the clear and Disney – soundtrack – like voice, really pop music like, girly like. And then I thought, I just have to ask. And Chris Pohl also said „Yes, great idea, let‘s do this“. And then Ulrike came to Hamburg and on a Sunday morning at 10 am we recorded the vocals. Really strange, this ballad „Never Let You Go“, you would think it‘s a really dark atmosphere and bitter, but in reality it was on a really sunny Sunday morning, in Hamburg. In the studio, recorded in bright sunshine. 

 

[10:02] Paddy: Sometimes you are in the clubs of Hamburg. But most incognito, without makeup, the hood deep in the face…

 

[10:09] Chris: ...yes and Adidas training pants and so. Um... yes I live right on the „Kiez“ (a part of Hamburg, St. Pauli and Reeperbahn) and from my home it’s  just 10 steps or something to the clubs. And then I enjoy to go out and watch you do the DJ set and if you’re doing it right. 

 

[10:22] Paddy: ... and if I play your songs...

 

[10:23] Chris: Yes, that‘s all. But this incognito story, it really changed in the last few months since the Eisbrecher tour. I get recognized a lot, like in the „Penny market“ when I‘m shopping or somewhere else and this happens nearly every day. And I don't like it in clubs, I‘m not really a person who likes small talk, I hate it, to speak with strange people when it‘s loud, you scream to each other with senseless phrases, I don‘t like it. And then I love to wear the hood deep in the face, to dress with something inconspicuous and with a glass of Jack Daniels in my hand, stand around and look, smoke a cigarette and enjoy the club atmosphere, because it reminds me of the earlier times when I was young. I don’t have the desire to party, and I don‘t want to talk to many people. But that doesn't mean, that you can‘t talk to me, but I mean I‘m not a big party-goer. When I go on stage I dress cool, I wear make up, it‘s part of the job and it‘s really fun for me. But when I‘m going out, it would never come to my mind to wear high heels and latex pants and to do a fancy hairstyle. It’s not my cup of tea. 

 

[11:28] Paddy: Could you imagine to live somewhere else, or are you feeling good in Hamburg?

 

[11:36] Chris: I‘m feeling so good, that I have to light a cigarette (takes a cigarette in his mouth). Is this even allowed in your TV Show?

 

[11:41] Paddy: At TIDE (German TV channel) you may do it… and at other channels.

 

[11:42] Chris: Um... I‘m feeling very good in Hamburg. I moved very often as a child, because of my father‘s job we had to move a lot. And I was really happy to be back in Hamburg. I‘m a kind of man, who is not really happy somewhere else. I enjoy this on tour, that we get somewhere else each day, but then we‘re gone again. I think holidays are very terrible, I like it for 3 days, then I want to go away, to a different place, but then also for not too long. The only place where I am happy for a long time is Hamburg. There are some places on earth, where I can imagine to be happy for a longer period, like Los Angeles, where I can also imagine to work. But what should I do then with Lord of the Lost, how do I look after a band, that is growing right now, in Germany, 6000 km away or so. I‘m a real Hamburg kid, I‘m born here, and yes, it‘s a part of me. 

 

[12:37] Paddy: For the title track of the new album „Die Tomorrow“, you took a cool video, it looks like a lot of fun. Damaging cars on a junkyard, skydiving...

 

[12:48] Chris: It really was a lot of fun, these were unbelievably awesome 4 days and nights, with hardly any sleep, we filmed with almost no break. But it was definitely more effort than fun. You know it by yourself, it all looks so easy, relaxed and spontaneous in the end. But actually you have to create a concept and plan this, with a strict timetable. We filmed 7 parts within 4 days, - and it takes hours for driving there, organizing it, training, blah blah and so on - to get 7 seconds where you can see me jump out of the plane. Because we did not have that much sleep, we were shattered, the video looks like a documentary of an experience that we went through as a band. And this was the aim. I wanted you to notice the fun and what an experience it was, and to preserve this on celluloid. It shouldn’t look like it was staged and planned. That we are doing things/ actions there, that each of us would have wanted to do before we kick the bucket. 

 

[14:07] Paddy: And the skydiving fascinates you?

 

[14:09] Chris: Totally. I want to get the license, yes. 

 

[14:11] Paddy: And in the next video clip you’ll just be flying?

 

[14:14] Chris: (laugh) You can‘t do the same joke twice.

 

[14:18] Paddy: Maybe by diving underwater? 

 

[14:21] Chris: We had really thought about it for the video. I also have a diving license. The problem is, underwater with the snorkel you take out of your mouth... like „blub blub blub... whats up?“. No, it doesn't look really cool. 

 

[14:33] Paddy: I say thank you that you were here with me, Chris. 

 

[14:35] Chris: Thank you for the invitation. 

 

[14:38] Paddy: We enjoy Hamburg harbor a little more in the sunset. It couldn't be more beautiful. And yes... thank you (Chris serves him a glass of Jack Daniels) and toast... 

 

[14:44] Chris: ... to the new album. 

 

14:47 Paddy: Die Tomorrow. 

 

 

Translation: Christina Mey

Proofreading: Margit Güttersberger