Mod: Hello and welcome to the newest Episode of Crazy Clip TV. I'm sitting here with Chris once again, and am taking a relaxing bubble bath.

 

Chris: Very nice. Very nice with you again Paddy.

 

Mod: It's very nice here in the tub, isn't it?

 

Chris: It's also so close. I can feel your feet on my...my foot, and, it's really comfortable. Kind of something new. 

 

Mod: You know the ancient Greeks already started with bath houses, but the actual bubble baths only came in the 60s.

 

Chris: No, I don't know that.

 

Mod: That's when the children's publicity came. That's when these tensides were developed. Before it was done with soap. And actually in the beginning this was only meant for little children. How do you feel now? Do you feel reminded of your childhood?

 

Chris: No, not really. I just want to ask: why for little children? Did they do that so they are less ashamed when they look into the water?

 

Mod: Because they have more fun that way!

 

Chris: Oh.

 

Mod: Play with the foam. (Rubs foam on his mouth). 

 

[1:08]

Chris: (Laughs and puts foam over himself) Well I honestly have to say, Paddy, I would have more fun if the foam wasn't here.

 

Mod: What's it like to have five minutes of peace here in your daily production phase?

 

Chris: To be completely serious here: Me going into the bathtub, voluntarily, all alone, that happens almost never. So it really is something completely special (laugh) cause it's an unplanned unit of relaxation. I'm sitting in the studio right now working on the new Hell Boulevard album. And, well, I actually would still have to sit, but bathing for once is nice too. 

 

Mod: So Crazy Clip TV has to come to give you this opportunity.

 

Chris: You're so good to me Paddy. I'm just gonna put my glasses on. Then I'll see you a little too.

 

[1:56]

Mod: Yes it's me.

 

Chris: Yeah. (grin)

 

Mod: You look a lot more professional this way. More like a producer than a rock star.

 

Chris: Exactly. To be precise these glasses also don't have any values. It's just that already as a child I always liked to watch those politician speeches, where they're like [2:08](takes off glasses with a serious look) gesture with the glasses and do interesting things. That's why one frame is so bent, cause I always dramatically pull the glasses off my face while speaking (demonstrates it). That's what it's for. I'm always asked if I need contact lenses on stage. I don't, cause the glasses aren't real. They're just for the image. 

 

[2:28]

Mod: Cause of course you're trying to use your producer side job to escape the rock star image. Appear more professional. 

 

Chris: (laugh) I also think it's totally nice. I like professional interview situations. People in the scene always make fun of bands who do something silly for interviews. The worst are things like Bravo where you get silly questions like "Why don't you make an interview in a Sauna?" We from Lord of the Lost principally don't do that. We only do respectable things.

 

Mod: I don't know you any different.

 

Chris: Yeah I know.

 

Mod: The new album will be very respectable too, right?

 

Chris: No, it's funny through and through (laugh) Listen. [3:08] (makes noises in the foam. Paddy lowers the mic to the noise). No the new album is in fact very serious. It's strange. I'm doing the first live interview about it with you. I mean not in written form or telephone. But the first let's say face-to-face interview to the record. And I wouldn't have thought that I'd do that in a bathtub. 

 

[3:28]

Mod: Face to face. (If there was some pun there I don't get it)

 

Chris: Face to face. 

 

Mod: I get it. 

 

[3:30]

Mod: What I wanted to discuss again was your change of label. You moved away from Out of Line, to Napalm Records. Were there any reasons for that?

 

Chris: Well we always felt attached to different music styles. Among other things in the metal area. And even though we still have melodic and romantic sides, the basic tenor for Lord of the Lost is just harder. And the contract with Out of Line had expired, so we separated in friendship, and searched for new possibilities to expand, concerning the metal area and the international area. Napalm can really help us a great deal further there. And that was the logical consequence of a change of label. 

 

[4:14]

Mod: Are there musical differences? Will you become even harder now?

 

Chris: No, not at all. Before we weren't allowed to do what we want, and we're allowed to do what we want now. And we were in the fortunate situation to kind of be able to choose a label. That's a luxury problem you have cause you think "Ah, that's good, that's good. They do that very well." and so on. But one thing we paid a lot of attention to, that was very important to us, that we continue to be able to do what we want in terms of content and artistically. Of course qualitatively it needs to fit certain standards. That's in every contract. We can't just hand in demo-crap-quality and say "Here, finished. Give us the money. That's the album now, have fun, publish that." But in terms of content we can do what we want. You already see it cause we started our label change to Napalm with Swan Songs II, the second acoustic album. And the new album is... not harder...in its sum it's not harder than the last album. It may be harder around the bottom. But on top it's a lot more spherical and melodious. If you can say that a all. So on average it's the same. We'll never be a real 100% metal band. For most metal bands I actually cringe cause they sound uninspired and the same. We will always be caught between two stools, it will be the cross we bear, but also our advantage. Our bug and our feature.

 

[5:48]

Mod: How do you manage your private life, son, producer, musician? I hear you occasionally take relaxing baths, but basically it is rather difficult, no?

 

Chris: Yes-and-no. The thing is, through outside influence from social media, or rather, let me rephrase that: through social media you always get a strange view. If you look at a run of the mill person on Instagram, you get the impression that everyone's somehow a multi-millionaire. Everyone photographs the stuff that's the most awesome, you don't photograph yourself while you're doing the laundry, the dishes...

 

Mod: Cat toilet.

 

Chris: Cat toilet, exactly. And due to the fact that I just show a lot from my work, cause I have a very interesting job, you get the impression that I ONLY work. But in actual fact, our studio times, it's a completely middle-class job. I'm there in the morning at 8 or so, and I work till around 5-6 pm. And I work over half of the time at home. Cause for a lot of things I don't need a huge recording room or a big mixing desk. Song writing, editing things in some productions. And I also do everything at home that has something to do with management and organization. 

So I am in fact the one who picks up my son from school more often than my wife, who's a tattooist, and often needs to work late hours cause people want to go get tattooed after work. So it looks so crass, but actually it isn't. And of course sometimes I'm on tour, and then I'm also completely gone and don't see my child, but I make up for that by being there for long times sometimes. And if I haven't had a weekend for an extended period of time, I'll just do nothing for two weeks. I'll just do a two-week-weekend.

So it really is...it' isn't always easy. Definitely not. It's surely easier if you have a scheduled life where every day you know exactly what you're gonna do. It also is the same thing as far as times go almost always. It's not always easy, but I think that all things considered, this way I am a much more relaxed and happy person, cause I get to do what I want, and I'm not stuck in a job that frustrates me.

 

[8:08]

Mod: There, I'll pour us some water. I'll just try that. Or could you hold the microphone quickly?

 

Chris: my hands are all wet, shall I...(holds it with two fingers)

 

Mod: I'll toast to the new album.

 

Chris: A beautiful St.Leonhard...

 

Mod: ..Thornstar. I heard you don't drink alcohol anymore. So I got you completely exclusive water.

 

Chris: That's nice.

 

[8:33]

Chris: Okay, don't drink it all at once.

 

Mod: No. Cheers. (They drink) So, you don't drink alcohol anymore, cause you've gotten some kind of revelation? Or for health reasons?

 

Chris: Nnnyeah, no. I used to like to drink Jack Daniels Coke on tour, and like one and a half years ago I started not enjoying it anymore at all. Then I tried alternative drinks. Whatever mixed drinks you try. And it was always cool for a while and then not anymore. And the gaps till I didn't like it anymore kept getting shorter. And I pretty much stopped liking it at all. And, when DJing, I used to drink, and  recently I was forced to not drink at all cause I had to drive home with the car. And it was totally pleasant. So on the way home I thought: if for quite a while now I'm just not enjoying anything alcoholic at all, and it was so much cooler, and I took the thought further: I see so many colleagues from other bands that have existed for many years, where you see them backstage really having a problem with alcohol. Which is really a problem in this business, too much alcohol and drugs. So I figured just leave it. If I don't feel like it I might as well leave it completely. So I did. That simple! 🙂

 

Mod: That simple. Just like that. 

 

[10:10]

Chris: It wasn't that hard for me either, cause I never drank at home anyway, unless I had visitors. I'm not the kind of guy who drinks a beer in the evening. So the times I drank were on tour, after a concert. And then gladly a lot. But since I only did that at isolated times it was no big change, and then, well, you can also leave it.

 

Mod: And smoking?

 

Chris: I already stopped smoking a longer time ago. I think over 2 years ago. Then I figured I'd do this E-cigarette crap, do that for a year, and then throw it away too. And I did.

 

Mod: Wow, totally healthy! Totally healthy!

 

Chris: Yeah I also eat Bio food and stuff, and all serious, and I cook...I have it cooked healthy, after all I don't like cooking so much. (Laugh) And I have to say, as soon as there's a child there, that of course also changes everything again. [10:55] cause you treat the issue with more care, and you don't think "Oh who cares. I need to work for three days straight now, so I'll just live on the same noodles, whatever's there, and after that I'll eat healthy again." Instead you of course want to feed a kid healthy without compromise. So you also have other things in the house. And well, yeah. I don't think I'll become a straight-edger. I won't have to draw a black X on my hand. But it really is just a question of preference. I just don't feel like alcohol. If I get back in the mood at some point I can think about it. But I'll just wait now. 

 

Mod: One can go without alcohol too.

 

Chris: I don't need alcohol to totally not have fun. (laugh)

 

[11:34]

Mod: (looks at Chris' leg tattoo) I just noticed, look, there are dolphins here.

 

Chris: One dolphin. 

 

Mod: One dolphin is here. Where did he come from?

 

Chris: Um, some time ago, I sat together with Mark, Dr. Mark Benecke. And he said he had a tattoo of a blue banana. I said "What blue banana?" And it was actually a dolphin. And then I, I don't remember why...maybe there was some bet. I said "I'll do that too".

 

Mod: Back when you still drank alcohol.

 

Chris: Yeah, definitely. Exactly. I said I would do that too, in this and that time frame, and in return he had to get a tattoo of something that I tell him, or don't know. There was some bet. I guess he still owes me a tattoo. I don't even know. So then I had this blue banana tattooed. A dolphin. At the show in Helsinki we had a female tattooist come in backstage. And I have a speech bubble that's empty, so I can use a ball pen to write a name into it. And if I meet a totally friendly mama (?) at a concert who looks all sad, and I want to make her happy, I write her name into it, "mama" for example, and then she's happy. 

 

Mod: That's very romantic.

 

Chris: Yeah I know. I'm good...I try to be good to people. 

 

Mod: It doesn't say "Flipper" in there. I would have expected "Flipper".

 

Chris: No, it's really empty. I can also write "Paddy" into it if you want.

 

Mod: Yeah that would make me very happy. We'll do that afterwards.

 

Chris: I'll send you a photo. I'll do it at home. It's too intimate for me. Otherwise people will see me naked or something. 

 

[13:07]

Mod: How do you like the bath so far?

 

Chris: Um...(snort)...it's okay.

 

Mod: At home, do you prefer bubble baths? Or oil baths? There are also bath bananas.

 

Chris: Well I quite like to bathe in water.

 

(laugh)

 

Chris: I always heard that Cleopatra bathed in milk, which I find pretty gross. I don't know if there are people who really bathe in milk. Apparently there were even little gold pieces in it.

 

Mod: Apparently after 15 minutes it's bad for the skin cause it degreases.

 

(they laugh)

 

Chris: I can't see it at all...!

 

Mod: The new Album is called Thornstar. We already toasted to it. It appears--inconspicuously mentioned again-- on August 3rd. Right?

 

Chris: Yeah, August 3. Definitely don't forget to download it illegally. Surely shortly after midnight somewhere it will be...In Japan and Russia it's always midnight rather quickly. A bit earlier. Then you get it fast. 

 

Mod: Then I'll say thank you, dear Chris, that we were allowed to bathe together.

 

Chris: Mm-hmm. If it gets warm again around the bottom it's because I um...I turned on the warm water here...(turns on the faucet)

 

Mod: The invisible water.

 

(they laugh)

 

Mod: That's right, we could turn on rain here if we want to.

 

Chris: Definitely. Watch out for the microphone.

 

(Paddy holds the mic a bit further away)

 

Mod: This is going to be cold now.

 

Chris: Oh, I'm really looking forward to that.

 

(Paddy turns it on and they shudder)

 

Chris: It's supposed to make a firm breast, no? 

 

Mod: Yeah it's looking quite firm. 

 

Chris: Looks good right? Bye Paddy. Was nice once again.

 

(They shake hands)

 

Chris: Bye world!

 

 

Translation: Manuela Lütolf