Q: What was there first: the lyrics or the music? Or is this different? Are the ideas for the music videos yours? Do you want to do a tour with “Harms und Kapelle”? Do your students at SAE institute call you by your first or your last name?

 A: I am just going to answer your last question. The SAE is a private institute where everyone from the teachers to the students to the janitor are calling each other by their first names. We are educating sound engineers, no lawyers. That's why we call us by the first name what makes me very happy. 

 

Q: Please explain to me the “Beyond Beautiful” video. I don’t understand how the song and the video belong together. I think the idea was yours, so I would be happy to hear your explanation.

A: I think it is very difficult to explain art. Especially radical art. For me it is an optical installation and I think the right way to think about the video is asking yourself: do I consider it beautiful or not. If you do that, then we reached an important goal, I think.

 

Q: Which was your first tattoo and where did you get it?

 A: My first tattoo was a tribal on the back of my shoulder. I was 18 years old back then. I got it at “älteste Tätowierstube in Deutschland” in Hamburg and I was getting almost all of my tattoos from there ever since.

 

Q: You are causing so much good with your music, for example you make people feel better and you are helping people from all over the world having friendships. How do you feel about that?

A: I believe I often don't really realize how much good I am doing. I am just hearing bits and pieces of the stories fans tell me (for example that people came together because of us…that there are families… weddings.. children… friendships) , and I think it is good to not realize it all, because you should do the things that feel right to you instead of trying to change people’s lives. When I do realize it in some moments, when you can play a good and important part in their lives, I feel very happy and thankful about that.

 

Q: Are you always honest in your interviews or do you sometimes feed your image?

 A: If I say: “All musicians are lying in interviews”, am I lying then, or am I saying the truth? No

one knows.

 

Q: When do we get a photo from you, taken at 7 in the morning? To reverse the “Sex symbol” image?

 A: Yes, of course, I prepared something for you: *inserts “ugly” Image of himself and Alex

(Eisbrecher)*.

 

Q: Could you imagine playing in a musical? Maybe "Cabaret" or the "Rocky Horror Picture Show"? With which artist outside of the “scene” would you like to work with? (Except for Lady Gaga and Katy Perry)?

 A: Yes, I would love to do that. I wrote a song for “The Pleasures” once called “Well Come!” which was inspired by Cabaret. The Rocky Horror Show, I would definitely want to do, as well as “Mackie Messer” from the “3 Groschen Oper”. I already had the pleasure to do that in school. That would be an absolute dream!

 

Q: What is the story about your artist-name? Where do you get it from? Is it based on your guitar builder (Thomas Harm) or is there another background? 

 A: “Harms“ is the last name of my mother and I liked it a lot more than my usual last name.

 

Q: Chris, where do you get your pots from?

 A: I don't have any. I don’t cook.

 

Q: Do you have moments where you are getting very pissed and loud? What do you do to calm down again? Is the stage a valve for you to let everything out?

A: I can't remember the last time I was shouting at somebody...no wait. I can. But this was a bizarre situation. But I usually don't solve problems with getting loud or violent. I consider myself a very calm person. When I am getting pissed, I am not loud but I am rather pulling the strings in the background to do man stuff to people. Way more effective. No, I am actually a very patient guy. I really don't feel the need to be nasty. 

 

Q: How much did the success of Lord of the Lost change you (looking back into the past)?

 A: I can't really say that. Maybe the other guys from the band can answer the question for me.

 

Q: Where did the heart-logo come from? Who designed it and what is the meaning behind

it?

 A: The story is: I wanted to combine different things. Love, belief, seduction (the snake as the devil). It should have an L, and look a bit like an anchor (I'm from North Germany). I tried to combine it and had a pathetic design. So Sebi, our guitar player back then, and someone else you don’t know designed it. At the end I draw it and scanned it to have that hand-drawn optic. That's how all our logos come out by the way. No Photoshop but drawn by me. With this hand *rising his right hand*. 

 

Q: How do you relax after a long day?

 A: It is very easy to make me happy at that point. There is so much happening in my life. To relax, I just need myself, a couch and a TV and a stupid action-movie or animation movie, something that I don't have to think about a lot, where a lot of things are blown up… Sweat and muscles.. machine-gun. Totally stupid men's things. Then I'm happy. It's totally relaxing. 

 

Q: Which was your first concert?

 A: It was Roxette in October 1994 in Hamburg, with my first girlfriend. It was amazing. Unforgettable!

 

Q: Which song would you like to cover one day?

 A: There are a lot of songs I'd like to cover. I have a whole list. I'd like to know your ideas for songs. What do you like us to cover? Please just name songs that are not from HIM or Rammstein or Manson. It's not interesting for us to cover great bands that are very similar to us musically and much more famous. We like to cover songs outside of our genre as you might know. 

 

Q: Are you just as “crazy” in real life? Would we recognize you on the street?

 A: I don't jump around like crazy when being in a supermarket only because we sometimes do it in TV of the Lost at a gas station. It is different when I'm with the guys. When I am alone, I tend to be very calm and quiet. Usually I don't say that much. You definitely would recognize us on the street because at TV of the Lost you can see what we look like privately. It happens with increased regularity. Sometimes in situations where you don't find it that cool. But this is a problem of luxury I would never complain about. 

 

Q: Can you do a song with a trumpet? (Question from my 6 year old son).

 A: We have. La Bomba. *plays the song*. There was the trumpet.

 

Q: What is the last verse of “One Day Everything Will Be Okay”? I need to understand it correctly.

A: I honestly don't remember. Didn't sing that song since we recorded it in the studio. 

Here are the lyrics. *shows the lyrics of the song*. You can make a screenshot if you want. Have fun! 

 

 Q: Have you already been such a lout in kindergarten?

 A: According to Wikipedia, a lout is a disrespectful, impolite and aggressive person with bad ways of behavior. I don't consider myself a person like this.

 

Q: Would you ever do a Christmas - Album? With the old classics “Rudolph” or “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Silent Night, Holly Night)” in the form?

A: Not under normal circumstances. We are not Christians and we don't like these kinds of albums. If we had a good reason for doing that, like helping sick or poor children for example, or make a little child smile, I would do it for sure. 

 

Q: Do you really like your fans? Do you like the people buying your music? Would you help a friend in need? Do you consider yourself a “good” person?

A: I don't know how to answer such a question. Our music is heard by thousands of people. I can't know if I like them all. 99% of the people I meet after concerts are very sweet and friendly. I like them very much. But of course there can always be an asshole too. I don't understand the question. 

 

Q: Do you attend parties and concerts in private?

A: Yes I do, but very rarely. I never went out a lot. It's getting less the older I get. Remaining undetected is difficult. Sometimes I try funny disguises but it's difficult. But never mind. 

 

Q: Which band influenced you the most? Is there a band than inspired you to found Lord Of The Lost?

A: I think Roxette influenced me the most. Also “Die Ärzte” (very important for me in my youth). That's one of the reasons I started to wish standing on a stage. Their joy of playing was peerless for me. After seeing “The Darkness” in Hamburg I wanted to found a band. I was standing in the first row with the singer of The Pleasures. A short time after we founded The Pleasures. 

 

Q: Do you believe in resurrection? As what would you like to be resurrected as?

 A: No, I don't believe in these things.

 

Q: If LOTL would quit someday, would you like to be “just” the guitar player of some band then or do you need the attention of being a singer?

 A: As you might realized after concerts I'm not much addicted to be in focus. I like to hide behind the others. I don't need to be the center of attention all the time. I am no better just because I sing. We five are all the same important. I don't have to say more than the others. For a long time I just played only guitar in a band. Sometimes it's even too much attention for me. 

 

Q: How does it feel when people cheer for you after the concert?

A: When the last tone is fading and the cheers begin, it's an amazing feeling. But I'm a bit different. I don't perceive it as the people celebrating me and my band. It's more like celebrating together with the fans. It is a continual give and take. One doesn't work without the other. The phasing of feelings is something that happens between band and audience. This is why I don't feel celebrated and I hope that I will never do so. I think otherwise you would get a very wrong approach to music and the things you do. 

 

Q: A lot of songs are very personal. Do you sometimes feel that you are offering too much about yourself? How is it to see the reactions from your fans?

 A: This question is very good. Of course I open my heart in a way but I don't start a song like “This is a true story btw...” Everything remains to be a big question mark if a song is autobiographical or not. I like to express myself with metaphors. It doesn't feel like stripping down completely. I can express myself as hard as I want, in the end it just can be a good story. I also like to keep it to myself how personal it really is because it sometimes IS too personal. I think this makes the songs so intense if you can handle personal things. 

 

Q: How many guitars do you own?

 A: Not so many anymore. I used to have 40. Collected them… Sold everything... Now I have some Cyan ones… Some acoustic guitars… some cheap stuff… 2 or 3 basses. I have to count them, no idea. 10, 12, 14. Not so many. 

 

Q: When and where was the first time you stood on a stage  on stage and is there a recording of it? If so, could you show us a little snippet of it, if it's not too personal? 

 A: The first time on stage I was sitting because it was on the cello. This was a time where you did not have a mobile phone cam… sure, if I find some I will show you one. Maybe my parents will find something embarrassing. 

 

Q: If there was a “Rock (/Metal) bands against fur” campaign, would you participate with LOTL in something like that?

 A: Sure, we would! I would rather be naked than wearing fur! You just have to ask me but… Nobody does. We definitely would. Good thing! 

 

Q: Do your tattoos mean something special to you, or do you just like how it looks?

 A: That is different. There are some that are meaningful and there are some that are not. A pink star is a pink star.

 

Q: Is there a certain technique to sing the deep parts in songs, like in "Blood for Blood" for example? 

 A: I think my voice is just naturally like that. It's very deep, a bit damaged and a bit rough. You can do a lot of things with it. I don't have a special trick for doing that. I never really learned that. It just comes out of me this way.

 

Q: Are you the ones who decide where to play on tour or does the record label do that?

 A: Labels aren't doing that. They are responsible for CDs, downloads, illegal downloads etc. Our booking agency (Extratours Konzertbuero) mainly decides that. It decides it together with us. But on balance the (event) organizers decide that too. They need an interest to book us at festival XY or in city XY.

 

Q: Which one of your attributes annoys the other band members the most? 

 A: The problem is I can do a lot of things and all those things I do pretty well. I think this really bothers the others because they aren't able to do that much and especially not that well. 

 

 

 

Translation: Manja Lietzow, Natalie Willum