Interviewer: Danny Darky

 

Chris: Welcome to the last fanterview, for now, with…Me! I’m Chris! You are Dani.

Danny: Danny! That’s me…

Chris: Danny. Hello.

Dani: Hi!

Chris: We’ve already seen each other before. 

Dani: Exactly, we’ve seen each other occasionally.

 

<Intro>

 

[0:29]

Danny: Right! Today we are in Dresden, so kind of the final concert…uhm…so...uhm. What was the tour like for you and what was special for you?

Chris: Special was…well, the tour was super on average. Naturally on a tour like this there are always dates which are a bit nastier. When you are on the road on a Monday sometime or something like this, it isn’t always hustle and bustle…Special, for me, was the combination Combichrist and Lord of the Lost, because that’s something that Andy and I wanted to do for many years. We did, back then when I still had my electro project Unterart and Combichrist was a pure electrical band, play several dates together and talked about that it would be neat to be with top bands on tour together sometime. Well of course no one could have known that at some point there would be Lord of the Lost and Combichrist at some point are more of a rock than an electro band. Yeah..and now we made it come true. And that was..that is special to me. That made me happy. Still makes me happy.

 

[1:30]

Danny: How did you get the idea to..right…start this MEGA tour? Especially with this mixture?

Chris: Well, I did…Andy often talked about it with the head of our record label, André. All the time I frequently mentioned that we needed to go on tour together again sometime. But it was never convenient, because always our tour plans and dates ran past each other so that it never was possible. And then essentially our record label wrapped the package. They then wanted another international act, a second one, Filter for that, to include another band and finally this is something that then in the execution was thought up by our record label.

 

[2:08]

Danny: Hem, ok…well…Which city was the most fun for you during this MEGA tour?

Chris: That’s hard to say, it also wouldn’t be fair.

Danny: Ok, I thought, maybe there is/was something special.

Chris: Yeah, I’m getting that question a lot but it’s single moments and snapshots in time that are somehow special. It would not be right and fair and wouldn’t really be possible to choose as a whole to say “that was the best”…that’s not really fair.

 

[2:38]

Danny: Well, ok. Uhm… you got a new guitar custom made…

Chris: 2 actually, yep

Danny: …which is really really awesome! How did you get the idea…

Chris: Do you mean the blinking one or the other new one?

Danny:…to…the…uhm….the blinking one, yes, how did you get the idea to make it blink quasi at touch?

Chris: That’s actually quite simple, flashing guitars aren’t something new, KISS already had it and John Five and I don’t know who all else… And what always annoyed me was that those guitars on stage during those shows of all the other musicians who have something like that never really went with the music. I mean you don’t have a lighting technician for nothing that according to the beat or rhythm of the music… (drum sounds heard in the background) now we again have nice background noises…uhm…one doesn’t have a light technician for nothing that takes care that everything fits to the music and is clocked accordingly. And it becomes comparatively difficult to somehow couple…to set up with…couple…connect…doesn’t matter…[this part is actually at the end of the sentence but context/translation wise it better fit here] a guitar with wireless DMX also with the light technician. And I thought it would be nice if the guitar would shine exactly as …uhm..well…depending on what one plays. And there is this technology “sound to light” existing in various apps, even for iphone there’s stuff like that, that if you have a special light system at home, that according to the music the lamps will start to give light. However, this isn’t that easily implemented with an electromagnetic pick-up, but the concept is a similar one. And so, I just told my/our guitar maker “Man, I want this, can’t you please do this? This should be possible!” and then I said “Yeah, sure, no problem! I don’t yet know how, but somehow it’s possible”…The idea was essentially that the light follows the music because I’m a big fan of overall concepts and I don’t like it if the components cross each other and it only happens by chance.

Danny:…yeah…it succeeded..

Chris: It succeeded, yes!

 

[4:33]

Danny: Well…”the love of god” in German “Die Liebe Gottes” your current single, what is it actually about and how did you get the idea to write that song that way?

Chris: It’s mainly about that it actually doesn’t matter..uhm..what one does believe in or does not believe in, whether it’s an atheist, or a Muslim, or a Christian, or a Jew or something else…uhm… that, considering how our world is set on fire the past years, it seems that even if one god or however many gods exist, we already long lost the love of those gods and are on our own. And I found it actually quite nice. This “we all have lost the love of god” isn’t about…it’s not… an antichristian song or a satanical confession or something like that, like “god left us”, but it’s a more general thought. If somewhere a higher power exists, existed or might exist it surely isn’t there anymore. And..uhm…that’s the fundamental part, we are on our own and we ourselves are responsible for what we do and what we’ll make out of this world. And uhm…the music I wrote together with a friend from another band, that’s Kai (Stuffel),who plays in the german-rockband Wirtz, with whom I coincidentally already played together with in my first band in Hamburg 1999, he was my guitarist. We’ve known each other for quite some time. Together with him I wrote the music and the text somehow came bit by bit. The music was done and then the words were spinning in my head, always like uncontrollable somehow..it is dripping in and you have to catch it and bam … there it is (difficult to understand)

Danny: Yeah, cool!

 

[6:30]

Danny: So, this year your album will be released.

Chris: Yes

Danny: End of July…What can we expect?

[6:39]

Chris: The rest, for sure, doesn’t sound like “the Love of God”. We deliberately chose a song that stands out a bit in its obliqueness. Anyhow there is a lot of electronic on this album, a lot of future stuff, theme wise as well as sound-design wise. It is a super complex album. We are, we have, I produced it together with the Berlin electro band Formalin which took care of the whole electronics. Actually they originate in this whole electro IBM, however it is called, genre. And there we dared to do some border crossings again and create whole new sounds. We wanted something that sounds somehow mechanical, futuristic, a bit like science-fiction movie soundtrack but still rough it seriously gets down to business but it isn’t as raw as for example “Full Metal Whore” but a lot more elaborate in sound.

 

[7:40]

Danny: Yes, cool, I’m looking forward to it. Super. How would you describe your musical evolution from your first album till today?

Chris: …I can’t… It was…it is not a… except for that we essentially got harder there isn’t a real red thread one could follow… we always have taken stuff, elements from different styles that we liked and expanded that frame that makes up Lord of the Lost on different corners like in some…. no idea… like in some computer game where the map is black at first and then more and more is added. To outline this now would be topic for maybe a biography.. But to just quickly touch on it doesn’t work at all, I think, I can’t do it intuitively…

Danny: That’s not an issue… you are…

Chris: But it is an issue…the issue!

 

[8:38]

Danny: Then you maybe have to write a book.

Chris: Yeah, I’m sure we are going to at some point.

 

[8:44]

Danny: So, this year you are at some festivals. Is there one that especially look forward to?

Chris: Uhm….yes, I especially look forward to 2. One is the M’era luna because it’s M’era luna, it’s just a big thing, seriously big. WGT is already past us, that one I also looked forward to. I think the most I’m looking forward to Castle Rock because we have the opportunity to present ourselves on two days, one time as ensemble with our classical skit and one time as loud band. And that is what actually fascinates me the most: that, at one festival, we explore these complete ..yeah.. opposites, left and right, top and bottom, front and back, whatever, of Lord of the Lost. And that, on one day, we can completely calm down with many, many guest musicians and ensemble for that (an overflying jet drowns out his voice).. On the other day like this (points upwards)…loud….as loud as possible and yeah we’ll see…Mono Inc. will play after us, if people still have air to breathe when they have to get on stage, as we naturally will try to tear down the stage. 

Danny: Yeah! Very neat!!

 

[9:56]

Danny: When you go on tour what has to definitely always be in your suitcase? Like something personal…

Chris: I need a toothbrush, I need shower gel, underwear…

Danny: So the most necessary…

Chris: I don’t need anything that…

Danny: like something from home…

Chris: Chris Harms doesn’t need the special things so that Chris Harms will go on tour. I don’t have any weird affectations or any weird requirements. I pack what you need when you go traveling. The whole technical stuff is another thing that we do have in our storage, so I don’t need to take anything from home. I don’t need an extra stuffed toy or blanket or something…Very, very, very important is the communication home, something like a phone, sure, but that isn’t anything special either. 

Danny: Yeah, a phone everyone usually has…

Chris: Uhm…no there isn’t anything…I’m pretty boring that way. A pretty normal guy that likes to wear underwear and socks and t-shirts. 

 

[10:57] (Cut)

Chris: We also have a nightliner, we have a tv, we have a PlayStation, we have an Xbox, we have another TV, we have…I don’t know…music here, out there, out there and out there, and I think maybe 1% of the time we make use of this. Otherwise we are pretty happy by ourselves or on my own. On tour I like to be alone for an afternoon, looking for a spot where one doesn’t have to see anyone. It is pretty cramped, jammed together, with 18 people in a bus. 

Danny: I can believe that. People need that from time to time.

 

[10:35]

Dany: If for one day you could slip into another role, which would it be and why?

Chris: I would like to be woman for a day to see what it’s like, like everything. Because ultimately that’s the most different role one can imagine. At least for me, I mean sure I could say I would like to have been Abraham Lincoln or Michael Jackson. I would like to be Puff Daddy or someone. For me it is interesting, just any woman, just to once know how it feels like to live inside a woman’s body…I don’t know… how one perceives a man as a woman, what it is like to pee as a woman and I think I would probably touch my breasts the whole day to see what it’s like if you yourself have breasts, no penis or something… I think I find it interesting how it is to be in a different body. And I could no matter how often I dress up as a tranny for the fun of it and jump around on stage, it’s not the same. It is not…This wish is not connected to a sexual preference. I am not transsexual, so that I would wish to become a woman, but if I could experience it once how it is, also to understand the other sex better in general, I would find it super interesting. Maybe I then would choose some special woman, like this or that famous actress, maybe, if you combine that. But to be honest I wouldn’t know who that would be. I do think Charlize Theron is hot…maybe that one….yeah! That one!

Danny: Well, that would be some role.

Chris: But 15 years ago!

Danny: Oh…

[13:20] (Cut)

 

[13:21]

Danny: What was the most peculiar fan request you ever got?

Chris: The most peculiar fan request I ever got was the probably most primordial, from an evolutionary perspective the most normal wish of any woman, a baby. 

Danny: Ah…Ok..

Chris: The situation was just weird, I don’t mean to say that I would have said yes in a different kind of situation, but it was so strange. We were just in Russia, we exited the club and in Russia the girls stand very close together and somehow try to somehow stop one from entering the taxi or try to join or something. Super cold, already in jacket, hat and scarf and one of them grabs me while I’m already with one leg inside the taxi and said: “Chris.”, “yeah”, “can you make me baby?” And I:”Uhm, no, sorry, I don’t think I can make you baby.” And she said: ”No, no, not, not for sex, just for baby! Of course we need to have sex, but it’s not because of sex, it’s because of baby.” And I just thought: Woah……..that was so spooky. And I said: ”No sorry, no baby, no baby…”

Danny: Oh god!

Chris: That was weird! Though it actually isn’t weird at all. It is completely understandable that if you see someone that you find really attractive even if you don’t know that someone at all, and you get the feeling you fall in love with that person because you somehow idolize it, that at some point there’s maybe the wish to have a baby with that person. This “I want a child from you!” is nothing new, but the manner was…”Can you make me baby,…ahhh….not for sex, just for baby!” That was weird!

Danny: Yeah, cool

 

[15:10]

Danny: You have your side project “Harms und Kapelle”. Are you planning a new album and are you going to play some concerts? Or…?

Chris: I wouldn’t even really call it side project. It was, that was a musical excursion without rhyme or reason and…uhm…That just like that…(bing!)…oops! Phone off during interviews I just learned!... uhm…that just happened like that. We produced it over a long time because we wanted to, without even a band name existing for it, it was just 5 friends playing music together. And then the album was created and I would even have been totally fine with not publishing it. It was actually more for me and by coincidence I happened to show it to Out of Line together with some Lord of the Lost discs. And they were like, let’s do it, people will think it’s cool. And I was just like, ok, sure, let’s do it. It was bit like a musical vacation. There always were some pieces created here and there. That’s why I wouldn’t call it a side project. To me a project is something active in a form. We are all active, but all in different bands and Tobi now with us. That’s why I’m not really planning anything. I’m sure that it will happen again, because there already are new songs, written and also as demo 5 or 6 or 7, but nothing fully produced. And if there will be enough songs we might do it again. If it is in the same combination or if maybe 1 or 2 people of the band, or music-ensemble will be different ones, I don’t know. I will be there for sure, otherwise it wouldn’t be “Harms und Kapelle” but “Kapelle und Class” or something. But concerts, I don’t think so. The main problem is the following, I’m only willing to give concerts with something like that if it doesn’t disturb Lord of the Lost, timewise.

Danny: Ok

Chris: Because it is already the case that I have trouble to timewise organize my family, the band and my studio job in such a way that everything is really done 100%. So that I can hardly imagine that I could integrate anymore (noise muffling his voice)

Danny: I can understand that.

Chris: If fans then say “hm, but at least one gig!”, it doesn’t make a difference whether it’s one or thousand gigs to prepare, it’s a lot of work! Surely there will be something new but live most likely not.

 

[17:34]

Danny: So, now let’s get to your stage make-up. It’s always very special…Where do you get those ideas? Do they come more spontaneously or are you planning everything through as how to do the make-up? 

Chris: There are different dynamics. Sometimes it is actually planned, especially for big festivals, where we think before about outfits and make-up, how it should look. And sometimes we want to try to make everyone think “what the fuck?! What’s happening now?” or that we want it to be especially beautiful or fitting or homogenous. This can happen. On tour it’s mostly one somehow starts, another one has a look “oh look, this guy is doing this, that guy is doing that” and one automatically adapts to each other. And sometimes it’s just the need to make it look as extreme as possible without rhyme or reason. Sometimes we lack the get up, for example if it’s as hot as yesterday, ..where were we…Danzig..it was so hot! And we weren’t up to it, you have no desire to smear the stuff everywhere, but somehow it starts, one begins and suddenly everyone is red again. And yesterday was such a day, for example, all four of us were in a room except for Tobi who was in a different one. And the four of us somehow had a lot of red body paint and it all fit well together. Tobi gets out of the room and is completely green. That was… That can… That naturally can happen. And then, of course, it is like that, I don’t know, you are at the dentist and you can decide between “Der Spiegel” or “Vogue”, I rather pick the “Vogue” because I think “yeah! Cool!” and then you see a cool chick with some wicked make-up which obviously is realised too beauty-like. But the idea in itself, its design is cool and then I quickly take a picture of that or remember it and the next time I try it out because I think it looked wicked. This tour was special, Combichrist and we did each other’s make-up, it was very funny. “Hey, I’ll do your make-up!” “Yeah, cool, then I’ll do yours!” The most fun was actually with Joey, so Joe Letz and me, without any mirrors,..where was that…ah yeah in the Netherlands, Amsterdam…did each other’s make up. We were sitting face-to-face like this and within 10 minutes we did each other’s make-up like children painting with fingers. It actually was really funny.

 

[19:50]

Danny: What are the plans for the year 2017? 

Chris: There will be loud, pretty normal tour, the main tour to the album. Because right now we have this thing together with Combichrist and summer festivals and then in autumn it’s nice to once in awhile have no live gigs. And then the “Eisheilige Nächte” with Subway to Sally. Which means the actual real tour to the new album will just happen beginning of the year, I don’t know yet when, I’m not sure I can actually tell when, but sometime around Easter. There will also be some international dates. If we are really lucky for the plans or our dream-plans work out then next year we will have some things which will be significantly farther away, but I don’t want to phrase it yet, because I’m a bit superstitious that it might not work out that way. Then there’s naturally a bunch of festivals and then in winter there will an ensemble tour. 

Danny: Cool! I’m seriously looking forward to the year 2017!

Chris: End of 2017.

Danny: Very nice!

Chris: And 2018, we probably won’t do anything for 2 weeks and then carry on!

Danny: That’s how it goes.

Chris: Yeah, we’ll see. Maybe we reach the point where we actually need a break of half a year. 

Danny: You would have earned it, oh well

Chris: We’ll see…

Danny: Super! Then that’s all from my side, it was my pleasure!

Chris: From mine as well. Then we’ll see each other at the concert later or more likely you me and maybe I you. 

Danny: Could we maybe take a picture?

Chris: A picture? But we are filming the whole time. 

Danny: We are filming? Hi!

Chris: No, sure, we can take one. Many thanks!

Danny: Thank you!

  

 

Translation: Jennifer Rudolph

 

Proofreading: Manuela Lütolf