A Conversation with Chris Corner of IAMX

This is the original transcript of the interview, only minor editing has been applied for readability. This has been the basis for articles but has never been published in the original form.

Wortraub: You are from London, where it always seems to be about being hip and in. How do you deal? What do you do with this influence?
Chris: „I got to a point where I liked changing what I do. But the only way that you can really be unique is to not be involved with any of it. To just create your own world outside all of that shit. You know, being new, and hip and fashionable and stuff like that. It has never been something that I felt part of anyway. And the only way that someone like me can achieve a different sound is to not listen to it. I will enjoy this and I will enjoy that. I do not necessarily mean the music. The environment, the atmosphere, the things people say or write about. The whole thing, not just the music. Lots of artists don’t listen to any of that. They just do what they do and then someone else will pick it up and recognize things in it.“

Wortraub: You moved to Berlin. What is the difference between London and Berlin? Are people telling you different shit around here?
Chris: „I don’t listen to anything anymore. I never really did. There were points when people told me stuff and I thought: Oh god, you don’t know anything about me, you don’t understand me. I am not necessarily saying anything with this song. You really do not understand. What is the point in me reading things like that or listening to what people say? I just don’t. Ever anymore. It is just not something that I am interested in. I put stuff out there and if some people connect to it, great. If most people don’t, I don’t care. I just have to do this thing. This is what I do, it is not going to change. People write shit about it, doesn’t mean I am going to stop doing it. But in terms of like the difference between London and Berlin. It is not that much difference. In terms of musicians, London is more competitive, there is more stress to achieve. To get into the industry, to get a record deal. It seems like it is more relaxed in Berlin.“

Wortraub: Do you have a connection with the Berlin music scene? Seeed or Beatsteaks?
Chris: „I have no contact with anybody. That is not because I don’t want to. It just never really happened. I tend to be quite shy about getting involved with other musicians unless they are close friends and they have been a long time. I think people see it as a kind of arrogance, but it is not meant to be. It isn’t.

Wortraub: You are more introverted then?
Chris: „Yes, exactly. I kind of worry about other musicians. I’d rather not get involved unless it happens naturally. I’d rather not get involved because I think, I’d get confused. Music is what I do all time, every day, most days. I want to talk to somebody about architecture and not about music. If I am touring, doing gigs, it is like a job and you have to get through it. It is like being a soldier, you connect because you are in war, because you are in this thing together.“

Wortraub: Is touring war?
Chris: „Yes, it is kind of. Yeah. It is like you are going out to battle. To win people over and to win something. Or else, why do it? Personally, it is quite a stressful, tiring thing to do. It can be really enjoyable and really exciting. But if at the end of it you do not win something, I would not want to do it again.“

Wortraub: Other musicians have told me differently, someone said it was a ritual, no matter if someone cared and another told me that he had to do it, because it was the worst drug addiction ever…
Chris: „I think it is. It is funny, because at the moment I am having trouble with the idea of touring. In the last couple of days, I have been trying to find a new way of dealing with this excitement and addiction that touring is. Not just the adrenaline and the physical side of it. The psychology of getting on stage is highly addictive and I can only see it getting worse. I am trying to deal with this at the moment.“

Wortraub: Why did you choose Berlin and not let’s say Hamburg or Amsterdam?
Chris: „There were a few reasons. I already had this inbuilt desire through the history, especially the cultural history of people coming here and knowing that it has always been that kind of place. It always felt like a kind of liberal thinking place, and I don’t know if that is true. I think it is. It is better than the rest of England. That is why I lived in London. English culture does not really allow for art, they do not invest. I don’t know if Germany does, but in Berlin no one cares and everyone just gets on with they want to do and it attracts a lot of cultures and it is quite flexible and it is underground. Everything is open late and it is cheap. Blah, blah, blah. All these reasons.“

Wortraub: There always seems to be a centre for culture, I mean London in England, New York on the East coast, Berlin in Germany. Does this centre, the city influence your song writing?
Chris: „In fact, I think, it is possibly the opposite. I am always trying to get out of something that is happening.“

Wortraub: Why then choose Berlin and not Hildesheim?
Chris: *laughs* „Oh I don’t know. Because at least there is the choice. The thing about Berlin is, that in fact, if my management weren’t here, I would probably have moved somewhere else. But there is a good support here for IAMX at the moment. And it is a good place to work from, for central Europe. It is very convenient to get to places. And it is moving east, which I always had a fascination with. I don’t know, but there is something drawing me to the east. Berlin is another step I think. It is just getting away from the west, that is what I am doing.“

Wortraub: Is that where this idea of carnival – a grotesqueness, this element of circus or cabaret in your songs on the new album comes from?
Chris: „I think it is coming from a few things. It comes from being onstage. It comes from watching films. There is something in performance about carnival, as you say the grotesque being involved in carnival, in circus, in theatre which you don’t really get in western culture now. Everything is perfect, everyone is airbrushed. It is like unreal. There is something really nice about being onstage where you are one to one with people. When you see this … the flaws in the reality of people. There is something that permeated into the record that has come from me being on stage and being totally animal. Just losing myself in a way that real people don’t. I don’t know, it is a bit hard to explain. I have always been into this idea of cabaret anyway. I think, it felt like the best time to do it. There were a few song ideas, which were going that way and I had never used them before because it did not feel right. And then it felt right.“

Wortraub: Do you feel like a circus attraction on stage? Like a freak show?
Chris: „Kind of yeah. I guess so. There is something very liberating about that. The beauty of being on stage. In any part of your life you can be as depressed or unhappy as you want to be. But on stage, you can win and be completely how you want to be. That is probably this addictive thing that we have talked about. Another part of your life you might be. You might not have self-esteem about this or about that. But on stage it is a very powerful position. Circus freak? Not in a Marilyn Manson kind of way.

Wortraub: But you do love to pose. You like to use make-up and stuff. What does this very high styled performance mean to you? Is it an acting-out of something?
Chris: „Acting is the wrong word. I think acting would suggest, that it wasn’t me.“

Wortraub: How about letting something out then? Liberating something inside?
Chris: „Yes, that is it exactly. Or just letting something happen rather than controlling something. I think, the thing about the stage is, that for me there is no control. There is control of the performance like remembering the lyrics. But everything is there. I do believe it is the control. That is where the addiction comes from. It is similar to when I get really drunk. In day to day existence I am a very kind of polite person. But something aggressive does happen to me when I get drunk or do this. This is the friendly way of getting that out. Exorcising that ghost.“

Wortraub: But there is less aggression in „The Alternative“ than in „Kiss + Swallow“… Why is that? Have you loosened up a little?
Chris: „Yeah, a bit. I got more playful with the sounds, the production and the songs as well. Yeah.“

Wortraub: Using elements like an accordion or a waltz rhythm are rather unusual for an electronics album. You would not normally find those in dance.
Chris: „No, and that’s why. This whole idea of „K+S“, it became electronic because I did not have a band. It was the easiest way for me to make a record. And I really like electronic music. But it is not my obsession. It is just a tool. I now use the same tools, but I use others as well, that I would not have incorporated at the time. It is difficult if you like different things. The hardest thing is to make a record, to stop yourself doing everything. Sometimes record are so eclectic that it doesn’t make sense. So I have to be careful, by throwing in these waltz rhythms into the music, I can confuse people.

Wortraub: So when you are in the studio, you do everything yourself? No guests?
Chris: „Yes, almost. Backing vocals sometimes and a few strings sometimes, and few live drums. Generally, the thing is just me.“

Wortraub: You told me before that in London everything seems to be a race, a competition. Everybody always chasing their own tails. And „Kiss + Swallow“ shows that. „The Alternative“ seems more relaxed and playful, did Berlin take some of that pressure away?
Chris: „Yes, precisely that. I think that, the only pressure I really have is self-induced deadlines. Like: we need to make a record, so we need to set a deadline. Since we do it independently, we need our own deadline. That is the only pressure I got. Rather than going out and seeing these people do this thing, and those people do that thing. And being confused by that idea of achievement. Chasing my own tail is not like chasing fame. It means, that I was getting into a loop with myself all the time. I did not feel relaxed enough to do the things I wanted to do. I was distracted. I was not relaxed enough to do exactly what I wanted to to.

Wortraub: This sounds like you are a perfectionist?
Chris: „Yes, exactly. Yes. That is quite normal for musicians or producers. Perfectionism comes from being a producer, not the musical side. In performances it does not affect me but in the studio. Yes, it is a problem. And I am trying to get over it, because I want to enjoy it. Trying to enjoy things a bit more. Loosening up.“

Wortraub: You seem to be working on yourself which reflects in the music. The sound seems clearer, more structured. Have you cleared up your music with clearing up your life?
Chris: „I think, simplifying my life has definitely put some perspective on that. For instance, with „K+S“ I did not have a management, I felt frustrated in London, there was lots of messy things going on with relationships and so on. Finding management and getting a bit of money for certain things and other projects and being able to relax and not being so desperate to say yes to everything. That really helped. The main difference for me was learning to be efficient with sound and arrangement. Working with a movie, working with management, shining a different perspective on my music. Not that they are right but at least they say things. And you go: oh, ok. It sinks in, it all goes in there. I have become more efficient. So, trying to clear up sounds. It needed to be more relevant, it needed to explain itself rather than putting lots of layers in to make something sound huge. Trying to be efficient with a few sounds. It is one bass line rather than three bass lines layered. One guitar. I think that is something I really learn to do. Be minimal, be effective. Less is more – it is a clichÈ but it really is something to aim for.“

Wortraub: Your pics and your outfit are very conscious of the optical effect in addition to the acoustic effect of the music. How important is the visual aspect of IAMX?
Chris: „I think, it is something I love and I hate. I just look at what I do and what I am. Then I go nice and playful about messing with visual ideas and homemade DIY clothes. And what I am not into is high class chic, spending lots of money and clothes and things. Style and fashion. That is not what I am interested in. I am much more interested in DIY, like a convenience style of making your own clothes and cutting your own hair. Mainly because I do not like to come into contact with people.“

Wortraub: But your performance is self-conscious. It is more than a normal person standing on stage, you said it is letting something out …
Chris: „Yeah, it is letting something out, but it is also a smoke screen. I know what you are getting at … it is security. A safety net that you can pull apart and fuck up as much or as little as you want in the process of losing yourself on stage. So in the end, I usually end up looking like a mess. And there is nothing stylish about a big, sweaty, fucked up mess. It is something to fuck up I think. It is a place to start that you can destroy in some way. And it is probably … if we are going into this therapy today, which we are, I guess … it is probably something, a part of myself, I want to destroy. This whole stage thing is a battle between myself and this …“

Wortraub: There is always ideas of punk coming to mind. DIY, destroying something … annihilation of the self, negation of the act on stage. That is punk, isn’t it?
Chris: „Yes, I guess it is. Yeah. I have never thought about it like that. In fact, I have never thought about this idea of tearing myself up. But it so obvious. This is strange. It is a strange period for me right now. I have really been growing up and learning stuff about me and the world. That is really self-obsessed but it is this way. I was never obsessed with punk. I like the animal violence of the punk attitude. Not the physical violence but the freedom of it. It is not the kind of music I grew up with. But punk is a way, it does not have to be from the time, right?“

Wortraub: Your music is club-oriented, but you do not seem to be a club person. Do you go clubbing? Enjoy the nightlife?
Chris: „I take little pieces of what I like about anything. Very rarely I go out to clubs and if I do, I might be inspired by a few sounds, this thing, that thing. There is something about dance music, particularly about this minimal, raw dirty dance music that always gets me. I am really obsessed with rhythm.“

Wortraub: Is that the animal aspect again? No message, just rhythm?
Chris: „That could be it. But when I get really turned on, go on the floor, and it is usually dance music, but that does not turn me on. It is the use of the right bass drum sound, that turns me on. Because I know, that somebody has thought about it, injected a human quality to something tribal, I guess. It is the conscious choice of this sound or that. It is a small thing, but for me it is everything. If you change the high hat, to a slightly syncopated rhythm or it becomes a triplet rhythm. If there is something unusual about the sound, then it got me. Whenever I go out, which is not very often.“

Wortraub: „After Every Party I die“ … have you had bad experiences with shallow and superficial party people?
Chris: „Every time I go out. Anytime I walk into the street. I am constantly surprised at how stupid and empty a lot of people are. Without realizing it themselves. I don’t know if I am being completely judgemental and too hard about it. I am surprised … even at my own shows I meet people that I cannot connect with you in any way, I feel nothing from you. You are going to give me nothing and your going to suck everything from me and I am getting nothing back. And it is people like that … oh, I don’t want to … I could go on for hours, this is too much … It is just feeling exasperated, losing your breath about how different these people are to you. But I am probably the stupid one in this situation. Ignorance is bliss, right? But this is not going to go away and this is my way of dealing with it, writing about it, talking in interviews about it, getting angry about it.“

Wortraub: All in all, your view on modern life seems to be critical, „super market jesus“, „guilt religion“ „politics of war“, „your as dull as you think you are deep“ … is modern living so bad? Do things like that piss you off?
Chris: „Yeah, they do. The only time I express this, is when I am really trashed. Then I get confrontational with people, which is rare. Or with lyrics. I figure, where else am I going to get this vent. Right? Where else can I get this out? I am very cynical about the world. I think, I am quite schizophrenic with things because sometimes I am suddenly so happy about how beautiful people are, when you connect with them. Oh my god, I was so wrong about everything. Then the next minute you get confused because it is not that well. This is my true way of staying my nice calm person. Because I have a vent. I would be a nasty, cynical, horrible person. Or maybe a very stressed person. Everybody in some form or other needs their therapy. This is my therapy. People keep on telling me that I should go and see a therapist.“

Wortraub: This is an urban phenomenon, isn’t it? You are confronting it …
Chris: „Yes, that is the problem. I think, deep down I am a city boy but I have many problems with living in the city. There are too many people. I do not want to be around people all the time. There is this endless list of things that I hate about the city. When I go to the country I instantly feel calm and being one with nature … but then two days later you are bored out of your mind, you want to go back to the city. But I mean, we live in a century, as a generation, we have grown up with this. We have been fed this lifestyle since we were babies. There is no way we could ever really get back to nature. So the only way is to somehow get a balance. I have no idea how that is going to happen – personally with me, I am not talking globally – I am wondering how I can get that balance. I am quite happy here at the moment. There is some balance I am gaining. It is allowing my the psychological space to think about what is wrong and what is right.“