IAMX - Interview
IAMXtasy - The Conversation with Chris Corner
Human genius comes in many shapes an forms, but a familiar thread that intertwines these magical beings is a tendency to be a tad eccentric, often battling with large inner demons such as, self doubt, anxiety, anger, and the like…. Chris Corner and his Band/Side-Show creation that is IAMX are no exception to this rule.
I chat to him during the UK segment of his tour, at King Tut’s Glasgow, Scotland, featuring his latest album, aptly named ‘The Alternative’ ….
Your off-stage persona is so different, almost like a spilt personality, would you agree?
“I’ve always had a bit of that. Since I was young, I spent a lot of time by myself, I was a bit of a loner, always very controlled and calm and very polite, a nice guy! “ And he still is…
In analysing the lyrics of both your albums it becomes clear that you feel compelled to express your emotions as many artists do, though the common themes you focus on are predominantly the negative side of human behaviour, including yourself, and your plight for love and kindness in the world.
“It is something that I like to explore, it’s probably the bitter & twisted, very tense person inside. I get to explore on my records & on stage and push myself to the extremes.
Unless you deal with that baggage, it’s gonna come out somehow cos everyone needs to express that part of themselves, fortunately for me I can do that with music and with lyrics. The idea of justice and this free-floating anxiety idea, I don’t really know where it comes from… I don’t really need to be adored and justified and my whole life to be worth something”
But would that be the case if you didn’t have the ability to create? Is that really the truth?
“Maybe to a certain degree but not to the extreme that the darker side of me wants it to be because I know that IAMX is kind of the driving force that’s kind of dragging me along by the scruff of my neck. In one sense I love it and I need it, and sometimes I think it’s a bit uncontrolled and not necessarily completely who I am but want to express myself.”
So self expression is your main motivation behind making music?
“It is at the moment, and I have given in to the will of this project, because obviously it’s helping me at this time in my life, I think it’s exactly what I need. There have been different point of my life where I haven’t needed to be so aggressive or so expressive; so open, because I think lyrically I am very open, even if it’s quite abstract sometimes, I don’t censor myself at all, I try and be as free as possible.”
I guess you benefit from being erratic really?
“Yes I do, I enjoy being in touch with that slightly erratic subconscious that I don’t get to express in everyday life.
I know that there is more truth in that side of me than this side”.
I think that many people strive to be at a place in their life where they are happy, when the truth is that it’s actually never going to happen, but you seem to allow yourself to be in that place; living in the moment so to speak?
“That’s a really nice way to put it. Once you realise that money, fame, success, or whatever you are looking to achieve isn’t gonna solve all your problems, isn’t gonna give you the answer…there is no answer. I personally try to throw myself into things and live it and love it at the time, and if it doesn’t feel real to me then I don’t continue doing it”
I feel that few could say that they are capable of being that way. It’s a quality that makes you attractive, to see that on stage inspires people, including myself…. Although, to know yourself involves a great deal of introspection and it seems that lately many Celebrities and creative types are divulging the secrets of their dark side, coming out about their struggles with depression, anxiety, lack of confidence, and various neuroses. Is that something you can relate to?
“It is, and I suppose the quick fix therapy of it is to go and make a record or to go on stage, but in fact sometimes doing this compounds that level of anxiety and depression because you can achieve a tremendous high and connection with the world, the universe, and everything”, he laughs, you know, you feel at one with something and then you get in the dressing room and you are completely empty; there’s just a hole. A lot of people fill it up with alcohol and sex and drugs and excess and I have dabbled with that but I know that it doesn’t cure it. So what I am trying to do now is become a little more in control of what surrounds the shows, my time before and after, also my creative life and personal life. If that can be in my control then I can kind of accept this - being out of control.”
So where does that leave you when your life is pretty much consumed with IAMX, making music and touring, are you happy living from day to day or is there anything that you do yearn for?
“No, well there is this sort of longing for stability, in the heart and the home and all that bullsh*t, or I thought I needed that, and I moved to Berlin and work from there now, it’s kind of my home I guess, but still I spend most of my time in the World, travelling around and working. I’m finally getting used to it, settling into the fact that I don’t have a home and am probably for a long time not gonna have a home.
Of course, I’m sure there are plenty that would be jealous of the lifestyle, but it’s another story to live it. Do you find that hard to deal with?
“It is in some ways, but if accept it you sort of live your life like that. My apartment in Berlin is like a temporary space now, it’s a nice place and I enjoy it pretty much but I live out of my suitcase because I know I am gonna be leaving and I don’t wanna become attached to it and it’s okay, there’s something quite comforting in that actually, you just get used to it. It’s quite a big step because touring is very energetic and hard and sucks you dry, but that’s not a moan, honestly because it is a really is a wonderful thing to do and you get as much as you give.”
On your MySpace page you mention Insomnia which I can relate to as my mind runs at 1000mph with a strange variety thoughts too. I often think about human conduct and how, in my opinion, what others claim to be extreme behaviour, is actually a reality inside themselves that they would never admit or show. My favourite line from the lyrics of the Negative Sex is - “we all wan’t to f*ck ourselves and rape the world”, what did that mean to you?
“it’s funny, it’s one of those moments where I’m wasn’t angry with myself, I’m angry with humanity and human nature, the whole system and way that we live our life. It’s a funny kind of feminist song. I was looking at myself and over analysing, but you have to do that sometimes. I was analysing my male behaviour and tendencies, and my destructive qualities, and being really pissed off about that. Combined with this self obsessed side of me, which is basically where the ‘we all want to fuck ourselves’ comes from. In many ways it’s sort of a disease of our times where people are self obsessed, and it’s not a bad thing because it can lead to good things.” The raping the world thing is not an environmental statement but is more about the disrespect humans have for everything in general, including each other. He has a point there!!
How do you think your fans perceive you?
“It’s a difficult question. I don’t know how I wan’t them to see me because I can’t control that and you can never really be inside peoples minds, you can give general theories but what I try to do is not think about it too much and to be quite free with what we do, everybody in the band; live and on record, not to be dragged down by too much conceptuality, or putting it into a box, I don’t wanna do that, as soon as you do what people expect of you it becomes a circular thing and I don’t get into that.”
Well that makes sense when I think of something that I read about you being inspired by many different songs and artists like ‘Guilty’ by Barbara Streisand. Chris explains,
“Well that specific reference was to the first record I was given by my mum, she bought it. If it’s one of the first things you listen to it sticks in your head, like Michael Jackson and all those classics.”
I had to admit that I secretly like Barry Mannilow, Chris replies “Mandy, what a fantastic song! There are millions of pieces of performance and performers that I could go in to and wank off about for hours, but if somebody says to me what are your influences, it’s too wide, I can’t say”
Are you professionally trained in any way?
“No it’s all done from being on stage. It’s one of those things where you can keep learning and that’s what I kike about it. Every night you can think about one note that you are never hitting and then one night you hit it and you think, that’s it, I got it and then you move on and think of other things. It‘s really a suck it and see practice run on stage.
The use Myspace Street-Team, is that an original idea?
“It’s really exciting. It was started by the management to help promote a band who doesn’t have a deal and who are completely independent, and is not in press or hyped by this money led band. So it’s become a kind of mini
War that we have started and we are really trying to stick to this method. It’s not really a manifesto, that sounds to revolutionary but if we stay independent and do things naturally and if people come to us then we go for, but this idea of having commercial backing and hype and all that bullsh*t obviously really doesn’t work for us.
Do you think you will ever go down that route?
“Not intentionally, we try and control it as much as possible and doing the myspace thing is a really nice way to connect directly with people that are interested in you. Every band in the world does it now there but it is a very powerful tool for independent bands so we try to use that and word of mouth and it’s become a really healthy way to do it. I have done more things in the past that have been more commercial and a good thing for me to do. I got trapped up in contracts and spent a lot of time worrying about just being able to get records out, but this way it’s very open and more creative, we do the shows, we connect with the people and it’s great.
What about the other songs from the Alternative?
“This album, the way that we’ve done it is that we’ve had to release it to different territories at different times. It’s been staggered so it’s quite old to me now, but what’s really good seeing new faces and new enthusiasm and it obviously still feels good but I have to have another album to get my teeth into.”
…and YES, there is a 3rd album to be released around February [though probably later in the UK], Chris says “I have been writing it on the road as I go along, it’s really important for me to have that to look forward to.” He hopes to be touring with songs from the new album in March.
I commend the fact that IAMX, with the help of their management team ‘nineteen95’, held a competition for fans to create a mix of their latest single from the album, ‘Nightlife’, and also that it was open to everybody. It’s a much better concept than throwing wads of cash at big professional DJ’s and producers.
Chris smiles and tells me, “I think it’s a really nice idea to have kinda weird, different, scrappy, whatever it might be, interpretations of the music.”
To his credit, this describes Chris, IAMX, and the music quite accurately. All are most definitely unique, quirky, diverse, and passionate without doubt. They are living testament to the fact that you don’t have to have a record deal to be an explosive success.
By Mel Denove
www.myspace.com/iamx
Human genius comes in many shapes an forms, but a familiar thread that intertwines these magical beings is a tendency to be a tad eccentric, often battling with large inner demons such as, self doubt, anxiety, anger, and the like…. Chris Corner and his Band/Side-Show creation that is IAMX are no exception to this rule.
I chat to him during the UK segment of his tour, at King Tut’s Glasgow, Scotland, featuring his latest album, aptly named ‘The Alternative’ ….
Your off-stage persona is so different, almost like a spilt personality, would you agree?
“I’ve always had a bit of that. Since I was young, I spent a lot of time by myself, I was a bit of a loner, always very controlled and calm and very polite, a nice guy! “ And he still is…
In analysing the lyrics of both your albums it becomes clear that you feel compelled to express your emotions as many artists do, though the common themes you focus on are predominantly the negative side of human behaviour, including yourself, and your plight for love and kindness in the world.
“It is something that I like to explore, it’s probably the bitter & twisted, very tense person inside. I get to explore on my records & on stage and push myself to the extremes.
Unless you deal with that baggage, it’s gonna come out somehow cos everyone needs to express that part of themselves, fortunately for me I can do that with music and with lyrics. The idea of justice and this free-floating anxiety idea, I don’t really know where it comes from… I don’t really need to be adored and justified and my whole life to be worth something”
But would that be the case if you didn’t have the ability to create? Is that really the truth?
“Maybe to a certain degree but not to the extreme that the darker side of me wants it to be because I know that IAMX is kind of the driving force that’s kind of dragging me along by the scruff of my neck. In one sense I love it and I need it, and sometimes I think it’s a bit uncontrolled and not necessarily completely who I am but want to express myself.”
So self expression is your main motivation behind making music?
“It is at the moment, and I have given in to the will of this project, because obviously it’s helping me at this time in my life, I think it’s exactly what I need. There have been different point of my life where I haven’t needed to be so aggressive or so expressive; so open, because I think lyrically I am very open, even if it’s quite abstract sometimes, I don’t censor myself at all, I try and be as free as possible.”
I guess you benefit from being erratic really?
“Yes I do, I enjoy being in touch with that slightly erratic subconscious that I don’t get to express in everyday life.
I know that there is more truth in that side of me than this side”.
I think that many people strive to be at a place in their life where they are happy, when the truth is that it’s actually never going to happen, but you seem to allow yourself to be in that place; living in the moment so to speak?
“That’s a really nice way to put it. Once you realise that money, fame, success, or whatever you are looking to achieve isn’t gonna solve all your problems, isn’t gonna give you the answer…there is no answer. I personally try to throw myself into things and live it and love it at the time, and if it doesn’t feel real to me then I don’t continue doing it”
I feel that few could say that they are capable of being that way. It’s a quality that makes you attractive, to see that on stage inspires people, including myself…. Although, to know yourself involves a great deal of introspection and it seems that lately many Celebrities and creative types are divulging the secrets of their dark side, coming out about their struggles with depression, anxiety, lack of confidence, and various neuroses. Is that something you can relate to?
“It is, and I suppose the quick fix therapy of it is to go and make a record or to go on stage, but in fact sometimes doing this compounds that level of anxiety and depression because you can achieve a tremendous high and connection with the world, the universe, and everything”, he laughs, you know, you feel at one with something and then you get in the dressing room and you are completely empty; there’s just a hole. A lot of people fill it up with alcohol and sex and drugs and excess and I have dabbled with that but I know that it doesn’t cure it. So what I am trying to do now is become a little more in control of what surrounds the shows, my time before and after, also my creative life and personal life. If that can be in my control then I can kind of accept this - being out of control.”
So where does that leave you when your life is pretty much consumed with IAMX, making music and touring, are you happy living from day to day or is there anything that you do yearn for?
“No, well there is this sort of longing for stability, in the heart and the home and all that bullsh*t, or I thought I needed that, and I moved to Berlin and work from there now, it’s kind of my home I guess, but still I spend most of my time in the World, travelling around and working. I’m finally getting used to it, settling into the fact that I don’t have a home and am probably for a long time not gonna have a home.
Of course, I’m sure there are plenty that would be jealous of the lifestyle, but it’s another story to live it. Do you find that hard to deal with?
“It is in some ways, but if accept it you sort of live your life like that. My apartment in Berlin is like a temporary space now, it’s a nice place and I enjoy it pretty much but I live out of my suitcase because I know I am gonna be leaving and I don’t wanna become attached to it and it’s okay, there’s something quite comforting in that actually, you just get used to it. It’s quite a big step because touring is very energetic and hard and sucks you dry, but that’s not a moan, honestly because it is a really is a wonderful thing to do and you get as much as you give.”
On your MySpace page you mention Insomnia which I can relate to as my mind runs at 1000mph with a strange variety thoughts too. I often think about human conduct and how, in my opinion, what others claim to be extreme behaviour, is actually a reality inside themselves that they would never admit or show. My favourite line from the lyrics of the Negative Sex is - “we all wan’t to f*ck ourselves and rape the world”, what did that mean to you?
“it’s funny, it’s one of those moments where I’m wasn’t angry with myself, I’m angry with humanity and human nature, the whole system and way that we live our life. It’s a funny kind of feminist song. I was looking at myself and over analysing, but you have to do that sometimes. I was analysing my male behaviour and tendencies, and my destructive qualities, and being really pissed off about that. Combined with this self obsessed side of me, which is basically where the ‘we all want to fuck ourselves’ comes from. In many ways it’s sort of a disease of our times where people are self obsessed, and it’s not a bad thing because it can lead to good things.” The raping the world thing is not an environmental statement but is more about the disrespect humans have for everything in general, including each other. He has a point there!!
How do you think your fans perceive you?
“It’s a difficult question. I don’t know how I wan’t them to see me because I can’t control that and you can never really be inside peoples minds, you can give general theories but what I try to do is not think about it too much and to be quite free with what we do, everybody in the band; live and on record, not to be dragged down by too much conceptuality, or putting it into a box, I don’t wanna do that, as soon as you do what people expect of you it becomes a circular thing and I don’t get into that.”
Well that makes sense when I think of something that I read about you being inspired by many different songs and artists like ‘Guilty’ by Barbara Streisand. Chris explains,
“Well that specific reference was to the first record I was given by my mum, she bought it. If it’s one of the first things you listen to it sticks in your head, like Michael Jackson and all those classics.”
I had to admit that I secretly like Barry Mannilow, Chris replies “Mandy, what a fantastic song! There are millions of pieces of performance and performers that I could go in to and wank off about for hours, but if somebody says to me what are your influences, it’s too wide, I can’t say”
Are you professionally trained in any way?
“No it’s all done from being on stage. It’s one of those things where you can keep learning and that’s what I kike about it. Every night you can think about one note that you are never hitting and then one night you hit it and you think, that’s it, I got it and then you move on and think of other things. It‘s really a suck it and see practice run on stage.
The use Myspace Street-Team, is that an original idea?
“It’s really exciting. It was started by the management to help promote a band who doesn’t have a deal and who are completely independent, and is not in press or hyped by this money led band. So it’s become a kind of mini
War that we have started and we are really trying to stick to this method. It’s not really a manifesto, that sounds to revolutionary but if we stay independent and do things naturally and if people come to us then we go for, but this idea of having commercial backing and hype and all that bullsh*t obviously really doesn’t work for us.
Do you think you will ever go down that route?
“Not intentionally, we try and control it as much as possible and doing the myspace thing is a really nice way to connect directly with people that are interested in you. Every band in the world does it now there but it is a very powerful tool for independent bands so we try to use that and word of mouth and it’s become a really healthy way to do it. I have done more things in the past that have been more commercial and a good thing for me to do. I got trapped up in contracts and spent a lot of time worrying about just being able to get records out, but this way it’s very open and more creative, we do the shows, we connect with the people and it’s great.
What about the other songs from the Alternative?
“This album, the way that we’ve done it is that we’ve had to release it to different territories at different times. It’s been staggered so it’s quite old to me now, but what’s really good seeing new faces and new enthusiasm and it obviously still feels good but I have to have another album to get my teeth into.”
…and YES, there is a 3rd album to be released around February [though probably later in the UK], Chris says “I have been writing it on the road as I go along, it’s really important for me to have that to look forward to.” He hopes to be touring with songs from the new album in March.
I commend the fact that IAMX, with the help of their management team ‘nineteen95’, held a competition for fans to create a mix of their latest single from the album, ‘Nightlife’, and also that it was open to everybody. It’s a much better concept than throwing wads of cash at big professional DJ’s and producers.
Chris smiles and tells me, “I think it’s a really nice idea to have kinda weird, different, scrappy, whatever it might be, interpretations of the music.”
To his credit, this describes Chris, IAMX, and the music quite accurately. All are most definitely unique, quirky, diverse, and passionate without doubt. They are living testament to the fact that you don’t have to have a record deal to be an explosive success.
By Mel Denove
www.myspace.com/iamx
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