Interview withChris Corner (music & vocals) of IAMX
In the ever-evolving world of music, few artists manage to sustain a career as vibrant and deeply personal as Chris Corner, the creative force behind IAMX. With the work on IAMX’s latest album, ‘Fault Lines²’, Chris continues to push the boundaries of his sound, melding dark electronic beats with raw, introspective lyrics that resonate with fans around the globe. This album, like much of Chris’ work, is infused with his own experiences, offering listeners a glimpse into the emotions and moments that have shaped his life and artistry.
One of the standout tracks on the album, ‘The Ocean’, features a haunting collaboration with Icelandic singer Hafdís Huld. The ethereal quality of the song is a testament to Chris’s ability to blend his unique style with the talents of others, creating music that is both innovative and deeply moving. Beyond his studio work, Chris has shown an unwavering commitment to causes close to his heart. During a recent tour stop in Lviv, Ukraine, IAMX performed a series of charitable concerts where all proceeds were donated to a local charity called Cats on Mars. Despite the need for heightened security measures due to the region’s instability (martial law and Russia’s war against the peaceful Ukrainian people), Chris describes the experience as almost surreal - marked by a profound connection with the audience that transcended the challenges faced.
As we delve into this interview, we’ll explore not only the inspirations behind ‘Fault Lines²’ and his collaboration with Hafdís Huld but also the moments that have defined Chris’ journey as an artist - from the instant he realized he could sing to the beautiful, unforgettable experiences that continue to shape his musical career.
Reflections of Darkness [RoD]: Your new album ‘Fault Lines²’ continues the topics you started with ‘Fault Lines¹’. What was the main inspiration for this album?
Chris: Every album I have created is just a different doorway into the same therapy room. I write to process my life. Yet exploring deeper into the division of self and other is my concern here. How we self-immolate, destroy, and fracture with others. Through art or maybe just through how I’m built, I see everything as one. I find it difficult to see division. It gets me into social trouble sometimes. We all instinctively have this feeling deep in us, this knowing that the self is an illusion, yet this feeling is shrouded in layer upon layer of conditioning and distraction. I don’t advocate a utopian viewpoint, I’m still a realist. Yet I think if we all just looked at every second, every object, every creature, every human with awe, curiosity, and wonder now and again we would see ourselves in everything. We would see the insane privilege we have and beauty everywhere. We are made of the same stuff. There is no other. I am the raindrop I am the tulip.
RoD: Tell us about the collaboration with Hafdis Huld on the track ‘The Ocean’. How did the idea to involve her in this project come about?
Chris: Many years ago, I met with Hafdís in London through the recommendation of Jim Abbiss, a producer and friend. He said we should get creative with each other so we messed around in the studio for a couple of days. This was pre-IAMX. We ended up recording a demo of an ancient Icelandic folk tune. She sang it and I played shifting drones on a squeeze box harmonium. It was never released in this form. It stayed in my mind all these years waiting for the right track to be connected with. ‘The Ocean’ came around and I knew it was the one. I contacted her about the idea and we re-recorded it remotely. We both have wildly different lives now, but interestingly we almost ended up in similar life situations. She lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere and I live on a ranch in the middle of the desert.
RoD: What were the biggest challenges of recording this album, especially given its complex topics and diverse sounds?
Chris: Every piece of art is challenging. That’s the point. The challenge is the drive to make something good and not just for the self. We can all be creative to some extent, we can all claim to be artists and writers and musicians, yet the commitment to progress to move forward to authentically help and affect others, to change their viewpoints to open people up to guide them, to improve yourself, to make people feel less alone, to ask big questions and to probe what others don’t. These are the duties the artist has. Otherwise, it is a glorified hobby. You must expose yourself, fail, succeed, fail again, be humiliated, be ashamed, be ecstatic, be adored, hate yourself, love yourself, be respected, be inspected. Art is psychological risk-taking. The only different challenge I faced with this album was trying to balance my work with some volatile private things that were happening during the recording. Family deaths and relationship turmoil. Staying focused was hard.
RoD: ‘Fault Lines²’ has many tracks with deep emotional and psychological themes. How do personal experiences influence your work?
Chris: I am my experiment. Getting to know yourself can take a lifetime yet it’s the only thing I feel I have the authority to talk about. Me and my immediate world. I’m fascinated by interpersonal relations, the psychology of intimacy, and sex, and the unique patterns and codes we develop with each other. The nuances of how we interact, and how we hurt and love each other. The mind is boundless in its capacity for imagination. At some point, I just leaned in hard to what I felt I could write about: Myself, and others I live and love with. Be that family, romantic partners, sexual partners, friends, or some kind of cross-pollination of them all. For whatever reason I’m wired to have extremely loose boundaries in a societal sense. My concepts of love and honour and loyalty and romance are, one might call bohemian.
I have this uncontrollable massive view of it all as a universal infinite burning love, and incessant bottomless empathy, and also a dark visceral anger that cuts through it all when necessary. I make art to be able to process these big scary feelings. Primal shit that we all deal with in some form or another but I’m aware that in me they are my baseline. And my everyday life is sometimes a slave to these feelings. I have learned to control them to some degree and navigate and nurture relations but it’s not natural for me. So, when you see that beast on stage running on a fast track through this catalogue of emotions, that’s real, that’s my baseline. The rest of the acceptable stuff I’ve learned over time. The responsibility to balance the two healthily is my next life goal.
RoD: What is the main message you would like to convey to listeners through ‘Fault Lines²’?
Chris: Wake up. Be fully aware of what life is for you. Explore what is truly important to you. Find your purpose and commit to it. Make sure you follow a path of what you love. You will be gone before you know it, so live every day like you will die tomorrow. Accept the full catastrophe and work with it.
RoD: In your latest video clip, you adapted a completely different exterior style, with so much white, almost like the Pope, lol. (of course, as if you are the leader of the IAMX fan community, a ray of light in the darkness. Why the cult of white? Will we see more white clothing on the upcoming tour? And in general, what can your fans expect from the upcoming “FRACTURES Tour”?
Chris: “Fractures” is an addendum to the last tour really so the mood will be an extension of that. I want my people to throw themselves fully into it. To express themselves completely in the shows. I have to set the stage and create a safe space for them to be aligned with themselves and those around them. I see the IAMX live experience as a cross between theatre and rave. This dance is between love, intellect, repetition, and hedonism. I want people to be slapped in the face by the music and woken up into their authentic selves. To dress up and then tear it all apart.
RoD: When did you realize you could sing? Did you sing as a child? And how exactly did you develop your voice over time, maybe took singing lessons or was it always natural for you?
Chris: I have never had singing lessons, and not to be self-deprecating, but I never saw myself as a singer. I could sing as a child but it was more of a way to be able to write. I dabbled then I let go of the idea because my voice felt too feminine or unconventional for the times back in the early Sneaker Pimps days. Then, for some reason, I just thought “fuck it“ I’ll take the risk, and the songs we were writing felt like they were authored for my voice and I should become the one to convey the message. It wasn’t natural with SNEAKER PIMPS.
When I started to develop IAMX, and understand that I just wanted to be more expressive and weirder and just accept how quirky my voice was, I felt relief. I didn’t feel pressure that I should fit into any industry realm or be understood. Then, my voice started to become stronger. Touring a lot was a fantastic lesson in control. One of the subconscious things I did in my records was to push and record the extremes of my range and expression. I think I did this to push my limits, and it did improve my voice. It’s a reflection of my general attitude of high expectations and supercharged self-propulsion. This is doable for a short time during the recording process but becomes a big problem singing live night after night.
RoD: Being multi-talented and such a creative person, how do you like to spend your time or relax? How do you find balance? After all, finding a balance is probably a routine process.
Chris: Finding balance in art is almost the exact thing art doesn’t allow. The drive to create is born from unease or imbalance. To find equilibrium through the process. I have short periods of calm usually directly post completion or in between tours. And the creation process is a refuge from disharmony. Feel like shit, go to the studio, write, process. Art is the safe space in the turbulence. I live in nature on an 80-acre piece of land in the desert of Southern California. My peace is in touching boulders, landscaping the property, walking my animals through nature, and of course in kinky sex. These are the times I feel closest to balance. Though life is chaos, and the older I get the more I accept it. So, the irony is letting go of balance gets you closer to it.
RoD: How do you prepare for a tour and what is most important to you in live performances?
Chris: Authenticity, hard work, energy, enthusiasm. I want to make the IAMX life experience a world in which the audience can lose itself, so I work very hard to create the atmosphere that the music suggests. Dramatic hard lights contrast, fast-moving visuals, loud crisp electronic sound, and an authentic and emotional vocal performance. Visuals, lights, beats, and vocals. These are my pre-tour focuses, to have them all move in harmony to the best of my ability. Once this backdrop to the show is solid, we rehearse as a band and coordinate our performances.
RoD: Even though now there is a war in Ukraine, you gave concerts in Lviv. Were these performances of a charitable nature? What were the funds collected for? Were you not afraid to go to a country where there is a threat to life?
Chris: We felt such a need to go there and be with our people. I had a long-time connection with our booking agent there who had talked about the idea of us getting into the country by bus and crossing the border in the north to be able to play in Lviv. We decided we would do it and take the risk. So, we flew into Poland and drove down to Lviv. After basic expenses were covered the money from the shows went to a charity called Cats on Mars. It’s an animal rescue set up to save animals during wartime, mainly from the places that were abandoned by Ukrainians fleeing to get to safety.
RoD: What security measures were taken during your stay in Ukraine? Did you and your team have to hide in shelters during concerts in Ukraine?
Chris: We were well taken care of. Our team was very careful and our hotel had efficient alarms and we would head to the bomb shelters when there were threats.
RoD: How has the audience at your concerts in Ukraine changed compared to performances before the war? Maybe there is something that impressed you the most?
Chris: I felt a deep relief in the room that we could all enjoy this together. People were so hungry to let loose. There was a lot of dancing and a lot of crying. It was a beautiful, almost surreal experience that I will always cherish. Such an intensely intimate bittersweet time. We played two nights in the same club and the crowd got on stage and danced with me and we hugged and kissed. Super emotional and special, I didn’t want to leave or I wanted to take everyone home with me.
RoD: How do you see your influence on today’s music scene and what do you want to leave behind as a legacy?
Chris: I don’t. If I’m not making music, I’m not listening to music. You could call me a recluse. I don’t go online and I don’t know what’s cool. I think I’ve seen enough human behaviour to know most of what I need to. What I do is close to me and inside me. In the wider perspective, I have no idea if I’ve had a cultural impact. To be honest, I just care about my tribe for now. Those that I love and those that love and support me. I keep my world small, otherwise you go insane. Our minds are not evolved enough to deal with the pace of tech yet, maybe AI will improve that.
As far as legacy goes, every day I think about what can I do that will be tangible, knowable, and seeable. I need to see my effect. I would like to continue to build on my art colony that I’m working on. I want my energy to be used wisely to go into things I can have an impact on. My music does its thing, but I don’t expect or need to conquer the world with that, it is its niche and that’s beautiful, and people find it and love it or they don’t. Bringing a few more of those beautiful “understanders” closer to me and being able to help them thrive either artistically or in an alternative lifestyle choice way. This I am working on in the colony idea. Getting to play with people also feels like a way to give and connect on a deeper level.
Pictures by UNFALL Productions
