Interview with
Chris Harms (vocals) of Lord of the Lost
LORD OF THE LOST from Hamburg is the Dark Goth Metal brainchild of Chris Harms whom I’ve had an opportunity to interview for Reflections of Darkness. Find here what he had to say about their second album entitled ‘Antagony’ and the ideas behind the music he performs with his musician friends to indulge their listeners in a darkly alluring and beautiful music.
Reflections of Darkness (RoD): LORD OF THE LOST seems to symbolize that you see yourself as a beacon point for all the lost, am I right or wrong? What is your own philosophy behind your band’s title, or behind the band itself?
Chris Harms (Chris): "Beacon point", I do like that expression, it expresses our philosophy in a positive way, without being too megalomaniacal. I am happy when our music can be a light for people on the hunt. LORD OF THE LOST is not the aim but maybe the soundtrack for the search.
RoD: You have started as a solo project of yours, can you describe how you’ve eventually became a band, how did this affect your sound and music?
Chris: After I have written the first songs for the project that I used to call "Lord" at the time, I realized that I needed to hit the stage with that music. The progress of audio technology surely allowed me to play all the instruments by myself in the studio but not on stage, as long as I have only two hands and two feet. So I needed a band. I asked some of my musician-friends if they wanna join me on my way, and very quickly we have become a band. The guys give me a lot of inspiration but it didn't affect the sound and music to go into a less Chris Harms'ish direction. It actually helped me with my creativity because I became less routine-blinded.
RoD: Can you please describe your musical journey from your debut album ‘Fears’ to ‘Antagony’?
Chris: I started writing Songs for LOTL mostly for personal reasons. In ‘Fears’ I said mostly everything I had to say about my experiences with love, being in love, being loved, being left and all the fears that go hand in hand with love. On ‘Antagony’ the journey took me much further back into my past and is more influenced by my experiences with growing up as a religious person, finding the path to the dark side, finding my own way, drugs, and death itself. I experienced more than I would have liked to sometimes, maybe ‘Antagony’ was necessary for me to let it out finally.
RoD: For ‘Antagony’ you have worked with the concept "the everlasting conflict of the constant lure of the abysses humanity has to face versus the perfidious cleanliness of religious endeavour into an array of smashing tunes." Can you tell us something more about it, your reasons for choosing and working with it?
Chris: I have struggled with light and darkness all my life. And I am in love with both sides and I hate them at the same time, because I love them both and can't decide. So I always find myself in the middle of being the devils right hand and living the values of a good Christian. This is my war, my peace, my tension.
RoD: Which songs from the ‘Antagony’ were brought out deepest from underneath your own skin? Which ones would you like to emphasize to the fans?
Chris: The last one, ‘Reprise: Sober’, is definitely the most personal and deep song I have ever written. It is about me at the point of being ready to leave this world; this is luckily a couple of years ago. It is only composed for vocals, piano and cello. I wrote it and recorded the demo within an hour. The vocals were a first-take and I would not have struck the right feeling at the first take if I deleted it… I tried to re-record the vocals in the final recording but I would have never got into this special mood again, so I kept the vocals of the demo recording.
RoD: Visually you have a distinct style, a feat not as easily accomplished in the Goth scene, what and/or who inspires you in this?
Chris: Really, do you think so? In my opinion it’s just black clothes and some eyeliner. I am not deeply inspired by anyone nowadays. I just want us to look like we sound. We are changing out look at little at the moment to make it fit better to the new songs.
RoD: You seem still quite involved in other projects i.e. UnterART, how do juggle all your artistic involvements?
Chris: I only sleep 3 hours per night, that's the trick.
RoD: There is quite a diverse style of singing techniques involved on the album and influences of styles, who inspires you musically and vocally out there, be they the singers/bands of the past or present?
Chris: I am mostly inspired by bands and people that have nothing to do with the music of LOTL. The 1st band that really made me to be a fan of them was ROXETTE and later I’ve listened to GUNS N’ ROSES and NIRVANA. Sure, I listened to bands like NIN, MARILYN MANSON and RAMMSTEIN, but nowadays I am totally in love with RIHANNA, LADY GAGA and such like. I am not the kinda person that needs idols or role models.
RoD: Is your artistic energy still pretty much tied to ‘Antagony’ right now or are you already thinking of where to go next, what are your ambitions and ideas regarding your next album?
Chris: We have started the production of the 3rd album 2 months before ‘Antagony’ has been released. In the same time I am already collecting ideas for the 4th one. There will be changes, musically and topically, definitely! But we are trying directions now and I am filtering ideas for a genuine concept, so I don't wanna say more at this point.
RoD: How are your touring plans, what is there for your fans to look forward to in regards of seeing you live this year?
Chris: We have just come back from Helsinki 2 days ago. This weekend our 16 show tour as a support of MONO INC. is starting, then we have some summer festivals and a headliner tour in the Fall.
RoD: Is there anything at this parting point of the interview you’d like to say to your listeners and fans out there?
Chris: I am tired as fuck. I need to sleep now, to be fit on tour...
On behalf of Reflections of Darkness, thank you very much for your time answering these questions.
Chris: Thank YOU!!!
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