An interview with Christ (no, not that one)

Christ is the alias of Scottish Chris H who makes electronic music, a bit like Boards of Canada or a more ambient Aphex Twin. He is signed to Benbecula records and you can check his stuff out here. Christ was supposed to be playing with Alias on his tour’s Scottish dates, which will be rescheduled to later this year so hopefully you will be able to catch Christ live very soon.

We had a chat over the interweb and this is what he had to say.



First of all who are you and where did you come from? I know you are a guy called Chris but not much else...You are a bit of a mysterious character, is this how you like to keep things?

I don't know about mysterious, but I'm a private person. I think that the music should speak for itself, so to that end, I shy away from interviews and press coverage generally. If people like the music, then they're going to buy it, regardless of whether there's pictures of me in the press.

So...what's with the name? You've got a lot to live up to...

It's is an abbreviation of 'Christopher' which is my first name. It does have the advantage of standing out, though. I'm making no claims to divinity as regards my lineage.

Can you tell a bit about your musical history? When did you start making music and have you always wanted to make the kind of music you make? (I tried to come up with a way of describing it, but it just sounded stupid....atmospheric electronica anyone? didn't think so...)

Well, i've been a musician all my life. I play several instruments, and this is probably one of the key reasons why I make the music I do. I started using a pc based set up for recording and mastering, simply because it takes up very little room. I use cubase, and some VST's, and plugins, but most of the sounds I use are derived from old monophonic synthesisers, guitars, a Rhodes piano, and various other bits of analog kit. The percussion noises I use are more-or-less exclusively 'found' samples, and hits taken from tapes which I make, containing random sounds I've recorded from anywhere and everywhere.

Can you describe how your songs come about? What kind of equipment do you use to make it and how do you get the ideas for songs?

To me, writing music is not a linear process. I don't, for example, start a track and work through it until it's finished. There's usually several tracks being worked on at a time, and for every one that gets a release, or an outing in a live set, you can be guaranteed that three or four have gone by the wayside. I have literally thousands of 'bits' of unfinished tracks on disc. Some of them as small as two bars of music, or a basic beat. I'm a hoarder, and I like to regularly review stuff I've got on disc from the past, and rework or develop things that appeal to me. That way the tunes don't get stagnant.

You are signed to a Scottish label. Why did you choose Benbencula?

For various reasons. I spoke to phase 6 (who runs the label) at length before any contracts were signed. He displayed to me an understanding of the needs of any artists or performers he was likely to work with that seems to me to be quite rare amongst label bosses. Also, it's a local label. If i have a question, or a problem, I can meet up with 6 over a drink, and discuss it without having to rely on email.

You have played a few gigs abroad this summer. Do you enjoy playing live?
Any particularly enjoyable experiences? And how did the whole supporting Alias on his tour thing come about?

I love playing live. It's the best way to bring music to an audience in my opinion. I enjoy it all, except sometimes the travelling, but hey, it could be worse! the Japan mini-tour of 2002 sticks out for me. Not only was it my first live performances in a long time, one of the gigs was at a festival in front of twenty-odd thousand people, so it was a pretty memorable experience as I'm sure you can imagine. Also, Japan is about as different from Britain as you can get in a developed country, and I got the opportunity to look around a bit. Tokyo is a truly
stunning place.

Touring with Schneider tm last Christmas was also excellent. They are a fantastic live band, and coupled with playing at Maida Vale for the John Peel show, it was a very positive experience and one that I'm unlikely to forget in a hurry.

The Alias support slots came about kind of organically. Alias emailed Benbecula some time last year. He'd got a hold of 'Pylonesque' and 'Metamorphic...', and liked them. Benbecula admin kindly forwarded me the email, and Alias and I got chatting. He's a really decent guy, and I love his music, and he was touring in Europe, so the subject came up. Don't worry too much about the cancelled gigs, he's going to be back later in the year, and I hope to be supporting him then. I'm in the process of remixing one of his new tracks at the moment, so keep an eye on the Benbecula website for details.


written by elliott