More on: IAMX

IAMX released his second album 'The Alternative' last year, which a US release imminent. Also known as ex-Sneaker Pimp Chris Corner, IAMX recently finished a UK tour. We caught up with Chris to talk about his future plans, and about how having an indentity is important to him.

At what stage did IAMX start to take shape?
A stage of growing up, and frustration and stress. I was working with another band before that, and it was my first experience of doing a solid solo project. I guess in a way I really wanted to prove myself somehow from boy to man.

You claim you are happier now than you were in Sneaker Pimps - is that true?
In many ways, yes. It doesn't negate anything that I did with Sneaker Pimps. Also the combination of being a kid and growing up in a band, there's a lot of things pulling you in different directions. IAMX happened at that point, as I was growing up anyway. Being in my twenties and going through that, it was all part of the experience, so I can't separate it and say it was Sneakers that was the problem, or it was me that was the problem. It just feels like I have a more focused direction now.

What is your fanbase like - do you recognise Sneaker Pimps fans?
It's a combination of the two - there's a little bit of crossover. I think we lost a bit of the older crowd, but we gained a crowd we never really had with Sneakers. It depends where you go. In the bigger cities there's a real mixture. If you're on stage you can't usually see past the first five rows, so it's always the obsessed ones you see at the front and go "oh is that my fanbase?", but now again you take a peek round the back and there's a more laidback crowd of older people - a mixture. And I'm happy with the mixture.

With your live act, do the roles you play onstage change each night?
It's relatively set - we don't co-ordinate ourselves. We do naturally, without thinking, but we don't plan stage routines or anything. It's actually very spontaneous, but within the limits of a set, because you're dealing with technology and electronics and programmed sequences. You end up doing similar things. It's not limited, but it's controlled.

What's your current band set up?
I have a solid line-up now, I have for the last year. I think that's how it's going to be for a long time. The combination of people is right. The attitudes are right. The personalities work pretty well together. It's a nice mixture of nationalities - we have a German girl, English drummer, American guitarist. I really like the mixture of cultures. Everyone brings something different to the band.

This is the last night of the tour - how's it gone so far?
I think Sheffield was really good, which is kind of bizarre! Glasgow was fantastic - a small place with stadium sized PAs! My mum was there, jigging about at the front, drunk out of her mind! Most of the crowds we have, if there's a hardcore contingent there, they are pretty motivated and quite loud, so we usually have a good show. If they're not loud we get aggressive and make people have a good show.

Why do you live in Berlin?
I went there to work, as London's is over for me. The rat race was too much, and I was too stressed and felt suffocated by the place. So I wanted to find somewhere which wasn't too far, and had always had a thing for. Berlin was that place. I ended up working on a soundtrack, and at the end of that project I decided to stay. I'm there permanently, and it feels right.

You've composed a soundtrack - have you ever wanted to take the theatrical side of you elsewhere? Film, theatre?
I'd love to, yeah. That sort of thing I'll think I'll explore in the next few years. I love film - it's probably my second favourite art form. I'd like to get more involved with a more subtle way of making music. I work with a pop sensibility - they are songs, with verses, choruses, structures. Even the soundtrack I produced, the brief was to have songs mixed with incidental music. I'd like to do a piece that was constructed simply to the visual, not with any commercial nature in mind. Theatre would be a good place to expand on that as well. I have some friends in Berlin I should really call and get involved with.

Have you started thinking about your third album yet?
I've been writing and producing over the Christmas period. I have quite a lot of material. I think the plan is to, rather to produce a whole album, just have a couple of tracks, and bring them out gradually, rather than bam, a whole album. I'm still working on concepts and lyrics. It will still take time. It's definitely in process, and it's something I really need. 'The Alternative' is quite old for me, even though it's only recently released.

Is IAMX a long term project for you?
I think so. I didn't really expect it. I didn't really know what I was going to do for a couple of years when I started IAMX, when I was managing myself, and chucking gigs together, and that back to roots approach - which is great for the soul. But now I feel it's become rewarding, and it's more focused - it has identity. In the project I wanted identity and I feel that it's found that, naturally. I want to take that opportunity, and to hold that. In the past I have constructed things, and we've debated things, and you tend to debate things too much in a band, and this happened without really caring too much. That's quite special, and I think I'll hold onto it for a while.

Becky Reed

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