Interview with Valor of Christian Death ...

You’re playing a few one-off shows, in preparation for some touring in South America? Are you going to be trying out a new setlist or new material? What are the fans/shows like in South America?
"We won’t be trying out any unknown songs but our approach to the set list will be radically different, especially as we will be working in the new guitarist Chains Lenihan, formerly of Genitorturers , Crumbsuckers, and Glitter Guns. We have never been to South America before so it will be an experience to find out what the fans are like."

Are you reaching the end of the touring cycle for "American Inquisition"?
"Not until we release the next album."

How long have you been touring the album? And what were some of the more exotic or memorable stops?
"Right at the beginning of last year the tour got off to a great start. We had played France many times before but never the town of Cognac; the night we played Cognac we were presented an incredibly rare and expensive bottle of Cognac that was especially made for us with the Christian Death logo and symbol printed on the bottle, right at the distillery. A special dye had to be made. We were extremely honoured and the people were amazingly friendly. As far as exotic goes, we played at this very cool club in Athens, Greece, the people were super nice and sexy."

Are live sets heavy on material from "American Inquisition"? I'd love to see you play that song cycle all the way through.
"We are very happy with the songs on "American Inquisition" so we do tend to focus on them, but we also add an even balance of older songs as well."

It's a very intense album thematically; and it seems to require a greater level of immersion in personas than recent albums. Is it difficult revisiting those characters night after night? Or do you enjoy playing these new songs?
"When we play the songs live our emotions take on a different perspective than we did in the recordings, we approach the show like a drama play where each song is a scene in the play. The most fun part is how it evolves each night into another dimension."

What sort of visuals do you incorporate into your shows? Is the visual component an important one for Christian Death in 2009?
"We can be quite elaborate with our stage decorations and props. But often we are limited by safety or technical restrictions. We also use video projections to accentuate the decor and the mood but again, the projections can be limited by the venue’s setup."

"American Inquisition" is absolutely incredible; it's very topical and personal at the same time. What were some of the themes and ideas you were trying to address?
"Wow! We are glad you like it so much. As Maitri explains it, we locked ourselves away in the studio with absolutely no forms of communication or exposure to the influence of the music of other people. But we found that the only thing we could not escape was the affect the political climate was having on us at the time. We tried really hard to not focus on that stuff but it consumed us like a disease. So, even though we managed to evoke other emotions and write songs about other subjects such as Sex and Death, the politics permeated the lot, hence the name "American Inquisition."

Tell me a little about the writing and recording process for the album. Did the lyrics come first and you twinned the music to it? At what point did it become a concept piece rather than a disparate collection of songs? Did you and Maitri play most of the instruments yourselves?
"With us, as has always been the tradition in Christian Death, the lyrics come first. The lyrics speak to the head, the music speaks to the soul. As the words tell the story, the music is then created to dramatize the emotion that words cannot. Music is the language of the cosmos, which is why people who know nothing of English still pick up on the meaning.

Unlike the conscious effort I had given to certain previous album concepts, this was more like a call to arms (no pun intended), a response to the angst that enveloped us.

I played most instruments, Maitri bass, Nate Hassan Drums and we had Juan "Punchy" Gonzalez guest on "Narcissus Metamorphosis Of.""

How do you and Maitri divide up songwriting duties? Or vocal parts for that matter?
"As far as this album was concerned it seemed to be 50/50. If one of us came up with something we both liked immediately, we nurtured it until we were absolutely satisfied it was the best we could do. If something was in anyway substandard, it was not long before we brought it to the morgue. Vocals were simply a matter of mutual satisfaction and not ego."

What did inspire the new album? I take it you were watching a lot of news?
"Well, we cannot deny at least a partial influence now can we?"

Do fans seem to be taking to the new album? I can see this appealing to a whole new audience.
"You hit the nail straight in."

What musicians/artists do you feel a commonality with?
"Hmmm, perhaps the drummers in Burundi, Shostakovich, birds like loons, aliens from another dimension."

How do you stay inspired to create after more than two decades of constant touring and writing?
"We are only limited by our ignorance, the more we learn the more we know inspiration."

Do the trappings of gothic music mean anything to you anymore, you seem to be moving far beyond it - the new material has elements of blues, psychedelia, glam, punk, world music…
"O’ Thank Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Odin, Osiris, Spongebob etc. Someone has noticed that we have not sewn ourselves into the shroud of the mundane."

What are you planning next? Are you working on any new music?
"More shows and always more music, with a little Sex and Drugs in between."

http://www.christiandeath.com/