Conformity- Christian Le Surf Interview/ Gig Review supporting Vieo Age at Hope and Ruin 12/10/24

I’m running late, when am I not. Should I get the bus or should I just walk, not sure if it makes a difference either way I should’ve left 10 minutes ago. I choose the bus and let my aching body rest against the cold metal railing as I eagerly watch the countdown on the fractured iridescent screen. I surprisingly arrive at Hope and Ruin with time to spare zoning out to the 90s DJ set belting from the bar I stare out on Queens Road watching the groups of people starting their night and those finishing their day. The room was full, so I made a Beeline for the bar, after getting my drink I slouched over to the right side of the stage and pulled out my phone to take notes… Shit! I had made a fatal error. I had lost the opportunity to set my drink down meaning I’d have to type my review with one hand. As I shook my head around the room left right left right all the open tables were now swarmed with students and  happy (?) couples all in the mood for a boozy Saturday. Guess I’ll have to drink fast…don’t I love a self-inflicted challenge… Social conformity is a nightmare. 

Ominously on the stage sat a pair of chequered sunglasses in no time they were slid onto the face of Christian commencing the set with a hint of indie sleaze. Christians backing band looked as if they were yanked from the closet dingy bar, they just came out for the watery Guinness now they’ve been handed instruments and forced to play a mid-2000s indie set before they can be let back in. The vibe works, I’d say substance over style. “This is a calm one” Christian says before pouncing into the twinkly lullaby Irene. Although it had a soft start the track crescendos into an immense build the last chorus punches you so hard in the gut you forget the song’s gentle beginnings. This is a trend with a lot of the tracks in Christian's set there’s a predictability to his songwriting they’re crafted to get stuck in your head but at times it seems his influences overshadow him. The set’s highlight was the track “ I wish you hell”, the first single off his new record “Chicago, the Moon!”. It has a super groovy and picky lead line that doesn’t overcomplicate anything shooting through the mix. During the bridge, Christian and Billy (Bass player) rock out and you can’t help but be transfixed by this rollercoaster finish. The next track they play is “Post Innocent” which shows off the band's synergy. This track is extremely jammy Billy and Ben (lead guitarist) have amazing energy harmoniously bouncing the rhythm and melody off each other. I do think that the track overstays its welcome and could have helped the set flow better if it was slightly shorter. Christian comments on his hoarse vocals citing he’s recovering from a cold he jokes that if the illness keeps up “I’ll just do a Tom Waits set”, I’d love to see that. An atmospheric synth fills the room slowing down the crowd. This is the start of "Agriculture Twin", a sweet easy listening song whose highlight wasn’t musical but the fact that the band T posed and stopped playing when the line “dying firefly” was sung… ( I yearn to know the joke). The last song of the set was “Sex and Violence”, a song detailing Christian's experience of social isolation at a party. The drum beat changes keep the track interesting and distract from the immature lyrics of this PG-13 hell. They mess up the dramatic moment of chaos in the track which ironically makes it more chaotic, it’s a real rockstar finish giving the next bands a lot to live up to.

A few days after the gig I invited Christian to my flat. Rushing home from a uni lecture I hurriedly cleaned the beer bottles and dirty dishes off the table to appear like a functional adult. I sat in anticipation listening to Geordie Greep of Black Midi’s new record The New Sound. When Christian entered my flat he immediately recognised the track “The Magician” Giddy with joy he started singing along… After a brief chat about Black Midi's supposed genius, I concluded that even if you can write 7/8 Polyrhythms maybe you shouldn’t, but I know Christian would completely disagree!

So I caught you at Hope and Ruin last Saturday and I wanted to know if you prefer playing with a band or playing solo. What is it like translating these songs in a new context?

Christian: I mean it depends, I’ve been doing solo stuff for 7 years. It mutated over different things at the beginning; it was just keys and vocals doing covers of Bon Iver and the Velvet Underground and a lot of Radiohead! Worthing was my main hot spot before Brighton. I had a lot of fun playing at this place called Bar 42 which I could compare to  Green Door Store because everyone is always going there. With the stuff I’m doing now, it really does depend, because the band stuff works very well but I’m still looking to expand that. I think when I play solo that involves a lot of loop pedals and effects boards but it’s less of a KT Tunstall, Ed Sheeran-type thing, half of it will be songs and the other half will be improve which is inspired a lot by Glen Branca and Neu. 

Oh Neu, like the Krautrock band?

Christian: Yeah it’s very hypnotic motor rhythms that come from the loop jams are very inspired but Klaus Dinger’s drumming.

Nice 

Christian: There's still this very nostalgic feeling from playing solo and it’s much more freeing and independent than playing with a band cause I can go I don’t wanna do this I wanna try this instead whereas with the band it can be limiting cause you’re stuck with a setlist.

What was it like playing at Hope and Ruin with the band?

Christian: It was nice. I've been wanting to play Hope and Ruin forever, outside of a Danial Johnston tribute night I’d never played there before. The turnout was surprisingly good and just the experience of it being a great lineup, I’m quite close with people in Telecom so seeing them is always fantastic, then Video Age were Steller.  

I wish you hell is the latest single off your upcoming record Chicago, The Moon! What more can we expect on the next record?

Christian: I wish you hell is by far the happiest-sounding song on the album. My first album Bontempi Cher Lloyd 1999…

What a Mouth full haha

Christian: I love that title, I’m very proud of it. It’s basically an amalgamation of different feelings and scenarios. Even from the title alone, Bontempi is a type of chord organ that I’d associate with Daniel Johnston it has a kind of innocent and childlike quality to it. Then Cher Lloyd, I know people our age will know who she is, she’s kinda more well known for an internet meme rather than her music. It’s the good and bad side of the music industry and 1999 is a split of those things because people I know are like “ Oh 1999 was the best year for music” and then some people were afraid of the milluinem bug. So the amalgamation of all those things made up the blueprint for BCL and then “Chicago, the Moon!” is a part two to all that but it’s embracing a lot more darker sides. The first half of the album in particular there are tracks that poke fun at evil people in the music industry and there’s songs where I talk about themes of sexual abuse and existentialism. In terms of sonic pallet, the production side of it is a bit more left-field I’m embracing a lot more of my love for loops and field recordings but also embracing totalism and minimalist music. It’s the second of a two-album phase and hopefully, it’ll go in a different trajectory from here.

I noticed that a lot of the tracks have slow starts and then big builds to finish. Would you say your songs are built around theory, vibe, or both?

Christian: Kinda both, I get what you mean about the slow builds, the release I’ve put out that definitely does that is “Asleep on the Back Benches” which was an EP I did about five years ago. I liked the idea of each track being its own tone-setter, Irene is a lot more Pyscheldic and then a song like “Happy Static Ending” which was originally written when I was 13 then mutated into something a lot more akin to Phil Elverum and the Microphones. When coming up with how I create a song most of the time it comes from the title because the title is how you would envision looking at it for its face value.

So is it always the title that comes first for you?

Christian: Mostly yeah

Wow, that’s really interesting.

Christian: Most of the titles on “Chicago The Moon” came first

At that point are there any lyrics or melodies knocking about?

Christian: The chorus melodies to “I wish you hell” and “ Hopeless Buildings” were floating around my head for ages like this needs to fit something but I don’t know what! The songs kinda formed around that little nugget of melody. I used to form tracklists before actual recordings, scrolling on things like Spotify and Bandcamp you’re looking at things with no preview or hint of how you the listener will expect this song to sound. You’re already making a judgement on something you haven’t heard before so you already have your own expectations of what the song could sound like. It’s a slightly weird method I have but it seems to work.

Yeah, I’ve never met anybody who works like that before but in the age of streaming services, you have to stand out amongst the thousands and thousands of songs on the platform.

Christian: “The Scroll” is the only piece where I’ve done the music first and the title was the last thing. I made a periodicity chart which is used in American music in terms of rhythmic training it’s basically aligning up different results of polyrhythms. I got a bit carried away and made a 7-time signature chart that stretched across one end of the Waterbear Venue to the other. The musical result was grouping the different time signatures with different instruments so drums are playing in 4 bass is playing in 6 etc. Then in each section where most of the time signatures would align their time signature duties would change and the key of the song would shift as well. 

Sex and Violence was on the set on Saturday. I found it was a fun one lyrically it’s about not wanting to conform to the teenage zeitgeist. How much do you think these witty observations inform your lyric writing?

Christian: When I did Sex and Violence I was only 16 I’m 23 now when I originally wrote that I had been making music since I was 12 and so it was great eventually finding a song that stood out and I was like this is good. Lyrically it came from being at a teenage party almost like I’m in the Inbetweeners or Skins, I spent most of my school life not fitting in so when I ended up going to a “cool” person party I ended up feeling completely alienated. I love artists and singers that write from a surrealist point of view like Tom Waits and Jeff Mangum. I’m proud of songs like Irene there’s something instantly there of what you could relate to but at the same time, it’s very out of sync and cryptic. For example, the chorus lyrics of “Your mother was a blow torch, your father was a drunk”, it’s very absurd imagery but at the same time, there are steps you could take to work out the meaning of it.

Do you think this feeling of unconformity has made you into the artist you are today?

Christian: Definitely yeah, I never liked the idea of following in other people’s footsteps. If you end up following a group of people that then makes that collectively a norm, and it’s quite hard to find your way out of that. I’m a massive fan of artists that are known to be quite transgressive in the way they make their music bands like Throbbing Gristle and Current 93. Because they sit in their own kinda sphere and have their own image.

What would be your dream lineup for an album release show?

Christian: Oh thank you for asking that cause I do have to plan that at some point, I mean ideal line up ooooh probably Josh Hazleden I have to say Josh he’s a great friend of mine and I love what he does… oh that’s actually really difficult… oh yeah I need to think about that. There are so many Brighton bands that I love and have played with but there are so many bands that I love and admire that I haven’t played with, Rottweiler is one of them and Le Lamb. Oh, who else!... If I had to pick 3, Josh Hazeldean, Kowloon Cowboy, and Rottweiler. 

What are your plans for the next year?

Christian: Well I have the single launch gig at Daltons on November 12th, it’s myself, Watching Alice, Harper and Joe Perfect and the Champagne Socialists. Next year I want to expand my band to a 7 piece and have an extra guitarist and another drummer/ percussionist, and have it so that people’s instrumental duties will change like Stop Making Sense era Talking Heads. I want to do an album launch show for “Chicago, the Moon!”, for this particular show I’m in the middle of crafting an arrangement for the title track which I’ve only ever performed solo, I want to expand to having 7 guitarists on stage. The song has this melody that loops around on 4 different loop pedals so I want to arrange it so that we have 4 different guitarists playing that melody over each other… which will take a bit of time to arrange, it’s mostly finding a sound engineer that won’t get annoyed at me.