Chris Korda

Posted on March 03, 2002 by David Puente

Twenty minutes of conversation with Chris Korda are enough to realize that the current entertainment industry is lacking more artists like him to rescue us from the apathy and drowsiness in which the single thought has placed us. What I don't quite understand is that human beings are stupid monkeys. Maybe it's because he hasn't been able to enjoy the psychological-behavioral virtues of a program like "Blind Confidence." Of course, it could also be that he has found out that the latest general survey says that the most valued politician in this country is Jose Maria Aznar. No, he won't say it for that reason.

On this short tour to present your EP When it rains for Gigolo you only have one date outside Germany, precisely the night you play at the Moog in Barcelona. Why?

I don't know if this is a question I can answer. The question would perhaps be why I don't have any dates in my country, in the US. I probably don't play in the US because my label Gigolo has no connection with my country. It's also true that there isn't much of a market in the US for Gigolo. In my country, many people know about the Euthanasia Church but they have no idea about its relationship with my music. In Europe it's the other way around, people know about my music through Gigolo but not the Church to which I belong.

Well now it's time for you to explain, at least to the followers of www.clubbingspain.com, what "The Church of Euthanasia" really is.

It is a religious organization that is concerned with reestablishing respect between humans and non-human beings. The only mandatory requirement for membership is that members cannot procreate. The pillars that support the ideology of our Church are "Suicide-Abortion-Cannibalism-Sodomy." These four are optional.

Your photo for the album Six Billion Humans Can't Be Wrong was accused of anti-Semitism. What do you have to say about this?

Well, that cover only appeared in the US and didn't reach Europe. It's understandable, I wasn't really surprised. What I have to say about it is that while the hunt for Jews was a real tragedy, it's also true that every 15 minutes a non-human species disappears completely: insects, plants... And those species will never return to the planet. In Germany you can find a lot of monuments erected in memory of the victims of the concentration camps, but where are the monuments that pay homage to the non-human beings that have disappeared throughout history? We only consider crimes against humanity but real atrocities are being committed against other non-human species and nobody is shaking their heads. It's a matter of perception. In the first verse of the Bible it talks about how all the species on earth have the right to live together in peace.

But do you believe in the Bible?

The Bible is one of the reasons why The Church of Euthanasia was formed and the main reason why we believe in collective suicide. Humans are stupid monkeys because we repeat the same mistakes over and over again, usually leading to the destruction of the planet. The Bible is a clear example of human stupidity. Many humans blindly follow premises without knowing for sure if they are true or not.

How would you define your relationship with the rest of the electronic music community?

I don't have any. Well, I'm on a label like Gigolo where I meet interesting people and travel all over the world. But I'm not a DJ and I don't have turntables either, so I use my music to communicate my ideas and those of my Church. In fact, electronic music is just one of the artistic activities I do. I like making music, but it's not my whole life. Music is a means to communicate the messages of "The Church of Euthanasia" as well as the Internet and other tools such as artistic audiovisuals are used in our community. But in relation to what you asked me, it's true that I don't have much of a relationship with musical artists and that's a problem because sometimes I make mistakes that I don't know how to solve. Errors of an acoustic or sound engineering type, aspects of music that I don't know and that I could solve if I were a DJ or had more friends in the profession. My background is focused on jazz and classical music compositions. I'm also a guitar teacher. Although it may seem paradoxical, I also have studies in engineering and computer science, but they're not enough.

Last September you were at the Santa Monica Art Centre in Barcelona at a cultural event called Transexual Express Show.

It was a success. We finished the tour in Budapest this past January. We were in Mucsarnok, one of the main contemporary art galleries in Budapest. We will show our works again in Spain, precisely on April 12th in A Coruña. Well, the great success that the Transexual Express Show has had has not only been thanks to me but to the great number of artists who have participated. Even some television channels in Germany and France - I think some Spanish ones too, but I'm not sure - have been interested in broadcasting the show. The main reason for this show is to show sexuality on a new level not yet experienced. Photographs of actions of our Church in Boston and other places are on display. You can see huge collages in which very interesting images are shown and you can see them on our website: www.churchofeuthanasia.org/.

You visited us last year at Sonar, where you performed live. I'm curious to know what your opinion is of a festival like that.

I don't have a formed opinion on this. It was good and I think my show was a success. The festival is organized in a very professional manner. But in reality these festivals cannot be judged as good or bad. They are just another expression of the entertainment industry that makes up the society we live in.

But you are part of this industry...

Yes, it seems like a paradox, but if you understand the strategy of our Church, it is not so much. "The Church of Euthanasia" uses the tools that civilization - the entertainment industry - serves us to give back to Mother Nature what we are taking from her. If we use the means at our disposal to criticize human action, it is not so that people stop buying cars, buying records, stop dancing in discos, stop having children... The Church does not want to change society or turn its members into heroes, but I understand that its actions are a natural reaction to the system in which we are involved.

Is belonging to a sect the only valid way to survive in a country like yours?

Well, there is not much difference between living in the US and here in Europe. Perhaps it is true that Christian fundamentalism is more pronounced in my country but that does not mean that people do not go to the cinema or to nightclubs just as they do here. It is also true that the entertainment industry affects us as much as it affects Europeans. I do not know why sects have more influence in America than in Europe, I do not have any preconceived ideas about it. If what you were insinuating was that in the US people are more stupid than here, I will tell you that yes, it is true, because there is no investment in public education and that is noticeable. The main idea in my country is that if you do not have money, you are screwed. What you cannot deny is that the Catholic Church has a lot of weight in the old continent and that can also influence the appearance of sects. Of course, the propaganda media in the US have the most powerful and sophisticated resources in the world and that affects people's thinking.

Look, I don't know, but talking about all this, his opposite came to mind, which could be someone like Marilyn Manson. Let me ask you about him.

Ha, ha, ha... I don't know anything about Marilyn Manson. Well, I think he's an invention of the American music industry. Consider that the US is the largest producer of content for the media and sometimes it has to invent characters like Marilyn Manson. There are more and more media outlets and they are increasingly complex that have to broadcast some kind of content and that's why there are characters like this. We have to fill television spaces with content, and they also have to make money. In fact, Marketing is responsible for making people buy things they don't need. Because you tell me why people need Marilyn Manson. In the society we live in, information reaches us and we have to swallow it constantly without often having an approximate idea of what we are processing. It's like your interview, I speak and you process the information so that you can then write it and people read you. Our society is a mechanism in which some - the entertainment industry - generate information and the rest - the population - absorb it constantly. The result of all this is that the bodies and minds of citizens are separating. The latter would be the great dream of the information society: that we would not need our bodies at all and thus become robots.

The preceding is a translation. The original language is here.