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Wise Blood, Musician

Melanie Jane Parker

Published Mar 31, 2011

Modified Apr 1, 2011

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Melanie Jane Parker

Published Mar 31, 2011

Modified Apr 1, 2011

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In the past year, 21-year old musician Wise Blood, a.k.a. Christopher Laufman, went from being virtually unheard of to being a signed, touring, recording artist. His songs are aural collages of gospel, hip-hop, rock, pop, blues, R&B, and most recently, Disney numbers, all overlaid by original vocals. Unlike many mix masters, Laufman performs with live accompaniment and was recently a huge hit at Austin's SXSW festival. He has three live shows coming up in New York (Glasslands on April 1st, Shea Stadium on April 2nd, and Pianos on April 5th), and is currently weighing whether or not to permanently relocate to somewhere in the five boroughs after having an on-again-off-again relationship with our fair city.

You’ve been all over the place recently. Yeah, I was touring a little bit with different people. I’m finally back right now, which is nice. Sometimes New York is too much. I’m glad to be back. I’m recording some stuff tonight. I’m doing this song that’s being released to advertise the shows.

Where were you touring and with who? I was around the East Coast with Esben and the Witch and then down South with Dom, and then Saul Black for a little bit, and then SXSW, and I’m excited about these live shows [in New York] coming up. [Right now] I’m on my way to buy some new shoes. My grandpa said I need some new shoes and I believe him, so I’m going to do that right now.

Does your family live in Pittsburgh? Did you grow up there? Just some of my family. I’m just hanging out with them. The majority of my time I’ve spent in Pittsburgh. But yeah, I grew up in a sense here. I grew up a little bit in Seattle, in LA, in Oklahoma, in the Ozarks, different places.

That’s interesting, I’ve never met anyone who grew up in the Ozarks. The Ozarks are great, a weird little area. Have you seen Winter’s Bone? It’s really depressing, it’s about the Ozarks. I think it has such a cool name—the Ozarks. I’m diggin’ that name.

It sounds like a bizarre animal. Yeah, it does, it does.

I feel like it’s so hard to find information about you. You really are this mystery, yet you’re on tour and playing at SXSW. I’m really curious as to how old you are.
I’m twenty-one.

You’re starting out young. I think you have to now. I hope everything is ready. It’s going ok.

How did you begin doing what you’re doing? I’ve always been making music but it was in a different sense. A year ago, I had this break-up, and basically I just kind of came home and didn’t do anything and made music and worked in the cemetery for a while. That’s when Wise Blood came about. It came out of a lot of different things going on. It’s always been there, but I finally started doing it recently.

That explains why you’ve only released about eight songs at this point. Yeah, probably only about eight. There’s an EP coming out very soon. It’s getting mixed and it keeps getting pushed back but it’s been done for a while. The official release is in a month, I’d say. The label wants publicity around it and everything, so it’s taking a while to get out.

When did you get signed? A few months ago. I decided to go with Dovecote Creative, because they are the smartest guys I’ve ever met and they are signing all these people that I love. I had to work with them and I’m very happy about it.

Where did you get your name Wise Blood? Well, that was my name when I was a kid, I got it from there. I was just called Wise Blood, I didn’t have a choice. That’s my government name, actually.

Your government name? Yeah, it’s Wise Blood, that’s my official name. I give Chris Laufman sometimes, but that’s my artist name. It’s a complicated thing, people sometimes get that confused.

What do you mean? A lot of people think my official name is Chris Laufman and I go by Wise Blood, but it’s the opposite.

Are you joking? [Laughing] Of course not, I’m not joking. Never.

Ok, so that clears up a few things. [Laughing] Yeah.

A lot has happened for you in the past year. In terms of what will take place in the coming year, what do you visualize? This EP is coming out soon and there are a lot of things in the works with a lot of different opportunities that I’m really excited about. I don’t know, I mean, I’m planning on the biggest things possible. I just have to get this official release out and then it’s going to be a nonstop climb upwards. I couldn’t be happier. Big things! The official release is going to have about six songs on it, and it’s going to be ten times better than anything else. That’s why I’m frustrated I’ve had to sit on it for so long. It’s getting mixed right now in London. The wait will be worth it.

What is your new song called? The new song is called "I’m Losing My Mind." There’s going to be a video coming out for it soon, too. I think you’ll enjoy it.

When you started recording, was it you doing everything and now is it more of a collaborative process? It’s still just me. I can’t make music with anyone else because I feel it dilutes everything. I do everything myself and then I take it to people for doing live stuff.

I heard that you performed with live musicians at SXSW. Yeah, so many laptop musicians have the most boring live shows ever. I didn’t want it to be like that. The whole thing about being live is, people are coming to see something that’ll be entertaining, so I’m not going to try to recreate the music perfectly, I’m just going to try to put on a really good show.

Are you going to have live musicians at Glasslands and Pianos? Oh yeah definitely, the Glasslands show is going to be crazy. And then Wu Lyfe, too? It’s going to be pretty good, I’m very excited for that.

How do you choose samples? Do you go completely on the aesthetic or is there some kind of meaning behind the things you piece together? Sometimes there is [meaning] but it’s mainly just me hearing something and being like, I think I can use that, and I want to use that. Sometimes things are built around—there are a lot of samples that I’ve used recently and they are all different versions of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. I pieced them all together, and then turned it into a song about a lion, so that was intentional. But it depends.

I read in your Pitchfork interview that you are a practicing Catholic. There are plenty of allusions to religion in some of your songs, and there are also lots of references to sex. There is also something erotic about your music in general. I am not a practicing Catholic, so maybe it’s just that I perceive contradictions in things I don’t have intimate knowledge of, but I am really curious about that. I’m also curious about the ‘Slut Banger’ thing. I’m constantly contradicting myself. It’s basically that I’m trying to do something—I’m not drawn to religion, I kind of hate it, but I can’t get away from it. It’s hard to explain. I’m constantly not doing the right thing. Whether I choose to embrace [religion] or not, if I choose to embrace it I’ll be better, and I know I could do things if I just embraced it, but I have such a hard time embracing it because I’m not a good person. That’s where the problem comes in. I’m a pretty terrible person. If I could just be a better person and get some discipline in my life...But you’re right, it’s a lot of contradictions, and I admit that they’re there.

The gaps between references to sex and women and then the sounds that one would associate with gospel—it all actually works together very well. There’s a long tradition of being drawn to religion and then drinking a lot and being very sinful—a lot of blues and gospel is based on that, admitting your sinful nature but wanting to fix it. That’s what I believe I’ve been trying to do, fix my sinful nature. I’m trying to fix it because I think I’ll be better for it. I feel like a lot of people don’t give a fuck, and it’s to their detriment.

How has your life been changing, and how are you challenged by all of that change? I was living in the Bronx for a little bit, and basically, I don’t necessarily live in New York. I’m going to be there for a little bit and I was there for a little bit. I’m from Pittsburgh and I’m trying to figure out where I’m going to be living. My label is in New York, the people I was playing with are there, so I moved there to be closer to all of that for the beginning. Right now everything is up in the air, so I’m trying to take a step back in this week that I have to figure out what I’m going to do next, where I’m going to be living. It’s been kind of difficult.

Are you intrigued by the music scene in Brooklyn? I feel like it’s cool but I don’t feel like it’s my scene. I hope I don’t fit into anything, I’d rather not fit in anywhere.

Having said that, how would you describe your own music? It’s written somewhere, but, 'future music'. I have too much of a hard time—I could run through ten different words and none of them would describe what I’m going for. So I guess future music.

I was listening to your music with a good friend of mine and he said that he would love to hear you score a film. Yeah! I would actually love to do that, as well. That’s funny. That’s what I would love to do. Like Alex North doing Kubrick movies or Johnny Greenwood doing There Will Be Blood.

What movie that has already been made would you have wanted to score, or what kind of movie that hasn’t already been made could you imagine yourself scoring? There’s this movie that I’ve become obsessed with, Satyricon by Fellini, this very strange movie with such strange music in it, really discordant music. In the movie I’d score, it would be like a Fellini movie. That would be fun. I’ve become obsessed with Fellini.

And you see Fellini films as corresponding somehow to your own sensibility in terms of music? I watched Satyricon and it was amazing. It really inspired me to make music more than any music has recently.

What other mediums inspire you? Painting. I love reading about Van Gogh, different artists like that. They really get to me, those guys.

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Christopher Laufman

interview

wise blood

Melanie Jane Parker

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