Spoken Word Week: Christoph Alexander In Interview

Having been a writer for a few years, you're now starting out in spoken word. What are the teething problems people can expect to go through if they decide to get up there and talk?

Nerves. Its one thing to memorise your performance, but another to read it fresh from the page. For me it was a conscious desicion to try and conquer my fear of public speaking - I've never been very good at it, and would trip over words. Also if my work was going to get out there, I had to back it up for better or worse - so regardless of how I feel about it, I'll at least see if it has an audience outside of myself. What's more I'll stand by it even if it drags me through hell. It's not the writer's job to judge his material, which is easier said than done.

It's been said that members of your audience walked out in disgust during your first gig. What was it they were offended by?

That's not strictly true; it did appear that three people got up and walked out. One of them I'm pretty sure went to use the phone then returned, while the other two were an elderly couple who joined us late into the evening - maybe they'd just enjoyed enough for the evening and decided to call it a night!

But it did so happen that I was reading a piece that was a little edgy at the time - a piece which perhaps should be introduced with a disclaimer... it's certainly not for all tastes. So from where I was sat that night I saw three figures walking out on me, which for whatever reason I took as a good omen. Especially when afterwoulds I was approached by a lady who wanted to teach me to Tango. I wonder exactly what it was I said that made this woman think; "I know what this guy needs - he needs to Tango!" Unfortunately I lost her number, so may never find out.

Do you think spoken word performance can be as rock 'n roll as, well rock 'n roll?

Fuck yes. There's always going to be prose that reverberates intensley with the reader in the same way that a lyric, melody or band can communicate intimately and make us feel less alone. Some of these voices are very seductive and command attention - what's more they can be a call to arms to change your life in ways that might before have seemed frightening. They said along time ago that rock is dead, well so is god and the written word. Sex and death are all that we are left with, but if we're lucky we might find some charismatic corpses to guide us through our own underworlds.

What piece of work that you've done is currently the most enjoyable for you, and why?

I've been enjoying reading a short story, or more precisely a sub-chapter from a novel in progress, a piece untiltled as of the moment, but simply known as The Office Nightmare. This is the piece that prompted the alleged walkouts. I had assumed that the piece was a good idea but ill conceived. Turns out I was wrong! It's received a lot of positive feedback and has been requested - so that's obviously a good sign. I like the way you can physically see people reacting to it, and how what effects one person doesn't so much as raise an eyebrow in another.

What is it about Lenny Bruce that makes him an enduring figure in the history of spoken word/stand up?

I think Lenny Bruce has been in my life for even longer than Bill Hicks... the two amalgamated together somewhere in my distant memory. Of course, Lenny was historically the first to approach censorship issues and rally leftwing politics with sharp political satire and biting wit. And even when they were arresting him at every given oppurtunity he stood his ground, never backed down. Perhaps more importantly, he reported back so future generations could learn from his example. Saint Bruce.

Is it possible for a spoken word artist to get arrested/start riots/cause civil unrest in this day and age?

Yes, of course, but it all depends on the content, power and focus of the words. Words are a great weapon to be released upon our enemies: anyone with a little knowledge of curses, hexes or neuro-linguistic programing will know the full exstent of the damage to be inflicted by a few choice words in the right ears. Look at our recent history - how a few choice words carried more weight than actual physical evidence, even after the words were proved to be outright lies.

One thing I've noticed is that if you lie to someone they appear to go through a process of knowing the information is a lie but choosing to believe it anyway come hell or high water. Whereas, when offered with the truth, the individual has no choice in the matter, and that is the key here, choice.

The removal of choice seems to cause some kind of mental trauma. A line I'm fond of quoting is "an honest man is always in trouble". Which is good business if you're a writer - just look at Dan Fante, Bukowski, Miller and others of the same elk.

On another note, Chuck Palahnuik used to read a short story called 'Guts' while on tour to promote his novel Haunted, the story became quite famous since wherever it was read people were passing out, and normally at the same point in the story as well. Its imagery was that powerful.

I myself have even passed out due to a story told to me. It didnt help that I was on mushrooms at the time. Everyone blamed the shrooms but I know it was the story - I could feel it working its way inside me, unable to stop it. I still can't repeat it aloud. The first time I read American Psycho, one of its descriptions of torture made my hands go weak so I couldn't hold the book, and more recently Charlotte Roche's Wetlands has made my stomach flip more than once. Either these are powerful words or I'm going soft - and I used to clean the blood, guts and offal off surgical instruments for a living.

Do you have any plans to record your spoken word gigs and perhaps release them somehow?

I hadn't until about a week ago. In fact, I wasn't even scheduled to be performing at the cafe I'm currently at: they run nights of art, films music and so on, and one of the acts dropped out, so I was asked to fill in. Providing atmospherics over the precedings was a gentleman named Charlie, who plays the trumpet. The organiser decided to put us together and the result was, I thought, incredible - so from this came the idea that together maybe we could record something. Maybe. I've yet to approache Charlie with the idea. We've literaly said about two sentences to each other so far, but a seed has been planted.

Some writers probably translate better to spoken word than others - have you experienced that, and who works better than who?

Most of my favourite writers have distinct voices that once you hear, you can't read them without hearing their meter and idiosyncratic inflections. Writers like Hunter Thompson, Ballard, Capote, Will Self, Bukowski, Kerouac, Hubert Selby, Robert Anton Wilson, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore and the king of them all, Burroughs.



But there are other performers and or artists who also demand the same respect like Genesis P Orridge, comedians like Richard Pryer and Bill Hicks, filmmakers like Werner Herzog, David Lynch, Scorsesse, Cronenberg and Nicolas Winding Refen to name but a few.

It's part vocal attributes as well as their philosophical worldview that make them such a pleasure to listen to. Particularly Burroughs, Herzog and Hicks - an (un)holy trinity if ever there was one. So does the voice shape the person or the person shape the voice? I dont think there's a right answer, but have a listen to Tom Waits as he grew through the years from album to album.

In honesty, I think that the voice and word are pretty much inseparable, so writers perfroming their works should not worry over such matters. Not when there are greater causes at stake like nailing down that perfect sentence, forever on the end of the tongue. Shit... I forgot what i was going to say...

CHRISTOPH ALEXANDER WILL BE PERFORMING AT THE
BOSTON TEA PARTY IN BATH ON TUESDAY 24 AUGUST, 7.30- 11PM
CHECK 'BOSTON NIGHTS' ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE INFORMATION