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SINGAPORE: He’s been called everything from “enigma” to “anti-hero” to “nuisance”, but X’Ho (pronounced Chris Ho) has never been as upset about being misunderstood as he is about losing his hat.
“It’s my favourite hat! If I spent two days looking for it, you know it’s something I consider important to me,” said the “eternally 27-year-old” about his misplaced head-warmer.
Yes, underneath the army of piercings, layers of tattoos and years of dependable railing against the system, is a man who claims to be so sentimental, he couldn’t bear to leave his job at Rediffusion after three decades in 2005.
“They literally had to kick me out the door. Bye-bye!” he said.
X’Ho has travelled down a long road, ever since he was a young man in the ’80s fronting the New Wave, post-punk outfit called Zircon Lounge. They performed material that only a select few could appreciate. It didn’t matter that his music couldn’t pay the bills — he embarked on several careers, as a radio DJ, as a freelance columnist, as a voice-over artiste for commercials and as an author.
Despite his many hats (figurative ones) he never lost sight of his music, whether as a solo artiste or group efforts with the Zircon Govt. Porn Starz and The Fabulous IQ of David Gunn. “Yes, music has allowed a lot of wonderful avenues to help me get by,” said the performer.
Today, his continued evolution as an artiste and as a human being suggests the former Punk Monk Hunk could be reduced and boiled down to just the “monk” component. He continually makes his pilgrimage to Thailand, his “spiritual home”, and his relationship with his mother (which, at one point, was so strained he didn’t speak to her for years) is “pretty good” by his standards.
Even his latest album, Baphomet Sacrum, a collection of spoken word tracks recorded with local musician Everafter, bemoans herd mentality and lack of spirituality — still food for thought but far from the blistering socio-cultural attacks on Singapore life we’ve come to expect from our default pop-cultural rebel.
Interestingly, none of the indie labels wanted to release his “spiritual” album. And it was — the horror — major label Warner music who came to his rescue.
“I never thought any major (label) would be interested, otherwise I would have gone to them first!”
Baphomet Sacrum has only six tracks. Is there more to come?
Because of its brevity, this is a nice contrast to my last one (1999’s spoken-word X’ With An X : Me All Good No Bad) which was so sprawling. My original intention was always to do a guitar album first, but now I’ve done this, I don’t know if I have enough guts to release that album.
Not enough guts? What on earth is on that album?
I intended to release a guitar album called No Ordinary Country – and then I got scared about releasing it. In Baphomet Sacrum, I didn’t even mention Singapore. But on the guitar album, I mention Singapore, I mention, er, everybody! I mean, everything for that album was finished but I was suddenly seized by fear.
Does this album signal a change in direction?
Previously, I was tackling a social aspect of what I saw was the problem. But where I’m coming from now is a spiritual angle. Russian film-maker Andrei Tarkovsky said: ‘I believe that an enormous task has been entrusted to art. This is the task of resurrecting spirituality. Man in his life consists of developing this spirituality, if he fails to do so, society deteriorates.’
Is spirituality important to you?
In my recent trip to Thailand, I woke up at 3.30am one day – usually I go to sleep at three in the afternoon! But I got to see the villagers giving the monks their alms. And suddenly it hit me – that was what my trip was about: To experience the emotional cleansing and capture that spiritual sanity.
Where do you think your confrontational nature stems from?
Because I come from an abused background. I’m always trying to right a wrong. And I don’t have a fear of pain. I have to do whatever to make myself happy. I put myself through the pain.
Why is it important to feel pain?
I feel that I have to answer to my conscience. I have to feel that I have done everything I could to rescue a relationship or friendship, for example. Life has thrown me this message to dispose of excess luggage.
What’s your excess baggage?
The so-called friends. Those that I really turned to, that I considered family. And suddenly all the years of emotional investment in these friends have come to nought.
You still want to be a rock star?
I’m way past that stage. You either have the ambition or you don’t – I don’t. I’m more interested in living out my life as a decent and true human being.
Is music still important to you?
I’ve always said this – it sounds like a cliche, I know – but there are times that I feel I just live for a lyric. Or to hear the next Emmylou Harris album!
What’s up next?
I never know. I always believe in divine intervention. I always have faith that what I wish for will happen. Without faith, hope and charity you can’t live, especially in Singapore – because we’re so pragmatic!
Baphomet Sacrum is out in stores now.- TODAY/ra
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