Christian Vander Interview
By George Allen and Robert Pearson
April 22, 1995

GA : Is the emblem for Magma meant to depict a bird or is it abstract ?
CV : When I created it, I never thought of a bird. I had an idea inside about a symbol or emblem, and just wrote it down on a piece of paper, sketched it. The idea at the beginning was something like the dress of the Egyptians. It was supposed to be like a piece of cloth or articulated metal sheets that would mold over the body, over the ribcage. It was to be similar to breast-plate armour, but supple, not rigid.

GA : The name Magma, is that part of kobaian or does it refer to lava ? Is it reflective of the style of the band ?
CV : Yes, it refers directly to lava. Back in 1966, I had written a piece and I was already in a band with Bernard Paganotti, who became a bass player. Already, I was searching for the right word. The tune I wrote back then was called Nogma. I was looking for the word Magma, but didn't know it was what I was looking for. One day the band didn't have a name at the time, and they were standing in front of a fairly well-known club in Paris. The club management told me if you don't have a name, you can't come and play tonight. So we went for coffee, at the shop next door. I thought deeply, you know, and the word Magma came out. At the same time, I founded Uniweria Zekt. I wrote this down on the receipt from the coffee shop and kept it.

GA : Does the name Magma mean to reflect the qualities of flexibility and beat. would those be characteristics of your music that you value ?
CV : At the beginning, when I found the name, the name was bigger than me at the time, but it was inside of myself at the same time. I had to learn in time; I didn't know what it meant. And I kept on practicing to be at the same level as the name. And I am still practicing, to live up to the name and the evocation of the name.

GA : Are there any plans for a 25th year anniversary Magma reunion or to record more material under the name Magma ?
CV : Yes. I even have the name of the record. I have all the titles, but I haven't focused on the music yet. When I woke up one day I wrote all the titles of the album down. If you repeat the titles in the right order, it sounds like a magic formula. It happens quite often that I dream the tunes, get up in the morning, and go to the piano, and write them down.

GA : Do some of the lyrics come from unconscious states or dreams, like automatic writing ?
CV : The music and the lyrics come up at the same time. If I am singing, and if it has to be in Kobaian, they come up in Kobaian. Sometimes there is a word that is maybe French or English and I leave it in because it is there, and it's natural. The lyrics come at the same time, parallel to the music. For pieces like Mekanïk, they were not written in one shot or one session. I had to run a tape recorder to be able to capture it instantly- it goes very fast. I sing with new words that I don't know, and when I am improvising further, the same words come back, even though I don't know them. But I didn't learn them, they impose themselves on me.

RP : (regarding the lyrics) Could you comment on how you feel they heal the human spirit, how healing they are ?
CV : Because they arise naturally. I feel that somehow they must be healing.

RP : There wasn't an intention to make healing music ?
CV : No, it happened naturally. If I created a word artificially, it would be different, but the words come up instinctively. I do not want to work artificially. I want to work from instinct. I have done everything to keep the instinct fresh and alive, quick, sharp.

GA : It's been reported that Coltrane's work has had an impact on you. do other artists, such as Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, or Albert Ayler, for instance, hold a continuing interest for you ?
CV : I am always listening and attentive to what they do. I am open to listen to what they do. But for my work, it is still Coltrane who actually gives me the real material to work on, to be able to move on.

GA : Sun Aa and the Arkestra are a continuing set of musicians who operate much as a band, and they also have a mythic approach to outer space themes. Do you listen to or like Sun Ra ?
CV : I have not really listened to Sun Ra but every time I've heard Sun Ra I've felt that there was something, a real connection. What's funny is that before Magma the band already had a long name in mind, and it sounded very much like the whole long name of Sun Ra and the Arkestra.

RP : What are some spiritual influences that you could point to, like Gurdjieff or the gospels ?
CV : Its difficult to answer because at different times in my life, I have tried different philosophies but I don't think that Gurdjieffs' teachings and the laws surrounding that teaching really apply today. It doesn't work for today.

RP : What works for today ?
CV : For example, the monks in Tibet. They pray all the time for peace and they have been doing that for a very long time and what is happening is that there are less and less of them and they are less and less heard, so my question is 'Are their prayers really working?' Today the prayers are heard less and less and the world is going down and down. I think that I understand part of the things that do not work and I plan to write a philosophical book. The book will look like a novel. I already have 800 pages written.

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