Part of Flipside, Auto Auto is a musical performance where two guys smashes up cars, making music in the process.

UrbanWire catches up with Christian von Richthoften, the creator of Auto Auto, to find out more about this man who smashes up cars in the name of music.

Urbanwire (UW): What have you heard about Singapore?

C.R.: I heard about the laws here and they were interesting to me. Because, in my opinion, the democracy and the freedoms we have in Germany doesn’t work. It destroys them. For example, pornography and drugs are not allowed here. These are very big problems in Germany!

The freedom of taking drugs is doesn’t work for me. So I’m happy when somebody says that it’s not possible. Because I grew up in a country that doesn’t have these laws, I tried marijuana before. Right now, I stop smoking and I don’t drink alcohol at all, because I’ve reached a point in the world where we should keep our energy together and be very aware of the consequences. And if there’s a law helping that to happen, I support it.

UW: How has your experience in Asia been like?

C.R.: My only experience in Asia is the 3 months I spent in India. What I found out in India is that I like their mentality and their ability of concentration. For example, the youths, whom I was just speaking to, are just sitting here, listening to me! If I’m in Germany now, I must be much harsher. I need to talk to them, like “People, I’m not here to be your friend. You came here to talk to me so shut your mouth and listen.” At no time did I have to say that just now, because people are sitting here very respectfully. I like the people here.

UW: You mentioned that it is extremely importantly to “be connected” with each other. Why the emphasis?

C.R.: It’s very important to be connected, because in this world, where more and more people are sitting behind their computers alone and building up their own world, it is very important to find common things to be connected.

For example, a lot of problems, like depression, fears and nightmares, happen when you think that you’re alone. If you don’t talk to each other, if you don’t feel that there’s somebody who have the same problems, you are lost in this digital world.

On the other hand, it gives you so much happiness if you’re in sync with the others. It’s a very basic thing. I could be in Africa, where people come together in the marketplace, there’s 1 or 2 guys making music (he beatboxes to illustrate his point), somebody comes and joins in and a third person joins in. More and more people join in and everyone finds his own voice. Many people can sing at the same time but you can understand everybody because it’s music! You don’t need to explain, you don’t need to be somebody, you just come together with this feeling.

UW: You usually use the car make Vauxhall Astra in your performances, but it’s difficult to get this car in Singapore. So what car do you plan to use?

C.R.: We have a Nissan. It’s not the car I’m expecting, but we are happy that we have a car. We will change our performance a little bit but the main thing is make music, with the help of our musical arrangements.

UW: What message do you have for the people watching your show tomorrow?

C.R.: The message I have is: “People, don’t drive your car too much. Play it!” There is no other message. Just the message that a motorcar is the most underrated music instrument in the world.Our message is not to be violent. It seems to be so, but you’ll find out that we treat the car in a very respectful way. In order to bring out more and more sounds, we use more car parts as instruments. The parts will be destroyed in the process of making music. But there’s a reason for it, and not just violence.