“I’m Giving Up on Rock & Roll” is the latest record by Christopher the Conquered, who is also known as Chris Ford. The album will be released May 13, but is available for pre-order at the Maximum Ames website. 

Despite the title, this new record is far from the end of Ford’s career. He explained that in a way it is a new start for his music.

“Well, in a lot of ways I consider this my first album because it’s the first album I feel where I have a clear vision of what I’m wanting to do artistically,” Ford said.

Ford went more in depth about the meaning of the title of the album, saying the theme of the record has a lot to do with his own internal thoughts and creativity.

“This album is about stripping away my pretensions of being a certain kind of artist or somebody special, and the songs are very honest about my struggle to figure out who I am and what I should be doing with my life and my art,” Ford said.  

Keeping with that theme was a goal of Ford’s when he set out to choose which of his songs he wanted to include on the record.

He said he wrote and considered about 40 songs and talked about how a plan for a album can really help in the song selection process.

“I think if you have a theme and you have a consistent vision for what you want the album to be, then [choosing songs is] really easy, but if your just trying to pick songs that sound the coolest than that can be kinda hard,” Ford said.

He also has plans to give back to his fans with this record as the first 356 people who preorder the album will receive an email featuring a song that Ford will write and record especially for the buyer.

“If you preorder, you’ll get an email where I ask you to tell me either about one of the happiest or saddest moments of your life,” Ford said. “Or if you don’t want to be that personal, then you can tell me something you really like and why.”

Ford said he is always looking for new ways to bring his music to new fans and that he hopes this will also bring some new ideas to his songwriting.

“I want to start writing on a more regular schedule, so this will force me to do that, and I also wanted to encourage people to preorder my record and reward them for being an early supporter of mine by giving them something special,” Ford said.  

Ford said these songs will be deep, and he is planning on spending a lot of time on them after the release of the album.

“It’s going to be a big, long project, but I write a lot of songs anyway, so this is just basically moving my creative energy,” Ford said.

This new challenge Ford is tackling comes right after his tour through Europe, which took place from January to mid-March.

Ford played at venues in Italy and Germany and said most of his shows were in a intimate setting.

“The booking agency I was working with generally booked more intimate listening concerts, where people come and sit and listen quietly to the entire show from beginning to end,” Ford said.

He also mentioned that one of his favorite venues he had the chance to play at was Teatro del Sale in Florence, Italy.

“They had a beautiful Steinway grand piano on the stage, so I felt like I was way cooler than I actually am on that night,” Ford said.

Along with all of the positives of touring in a new place, Ford also mentioned some challenges of playing in new countries.

“When you’re traveling around, say from like one country to another, you [definitely] get stoked out in your performance itself because it’s harder to read an audience when maybe they don’t speak your language or if it’s just a different culture” Ford said.

After two successful tours in Europe, Ford plans on making a return. 

“I’d like to go back every year, as long as I can,” Ford said. 

Visit Ford’s website to find out more about “I’m Giving Up on Rock & Roll” and Ford’s tour dates.