Voodoo Kungfu: “God Didn’t Make Me, The Devil Did”

Bless him, Father, for he has sinned. It’s been too long since Li Nan’s last confession. Since 2003 he’s fronted the metal ensemble Voodoo Kungfu. Onstage he’d douse himself in fake gore, screeching pagan folklore at ungodly high pitches, while his bandmates tore through blasphemous riffs. But offstage he’s a devout Christian. He even attended a Catholic boarding school in Ireland as a teen. Now he’s going abroad again, not to study scripture but instead music theory at Berklee, breaking up Voodoo Kungfu in the process. While prepping for that farewell gig (at MAO Live on May 27), Li Nan opened up to us. Read his confession below.

Why is it worth breaking up your band to study at Berklee?

I want to work with some really pro musicians. I think I have to learn more about music, and know more people than just Beijing musicians. At Berklee I want to learn different singing styles. I had no formal musical education before, that’s why I want to go.

What was it like being the only Chinese kid at a Catholic boarding school in Ireland?

I was 16 years old, an exchange student. And I was bored. I didn’t know any English. I had to learn that on my own too, from Hollywood movies.

Rockinchina.com says you joined the "Christian extreme sect called Jesus Christ Holy Priest Community” and that got you kicked out of school…

Actually I don’t know where that comes from [laughs]. I don’t know who wrote that, I didn’t really have big trouble. Since I could not speak English, everyone knew me only as the quiet Chinese boy.

Since studying there, you’ve been a devout Christian. What’s the toughest thing about being religious?

It’s terrible to go to a Catholic Church here. Religion is just fashion for a lot of them, they think it’s cool. They never think about things in the Bible, they just simply believe it. They don’t have the same idea about The Devil and God as I do.

What are your ideas about The Devil?

The first time I read The Book of Genesis carefully, I thought ‘It’s not God that made humanity.’ God made Adam and Eve, but The Devil was the snake in paradise that made these humans make more and more humans. So I think God didn’t make me, The Devil did.

You’ve befriended many snakes working at The Beijing Zoo—did any of them talk to you as if you were Adam or Eve?

[Laughs] Even today I have two pythons, two cobras, and three vipers at home. Snakes are predators, but they only kill for survival. But people in the south of China eat snakes for fun. So snakes aren’t evil. Sure, The Devil is evil—the same as any of us human beings.

Catch Voodoo Kungfu’s farewell gig at MAO Livehouse on May 27. Tickets cost RMB 150 (on the door) or RMB 120 (advance)

Photo: Courtesy of Li Nan