We
weren't improvising. I had a very clear idea of the structure of the song,
but, I mean, I had all these melodies and ideas inside my head, but Jaki
couldn't hear them, he just heard what I played on the rhythm guitar and
picked up from these harmony circles I would play. It was amazing the
amount of intuition, and how he reacted to them.
In the way you're
composing now, how much are you guided by your discovery of sounds? That
is, how much does the technology lead you toward ideas?
The
process is different every day, with every idea; there's not a typical way
to work. If I look at the last 20 years, I see that it's obvious that some
of the technology had a great impact on my way of working for certain
times. For instance, the Fairlight computer, which I bought in '82 after
seeing the movie Liquid Sky at a film festival in Montreal and being knocked off my
feet by a new sound that I heard. I was so impressed, and I had to have
that instrument ÐÐ and it was ridiculously expensive. At the time there was
only one other instrument that had the same features, and that was the
Synclavier, and that was even more expensive! [laughs]
But
I was so thrilled by the possibility of painting waveforms, writing music
in different software levels ÐÐ if you know the Fairlight, there's a
composing software, and that is like mathematics, so you had to write a
very slow process. At school I was always interested in mathematics, and so
that fascinated me for many months, writing music and saying "A2
[2]," etc. [laughs] And then sometimes crazy mistakes happen because you
forgot to write an element, and sometimes I thought it was even better than
what I wanted to do. The Fairlight really impressed me, and I still have it
in the studio.
In the '80s and
later in the '90s there were new sounds, but now I still use for instance
the old wah pedals from the '60s or the fuzz box from the '60s, the drum
box from the early '70s, and it's interesting to combine all these old
ideas, this old technology, with new technology to come to different
results. I seem to revolve around a certain idea, and sometimes return to
working methods and approaches to music but on a different point on the
time axis, and maybe on a different level.
But
how to explain that, really? Of course you take inspiration from using new
working methods, incorporating new sounds and ways of expression, but in
the long run all these elements you can buy are no substitute for having
your own vision of music, your own ideas. So I can use maybe very different
technologies and still have similar results ÐÐ I think that it is
the case.
What
is your current musical direction? Any specific musical ideas that you're
pursuing?
Well,
there are things happening at the same time. In recent years I've been
touring with Harmonia again, and I enjoyed playing some of the Harmonia
tracks live, that was a very special experience. And also in recent years
we have been talking about recording a new Neu album.
Really!
Of course, since we
re-released our albums in 2001, that was always something that the boss of
the label had in his mind; it was his hope that we would go into the studio
and ÐÐ well, we tried, we discussed it many times, Klaus and I, with the
label people. But I was very careful about going onto a boat with Klaus, I
must say. [ed. note: Founding Neu member Klaus Dinger died in 2008] I try
not to be unkind, but he was a very difficult person, and after all that
nonsense he did in the '90s, releasing Neu music behind my back, etc., I
knew that I had to be very careful if I didn't want to end up in total
disaster. That was a specialty of Klaus, actually. Of course as an artist
he did amazing, wonderful things, but as a person he was very demanding,
very sometimes hard to...stand. [laughs]
There's something
very gratifying about hearing seeing the way you work with Dieter Moebius.
You seem to get along with him well, both personally and as a musician.
Hoo!
That has also undergone many changes. We started working as a duo in '98,
after a break of 22 years, since after the breakup of Harmonia, and we did
quite a few concerts and tours that were really great ÐÐ in Tokyo, for
example, that was wonderful, and I very much enjoyed that. And I think the
basic contributions all three of us in Harmonia could bring onto the stage,
in a theoretical way, were very promising. But, to be honest, we had
personal problems again [laughs] ÐÐ the psychological problems that we had in the '70s
didn't vanish, so we seem to be the same. I think it was interesting and
also quite funny in a way.
So, unfortunately, Harmonia won't perform live again, I
don't think. Hans and Moebi won't perform live again as part of Harmonia,
because especially Roedelius and also Moebius decided that they didn't want
to pursue that anymore, even after very positive reactions to what we did
in Europe and America and the UK, and several festivals
that we did around the world.
I don't know, the answers of Roedelius and Moebius would be
maybe a bit different, but I think the strong rhythmical part I had in mind
ÐÐ that was one of your earlier questions, What am I doing these days? ÐÐ I
am interested in the dynamic approach right now. Of course this also
depends on mood, and from day to day it can be different. But the dynamic
elements of Neu, for instance, the people really were quite excited about
that, and maybe Hans and Moebi weren't happy about the way the individual
contributions were reviewed.
But the clichŽ about
creative tension among musicians is that it creates some of the best music.
Yes,
definitely, that's absolutely right, and I know that although it may feel
better to have peace and harmony in the studio, and be totally friendly and
in love with each other [laughs], that certainly does not promise a more exciting music.
And working together with people that have very different views on music
and life and a very different personality structure and wishes, etc., of
course Neu is a perfect example for this: Outside of the studio, Klaus and
I never mixed. It was impossible for me.
For
all these years you have continued to base yourself in Forst. It must be a
very special place.
Actually,
at this moment I'm standing on the first floor of the house looking over
the river, looking into the sun, and this place has so much magic. Whenever
I return from being in the city ÐÐ I love to be in Hamburg in the
wintertime, I love to travel, be in big cities like Sydney, etc. ÐÐ this
tranquility I find here, and of course the possibility to work in my
studio, and the atmosphere is so inspiring, I wouldn't want to miss that,
and never fails to catch me, to lift me.
