NEU! Beginnings

No NEU!? No Joy Division. No Sonic Youth. No LCD Soundsystem. As the original 'remixers', their abandonment of the blues and rock ’n’ roll’s conventions placed a fork in the road for guitar based music. It’s as simple as that, and no overstatement; without Michael Rother's feel for rendering loops – combined with Klaus Dinger's propulsive 'motorik' drumming technique – there’d be a gaping vacuum where much of modern music's most celebrated output should be. 

The partnership was born from a mutual dissatisfaction as short-lived members of Kraftwerk, ultimately spiralling into several dysfunctional decades of musical synergy, personal acrimony and a legacy they’ve only recently become popularly recognised for.

Sadly, Dinger passed away in March 2008, but the formation of Hallogallo 2010 marks the first time the Düsseldorf duo's catalogue has been attempted live in over 35 years. Speaking to The Skinny ahead of their Edinburgh date, Rother tells the story of the rise, fall and reawakening of NEU!      

Do you remember your first encounter with music, as a youngster?

Wow, well my mother had classical piano training, so she played her favourite classical composers at home. I guess that was in the first few years, when I was still in Hamburg. Later on, we didn’t have a piano at home because we moved around, from Hamburg to Munich, then to England, then to Pakistan. So the basic influence comes from the European classical composers and later on the next influence would have been rock ’n’ roll music. My brother who’s ten years older listened to Jailhouse Rock, Elvis Presley and Little Richard – he’s still one of my favourites. In the 50s he had his rock ’n’ roll parties: that was something that struck me when I was a small child – it had emotional appeal. Then the next thing would be the indigenous music in Pakistan, which had a long lasting influence on my feeling for music.

How did you strike up a partnership with Klaus Dinger? What ideals did you share?

We both met in Kraftwerk when I joined the band in 1971 – Klaus was the drummer. That was a very interesting, intense time. Very exciting music happened with Florian Schneider and Klaus, but then we found we weren’t happy with the direction after a summer of trying to record the second Kraftwerk album – where we failed in the studio. Klaus and I just decided to go on as a duo, I think, because, we had a lot in common inside the studio. It was outside the studio, in the normal exchange between human beings where there was trouble for Klaus and me. We couldn’t really communicate; he had such different characters, but he was a very talented and inspiring musician and artist.

Did that friction drive NEU!?

I’m not sure. It’s hard to understand that people with such different temperaments and characters could have so much in common on a musical level, but that was the case. Even with Klaus, his contributions to NEU! had different atmospheres, different psychological situations in the contributions he made. For instance, the track Hero [from NEU! 75] had a more aggressive feel, where frustrations that Klaus felt were expressed. That was not the way I felt about life and society, but I understood his feelings and I shared the love for this dynamic music – this fast-forward movement. So I concentrated on adding my guitars and whatever I could on that level. For Klaus, I think it was clear that he loved my melodic sense and what I contributed because we had different qualities – he was a powerful drummer and I came from the guitar. That was a very good combination; we had a good understanding of the qualities that the other brought in, even though we had our different feelings about life.

-

Guest Question: Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips): Your guitar style is very unique. Who were some of your favourite guitarists in the 70s?

I can tell you who I listened to in the past, before I stopped listening to music in the 70s – and of course Jimi Hendrix was top of that list, alongside The Beatles. These days, I don’t listen to contemporary music in the way that most people seem to, and when I do, I pick music from very different styles, ages and countries. To be honest, I enjoy having silence sometimes. Our lives – modern lives – are so full of music, so full of stupid, silly music also, that you can’t escape from. But everyone should always check out the music from Johann Sebastian Bach! [laughs]  

-

Was it your intention to break with the traditions of the past– that idea of ‘forgetting Jimi Hendrix’ – which you’ve talked about previously – from the very beginning of your partnership?

Oh yes, of course – that was the most important aspect of everything I wanted to achieve. I joined Kraftwerk when I had already broken with the traditions of the music I had grown up with. I still love Jimi Hendrix, until this day I can hear his music and know he was such a great artist. The music he made – especially in the beginning – like Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love was so inspiring. But, growing up, I became aware of the fact that there was already a Jimi Hendrix around and he was a better Jimi Hendrix than I would ever have been! What I had to do was find a way to express my own personality and approach to music, that really made it necessary to drop all the clichés, and I did that radically.

-

Guest Question: Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth): Did you ever see Jimi Hendrix perform live?  What was your response?

Yes, I saw the Jimi Hendrix Experience in Düsseldorf in 1968. I sat in one of the first rows and thought he looked very sympathetic. His music on the first two albums was such an inspiration to me and my expectations were incredibly high. Unfortunately, the sound of the live performance was a bit disappointing – which is quite understandable if you bear in mind that it was the experimental treatment and processing of his guitar which greatly appealed to me. One guitar, one bass and one drum simply could not create enough depth in sound. I faced the same problems when we attempted to play live as NEU! in 1972. But it was still a wonderful experience which I´ll never forget, to see that genius of a musician play live.

-

Was it difficult to ‘unlearn’ rock ’n’ roll?

Not really. I think it would have been more difficult to get stuck in the middle – to take a little bit of the past with me and try to add something new.  I went back to playing on one note, on one string of the guitar. And being very careful about what came on top and the melodies I added – if you look at tracks like Hallogallo [from NEU!’s self-titled 1972 debut] – very simple structures. Once you start from scratch, and if you have some kind of vision for music that you want to achieve, it’s much easier to have a radical break than to make some sort of compromise.

What compelled you to reappraise the NEU! catalogue now, in particular your complete reconstruction of the fourth album – now NEU! ‘86.  

We had been talking about doing a NEU! vinyl box set, even when Klaus was alive. Right after the release of the three originals in 2001, there was this idea our label Grönland had to release a box set and we were also discussing releasing the fourth album. They wanted us to record a completely new album that would have been our fifth. Klaus and I visited a studio in London, we had many talks in several places. But it was difficult to feel at ease with Klaus, we had drifted apart. You probably know the kind of silly things he did in the 90s when he released NEU! music behind my back; he just kept on saying no to everything that was offered to us, then suddenly he started releasing music I had recorded without my knowledge. We were lucky to re-release the three albums at all, that was a close shave. The label told me later that in the last moment Klaus wanted to prevent their release again, but luckily they decided to ignore his threats and just went ahead.

So this album of material Klaus released in the 90s was something we did together in 1985 and ‘86. At that time, NEU! was out of fashion; no one was talking about us and the albums were out of print. We tried to get a deal with a record company but nobody was interested. At that time we had to stop – we worked for a long time on those recordings, longer than we had on any album before. So we said ‘OK, let’s stop here, have a break and meet again some time in the future’. We didn’t say when but it was clear we wanted to continue working on the material – there was a lot I thought was interesting and worth a release.

What Klaus did in the 90s was to wound, and that needed healing. So we met with his widow and the Grönland team in spring last year. I offered to rework those recordings and try to create a better version of our 80s music than what Klaus had released, which in my opinion was a rather poor album. It didn’t show some of the colours that are important in our music. I worked for six months last year and presented my version to everyone. Klaus’s widow was happy with the result and that’s why we included it in the vinyl box set.

- 

Guest Question: Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai): Are you surprised at how popular the motorik style of music you helped pioneer has become? How do you feel about its Renaissance?

To be honest, it’s so strange for me, because I’ve experienced everything. I was always convinced about the music NEU! did, and I was equally convinced about the music Harmonia did. So I’ve learned from the different reactions we got to those bands, that music. What I feel is nothing to do with what the audience feels. I just need to rely on my own conviction really, so the answer would be: no, I’m absolutely not surprised! [laughs]. But on the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody loved it. I’ve just been fortunate.

-

Steve Shelley and Benjamin Curtis [School of Seven Bells] both contributed to last year’s brilliant Brand NEU! tribute compilation. How did you go about recruiting them for Hallogallo 2010?

I learned about quite a few international musicians being fans of NEU! – of our music, of my music – especially after our albums were re-released in 2001. The contact with Aaron Mullan [Tall Firs], Steve Shelley and Benjamin Curtis – that was a different story.

I met Benjamin when he was still guitar player with Secret Machines and they did a new version of the Harmonia track Deluxe (Immer Wieder) and invited me to join them onstage twice in Hamburg. We became friends, and so Benjamin joined me for a concert at ATP in the UK in 2005, then again in New York in 2006. When Harmonia played at the UK ATP in 2008 we were offered Aaron as front of house mixer. He’s a very friendly guy; he did a great job with our sound. So we stayed in touch and he also did our sound at ATP in New York the same year. Then Aaron asked me whether I wanted to meet Steve, who had great interest in working with me. So we did a session at Sonic Youth’s studio in September 2008, which we all enjoyed. Since then we’ve been in close contact, exchanging music and ideas. When I started thinking about putting together a band for my plans this year, Steve was a natural choice. I was lucky and happy to see that everyone was available and very enthusiastic about this project.

Was there some sense of returning to the beginning – the original intention of NEU! – hence the name Hallogallo?

Well, obviously I can’t call the project NEU! – it would be foolish and untrue – but even when I played with Harmonia in recent years, I’ve been working on that kind of fast forward music for some time now. It’s come closer into my focus on music and of course, to have a real drummer – a human drummer, a powerful and good drummer, was also something that got me quite excited. The prospect of playing that music with Steve Shelley: it turned out really well. We played two shows in Switzerland and Barcelona in May, and people were just as enthusiastic about the music as we were. So I’m quite happy and looking forward to doing more shows.

-

Guest Question: Andy Wake (The Phantom Band): Do you feel that the retro-branding of the British music press of a diverse body of music misses the point somewhat, or have you gladly come to identify yourself as an exponent of the ‘Krautrock’ badge?

That is a terrible expression. I know my colleagues; everyone I know of the music scene thinks it’s stupid – that connection with Germany’s past, soldiers, and where it came from. For many years I’ve been aware of the fact that this term cannot be neglected. The feelings behind it were once ambiguous, although it’s something that is used in admiration and as a compliment by most people nowadays.

But it’s illogical – I’ve been trying to develop my own artistic personality. It’s the wrong way to put me into a box with other musicians and say ‘they’re all the same kind’. In the past I wasn’t interested in what was happening outside my sphere in Germany, and today whenever I hear anything that comes under the term Krautrock – maybe with the exception of some of the music by Kluster, or Kraftwerk, or Can – there are some similarities but there are huge differences in the music of these bands. Maybe as something that came from a certain area in the world – from Germany, from a certain time – then you can try to understand or analyse that change in the country’s music. But that’s a long answer for a short question. ‘Do you like Krautrock?’ No, I hate it.

-

Is this a band you can envisage recording with, or is it strictly a touring vehicle at this point?

For now I’m concentrating on performing live, but we’re recording our concerts. It would make sense to release some music. Everybody is quite eager to release music in this collaboration, but no definite plans…yet. I think that question will come up when we’ve recorded more concerts. This is something that will keep me working for several months; we’ll be doing a lot of shows, a lot of travelling. It’s a great, exciting time.

We’re sitting here talking about your legacy, to what extent has history taken over your career? Do you still have time to work on new music?

That’s a very important point! I’m still struggling, there’s no simple answer to that. Like in this interview, I have to talk about a long span of time; a lot of elements of the past are interesting to people. Sometimes I get a bit sad and annoyed that I have to spend so much time communicating, organising music and projects, but that’s the way I always work. For me it’s quite natural not to have a manager. In the beginning I was just a guitar player, then I added keyboards and other instruments and started producing myself. I had my own studio, I also started a label – I had so many hats to wear. This is part of the wish to be independent, to have a complete horizon to work on.

For the moment, in combination with the release of the Tracks and Traces album with Harmonia and Brian Eno last year – and now the NEU! vinyl box set, I have to accept a lot of questions concerning the past 35 years or so. In my own mind, I’m at peace generally, because this is no contradiction to what I feel these days. My ideas for NEU! – for tracks like Hallogallo – are just as alive in my thinking about music now, as they were back then.

-

Guest Question: Graeme Ronald (Remember Remember): Do you think there will always be a place for guitars in forward-thinking music?

I remember maybe 30 years ago there were interviews with Kraftwerk where they said guitars are like dinosaurs. That made me smile. If I look back over the decades, I concentrated on electronics more than guitars for 15 years, enjoying work on the Fairlight Music Computer, for instance. But I’ve come back to the guitar in the last ten years; I think it’s balanced again. Of course, it’s the combination that really works. What I like about guitar playing in combination with electronic sounds in performance is that there’s always this human factor of error and lively expression of variation.  I also like to hear electronic music, like Underworld. But a guitar – if it’s played in the right way, in an inspiring way – always adds some life that I miss when I think about music for a while.