WED., FEBRUARY 21, 2007
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eMusic Q&A: Klaus Schulze
by Robert Phoenix
Back in 1998 when I was interviewing director Iara Lee about her groundbreaking documentary on electronic music, Modulations, we talked about some of the older electronic musicians who were interviewed in the film. She said that guys like legendary synthesizer inventor Robert Moog and Can member/electronic visionary Holger Czukay were incredibly enthusiastic about the electronic music scene that was exploding around them. In fact, both Czukay and Moog even worked with the new wave of electronic composers (Moog with Pete Namlook, Czukay with Doc Walker). According to Lee, in stark contrast to Moog and Czukay's enthusiasm and support, iconic composer Karlheinz Stockhausen had very little interest in what was taking place, and didn’t care to listen to recordings by the young guns of drum 'n’ bass, techno, etc. He was much more into his own mythos.
This anecdote from Lee was buzzing around my head as I was about to fire a series of questions through a fiber-optic network to the legendary electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze. The man has a lot of mythos himself, having presaged much of electronic and new age music with his '70s groups Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, as well as a long line of outstanding solo albums such as Irrlicht (1972), Moondawn (1976) and Mirage (1977). The 59-year-old Schulze is apparently not in the best of health — "Serious disease of KS," noted his web site in 2005. "Since September convalescent" — and he took a few days to respond to my questions. But if his fiery, feisty spirit is any indicator of his ability to recuperate, he’ll be in touring form in no time. Still, while I wasn't expecting hubris on the scale of Stockhausen’s, I was also not prepared for the uncompromising, even curt, nature of Schulze's replies.
The following is from the man who helped sequence the future of electronic music.
eMusic: There were so many great German bands and artists that were in the mix in the late '60s and '70s, and you were a key contributor to a number of them. Can you recall that time and paint a picture of the energy and exploration that accompanied that it?
KS: My opinion of German bands and artists in the late '60s and '70s is most probably another one as yours: most of it was just a bad copy of Anglo-American pop or rock music, and I was absolutely not interested in that. The "number" of which I was a key contributor was two: Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel. And they were quite different from that usual German rock with its lousy beat and the blues-rock formula.
eMusic: Do you think that the advancement in technology has helped or hindered the artistry inherent in electronic music?
KS: How should a good instrument hinder an artist to create good music?
eMusic: One time, Steve Roach told me about when he was quite young, he belonged to a group of people that were doing a lot of meditating to your early music, and it was this experience, listening to your sounds, that changed his life and pushed him towards a career as an electronic composer. How many times have you heard similar stories and what are your thoughts on electronic music and its ability to convey spiritual themes?
KS: I was never meditating. I was never belonging to such a group. My interest in this kind of esoteric stuff is nil.
eMusic: Of all of the many great musicians you have played with over the years, which one or ones were your favorite and why?
KS: Which "many" "great" musicians you mean? Even if this would be the case, how could I answer to such a question? ...because it is similar to: Which of your girlfriends in your life was the best? Every one was important to me at the time.
eMusic: How did you conceive of Richard Wahnfried and how has that alter ego allowed you to alter your music stylistically?
KS: To create music is my profession. And of course I work every day, which means: I make music in the studio. And of course a record company cannot even release half of what comes out of that permanent work. And then from time to time I meet some other musicians, and sometimes we do something together. So, in fact, it's nothing sensational about it: I work mostly alone, but sometimes I work with others. And in the second case I release it then as "Wahnfried" sometimes.
eMusic: You once toured with Arthur Brown, what was that like?
KS: It was a tour through many cities in western Europe, during the later part of 1979. Yes, I liked it. Arthur was a good singer, an intelligent partner, and a true artist, he even had some artist's manners that promoters and tour-managers don't like so much... on a tour, I mean. Punctuality, for instance. But in general, I liked it.
eMusic: One of your great live performances took place at the Dome in Cologne. It's a marvelous building with a violent history that surrounds it. What was your experience like while playing there?
KS: When I played outside the Dome, in 1991, on a place that often sees open-air festivities, it was nice, but I would not take this gig as important as you kindly seem to take it, thanks. The only thing I remember of this gig was some little technical problems... or was that at another concert? I gave concerts in Cologne a few times before, and I gave many concerts in churches. Once I even pleyed in a church in Cologne, in the year 1981, but it was not the famous "Dome," but "just" the St. Michael's Church.
"A building with a violent history that surrounds it"? I don't understand this part of the question. Every building so old as the Dome in Cologne, was in the course of time surrounded by all kinds of violence, and many many many many many other things. At least, it didn't "influence" my playing (if you mean that), at least not more or less as many other things in life.
eMusic: I've noticed that you've also performed a number of times in Poland, is there a special connection to that place?
KS: It's our neighbor country. And a promoter invited me. In fact, I didn't perform "a number of times" but just two times: 1983 I played nine great concerts, and twenty years later I played one concert with a huge special light show.
eMusic: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is home to many guitar-based legends. Do you think there will ever be a time where electronic music is recognized and the likes of yourself and other pioneers, especially from the German scene, will be honored for their contribution to the canon of rock?
KS: I never played the music of the '50s: Rock'n'Roll [sic], and I think that I'm not absolutely wrong when I state that "electronic music" has its own forms. Our music and its form was already very different when [Tangerine Dream] did Electronic Meditation (without meditating ourselves!) and it is even more today, with all kinds of trance and techno and whatever... So, why should today's artists with all their very different electronic music, be honoured for in older music style, "Rock'n'Roll" [sic]? Absurd.
This anecdote from Lee was buzzing around my head as I was about to fire a series of questions through a fiber-optic network to the legendary electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze. The man has a lot of mythos himself, having presaged much of electronic and new age music with his '70s groups Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, as well as a long line of outstanding solo albums such as Irrlicht (1972), Moondawn (1976) and Mirage (1977). The 59-year-old Schulze is apparently not in the best of health — "Serious disease of KS," noted his web site in 2005. "Since September convalescent" — and he took a few days to respond to my questions. But if his fiery, feisty spirit is any indicator of his ability to recuperate, he’ll be in touring form in no time. Still, while I wasn't expecting hubris on the scale of Stockhausen’s, I was also not prepared for the uncompromising, even curt, nature of Schulze's replies.
The following is from the man who helped sequence the future of electronic music.
eMusic: There were so many great German bands and artists that were in the mix in the late '60s and '70s, and you were a key contributor to a number of them. Can you recall that time and paint a picture of the energy and exploration that accompanied that it?
KS: My opinion of German bands and artists in the late '60s and '70s is most probably another one as yours: most of it was just a bad copy of Anglo-American pop or rock music, and I was absolutely not interested in that. The "number" of which I was a key contributor was two: Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel. And they were quite different from that usual German rock with its lousy beat and the blues-rock formula.
eMusic: Do you think that the advancement in technology has helped or hindered the artistry inherent in electronic music?
KS: How should a good instrument hinder an artist to create good music?
eMusic: One time, Steve Roach told me about when he was quite young, he belonged to a group of people that were doing a lot of meditating to your early music, and it was this experience, listening to your sounds, that changed his life and pushed him towards a career as an electronic composer. How many times have you heard similar stories and what are your thoughts on electronic music and its ability to convey spiritual themes?
KS: I was never meditating. I was never belonging to such a group. My interest in this kind of esoteric stuff is nil.
eMusic: Of all of the many great musicians you have played with over the years, which one or ones were your favorite and why?
KS: Which "many" "great" musicians you mean? Even if this would be the case, how could I answer to such a question? ...because it is similar to: Which of your girlfriends in your life was the best? Every one was important to me at the time.
eMusic: How did you conceive of Richard Wahnfried and how has that alter ego allowed you to alter your music stylistically?
KS: To create music is my profession. And of course I work every day, which means: I make music in the studio. And of course a record company cannot even release half of what comes out of that permanent work. And then from time to time I meet some other musicians, and sometimes we do something together. So, in fact, it's nothing sensational about it: I work mostly alone, but sometimes I work with others. And in the second case I release it then as "Wahnfried" sometimes.
eMusic: You once toured with Arthur Brown, what was that like?
KS: It was a tour through many cities in western Europe, during the later part of 1979. Yes, I liked it. Arthur was a good singer, an intelligent partner, and a true artist, he even had some artist's manners that promoters and tour-managers don't like so much... on a tour, I mean. Punctuality, for instance. But in general, I liked it.
eMusic: One of your great live performances took place at the Dome in Cologne. It's a marvelous building with a violent history that surrounds it. What was your experience like while playing there?
KS: When I played outside the Dome, in 1991, on a place that often sees open-air festivities, it was nice, but I would not take this gig as important as you kindly seem to take it, thanks. The only thing I remember of this gig was some little technical problems... or was that at another concert? I gave concerts in Cologne a few times before, and I gave many concerts in churches. Once I even pleyed in a church in Cologne, in the year 1981, but it was not the famous "Dome," but "just" the St. Michael's Church.
"A building with a violent history that surrounds it"? I don't understand this part of the question. Every building so old as the Dome in Cologne, was in the course of time surrounded by all kinds of violence, and many many many many many other things. At least, it didn't "influence" my playing (if you mean that), at least not more or less as many other things in life.
eMusic: I've noticed that you've also performed a number of times in Poland, is there a special connection to that place?
KS: It's our neighbor country. And a promoter invited me. In fact, I didn't perform "a number of times" but just two times: 1983 I played nine great concerts, and twenty years later I played one concert with a huge special light show.
eMusic: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is home to many guitar-based legends. Do you think there will ever be a time where electronic music is recognized and the likes of yourself and other pioneers, especially from the German scene, will be honored for their contribution to the canon of rock?
KS: I never played the music of the '50s: Rock'n'Roll [sic], and I think that I'm not absolutely wrong when I state that "electronic music" has its own forms. Our music and its form was already very different when [Tangerine Dream] did Electronic Meditation (without meditating ourselves!) and it is even more today, with all kinds of trance and techno and whatever... So, why should today's artists with all their very different electronic music, be honoured for in older music style, "Rock'n'Roll" [sic]? Absurd.
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