Who is Herbert Grönemeyer?

Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante is a dedicated fan of the German 1970’s cult electronic duo NEU! His idol: NEU!-guitarist Michael Rother. But do the two of them have something to say to each other? In bringing them together Musikexpress made the test.

When does one have a chance to feel not completely innocent about a groundbreaking concert? When the Red Hot Chili Peppers played in Hamburg at the end of March, more than 16,000 fans were extremely happy ­ not only because of the brilliant concert but also because of the encores. The free section expected after shows of this size was with its 83 minutes (!) longer than the entire show of some newcomers. The Hamburg audience celebrated the band, during the followings days the newspapers wrote about a concert event that you get to experience only once in a while. On what occasions did it happen before that the encore was more impressive than the show itself? So what had happened in the “Color Line Arena”?

Anthony Kiedis had long left the stage, when thousands of fans were still romping in the arena ­ because they were witness to a spontaneous jam session. On stage: guitarist John Frusciante, bassist Flea ­ and amongst them a slender, nearly plain man, greyish hair, but with a grip on his guitar a steady as ever. Michael Rother, 53 years old and from 1971 till 1975 guitarist with the 70’s electronic legend NEU!. [translator’s comment: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez was there, too] For decades the duo consisting of Rother and Klaus Dinger influenced legions of musicians through its minimalist mantra-like beats.

John Frusciante also likes to mention in interviews how much he’s been influenced by Rother’s way of playing the guitar. But this evening Frusciante, normally rather introverted, stands on stage yelling: “You can go home now. This is Michael Rother ­and we are going to play until the early morning!” [translator’s comment: I’m quite sure that it was Chad Smith saying this, laughing and then leaving the stage. John repeated the introduction of Rother by saying “This is Michael Rother of NEU! Go buy their records!”] Hardly ever before, says Anthony Kiedis, has anyone seen the shy musician more high-spirited than on that night.

A few hours earlier during the backstage meeting between Rother and Frusciante, the RHCP-guitarist was indeed at bit more unobtrusive. But this changed rather quickly since he turned out to be an interested interviewer with an excellent knowledge of NEU!’s work.

Musikexpress: John, you’ve often stressed how much NEU! has influenced you. Is there a song which you would consider ground-breaking for you and your work?

Frusciante: Nearly the entire work of NEU! is overwhelming for me. Each song is like piece belonging to the whole. Each song is important and has it’s function, and that’s why for me NEU!’s songs belong together. It’s nearly like a work of art. Michael, what do you do, for example, with your guitar on “Negativeland”?

Rother: That’s not a guitar we are playing there. Klaus Dinger plays a Nagoya harp, an instrument from China or India. You pluck it with your right hand and play the melody with your left one. It’s a bit like playing the piano.

Frusciante: (pull a piece of paper with questions from his trouser pocket) What was the biggest difference between you and Klaus Dinger in NEU!?

Rother: Klaus was more rock-oriented than me. I wanted to try more new sounds, which didn’t work out with him. In 1973 I met Dieter Möbius and Hans-Joachim Rödelius, and apart from being in NEU!, I played in the band Harmonia with them. Klaus and I had already been quarrelling by then, and the Harmonia tour with Möbius and Rödelius opened new horizons for me. Even though we sometimes played in front of 3 people. I don’t know if I would have had the energy to record “NEU! 75” with Klaus. It’s likely that we would have broken up before that.

Frusciante: On the first song on Harmonia is a whirring sound. What’s that?

Rother: Oh dear! You really do know your way around these songs. I can’t remember cause it was Möbius’ idea. Even today Möbi still has the strangest ideas, strange noises he integrates in songs. He discovered things that don’t have anything to do with music and builds them into the songs. A maniac. We often failed to play these songs live. Möbi is an intuitive worker.

Frusciante: Will you record another album together?

Rother: There are no plans as of today. The re-releases of NEU! were very important and next in line is a new solo album. Maybe it’s a matter of time until Möbi and I will work together again. But the two of us are also very different. It has a lot to do with magic. and the time with Klaus has really influenced me concerning working together with other musicians.

Frusciante: What kind of music did you listen to as a child?

Rother: My mother always played Chopin. I think that influenced me.

Frusciante: (interrupts him) My father played Chopin on the piano. That’s funny! There’s an entire generation between us and we are living thousands of miles apart and we still grew up with the same music.

Rother: Chopin was my mother’s favourite composer. She was a concert pianist and studied at the conservatory. She was really good, but after she finishing her studies in the late 1940’s, she had to work in an office. But she took it with a sense of humour and always said that the muscles she had developed by playing piano were also useful for working with the typewriter.

Frusciante: My father was also a concert pianist. But he had to stop because of back problems. He never really got over it. Today he works in court.

Musikexpress: Which songs did you use for learning to play the guitar?

Rother: Songs by George Harrison and, later on, like everyone, I played songs by Jimi Hendrix. It was only then that one was really good.

Frusciante: Did Hendrix inspire you to write your wonderfully creative songs?

Rother: No. I wanted to forget everything I had learned. I was driven by the urge to create something new and individual.

Frusciante: Who inspired you?

Rother: Conny Plank. He was a gifted producer and one the most inspiring musicians I’ve ever met. Unfortunately, he died way too early in 1987. But he had a strong influence on me, not only with his work but also as a person.

Frusciante: For how long did you play with Kraftwerk?

Rother: Only for six months, but that was a tough and really crazy time. Klaus, Florian and I, we actually didn’t really match each other. We were getting close to psychological boundaries, because everyone wanted to try everything. Pop music was still something new. It was extreme in everything, it was all about fighting, fighting, fighting. That was also the reason why the old NEU! records weren’t available on CD for so long. Klaus and I are still fighting to this day, we simply don’t get along. We are so different and live in completely different worlds, today even more than back then. However, a big thank you goes out to Herbert Grönemeyer who managed to get us together for the re-release.

Frusciante: Who is Herbert Grönemeyer?

Rother: A German musician and actor, a famous star over here. The first time he heard NEU! was in 1998 during a photo shooting and he was puzzled that the CDs weren’t available. Since then he tried everything to have them re-released. Many others had tried it before, but none of them succeeded.

Frusciante: Thank Goodness! I bought the re-releases as soon as they were out. And I guard the original vinyls like a treasure. I hardly listen to them anymore.

Musikexpress: John, did NEU! have more influence on your work with the Peppers or on your solo material?

Frusciante: I think on my solo work. However, I’d rather think their work as inspiration than influence. What really touched me is the work of NEU!, considering the time they were really precise and had a tremendous feeling for melodies. This is what I’m trying to anticipate, even though my music is completely different.

Rother: I for my part really like your soft way of playing the guitar, nearly ecstatic.

Infobox

The three albums of NEU! are considered to be masterpieces of Krautrock and are at the same time ground-breaking pop albums of the early 70’s. “NEU!”, “NEU!2” and “NEU! 75” still influence today’s pop music . Michael Rother’s and Klaus Dinger’s career began in 1971 with a TV appearance on the show “Beat Club” [translator’s comment: A famous German shows like Top Of The Pops these days.], where, together with Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk, they played the 11-minute sound improvisation “Rückstoßgondoliere”. However, Rother and Dinger soon left Kraftwerk and formed NEU!. At the end of 1971 they recorded their debut “NEU!” in only four days. “Hallogallo”, the album’s opener, could be found on the London radio-djs’ playlists well into the 1980’s. Due to lack of money Rother and Dinger recorded variations of their single “Neuschnee/Super” in a variety of speeds on “NEU!2”. Since then they are considered to be the inventor of the remix.

NEU! went through an unamicable split in 1975. An attempted comeback during the mid-80’s failed, even though the recordings for their fourth album “NEU!4” were nearly done. Klaus Dinger released the album in 1995 without Rother’s consent in Japan and a year later ­ again without Rother’s consent ­ a NEU! live album (a tape recording of the rehearsals to NEU!’s only tour in 1972). The re-release of all three albums in May 2001 on Herbert Grönemeyer’s label “Grönland” didn’t change the situation between Dinger and Rother.