Das Freie
Orchester, doing the Nice ‘n Sleazy radioshow on Radio 100 in Berlin, and
probably other things the years have taken from my memory. This was over 20
years ago and you still do a radioshow now, hater of sleep
that you must be! You have an impressively eclectic series of playlists,
quite the most unpredictable show I’ve ever listened to. What are the
greatest pleasures for you of making the show and what are the qualities you
love most in the music you choose?
LL:
Remembering also makes me wonder
when and how I did all this .. the radioshow today .. well .. I guess it’s
based on two aspects –
A > I really still want to
spread the news that there is always a quality and reality “beyond” –
listening to some of the artists I present makes me realise how “stuck” most
people are .. like Mighty Sam McClain, most people who like this kind of
music keep listening to B.B. King or Otis Redding .. Mighty Sam is a MASTER
to discover! .. completely gimmick free and straight to the point, playing
this kind of Blues-Funk-Soul-Groove exactly the way I always wanted to hear
it! Or Steve Kusaba, who is working on his 48 hour(!!!!) Rock Opera .. or ..
or .. or .. there is so much unbelievable quality to discover!!
Looking back I always did that.
I remember a friend visiting me .. that was about .. oups .. 40 years ago ..
a friend who lived in another town. I played him some records .. after a
while he said: “Mh, strange who are all these people, I don’t know a single
one.” I remember that like yesterday. While he asked I played “Neil Innes:
How sweet to be an idiot.” I never forgot that .. I guess this was the
moment I decided I want to spread this idea of “beyond the known”. Producing
the show today also helps me to “focus” .. to come closer to the music I as
musician want to play / produce .. the music has to be personal / unique …
absolutely any style / genre but personal / unique, I love innovators, even
if they invented 50 years ago.
I could talk forever about Les
Paul and Mary Ford, world’s first homerecording musicians. I played their
music to my girlfriend, after a while she said she thought it was a “minimal
avant duo” from the 1980s – the recordings I played were from the 1950s. The
aspect of recording at home adds a total different dimension to the music, a
timeless quality. Another homerecording classic is Joe Meek. If you listen
to some of the instrumental bands he produced, like the Moontrekkers, some
of their songs sound like instrumentals I did in the 1980s on 4-track. A
total unique own sound. Joe Meek produced in his converted bedroom because
he wanted to get away from the rules and regulations of the record industry
– that sounds VERY familiar.
So
– as “private” as possible – YES – homerecording(!!!) – is very important ..
a certain kind of communication – I immediately delete all mass e-mail
communication .. I more or less guarantee airplay if the release is sent
with a handwritten letter . or note .. I don’t play Mp3s …somehow I think I
play exactly what I played in the 1980s only the “scene” has changed … grew
into a new quality .. I’ll keep on digging and presenting!
MM:
I
often thought I needed my head looking at (and a number of psychiatrists
have agreed), working full-time, doing an additional 30-40 hours a week on
M&E, as well as making music with my own band and trying to have some
semblance of a private life. At full activity, I just about lasted a decade
before I fell victim to the legend that was Underground Burnout Syndrome.
But you, well… you did so much more than me, you
even wrote a thesis on it, “Das Phanomen Der Homerecording Bewegung,” and
are still multi-tasking, having gone well past the two
decade mark. How did you avoid going down in flames yourself and how has it
affected your life priorities today? |