| This
radio interview is divided in 2 parts, and each part of transcripted text
has the respective audio file beside to download. |
|
Part 1 |
 |
|
| JJJ:
Has the technological advances that have occurred in the last 20, 30 years,
has it made it easier for Kraftwerk to play live? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, definitely, because now we have our laptop
computers, and we can travel, where before you can imagine, in the 70s,
80s even, we had all this huge analogue music machines, UK and Europe were...
(cut) ...autobahn, but then flying to America, or coming to Australia was
nearly impossible. |
| JJJ:
Did it restrict what you could do, and how much? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, in a way, because Lufthansa wouldn't fly us
in here for free, so your cargo charges and... |
| JJJ:
...was too expensive... |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yeah. But now we can travel and we're really very
moveable, and that's why we are here. |
| JJJ:
Have you enjoyed playing live, because there's speculation amongst your
fans about whether you actually do like the live performance? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, we don't do that many concerts but it's always
a challenge and so far the computers have worked very well, and ... little
failures here and there, but overall they have been very friendly with us
and we have been friendly with the computers, so things are working very
well. |
| JJJ:
I noticed last night (Enmore Theatre, Sydney) just a couple of glitches
along the way... and that was actually surprising to see the reaction from
the audience, because there is speculation about how much of it is actually
being played live on stage. |
| Ralf
Hütter: It's all live, the computers are running live. |
| JJJ:
Do you worry much about those mistakes when they happen? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Uh, no, but there's always a risk of total failure
then we would have to stop, out, and have to make a short speech, reload
and start again. |
| JJJ:
Is this part of a resurrection if you like of Kraftwerk? You've been very
quiet for, you know, the last fifteen years. |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, we have been working in our studio, doing all
our very very old, from the late 60s, early 70s, the analogue tapes, we
have transferred it onto digital format, so we put a lot of work on our
old Kraftwerk original sounds. Also now we have been doing remasterings,
which will probably come out later this year, and we have been doing all
these sound files, to perform with the original Kraftwerk sounds live, and
working on those. |
| JJJ:
A lot of artists like to move on. They don't tend to like a lot of their
early work, do you enjoy listening back to what you created all those years
ago? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yeah, well we don't listen so much but we have been
working in transferring the sounds, and now putting them forward into our
live performance. |
| JJJ:
What about the new music of Kraftwerk, is there much? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, we are working on different tracks, and when
we play some more concerts on the Big Day Out festivals, then we fly back
into Germany in to our Kling Klang studio, and we will continue work on
the next album. |
| JJJ:
Which is how much completed? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Oh, 99%. |
| JJJ:
That close? How's it sounding? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Kraftwerk-like. |
| |
|
Part 2 |
|
|
| Ralf
Hütter: In Düsseldorf
we work in our Kling Klang studio since 1970, and the doors are closed,
and we are doing what we have to do. Our work we call ourselves "musikarbeiter"... |
| JJJ:
...which translates as... |
| Ralf
Hütter: Musical
workers...and that's what we do. |
| JJJ:
Are you very isolated? I have read...no faxes, no phones, no contact...
|
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, all
this would be disturbing. |
| JJJ:
So you isolate yourself as much as possible? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, for
the work, and then we go out again, and we go to clubs, to dance, and we
travel, we are working on all aspects of creating Kraftwerk, that's the
one thing we do, we have never been able to do other things. |
| JJJ:
When you and Florian are working in such an intense environment in creating
pieces of music which would take.... would they take maybe years to create? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, sometimes,
and then we put them away, and listen back again, and do other things...
|
| JJJ:
...and then change them slightly... |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes. |
| JJJ:
It must be very refreshing then to finally get out of the studio and take
it to people. |
| Ralf
Hütter: Definitely,
yeah... Well we... in the first place we are live musicians. |
| JJJ:
Because you and Florian met at conservatory... |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes. |
| JJJ:
Was it in Düsseldorf or Cologne? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Outside
of Düsseldorf, there was having some improvisational courses, so we
just hooked up together and did stuff. '68. And then we organised a loose
collection of musicians, and around 1970 we built our Kling Klang studio
and Kraftwerk, and from there on we have been working all the time, until
now. |
| JJJ:
Do you listen to a lot of other artists for inspiration? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Well, we
hear music all around, we hear the sounds of the environment, we hear the
aeroplanes, we hear the cars, we hear the cities, we go to clubs, we hear
when we are in the festival, so we are picking up vibes from over all. Our
ears are microphones. |
| JJJ:
Yes. Well reproducing reality is I think... (cut) ...years ago you said
, is that still the role for Kraftwerk? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes. Well
we take from our experiences, like travelling through Europe, that's where
"Trans Europe Express" comes from, "Autobahn" comes
from hundreds of thousands of miles on the autobahn... |
| JJJ:
...and of course "Tour De France". |
| Ralf
Hütter: "Tour
de France" comes from our cycling experience, and we've been, the music
has been the official music of the Tour de France when it came out. |
| JJJ:
A couple of questions from people, because there's lots of fans of Kraftwerk
here. Robbie wanted me to ask you about when you first heard Afrika Bambaataa's
"Planet Rock", which had heavily sampled your piece from the 70s... |
| Ralf
Hütter: It's not
sampled, it's replayed. |
| JJJ:
...replayed with the rappers over the top of it. How did you feel when that,
that was obviously crossing over into another generation. |
| Ralf
Hütter: Well, we
have been hearing Bambaataa many years before. Our first experience was
when he was playing "Trans Europe Express" and "Metal On
Metal" on 2 discs in a club, and they were experimenting with two record
players, and they had two pressings, and so he was doing that, and from
there I knew there were things going on, and then he did that rap record,
and "Trans Europe Express". |
| JJJ:
Did you find it exciting? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, it's
a very, very good record. |
| JJJ:
Yes, well it's just a completely different generation and also culture that
was picking up on your music. Was that strange for you? |
| Ralf
Hütter: In a way,
not, because we had always been accused of our music being cold, and repetitive,
and boring and very machinistic, and we always found there was soul in the
machines, and then one day when these records came out it was proven that
there's soul into the musics of Kraftwerk. |
| JJJ:
And another question, just to sort of wind up.. the future is something
which Craig who works here wanted me to ask you about. When you were little,
when you were young, did you think much about the future? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Maybe we
thought more about the present, because living in Germany we were the first
post-war generation, and so there was a cultural emptiness, which we discovered
at puberty, and in the first place there was a little culture shock, living
in this total emptiness, but from there on it was an enormous chance, so
we could make it up, we made up our own living culture, everyday culture,
we call "Alltagskultur" , and that was a very big chance. There
was no big entertainment scene, or musical scene, of course there was the
classical music from way back the 19th century, and there was a electronic
music scene around the radio stations, maybe those combinations of situation
inspired us to make up our own music. Everyday electronics. |
| JJJ:
Yeah, well there was scene coming up, but it was a rebuilding wasn't it?
...of culture, and of ideas? It must have been very exciting... |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, it
was an enormous chance in those days. |
| JJJ:
Do you think much about the future now. There's been so much that's happened
in 20 years, what do you think is going to happen in the next 20 years?
|
| Ralf
Hütter: Oh, we have
to see, be awake, and keep your eyes and ears open, and we'll see. |
 |
| Interview to Richard Kingsmill - Sydney - Australia |
|
Transcription by Peter Page - Sydney - Australia
|
|
