| Sonntagszeitung:
You are considered as an ambitious amateur cyclist.
Which stages of the "Tour de France" have you cycled yourself already? |
| Ralf
Hütter: All of us and me in particular have
been cycling for decades already. We have cycled all the passes which are
listed in the CD booklet. The classical stages over the passes of Madleine,
Galibier to Alpe d`Huez in the Alps, and from Luchon via Tourmalet to Luz
Ardiden in the Pyrenees. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
Was it as easy as your soundtracks imply? |
| Ralf
Hütter: If you are in good shape, it is easy.
If it runs smoothly, it is almost without noise. For our album we recorded
the noise of the bicycle and human breath. This kind of floating state is
called "he is riding without chain on his bike", like in a concert with
music playing almost automatically. There are certain parallels. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
Compared to the sufferings of the professional cyclists
during the recent Tour de France, your "Soundtracks" give you the feeling
of something sublime. Or like cyclists who have taken a lot of Epo. |
| Ralf
Hütter: Of course our sounds are sublime.
By the way, the Tour de France invited us. Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle, the former
top cyclist, was our "Capitaine de route". We were in his car
to Alpe d`Huez directly behind Jean-Marie Leblanc, the Tour director. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
B Suffering is part of cycling. Isn´t that so?
|
| Ralf
Hütter: Sometimes in certain phases you reach
the limits of your potential, no matter if you are a professional or an
amateur cyclist. You cycle within your possibilities, within the rhythm
of your life. As musicians we always worked like this. In the 60s we worked
with tapes, edited with razor blades. We played electro-acoustic instruments.
In the early 70s we used the first synthesizers. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
It is almost unbelievable that now a new "Kraftwerk"
album is being released. So many times before a new album was announced
and then nothing happened. Why? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Already in 1983 we had the concept
for a "Tour de France" album. It only became the "Tour de France" single
because we started working on the "Technopop" album, which finally became
"Electric Café". After that we digitalised all recordings. Last autumn we
performed at the Cité de la Musique in Paris with laptops for the first
time. We are mobile now with our studio. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
I thought that you had been mobile for a long time
already. |
| Ralf
Hütter: Our Klingklang-Studio used to weigh
several tons. In 1998 we travelled round the world with it. We have now
reduced it to a digital platform. We can practically carry our studio as
hand baggage. And it functions all right in the different climatic zones.
We performed in Japan in very cold weather and in the heat of Australia.
It was fantastic. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
"Tour de France Soundtracks" is your first album with
new tracks since 1986. |
| Ralf
Hütter: No, it isn`t. In 1999 we made "Expo
2000", a mini-album with the music for the Hannover World Fair. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
Nevertheless, your work rate is on the slow side. |
| Ralf
Hütter: We are totally autonomous. We do
everything by ourselves, in co-operation with our computer engineer. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
The former member of "Kraftwerk", Wolfgang Flür, once
said that Ralf Hütter had become more interested in cycling than in music.
That`s why everything would take so long. |
| Ralf
Hütter: Who is Flür? |
| Sonntagszeitung:
He was with "Kraftwerk" for about 15 years. |
| Ralf
Hütter: He was one of the drummers whom we
engaged for tours and records. His statement is wrong. He cannot judge cycling
because he has never cycled himself. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
What is the actual reason that you are so enthusiastic
about cycling? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Probably because of its affinity
to music. Man and machine becoming an entity. Man, who moves by his own
efforts, in co-operation with a machine. It is interesting that in the past
weeks, while the Tour de France was on, you could hear in the media expressions
like "Ullrich the man-machine" or "Ullrich, a power station (Kraftwerk)
on wheels". By the way, cycling is also a health programme. Many people
from the music business have burnt themselves out. We, however, are full
of energy. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
With the "Tour de France" album you are taking up
an old "Kraftwerk" subject. Does it perhaps conclude your work? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Not at all, but we don`t work according
to a fixed 4 year plan, we have no plan at all. Our work will become livelier
again. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
Considering the fact that "Kraftwerk" had such a strong
influence on pop music, every new statement seems to be difficult because
it might jeopardize the "Kraftwerk" myth, namely that you are highly gifted
techno pioneers. |
| Ralf
Hütter: We
don`t have these thoughts, these considerations are for music critics. We
ourselves are not interested in such questions. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
With their electronic sounds "Kraftwerk" have been
the avant-garde. It is inevitable that you are losing this lead. Aren`t
you concerned about this? |
| Ralf
Hütter: We always did it our way. We were
always confronted with prejudices. When we released "Trans Europe Express"
they asked, "why are you occupied with old stuff like TEE, that is a thing
of the past". When "Computerworld" was released they called us "Knöpfchendreher"
(knob twiddlers). When doing this album, we thought it might even be too
late to deal with such a subject. Later it turned out to be quite different.
The personal computer came on to the market two years afterwards. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
The video of your "Tour de France" track 1983, as
well as that of "The Model" showed pictures from the past. Why? |
| Ralf
Hütter: In France someone described it as
"retrofuturism". Sometimes it is necessary to look back so that you can
see the future. In our society there is a permanent pressure for something
new, which we don`t like. The essence is important to us. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
In an earlier interview you said "if you proceed from
the assumption that everbody is making his own music, we aren`t needed any
more". Now, in the age of the DJ. we have reached this state. |
| Ralf
Hütter: That`s true. The electro music, which
we, in a spiritual way so to speak, have helped to develop, has made this
possible. However, this is no reason for us to stop. We will go on at full
speed. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
The "man machine" is your favourite subject. Over
the past years the link between man and computer has developed at high speed.
Do you keep informed about this? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, we do. We try to apply this
to our work, too. We imagine that our roboters are giving a concert in Tokyo,
while we are in Paris. The greatest thing is when the music plays itself.
|
| Sonntagszeitung:
That is an old project of "Kraftwerk". |
| Ralf
Hütter: That is correct. For a long time
the equipment was not accessible though. However, we are working hard on
it. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
When some years ago the TV- and CD series "Pop 2000"
was made, unrolling the history of German pop music, "Kraftwerk" of all
pop groups was missing, Germany`s most important contribution to the history
of pop. Why? |
| Ralf
Hütter: We have always been outsiders. We
were in fact asked for "Pop 2000". 2000 years of pop music? "No, not with
us", was our answer. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
Are the other German pop musicians not good enough
for "Kraftwerk"? |
| Ralf
Hütter: That is not the point. We just want
to do it our way. In freedom. We have always disliked this kind of compiling,
wrapping up and repackaging. |
| Sonntagszeitung:
Will we have the pleasure to seeing you on stage again? |
| Ralf
Hütter: Yes, you will. We are planning to
tour through Europe in autumn and winter. |
|
|
|
Interview
to Michael Lüther
|
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