Interview: Hans-Joachim Roedelius
I had every intention of doing this interview in person, especially because Hans-Joachim Roedelius was doing a rare show here in my hometown of Portland as part of his recently wrapped up North American tour. But wouldn’t you know it – scheduling conflicts got in the way. I had already agreed to truck up to Seattle to cover Portishead’s only NW show of their 2011 tour (a worthy decision, in spite of what I had to miss). But alas, the best I could get was an e-mail interview.
But when it comes to an artist with a history as deep and varied and amazing as Roedelius, I will take what I can get. Roedelius is one of the icons of what was dubbed the Krautrock movement that emerged from Germany in the ’70s. Alongside collaborators such as Conrad Schnitzler and Dieter Moebius, Roedelius formed the influential group Kluster, which expanded on the promise of psychedelia by adding airy textures and the sounds of early analog synthesizers. The self-trained musician further embraced electronics via his groups Cluster (Kluster minus Schnitzler), Harmonia (a group that featured Neu!’s Michael Rother and, at one point, Brian Eno), and his solo work.
Perhaps incredibly, the now 77 year old musician shows no signs of slowing down. With his new musical partner Onnen Bock, Roedelius has released a trio of albums under the name Qluster. These thematically linked records pay homage to the work of his past but push ever so gently forward into modernity.
How was your recent tour of the States?
A great success. The audiences liked it, almost everywhere standing ovations. In San Francisco, L.A. and at Moogfest, the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” because I celebrated my 77th birthday with them.
I can only imagine that it has been sometime since you have done a tour like that…what inspired you do that?
My last solo tour was 1999. So it was time to do it again. Because I was invited to the ATP Festival in New Jersey beginning October and Moogfest end of, it was just reasonable to do that tour also to avoid that I should fly two times to the States within four weeks only. My friends and colleagues Vivek Chandra Shukla and Jason Scott Furr from the label Erototox Decodings in Asheville organized and arranged it very well and they came with me, driving me and playing as well with me, helping me to make it as easy as possible to drive about 10,000 kilometers by car.
As part of the tour you did a collaboration with Simeon from the Silver Apples. Was this an improvised performance? How did you feel the performance went?
Yes it was and the performance worked out very well, even so we didn’t rehearse for it at all before.
The most recent music I’ve heard from you was from the new project Qluster. Why did you choose to resurrect a version of that name for this collaboration?
To keep the attention to the principle/idea under which the project started with Schnitzler and Moebius as Kluster, followed by Cluster.
How did you meet and start working with your Qluster partner Onnen Bock?
We met a long time ago in the late seventies on the island of Corsica and then we toured in Spain as a group along with sax player Jurij Novoselic.
The three albums that you released this year with Qluster are connected by title and theme. Did you record those at the same time with that intention?
There was material already from a studio-live performance of the two of us in the Philharmony Berlin and tracks from live concerts in the past that we combined with material we did lately with analogue gear that is part of the trilogy named Fragen.
What drew you to start making music when you were younger – and what fueled your interest in electronic instruments?
When I became a physiotherapist masseur it was meant as first step to become a doctor of medicine, but after practicing it for about 10 years I found out in my genealogical tree that many of my ancestors were preachers, teachers, cantors, musicians and I decided at sudden to become an artist, composer, musician. Because I didn’t know much about music and had to learn everything myself so electronic gear was easy to work with.
What keeps you inspired and making music? You seem to release so much material…do you ever worry about repeating yourself along the way?
I’m head of a big family with three children and already two grandsons. I take care of the house, I’m cooking, shopping, cleaning. My life is in every minute fulfilled with work not only doing music. Because I’m always curious. I meet new friends, collaborators all over the globe with whom I’m doing artwork. That’s a great challenge, I like to cross borders and find new fields to elaborate and adapt.
What is next for you?
Concerts in Portugal, Germany, Brazil, France.
