An Interview With Michael Rother (Neu! , Harmonia)

Harmonia was described by Brian Eno as the “most important rock group”. But you originally wanted to bring Roedelius and Moebius into Neu! at the time?

When NEU! was invited to do a tour in the UK in 1973, Klaus Dinger and I faced the problem that we needed musicians to help us put our sound on stage – but the ones we auditioned in Düsseldorf were just not right. I knew Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius from a concert we did together in 1971 when I played with Kraftwerk in Hamburg.

What did you see that opened the door to form Harmonia?

The Cluster track ‘Im Süden‘ appealed to me because it had a similar melodic approach as the one I was working on. I visited HJ Roedelius and Dieter Moebius in their home in Forst and jammed with Roedelius. The combination of my guitar and the endless piano patterns of Roedelius opened new possibilities and was so promising that I decided to put NEU! on hold and moved to Forst a few weeks later. Achim (Roedelius), Moebi and I formed the band Harmonia and started playing live and working on the recordings of our first album ‘Musik von Harmonia’.

Was the more organic live feel a natural growth or did you want the music to move in that direction? Did you intentionally move away from your work with Klaus Dinger?

Moebi loved to work spontaneously and contributed surprising elements that were never predictable and which added an important spice to the parts by Achim and myself. One of the big advantages of the trio we formed was that we were able to create a complete soundscape live and on spot. This hadn’t been the case with NEU! because Klaus Dinger and I depended on the multitrack technology in order to create the layers of sound we had in mind.

Cluster’s second album, Zuckerzeit (1974) followed the first Harmonia record- do you believe your role as producer helped move the session away from the more abrasive sound of the first Cluster album?

The chronology: Musik von Harmonia was recorded in 1973 and released in early 1974, Zuckerzeit was recorded later in 1974 by Achim and Moebi when I was away from Forst and recorded the 3rd NEU! album in Conny’s Studio. Achim and Moebi asked me whether they could use some of my instruments and recording gear (e.g. a TEAC 4-track tape machine – which btw was later used to record the Harmonia & Eno sessions in September 1976) while I was away, and they decided to credit me as “co-producer” although I had nothing to do with the actual recordings.

Did you help move Cluster toward this more melodic direction? Or was the group already inclined in this new direction? How did Roedelius’ and Moebius’ vision compliment each other?

Zuckerzeit is a collection of Roedelius-solo and Moebius-solo pieces. I think the three of us influenced each other greatly when we started our collaboration as Harmonia in June 1973, and this influence can be felt on Zuckerzeit as well as on NEU! ’75.

Harmonia’s ‘Deluxe’ (1975) came next with Conny Plank playing the role of the producer. It is generally conceded that you play a much larger role than the others.

I don’t think that I took on a leadership role on Deluxe although the title track and Monza consist mostly of my keyboard and guitar work. Achim and Moebi also made very valuable contributions to the album. Achim’s ‘Kekse‘, Moebi´s ‘Notre Dame‘ are good examples for tracks that were dominated by them. Moebi also contributed the great melody he played on a Nagoja Harp on ‘Walky-Talky’. The problem with the album Deluxe was that it completely failed commercially when it was released in August 1975. We were all very frustrated but while I was determined to continue working along that musical path, Achim and Moebi gave up on Harmonia in early 1976.

Can you comment on the specific album that you feel influenced this period most?

I hesitate to name one specific album because, I think, Bowie picked up the general idea of music making by Kraftwerk, NEU!, Harmonia and Cluster. It probably was the non blues, non rock-cliché new approach to music that gave them both inspiration.

Is it true that you had been invited to play with Bowie during this period?

It is true that David invited me to join him in Berlin in summer 1977 to record ‘Heroes’. We had a long phone conversation and were both very enthusiastic about the idea of working together but ‘something’ occured on his side which prevented the collaboration from happening. Someone from his team called me a few days after my conversation with David, saying that I was no longer needed in Berlin. I was very surprised but then just continued working on my second solo album (‘Sterntaler’). When I read Bowie saying in an interview in 2000 that I turned down his invitation I was puzzled because this was not true. I’m sure that his management and record company were quite unhappy about the plummeting of David’s record sales when he started the Berlin phase. Bowie fans were not ready to follow his new direction back then, and so it seems likely to me that someone on David’s side decided it was a smart move to prevent our collaboration from happening because the result could have been an even more experimental and less commercial music.

What was your relationship with Dieter Moebius’ like in terms of the music you created together?

In the early years 1973-1976, Dieter and I were in a constant struggle about the direction we wanted Harmonia´s music to take and over our working methods. His strengths clearly lay in an improvised music. He favoured the spontaneous approach which didn’t allow a later repetition. This caused friction although we were close. I remember our first semi-public concert when we played to a small number of people consisting of neighbours and friends in June 1973. It was a totally unrehearsed and spontaneous music, and we ‘tortured’ our listeners for about 1 hour and 55 minutes in which we tried hard to ‘find’ a musical thread, but failed, over and over again. However, 5 minutes of this concert were pure magic and became the track ‘Ohrwurm’, one of my favourite Harmonia tracks. This exemplifies the sitaution we faced.

How did his vision of music complement your music or vision?

My wish was to get a better ratio of ‘searching’ vs ‘finding’, especially for live performances, and in order to achieve a better ratio, I tried to introduce more structure, more elements that could be repeated, especially when we didn´t feel inspired. Achim was undecided because he always played pattern of repetitions in a live situation anyway, but in his heart he, like Dieter, favoured a more ‘fuzzy’ style.

What was your later relationship like?

Dieter and I rejoined forces and played live in the USA (1998), Japan (1999) and in several European countries as ‘Rother & Moebius’. In 2007, we reformed Harmonia with Achim and played in several countries and at festivals (like Numusic in Stavanger or ATP in the UK, USA and Australia). In 2012, I invited Dieter to join me and Hans Lampe (who played drums) on a tour to Australia. Many great memories.

In the years preceding his death in 2015, Dieter and I felt quite close and we were able to laugh about some of our past struggles. He is on my mind regularly, and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work and live with Dieter Moebius in Forst where he kept a living space with his wife Irene. Dieter Moebius – Möbi – will continue to be an inspiration.

Interview by Shawn Ciavattone- November 2019