Cluster 2008

 Interview with Moebius, Roedelius & Story

Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius have been making music together for going on 40 years now. That�s amazing, but even more so is that they are infinitely more popular now than they ever were during any of those past decades. They just completed another tour of the USA and played to large crowds in several places, SF, LA, NY, a/o.

 They are also both great friends with one of the USA�s most accomplished and pioneering electronic/ keyboard musicians Tim Story. His recordings date back almost 30 years and still today both his solo work and collaborative releases are as fresh and uniquely amazing as they were at the outset. One of his most successful partnerships is not so surprisingly with one of the members of Cluster, Achim.

 That brings us to the matter at hand, this interview. Just before their latest US musical adventure Achim and Mobi stayed a few days back in Ohio at Tim�s place and thanks to the magic of the digital age this interview came about with Tim�s kind help.

 While not exhaustingly in depth it nonetheless sheds light on their distant past, journey up to today and plans for future projects. I think you�ll find it most interesting, read and enjoy. If you have iTunes you can here the full recorded version of the Interview via the latest Eurock LIVE Podcast, downloadable Free via iTunes or eurock.com!

A.

Q - To begin with a bit of history, was Kluster both of your first music experiences?

 Mobi: For me it was mostly the first, I was playing a little saxophone just for fun.

 Achim: For me before Cluster I was a physical therapist/masseur and I didn�t have as much fun doing that as I did with Cluster. Before Cluster there was Human Being which also had Konrad Schnitzler who was co-founder of the Zodiac (Ed. Note: a music/ arts underground club in Berlin). In 1969 we co-founded Kluster with a K.

Q - Do you remember the date of the very first concert � day and/ or year?

 Achim: O la, la, la, it was at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin 1969.

 Mobi: It was 1969 3 O�clock in the morning (laugh)

Q - The name was later changed from a K to a C, was there any particular reason?

 Mobi: We wanted really just to show by the little change in the name that it was a new formation of the group without Konrad Schnitzler at this time. We also wanted to be a bit more International with our name.

 Q - Could you ever have imagined in the beginning still playing music together almost 4 decades later?

 Mobi: I think nobody can plan their life for such long time. Even we couldn�t do that (laugh)

Q - This is your second tour of the USA as Cluster I believe, do you like playing here?

 Achim: We like pancakes and being with Tim at his house. And in between we like to do some work (laugh). That�s the first thing we do, the second thing we do is play at the �No Fun� Festival

 Mobi: So we think it�s going to be big fun (laugh).

Q -  Do you still play in Germany and other European countries?

 Mobi: Germany not so much, in June Munich, a show in Berlin. Germany�s not really the place people want us so much.

 Achim: In the UK for example, Denmark twice this year, Petersburg, Rome

 Mobi: I think the whole world likes us to come and play except Germany (laugh)

Q -  Where do you get the best reaction?

 Achim: I guess it�s the English language countries mostly, and Japan.

 Mobi: I think only the crazy countries like us (laugh)

Q - Mobi: At some point you both began solo careers, was this because there were things you felt you couldn�t express creatively in the group context of Cluster?

 Mobi: Oh, of course Cluster is more a quiet kind of music. Not in the beginning, but later on. On my solo work I like it a little more punky and noisy. And you Achim?

 Achim: But it was only a question for you Mobi (laugh). Anyway I started very early to do my own stuff in 1972-�73 because I like myself just to experiment with sound, so it was always somewhat normal that I did my own stuff beside Cluster and Harmonia

Q - Mobi: Is there one of your solo works you feel best realizes your own personal creative vision, that you like best perhaps?

 Mobi: It�s always the last one (laugh). And the last one is not yet published. It�s gonna be called Bazaar.

Q -  Are there any plans you have for a LIVE 2008 Cluster recording from this tour? Or maybe we�ll be lucky enough to even have a new Cluster studio album in the near future?

 Achim: The live recording of our 2007 Tour is out just now so I don�t know about another Live album. I would like to make a studio album. I don�t know, how about Moebius? (laugh)

 Mobi: I know a guy in America called Tim who could be our producer.

 Achim: Oh yes Tim could be our producer I would like that (laugh)

Q - Achim: You have had a quite prolific solo career releasing several outstanding albums. Do you have one or two you feel most proud of? Do you have a new recording ready for release in the near future?

 I liked very much Piano, Piano because it was my first step away from electronic music. I still like it and I�m playing piano still. There are several albums coming out in the future.

 There�s one on June 13 in Vienna, a dedication to a psychiatrist who had the idea to involve mentally handicapped people into art and release people from their pain in that way instead of constantly taking constantly. It�s in fact a double album as there are 2 artists involved in this project.

There�s another coming out very old stuff from Human Being by Nepenthe in Ohio, the very first and only recording by the group live in Berlin 1968. The same company, Nepenthe, will also re-release an older album of mine called Open Doors.

Q - Achim: You & Mobi also have done several collaborations, Harmonia among others. Now you�ve formed a new sort of duo with American composer Tim Story. How did you come to discover Tim�s music?

 He contacted my first actually, coming to Europe and visiting when I lived near Vienna. We went hiking and camping in the mountains together and discovered the beauty of the Austrian Alps. We then decided to collaborate. But the real collaboration started much later.

Q - Achim: I believe you have also done some live concerts with him is there one special musical moment you remember that stands out as a highlight of your working together.

 We did a lot of concerts, and one was the �Ether Festival� in London, our concert at �The Gathering� in Philadelphia, every concert we did was nice. We play every year in Lunz where I run my own little known Festival called �More Ohr Less�. Tim will be there again as well. In June we will also play in Vienna, then in July Tirana Jazz Festival in Albania together.

Q - Tim: When you and Achim plan a recording, do you discuss musical ideas beforehand then compose themes that are developed separately, or together?

 Because we live such a distance apart the collaboration has taken on a couple different forms, sometimes we�ll trade tracks back and forth across the Atlantic and we�ll each work on them separately, but more recently for Inlandish Achim came over for a couple of weeks in NOV 2006 and we did a lot of the work together then. We did a lot of work with Achim�s parts, which I later fleshed out in my studio here. So that was really a great pleasure because we were able to collaborate in the same space at the same time.

Q - Tim: What is the actual technical process in terms of how you combine each others recorded music to form the final album?

 I use Pro Tools software based recording so it was very easy when Achim came here. With the new one Inlandish we recorded all his parts into the system and sometimes I played along, sometimes we just talked about how to arrange things to get just the parts together that I would like to work on. It was quite easy because we did all the recording of both parts together. With Lunz the first album we worked on together there was a little more compiling as Achim would send me tapes he had recorded in Austria and I would load them in my system here and begin to compose my parts around those. Recently it�s been more like the regular studio recording process and very gratifying as we get to interact personally, which I think is great for a real collaboration.

Q - Tim: Is the final production done by you in your studio, or Achim in his?

I have a little bit more extensive studio set up here with effects and everything else than Achim does so I�ve been doing that mostly. It just makes more sense to do those things in the best possible location technically. Sometimes if I�m not quite sure what to do I�ll send things back and maybe Achim will add some more bits, make suggestions or change things. So for the most part I�ve been doing most of the final production work and final mixing.

Q - Tim: In addition to your work with him you�ve also done a long string of excellent solo albums. Do you have a new recording planned for release in the near future?

 No Achim and I had Inlandish released by Gronland, a label in London in JAN. And as he mentioned we have a few concerts coming up this summer so we have to learn some of the new pieces too. We�ve gotten pretty good at playing the old Lunz tracks, but I have to sorta re-develop the live production techniques for some of the new pieces.

 Also while Achim was here in 2006 we recorded some music as a trio with Achim, I and Dwight Ashley who�s been a collaborator of mine. There will be some production to do on that as well. It�ll probably be just after summers over in August before I will be able to begin work on a new solo album, as well as finish up the new Ashley, Roedelius, Story album which will hopefully be out in the fall, or sometime next year. Then of course Achim and I both look forward to the next Roedelius Story collaboration.