WHEEL ME OUT - Damo Suzuki

Damo Suzuki is a man on a mission. Travelling the world on his “never ending tour,” playing one-off gigs with musicians he's never met—he calls them “sound carriers”—all under the umbrella of Damo Suzuki’s Network. He’s left his days as Can’s lead singer far behind; for him, the past is the past and the here and now is what matters.

Wheel caught up with Damo at a gig at the Half Moon in Herne Hill, London. On stage he threw himself fully into two improvised sets with “instant band” The Dream Machine All-Stars. Offstage he could be found hanging out at the merch counter, signing posters or talking with fans and just being generally groovy.

By Ananda Pellerin and Victoria Ford

How do you choose who you’re going to play with? I don’t choose. Somebody else organises it. Sometimes a promoter, sometimes people email to ask me. But I do everything for the Network. I’m the manager and I sell CDs, merchandise.

How did you end up playing with the band here tonight? The drummer wrote to me. Everybody on stage was from different bands and they were playing together for the first time. Sometimes I perform with singers as well, including an opera singer in London a few years ago – it was fun. We had an instant band. I always have an instant band.

Can are so influential, do you feel it affects how people perform with you? Yes it’s sometimes like this. Sometimes people play like ‘that German band.’ I don’t like to say the name of this band - I don’t have any trouble with it but I like to forget everything I did before.

But people still expect that from you. Especially older people saying “can you play this? Can you play that?” I cannot repeat my life. I like ‘by accident’ because it’s personal, it’s your own experience. For me the now and tomorrow is much more important. I like this moment.

All of your performances are unique and draw on the idea of collective experience. Are there any drawbacks to this? 99% of concerts are good; maybe 1% is not good. I think for people it’s interesting to come to this 1% of bad concerts because it’s another experience. I don’t think negative things are always bad because everybody’s learning from their mistakes and you can laugh at yourself.

Where do you get your lyrics? I just make any kinds of sounds from different languages and put it all together. Sometimes it’s my own language which I developed.

What’s your language called? Damonese! Or something like that ... I like the audience to be interactive so everybody makes up their own stories listening to the music. I like this because everybody has the talent to be creative but they like to always have answers. An answer is a kind of product. I don’t really need this.

Can you tell us about instant composing? I say instant composing not instant composition because the ing is important. If you say “ing” twenty times it sounds like “energy.” When I make music I’m sharing people’s energy - you only get such energy when composing music. If you have a prepared piece you are forced to operate the same way every night.

So you’re not really interested in the end result? I like what Lau-Tzu says, “the way is the goal.” I like to continue, continue, continue. I don’t need a special point when I must finish. This is going forever.

Is there a political aspect to this process? I’d like to go back to nature. OK, so I was a hippie. I’m no longer a hippie but I’m hoping the same things as before. Energies are important for everybody. If you are in London and you go to the park where there is no asphalt - well it’s important to go to these places because you can get energy from that.

You were a Jehovah’s Witness. Do you still have any connection to religion? Now I like to find my own ways. If you are living as a human being you need some kind of morality to decide which way to go, for me the foundation is the Bible, because this has not changed for a long time. I’m still a religious person. I love to be in nature and nature is always to do with God, so it’s connected.

What drew you to Europe originally? Europe for me is the best place to live because there are small countries with different cultures and languages and food but everything is near. Europe has deep roots and I like that everywhere I go there are beautiful houses which, 500 years ago, somebody was living there, drinking tea, eating biscuits or something and you can feel that.

Do you have a place you call home? I have a place in Cologne but it’s a question of where is your home? For me home is just a time, a process or things. Geographical home is not so important for me.

What music do you listen to? I listen to more classical music. There is always something I can learn from how they compose. I like it when pieces are long, when a new element comes in and then another... if we go into the studio and record four minute pieces it’s already limited. Creativity is the process with the most freedom. If there is no creative energy, it’s commercial; it’s a product. These things have nothing to do with me, it’s another world. They can do it, it’s OK, it’s not my world. WMO

Find out about Damo Suzuki's Network. Or join, even

www.damosuzuki.de