Damo Suzuki
When Offset 2009 headliners The Horrors released their critically acclaimed album Primary Colours last year, there was much talk about their krautrock influences. And it doesn’t get much more influential than Can, the legendary German avant-rock/krautrock band fronted by underground icon Damo Suzuki between 1971-3, credited as an influence by Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Primal Scream and The Fall.
'With Suzuki in the lineup, Can produced their most enduring and innovative work, including classic LPs like 1971's Tago Mago, 1972's Ege Bamyasi and 1973's Future Days'. He then left, aged 23, explaining in his characteristically enigmatic style that he was 'much more curious about another life'.
Damo's intense live performances are informed by his international collective of accompanying musicians, spontaneous collaborations which aim to create an off-the-cuff musical 'conversation'; liberated, lavish jams which result in the un-contrived exclusivity of each and every performance.
As a teenager, Damo Suzuki had spent the 1960s travelling around Continental Europe as a street artist, being a one-man theatre, painting, and busking. His psychedelic, 'drugged funk' punk takes its cue from pure creativity, improvisation, and shared energy, to create an otherworldly kind of sound. His hypnotic, primal music is anarchistic yet intimate, dishevelled but perfect; clearly his early days on the road have had a resounding influence.
Damo returned to music during the 1980s, appearing unannounced to perform at shows by the band Dunkelziffer, eventually joining the group full-time and recording two albums. His Damo Suzuki Band (with fellow Can members Liebezeit, von Senger and Keul) was formed in 1986, later becoming Damo Suzuki and Friends, a loose-knit outfit which played in and around the Cologne area on a weekly basis.
In 1998, Suzuki founded the Damo's Network label, issuing a series of live recordings including V.E.R.N.I.S.S.A.G.E., Seattle and the seven-CD box set P.R.O.M.I.S.E.
Listen to Can - Ege Bamyasi:
