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Frusciante: Will you record another album together?

Rother: There are no plans as of today. The re-releases of NEU! were very important and next in line is a new solo album. Maybe it's a matter of time until Möbi and I will work together again. But the two of us are also very different. It has a lot to do with magic. and the time with Klaus has really influenced me concerning working together with other musicians.

Frusciante: What kind of music did you listen to as a child?

Rother: My mother always played Chopin. I think that influenced me.

Frusciante: (interrupts him) My father played Chopin on the piano. That's funny! There's an entire generation between us and we are living thousands of miles apart and we still grew up with the same music.

Rother: Chopin was my mother's favourite composer. She was a concert pianist and studied at the conservatory. She was really good, but after she finishing her studies in the late 1940's, she had to work in an office. But she took it with a sense of humour and always said that the muscles she had developed by playing piano were also useful for working with the typewriter.

Frusciante: My father was also a concert pianist. But he had to stop because of back problems. He never really got over it. Today he works in court.

Musikexpress: Which songs did you use for learning to play the guitar?

Rother: Songs by George Harrison and, later on, like everyone, I played songs by Jimi Hendrix. It was only then that one was really good.

Frusciante: Did Hendrix inspire you to write your wonderfully creative songs?

Rother: No. I wanted to forget everything I had learned. I was driven by the urge to create something new and individual.

Frusciante: Who inspired you?

Rother: Conny Plank. He was a gifted producer and one the most inspiring musicians I've ever met. Unfortunately, he died way too early in 1987. But he had a strong influence on me, not only with his work but also as a person.

Frusciante: For how long did you play with Kraftwerk?

Rother: Only for six months, but that was a tough and really crazy time. Klaus, Florian and I, we actually didn't really match each other. We were getting close to psychological boundaries, because everyone wanted to try everything. Pop music was still something new. It was extreme in everything, it was all about fighting, fighting, fighting. That was also the reason why the old NEU! records weren't available on CD for so long. Klaus and I are still fighting to this day, we simply don't get along. We are so different and live in completely different worlds, today even more than back then. However, a big thank you goes out to Herbert Grönemeyer who managed to get us together for the re-release.

Frusciante: Who is Herbert Grönemeyer?

Rother: A German musician and actor, a famous star over here. The first time he heard NEU! was in 1998 during a photo shooting and he was puzzled that the CDs weren't available. Since then he tried everything to have them re-released. Many others had tried it before, but none of them succeeded.

Frusciante: Thank Goodness! I bought the re-releases as soon as they were out. And I guard the original vinyls like a treasure. I hardly listen to them anymore.

Musikexpress: John, did NEU! have more influence on your work with the Peppers or on your solo material.

Frusciante: I think on my solo work. However, I'd rather think their work as inspiration than influence. What really touched me is the work of NEU!, considering the time they were really precise and had a tremendous feeling for melodies. This is what I'm trying to anticipate, even though my music is completely different.

Rother: I for my part really like your soft way of playing the guitar, nearly ecstatic.

Infobox

The three albums of NEU! are considered to be masterpieces of Krautrock and are at the same time ground-breaking pop albums of the early 70's. "NEU!", "NEU!2" and "NEU! 75" still influence today's pop music . Michael Rother's and Klaus Dinger's career began in 1971 with a TV appearance on the show "Beat Club" [translator's comment: A famous German shows like Top Of The Pops these days.], where, together with Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk, they played the 11-minute sound improvisation "Rückstoßgondoliere". However, Rother and Dinger soon left Kraftwerk and formed NEU!. At the end of 1971 they recorded their debut "NEU!" in only four days. "Hallogallo", the album's opener, could be found on the London radio-djs' playlists well into the 1980's. Due to lack of money Rother and Dinger recorded variations of their single "Neuschnee/Super" in a variety of speeds on "NEU!2". Since then they are considered to be the inventor of the remix.

NEU! went through an unamicable split in 1975. An attempted comeback during the mid-80's failed, even though the recordings for their fourth album "NEU!4" were nearly done. Klaus Dinger released the album in 1995 without Rother's consent in Japan and a year later ­ again without Rother's consent ­ a NEU! live album (a tape recording of the rehearsals to NEU!'s only tour in 1972.). The re-release of all three albums in May 2001 on Herbert Grönemeyer's label "Grönland" didn't change the situation between Dinger and Rother.

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