When prog-rock was king, it had a German cousin called Krautrock. Krautrockers were every bit as noodly as prog-rockers, and bands such as Faust, Amon Duul II and Tangerine Dream were Deutschland's doppelgangers of Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd. But, while prog-rock has gone down in history as a load of cod-epic twaddle made by art-addled public schoolboys, Krautrock is remembered fondly as a pioneering movement in experimental rock, and its main players are hailed as heroes of the avant-garde.
One of these players is talking about the rebirth of Can, those undisputed leaders of Krautrock and one of the most influential bands of the era. Irmin Schmidt founded Can in 1968, driven by his passion for classical, avant-garde, electronic music and the trash-rock attitude of The Velvet Underground. Now, 31 years later, Schmidt is back on the road with fellow founder-members Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit; the band arrives at Dublin's Olympia tonight as part of the Transmissions series of gigs. The fourth founder-member, Holger Czukay, however, will not be taking part in any of the Can's upcoming shows.
Some bands reform and demand separate tour buses and dressing rooms. Can has gone one step further: each member will be doing his own solo set, and none of the three will actually share the stage. Tonight's show is billed as Solo-Projects-Live, and will deliver three gigs for the price of one: Schmidt will perform with DJ and electronic musician Kumo; Karoli will bring his own band, Sofortkontakt; and Liebezeit will be introducing experimental rhythms via Club Off Chaos. Krautrock aficionados may be disappointed to learn that the three will not be joining together to perform classic material from mid-1970s albums such as Future Days, Soon Over Babaluma and Flow Motion. "It's nice to be onstage again and doing something unexpected," says Schmidt, who hasn't done much live work since Can disbanded in 1977. "Nostalgic kind of reunions are not our thing, so it would be quite ridiculous to do that. The spirit of our group was always not to reproduce the same thing, and if we played the old stuff now, that would be a lie. So we created this Solo-Projects show. Actually, it was only planned for the celebration of our 30th birthday last year, when we also brought out the Can Box, with a book, the live recordings and the videos."
The original Solo-Projects show proved so popular that Schmidt, Karoli and Liebezeit decided to go back out on the road. Schmidt and Liebezeit are now over 60, and should rightly be carrying bus passes, not backstage passes, but despite being even older than The Stones and Strange Fruit (the fictional band of old-timers in the comedy film, Still Crazy), Can still have a youthful hunger for new sounds and fresh ideas. As the old boffins of Krautrock, however, the group might find themselves approached on tour by chin-rubbing young acolytes who are only after them for their minds. Does Schmidt mind the prospect of being seen as little more than an intellectual object?
"It's hard to say. I'm a composer and a musician, and the word composer says it - composing is an intellectual work, but I wouldn't put this kind of weight on intellectuality. Because what does it mean? Does it mean that the pieces are extremely well-constructed or does it mean that you have read a few thousand books? I mean it's very hard, of course, but it's also a bit true, because I have read a few thousand books and studied the arts. What Can did was always unusual, and doing the unusual is also something which you might call intellectual. But I prefer to call it creative rather than intellectual." Although Can don't do the old stuff onstage, the three have still worked together in the studio - most recently they recorded a cover version of the Third Man theme, as part of a new anthology which chronicles 50 years of German popular music. Schmidt can claim to be more than a bit-part player in the history of German music: the classically-trained musician once conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and studied under the maestro of modern avant-garde himself, Karlheinz Stockhausen. It was while working with Stockhausen that Schmidt met fellow student Holger Czukay, and the pair decided to form an experimental rock band, inspired by the avant-garde compositions of John Cage and the subversive pop of The Velvets. By 1970, Can was a fully-operational work of art-rock, fronted by vocalist Damo Suzuki, and signed to United Artists Germany. Although they retained cult status throughout their career, Can did score a Number One hit single in their own country, and cracked the UK Top 30 with the David Gilmour-penned I Want More.
By the time they disbanded in 1977 to embark on solo careers, a generation of young musicians had embraced the band's experimental ethos, among them The Fall, Public Image and Einsturzende Neubauten. Julian Cope was so enamoured by Krautrock as a whole that he wrote a book about it, and Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks declared: "I would never have played guitar if not for Marc Bolan and Michael Karoli of Can." More recently, Schmidt has had the pleasure of meeting four London boys whose current album owes more than a little to Can's legacy. "A journalist introduced me to that band, Blur, while they were touring in Germany. They were very nice - we did a sort of joint interview together, and had a great time. They're nice guys." Liam and Noel may not agree with Schmidt on that last point, but then Oasis certainly could have done with a little bit of Krautrock in their porridge.
After the Solo-Projects-Live tour, Schmidt will be preparing for the UK premiere of his opera, Gormenghast, based on the fantasy trilogy by Mervyn Peake, and opening at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London in May 2000. Once again, Schmidt will be paired with his solo-projects partner, Kumo, aka Jono Podmore. Schmidt met the Liverpudlian multi-instrumentalist when he was looking for an engineer, programmer and sound designer for Gormenghast, and the pair worked so well together, they decided to develop a live act.
An accomplished DJ, violinist and electronic musician, Kumo has worked with the likes of Jamiroquai, The Shamen and Republica, and now he's collaborating with an old Krautrocker whose pedigree stretches right back to Stockhausen, and who, at 62, is still open to whatever possibilities music can offer.
"I still get excited by new sounds and new ideas - especially when they're my own."
Can-Solo-Projects is at the Olympia Theatre tonight