i only have one word for this: *ROTFLMAO* it's incredible how the keep up with telling the same story over and over again. After such an interview i think they have a very good laugh and drink a beer ;-) He's even quoting their own tracks: "and we go to clubs, to dance". I mean, who really believes this: a bunch of 50 year old guys who go to a club. Nevertheless: a Kraftwerk-sounding album is all i ask for, even if it's only 99% ready :-) g Chris Storey <chrisstorey@iprimus.com.au> wrote: Interview with Ralf Hutter in Sydney, Australia on Friday 24 January 2003, conducted by Richard Kingsmill of Australian youth radio network Triple J. KINGSMILL: Has the technological advances that have occurred in the last 20, 30 years, has it made it easier for Kraftwerk to play live? HUTTER: Yes definitely, because now we have our laptop computers, and we can travel, where before you can imagine, in the 70s, 80s even, we had all this huge analogue music machines, UK and Europe were (inaudible) autobahn, but then flying to America, or coming to Australia was nearly impossible. KINGSMILL: Did it restrict what you could do, and how much... HUTTER: Yes, in a way, because Lufthansa wouldn't fly us in here for free, so your cargo charges and KINGSMILL: ...was too expensive HUTTER: Yeah. But now we can travel and we're really very moveable, and that's why we are here. KINGSMILL: Have you enjoyed playing live, because there's speculation amongst your fans about whether you actually do like the live performance. HUTTER: Yes, we don't do that many concerts but it's always a challenge and so far the computers have worked very well, and ... little failures here and there, but overall they have been very friendly with us and we have been friendly with the computers, so things are working very well. KINGSMILL: I noticed last night (Enmore Theatre, Sydney) just a couple of glitches along the way... and that was actually surprising to see the reaction from the audience, because there is speculation about how much of it is actually being played live on stage. HUTTER: It's all live, the computers are running live. KINGSMILL: Do you worry much about those mistakes when they happen? HUTTER: Uh, no, but there's always a risk of total failure then we would have to stop, out, and have to make a short speech, re-load, and start again. KINGSMILL: Is this part of a, resurrection if you like of Kraftwerk? You've been very quiet for, you know, the last fifteen years. HUTTER: Yes, we have been working in our studio, doing all our very very old, from the late 60s, early 70s, the analogue tapes, we have transferred it onto digital format, so we put a lot of work on our old Kraftwerk original sounds. Also now we have been doing re-masterings, which will probably come out later this year, and we have been doing all these sound files, to perform with the original Kraftwerk sounds, live, and working on those. KINGSMILL: Mmm. A lot of artists like to move on. They don't tend to like a lot of their early work, do you enjoy listening back to what you created all those years ago? HUTTER: Yeah, well we don't listen so much but we have been working in transferring the sounds, and now putting them forward into our live performance. KINGSMILL: What about the new music of Kraftwerk, is there much? HUTTER: Yes, we are working on different tracks, and when we play some more concerts on the Big Day Out festivals, then we fly back into Germany in to our Kling Klang studio, and we will continue work on the next album. KINGSMILL: Which is how much completed? HUTTER: Ohff, 99%. KINGSMILL: That close? How's it sounding? HUTTER: Kraftwerk-like. HUTTER: In Dusseldorf we work in our Kling Klang studio since 1970, and the doors are closed, and we are doing what we have to do. Our work we call ourselves musik arbeiter, KINGSMILL: ... which translates as.. HUTTER: Musical workers KINGSMILL: uh-huh HUTTER: ... and that's what we do. KINGSMILL: You are very isolated? I have read, no faxes, no phones, no contact.. HUTTER: Yes, all this would be disturbing.. KINGSMILL: So you isolate yourself as much as possible? HUTTER: Yes, for the work, and then we go out again, and we go to clubs, to dance, and we travel, we are working on all aspects of creating Kraftwerk, http://www.dertaschenrechner.tk --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more