LL: Remembering also makes me wonder when and how I did all this .. the radioshow today .. well .. I guess it’s based on two aspects –

A > I really still want to spread the news that there is always a quality and reality “beyond” – listening to some of the artists I present makes me realise how “stuck” most people are .. like Mighty Sam McClain, most people who like this kind of music keep listening to B.B. King or Otis Redding .. Mighty Sam is a MASTER to discover! .. completely gimmick free and straight to the point, playing this kind of Blues-Funk-Soul-Groove exactly the way I always wanted to hear it! Or Steve Kusaba, who is working on his 48 hour(!!!!) Rock Opera .. or .. or .. or .. there is so much unbelievable quality to discover!!

Looking back I always did that. I remember a friend visiting me .. that was about .. oups .. 40 years ago .. a friend who lived in another town. I played him some records .. after  a while he said: “Mh, strange who are all these people, I don’t know a single one.” I remember that like yesterday. While he asked I played “Neil Innes: How sweet to be an idiot.” I never forgot that .. I guess this was the moment I decided I want to spread this idea of “beyond the known”. Producing the show today also helps me to “focus” .. to come closer to the music I as musician want to play / produce .. the music has to be personal / unique … absolutely any style / genre but personal / unique, I love innovators, even if they invented 50 years ago.

I could talk forever about Les Paul and Mary Ford, world’s first homerecording musicians. I played their music to my girlfriend, after a while she said she thought it was a “minimal avant duo” from the 1980s – the recordings I played were from the 1950s. The aspect of recording at home adds a total different dimension to the music, a timeless quality. Another homerecording classic is Joe Meek. If you listen to some of the instrumental bands he produced, like the Moontrekkers, some of their songs sound like instrumentals I did in the 1980s on 4-track. A total unique own sound. Joe Meek produced in his converted bedroom because he wanted to get away from the rules and regulations of the record industry – that sounds VERY familiar.

So – as “private” as possible – YES – homerecording(!!!) – is very important .. a certain kind of communication – I immediately delete all mass e-mail communication .. I more or less guarantee airplay if the release is sent with a handwritten letter . or note .. I don’t play Mp3s …somehow I think I play exactly what I played in the 1980s only the “scene” has changed … grew into a new quality .. I’ll keep on digging and presenting!

MM: I often thought I needed my head looking at (and a number of psychiatrists have agreed), working full-time, doing an additional 30-40 hours a week on M&E, as well as making music with my own band and trying to have some semblance of a private life. At full activity, I just about lasted a decade before I fell victim to the legend that was Underground Burnout Syndrome. But you, well… you did so much more than me, you even wrote a thesis on it, “Das Phanomen Der Homerecording Bewegung,”  and are still multi-tasking, having gone well past the two decade mark. How did you avoid going down in flames yourself and how has it affected your life priorities today?

LL:  ..  I guess always I was adjusting / transforming to a new healthy level. Today I more or less only produce the radioshow (3 hours a month, one hour, German language for Radio Marabu and two hours, English language for KWTF). Then I work very detailed

His Lordship (right) and I at Savill Gardens in Surrey, circa mid 90's

LL: .. lotsa memories!! .. driving in your taxi from London to Frimley ..it was a taxi .. wasn’t it??

MM: I think I’d borrowed a ‘Private Hire’ from the company that day, but more or less the same thing in Surrey Heath, yeah.

LL: .. reminded me on “take a taxi to my tent” by the Bonzo Dog Band .. then buying the smallest package of tobacco I ever saw for a horrible price at a small shop round the corner. Then you explaining how your studio works .. all knobs were pushed .. all lights on and a solo on the guitar! .. then a ride down a country road .. visiting friends I guess .. reminded me on many scenes of “The Avengers”, there is a certain flair on these streets that one only can find in Great Britain. .. yep … also remember the fish ‘n chips meal, twas quite cold wasn’t it? ..ah ya .. then we watched Flashback on the telly ... where in the end the young FBI agent helps an old hippie instead of taking him to prison .. and YES – the highlight .. singing .. (well, screaming cause they didn’t have a monitor system) “Rockin’ All Over The World”!! .. England is still a real fave of mine .. a lot of the flair is really captured in classic TV series like “The Avengers” and “U.F.O.”(!!!)  .. one reason why I watch them again and again … on DVD .. no I don’t have a TV anymore .. and I don’t listen to radio .. and I don’t read newspapers .. (thought I should add that) ………. eliminated as much dirt as possible from my life ..

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