MM: Beyond “Temptations”, I don’t think I ever heard two of your albums that were too much alike, “Space Age” (M&E 070 – July 1992) went off into sort of psychedelic kitsch realms and I suppose Das Freie Orchester were very much in the great Krautrock traditions of bands like Can. DFO were East Berliners, I seem to recall, so I believe your connection with them came about with the fall of the Berlin Wall. How did that momentous event impact on you musically and tell us about your meeting with DFO?

LL: .. East Berliners yes .. with the fall of the wall not really .. I did this radioshow on Radio 100, where I played mostly cassettes. I sent an offer cross the airwaves to play any GDR Underground tape sent to me. And the tapes came .. many .. so I played them and started to distribute them via KFR – for every sold tape the band would get a good blank CRO2 cassette – it wasn’t allowed to send money – so I returned “goods”.. I started to travel to East Berlin and smuggled master tapes to West Berlin, which was forbidden. I was sweating like crazy with the tapes hidden in my car, while crossing the border …  this way I met Das Freie Orchester on a quite personal level .. at home .. at a restaurant etc etc .. we started talking about a hidden membership . Me  as west Berliner being member of an east Berlin band, which wasn’t allowed .. we planned a first concert .. and BANG .. they opened the wall .. the very day the wall was open I joined the band. It all happened very natural .. even though they did some very different music, it worked from day one on .. they were MUCH better musicians than I was .. two of the original members had left and a trio was left .. there was probably space for a strange screaming guy with a top hat - me .. Now looking back, I think they were much more interesting before I joined .. but they said it was cool what I did .. yes, it was a great time!  .. all in all I realised that the band was very much part of the GDR underground life/attitude … so when that more or less was completely gone (ca. 1992), the band broke up .. there was nothing more “to say” .. the band wasn’t political .. but the concept

was “there is no concept” – so when we went on stage really nobody knew what would happen next .. either the drummer would start with a rhythm .. the guitarplayer would create some spacesounds .. or I would drop to the stage and scream …it was 100% absolute complete “freedom” .. that probably was the message ………….in the early 1990s the freedom we knew in Germany from before … -  (and I am including the GDR here! .. yes they definitely had a kind of freedom we didn’t have in the west.. I talked to many East Germans, who just explained their former lives and I understood ..) this freedom started to decay in Germany .. but that’s another story….

MM: Between then and now, you’ve probably leaned more towards mainstream music. I must admit, I’ve found my own taste has been a little more accepting of some mainstream genres (I love swing and jazz, for example) as I’ve got older, I think it comes with the slippers. By the time you got round to putting together The Lord Litter Band, then Lord Litter & The Lazy Sleepers, your work appeared to be a homage to the great history of blues and rock. What kinds of things did you listen to in your formative years and who were the artists that most greatly inspired you?

LL: … what a question … I could give you 987656 names now and it somehow wouldn’t mean anything .. basically I think I was always looking for .. said that before .. innovators .. sounds that took me somewhere I haven’t been before  … so I was listening to Pink Floyd and Slade at the same time .. one took me to outer space .. one to a footstompin’ gimmick free screaming party rock … I was listening to lotsa The Kinks, because of the lyrics and the total British approach .. now looking back, I was listening to Bert Kaempfert because of the sound(!!!) . I remember in my hard core underground years I bought my first Bert Kaempfert releases (two cassettes!!!) and was completely smashed by the freshness of his recordings like the early 1960s African influenced songs .. (today I have HEAPS of Bert) … from very early on I was listening to African music .. I think I got the virus via Osibisa – saw them here in Berlin open air in 1972 .. a concert I NEVER will forget .. 20.000 people going completely insane seconds after the band came on stage .. THAT showed the power of music!!! .. I was listening to original Rock ‘n  Roll … THE PIRATES … I saw them in 1977 .. a second concert to stay with me forever .. their sound put ALL young punks to shame in those days … they taught me some aspects of being timeless this evening… I started listening to original Blues .. when I was 12 years old .. I remember having this double LP with Blues from 1920 to 1970 (from Son House to Chicken Shack)… while everybody in my class was listening to up-to-date pop – I said: “hey check this!” …. and they looked at me in disbelief .. yes I remember this very clearly!

Das Freie Orchester on stage with Lord Litter on vocals. And, on this occasion, Kevyn 'Hot Wheels' Dymond (Guaranteed Cleveland Records, Barking Dogma et al) joined them on guitar in the midst of his late 1991 European Tour with Don Campau.

Right:

Das Freie Orchester demonstrate how easy it can be to recover when you forget the lyrics.

Below: I demonstrate how stupid you can look when you forget to add the photo.

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