Klaus Dinger: A Musician’s Elegy

12:26 PM GMT 11/04/2008

David Best, from Brightonian electro-rockers Fujiya & Miyagi, pays tribute to the late Neu! nabob.

“I think what first struck me about Neu! was that they were the antithesis of prog-rock showing off. There was nothing in there that didn’t need to be there. Everything was exact - from the covers to the beats, the music, the production, everything. It was perfect. Nowadays everyone goes on about having a “Krautrock influence”. But it rarely means that they’re digging Cluster or Amon Düüll. Generally what they mean is they have that repetitive beat that’s indebted to Klaus Dinger. It’s like post-Neu! bands are almost a genre in themselves.

It’s really hard, I think, to make such simple music that’s so exciting and joyous. It’s like what the best hip-hop does, cutting everything back down to the elements that are needed, the exciting bits. Neu! found the exciting bit and just did that for 20 minutes. The longer it goes on, the more it hypnotises you.

Dinger’s beat propels the music, especially on the first record where musically it’s more sort of soundscapey and the beat is the hook. I heard that he used to practice religiously, just doing that one beat over and over for hours. Obviously he was very dedicated and had a real vision. Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother knew what they wanted to do and weren’t thinking, ‘Maybe we should get some goblins in and be like the British bands.’ Some people think of Neu!’s music as a bit dry, but watch YouTube footage of Hero. That’s not miserable. It’s quite punk, too. You can see what PiL and Bowie took from it.

Neu! have kind of purity that’s very rare in music. When a band starts out, you think, ‘What do I want to sound like?’ You can sound like anything, and usually you’re all over the place. Neu!’s commitment to a set of limitations is what makes the music so special. You know, if you try and replicate that beat electronically you miss out so much. It’s repetitive but there are also subtle changes in how hard Dinger hits and the dynamics are always changing.

The albums are so different, too. The first album is maybe quintessentially what people think of as Neu! Neu 2: I’m sure Martin Hannett listened to that drum sound, because you can really hear it in the Joy Division records. And then Neu! ’75 has beautiful melodies on the first side and a kind of proto-punk on the second. They didn’t stay still, they kept tweaking the formula.

Apart, Rother and Dinger were still brilliant. And listening to [Dinger’s] La Düsseldorf and the Rother solo records, it’s suddenly very clear who did what in Neu! La Düsseldorf is even more rhythm-based and a bit more pop in a way. It reminds me of a glam record, it’s got the glitter beat! And look at the sleeve of La Düsseldorf’s Viva album - he kept the Neu! vision and aesthetic and he wasn’t about to be deflected.

If you do what Klaus Dinger did, you have to really believe in it. I think weaker-minded people would have tried to wander off and become more popular and follow trends but that wasn’t what he was about. That’s why Neu! and La Düsseldorf were so unique, and that’s why we’re still talking about them.”

Fujiya & Miyagi play European shows in April and May. Details here. They also play MOJO’s Great Escape night at the Old Market, Brighton on May 17. David Best is the fellow messing with the lightbulb below. Let’s hope he switched the leccy off at the mains.