Damo Suzuki set to network inAdelaide

Thu 8th Feb, 2007 in Local News

Legend has it that bassist Holger Czukay and drummer Jaki Liebezeit of the pioneering German minimalist rock band CAN found traveling Japanese vocalist Kenji “Damo” Suzuki busking on a Cologne street. In 1970 CAN, also featuring Michael Karoli on guitar and Irmin Schmidt on keyboards, cut its first record with Damo, titled ‘Soundtracks’. Damo recorded a further three albums with CAN in the band’s classic era, the epic 2LP ‘Tago Mago’ (1971), ‘Ege Bamyasi’ (1972) which featured the hit song Spoon and the cult classic Vitamin C, and ‘Future Days’ (1973), regarded by many to be the best CAN record of them all.

Damo stopped playing music for ten years, returning in 1983 and appearing on three albums for the band Dunkelziffer. In 1997 Damo began his Neverending Tour, which to this day sees the vocalist travel the world with no regular band, playing with local musicians in each city he visits. Dubbing his pick-up group The Network, Damo records each live concert with the provision to release it as a CD recording. When he last visited Australia, Damo was joined onstage by acclaimed Australian improvisers Oren Ambarchi, and Chris Abrahams and Tony Buck of The Necks, as well as Augie March rhythm section Davey Williams and Edmond Amendola. Also performing with Damo was Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, whose band happened to be in Australia at the same time.

Still based in Cologne, Damo describes his music as “instant composition”, where he and his band feed off one another’s energy to produce spontaneous music, going in any direction at any given time, radiating rhythmic, melodic, tonal and psychedelic qualities. Damo is known to play through the night, with most of his concerts consisting of at least two sets of music.

In Adelaide for the first time, Damo will be joined onstage by four local improvisers (from free rock band Headdress of Neon Flames), and supported by heavy psych trio Artax Mission. Destined to be free and heavy, beautiful and strange, Damo and his Network are keen to take all willing listeners on a transcendental journey.

Damo Suzuki Network play Rocket Bar on Friday February 16 with support from Artax Mission. Tickets at the door from 9pm.