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Can drummer and founding member Jaki Liebezeit’s death at the age of 78 has prompted a host of tributes from across the music world.
Liebezeit, hailed as one of the influential drummers of all time, passed away on Sunday 22 January from sudden pneumonia according to a statement from Can and Spoon Records issued via their UK label Mute Records.
The statement reads: “Jaki, born on 26 May 1938 in Dresden, Germany, had previously performed with Manfred Schoof’s free jazz quintet but it was as a member of Can that musical history was changed immeasurably. Jaki performed on each of the band’s albums and his unique drumming style, described as “half human, half machine”, propelled the band through to their final album recording in 1989.
“Jaki was ever present on the solo recordings of his fellow Can members, Irmin Schmidt, Michael Karoli and Holger Czukay and a member of Phantom Band, Club Off Chaos and Drums Off Chaos, his collaborations outside of Can included work with Jah Wobble, Brian Eno, Depeche Mode and, most recently with Burnt Friedman who featured on the Cyclopean EP alongside Irmin Schmidt and Jono Podmore as well as the legendary jam session with Primal Scream.”
Liebezeit’s stretches across successive generations of rock and electronic musicians. David Bowie drew heavily on the music of Can and fellow Krautockers Neu! when living in Berlin in the 70s. John Lydon waxed lyrical about his drumming in an interview with Capital Radio’s Tommy Vance in 1977 and Mark E Smith once described the band as the “only influence “ on The Fall. Fellow new wave and post-punks such as Joy Division and Talking Heads also adopted the band’s stripped down, drum-heavy sound.
In more recent years Primal Scream sampled his drums for their ‘Kowalski’ single and jammed in the studio with him and Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. Radiohead and Flaming Lips also declared a love for the band, while Kanye West sampled their ‘Sing Swan Song’ on his song ‘Drunk & Hot Girls’. In the 90s he turned his attention to electronic music, collaborating with a number of much younger experimental acts from his native Germany and reinventing his style yet again.
Brian Eno led the tributes to the drummer this morning, writing simply ‘RIP Jaki Liebezeit’, and posting a number of recordings on his Twitter account, while PiL bassist Jah Wobble and a regular collaborator said: “Absolutely gutted to hear my dear friend Jaki Liebezeit has passed. Wonderful person and best European drummer.”
Mixmaster Morris, who DJed with the band, described him as “definitely one of the greatest and most influential drummers in history” and Detroit techno legend Carl Craig posted their track ‘Vitamin C’ saying: “Mark Ernestus turned me on to “Vitamin C” from Ege Bamyasi and now i’m turning you on to it.”
Lauren Laverne of 6Music posted their ‘Mother Sky’ track while Radio 3 presenter Nick Luscombe commented “I was only marvelling at the incredible drums on the ‘Plaza Hotel’ track on ‘Late Junction’ last week.”
