Karl Bartos interview (GQ)

If you could get a supergroup together, who would you recruit?
Today it would be Jimi Hendrix, Bernard Sumner, Johnny Marr and Claude Debussy.

"Musica Ex Machina" will be familiar to Electronic fans, as some of the synth sound appears on "Imitation Of Life", which in turn borrows from your 1980 track "Bombast" (unreleased). Did you enjoy your time with Bernard and Johnny Marr in the Nineties?
Best time of my life. They're really cool and we worked together for a long time.

You contributed to nine of the tracks on Electronic's 1996 LP Raise The Pressure.
Yes, and two of them turned into B-sides. But you know, I had written my second solo album when they approached me in 1994. They came to visit me in Germany and it was really good with them from the first second. They are just a… convergence. They represent a good form of English pop culture: New Order; Joy Division; the Smiths.

Did Johnny know that you had an interest in guitar music?
The funny thing was, I went to Manchester, so I was at Johnny's house and I grabbed the guitar. That blows their mind. They didn't know that I could play. It broke the ice. They wanted me to contribute some strange, crazy electronic percussion. We ended up with Bernard or Johnny doing the percussion, I had the some of the melodies and chords, and I even brought some lyrics in, which I'm really, really proud of. So the "Time Can Tell" chorus, I wrote that.

Although "Imitation Of Life" ended up as a B-side, it's better than a filler. In fact, it was included on Electronic's greatest hits [Get The Message - The Best Of Electronic].
I know. It has its moments. I enjoyed the connection with Bernard and Johnny so much. But for this track ["Musica Ex Machina"], I went to the early version ["Bombast"]. I had to use different lyrics because I couldn't sing that track, somehow.

Is your voice lower than Bernard's?
No, it's in the same range. That's why Bernard could take on the songs that I had written.

Bernard told me a while ago that he'd like to record a version of your fantastic 2003 track "Life".
Well, I wrote it with Bernard in mind. It's a Bernard track.

Do you know that Bernard and Johnny might work on some more Electronic material soon - possibly an EP?
I didn't know that. I'm glad to hear it. I'm really glad, because they fit together very well.

Edited by user 25 March 2013 14:21:20(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified