Former Kraftwerk drummer Wolfgang Flür has recalled his time with the band in a new interview with Uncut, explaining how, even as a member of one of the world’s most iconic electronic music acts, he took his time to come around to the sound of the synthesizer, at first.

Flür joined the German electronic music pioneers in 1973, and played with them for 15 years until 1987. He appeared on several albums, including 1974’s Autobahn and 1975’s Radio-Activity.

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“I had already contributed to the electrification of the group with my self-made electro-pads board, so Radio-Activity was the second album in which I was able to participate as an electronic percussionist,” he says.

“When Ralf [Hütter] and Florian [Schneider] first invited me to the rehearsal rooms on Mintrop Street in the hot summer of 1973, I saw and heard a so-called synthesizer for the first time in my life. The sound was overwhelmingly rich for me and their experimental style was not convincing me at once.

“But when I heard Antenna on one occasion on Berger Allee, where some of us lived, I was finally convinced of synthesizer music. The piece had powerful strength and crunchy, rich sounds. It still touches me more today than Autobahn.”

Elsewhere, Flür cites the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and King Crimson as pivotal in his musical development.

“Jimi Hendrix played a special role for me,” he says. “Not only did I really like his recordings, I also thought he was a beautiful person. The craziest thing comes now: he had a German girlfriend, Monika Danneman, and in the Düsseldorf townhouse where I had my apartment on the ground floor, an elderly lady named Danneman lived on the third floor. I found out it was Monika’s mother.

“One evening, I heard loud English-speaking people in the stairwell, ran to my door and peeped through the peephole. It was Jimi Hendrix himself, with Monika. He had a little luggage and his guitar case with him. I didn’t dare run out and ask him for an autograph!”

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