Neglect Avoid INTERVIEw
with Kristof Hahn
with Kristof Hahn
"...it was like looking in a black abyss"
Kristof Hahn talks about his upcoming solo shows, Swans concerts, changing world, modern underground scene and, of course, the pandemic.
Neglect Avoid: How do you feel about playing live for the first time since the pandemic has ruined all our plans?
Kristof Hahn: I did play a few songs in public last year in fall during a book-reading tour for a David Bowie biography that I translated. Although these were not actual "concerts" it felt really good to perform in front of real people again. It also made me aware what a privilege it is to be able to do that and I am pretty excited and nervous about it.
Kristof Hahn: I did play a few songs in public last year in fall during a book-reading tour for a David Bowie biography that I translated. Although these were not actual "concerts" it felt really good to perform in front of real people again. It also made me aware what a privilege it is to be able to do that and I am pretty excited and nervous about it.
Neglect Avoid: What was 2020 and the first half of 2021 for you in general? Was it hard to stay without loud live music or was it the break you really needed to take?
Kristof Hahn: Of course I was shattered when the Swans tour and all the other events I had planned for 2020 and 2021 were cancelled. Fortunately I work a a translator, too, so I could compensate the financial loss to a certain degree and did not have to worry about being able to pay my rent, but when the news about the cancellations first arrived it was like looking in a black abyss. Other people in the business - club-owners and their crews, booking agents etc. - were facing more severe problems than I was, so I felt kinda lucky to have something else to fall back onto. Of course, sitting alone at my desk and typing words in total silence (I cannot listen to music when I am translating) is a fundamentally different situation than creating and channelling the energy of a band..
Kristof Hahn: Of course I was shattered when the Swans tour and all the other events I had planned for 2020 and 2021 were cancelled. Fortunately I work a a translator, too, so I could compensate the financial loss to a certain degree and did not have to worry about being able to pay my rent, but when the news about the cancellations first arrived it was like looking in a black abyss. Other people in the business - club-owners and their crews, booking agents etc. - were facing more severe problems than I was, so I felt kinda lucky to have something else to fall back onto. Of course, sitting alone at my desk and typing words in total silence (I cannot listen to music when I am translating) is a fundamentally different situation than creating and channelling the energy of a band..
Neglect Avoid: Do you feel trapped in the lockdown? Or maybe the plague is paradoxically a source of new forms and shapes of art as well as of relations with people and nature?
Kristof Hahn: Except for not being able to persue my usual work the lockdown was not so drastic that I felt like an animal in a cage. I did take a lot of walks and rode my bike to be outside the apartment and enjoy the fresh air. I noticed that the general noise level in Berlin had gone down for a while and that the sky was less streaked by airplanes - not that I believe in "chemtrails", but the view of a perfectly blue sky was something pretty extraordinary...
Kristof Hahn: Except for not being able to persue my usual work the lockdown was not so drastic that I felt like an animal in a cage. I did take a lot of walks and rode my bike to be outside the apartment and enjoy the fresh air. I noticed that the general noise level in Berlin had gone down for a while and that the sky was less streaked by airplanes - not that I believe in "chemtrails", but the view of a perfectly blue sky was something pretty extraordinary...
Neglect Avoid: What do you feel about the changing world? Do you think the plague has irrevocably changed global and western society or we can get back to the pre-pandemic times?
Kristof Hahn: I perceived the consequences of the pandemic as a welcome break in the capitalist rat-race where we could reconsider our priorities and the way we want to live our lives. My hope is that some of the lessons we learned will not be forgotten too quickly once this is over - if it ever will be over - yet many of my hopes have been disappointed in the past.
Kristof Hahn: I perceived the consequences of the pandemic as a welcome break in the capitalist rat-race where we could reconsider our priorities and the way we want to live our lives. My hope is that some of the lessons we learned will not be forgotten too quickly once this is over - if it ever will be over - yet many of my hopes have been disappointed in the past.
Neglect Avoid: Are you still calm and gentle person as you described yourself in 2019?
Kristof Hahn: I sometimes had the feeling that I was turning into an amoeba, so I might be even calmer and more gentle than I was in 2019...;)
Kristof Hahn: I sometimes had the feeling that I was turning into an amoeba, so I might be even calmer and more gentle than I was in 2019...;)
Neglect Avoid: Is technological progress your friend? Do you think the availability of digital technologies has benefited experimental music, or creating musical sculptures, experimenting with loops, etc. was more interesting for you when you could use only the analog devices?
Kristof Hahn: Modern technology has helped me a lot in recent years - the fact that a software like proTools was available at a certain time enabled me to create music in a way that 25 years ago was not possible or would have been unaffordable. I also cherish the possibility to exchange ideas with people who are not physically present, although nothing can replace the immediate communication between people.
Kristof Hahn: Modern technology has helped me a lot in recent years - the fact that a software like proTools was available at a certain time enabled me to create music in a way that 25 years ago was not possible or would have been unaffordable. I also cherish the possibility to exchange ideas with people who are not physically present, although nothing can replace the immediate communication between people.
Neglect Avoid: In October 2020 ‘BEHIND CLOSED DOORS’ you worked on with Thorsten Quaeschning was released. Has lockdown become creative and productive period for you with your other music projects and your work on book translations?
Kristof Hahn: The pandemic and the lockdown created some opportunities for collaborations which would probably not have happened otherwise, and I enjoyed those opportunities very much. I started a project with Dana Schechter of Swans and David Bryant of Godspeed! You Black Emperor, who both live in Berlin, and it was a very good way to work myself out of my amoebic state of mind.
Kristof Hahn: The pandemic and the lockdown created some opportunities for collaborations which would probably not have happened otherwise, and I enjoyed those opportunities very much. I started a project with Dana Schechter of Swans and David Bryant of Godspeed! You Black Emperor, who both live in Berlin, and it was a very good way to work myself out of my amoebic state of mind.
Neglect Avoid: Do you think the trends in modern underground and experimental music are more about evolution or stagnancy?
Can you name any new bands/music projects/shows that have impressed you as much as the TV-show with Roxy Music in your hometown and the Blondie live show in Munich in 70-s (you talked about in 2019 in your interview for UTERO)?
Kristof Hahn: I must admit, that I do not really follow the music scene that much... I miss being at festivals and seeing bands I never even heard of, but I think it is natural that the older you get and the more you get to know, the less you are impressed or deeply moved by what you hear or see - probably because when you are in your early life and you are looking for a direction, there are more moments when you say to yourself, "I want bo be like this or that artist" or "wow, I have never seen/heard anything like that before".
Can you name any new bands/music projects/shows that have impressed you as much as the TV-show with Roxy Music in your hometown and the Blondie live show in Munich in 70-s (you talked about in 2019 in your interview for UTERO)?
Kristof Hahn: I must admit, that I do not really follow the music scene that much... I miss being at festivals and seeing bands I never even heard of, but I think it is natural that the older you get and the more you get to know, the less you are impressed or deeply moved by what you hear or see - probably because when you are in your early life and you are looking for a direction, there are more moments when you say to yourself, "I want bo be like this or that artist" or "wow, I have never seen/heard anything like that before".
Neglect Avoid: How do you imagine the first Swans show after the lockdown is over?
Kristof Hahn: It is beyond my imagination what it will feel like to be playing with Swans again... not just sonically but also the fact to be working together with some of my best friends to create something that is bigger than the some of each of us as individuals. I miss them a lot.
Kristof Hahn: It is beyond my imagination what it will feel like to be playing with Swans again... not just sonically but also the fact to be working together with some of my best friends to create something that is bigger than the some of each of us as individuals. I miss them a lot.
