Artist Profile

Damo Suzuki

Suzuki spent the late 1960s wandering around Europe, often busking, during which time he would only have been a teenager. When Malcolm Mooney left Can after recording their first album Monster Movie, Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit encountered Suzuki singing on a street in Munich, Germany whilst the two were sitting outside at a street café. They invited him to join the group, and he did, performing with them that evening.

Suzuki was with Can from 1970 to 1973, recording a number of well-regarded albums such as Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi. His freeform, often improvised lyrics, sung in no one particular language gelled with Can's rolling, psychedelic sound. Suzuki converted to the Jehovah's Witness faith when he married his German girlfriend, who was also a Jehovah's Witness, after the release of the album Future Days, and retired from music in 1974. He returned to music in 1983, and currently leads what is known as Damo Suzuki's Network - as he tours, he performs live improvisational music with various local musicians (so-called "Sound Carriers") from around the world, thus building up a 'network' of musicians that he has and can collaborate with.

Among the musicians at his live shows have been Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit of Can, Mani Neumeier of Guru Guru, Dustin Donaldson of I AM SPOONBENDER, Cul De Sac, Passierzettel, The Bees, Do Make Say Think, Broken Social Scene, Acid Mothers Temple, the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet (with whom he has recorded the 2007 EP Please Heat This Eventually), Gordon J Watson & Simon Doling of Terminal Cheesecake, Gary Jeff of God, Karl Asa of J>A>W> and many, many others.

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