“When we founded the group,” Can’s Irmin Schmidt once confided to Uncut, “we didn’t know where we will go.” As it turned out, they went places no other band has been, before or since. The Köln outfit were one of the most unique, influential and exhilarating groups in rock, as evidenced by their ongoing programme of live releases from the mid-1970s.
The latest, Live In Paris 1973, is the first in the series to feature the inimitable presence of vocalist Damo Suzuki, who sadly passed away last month, leaving Schmidt as the last surviving member of Can.
The keyboardist has long since been the curator of the band’s legacy, co-authoring 2018’s All Gates Open: The Story Of Can with sometime Uncut writer Rob Young. But he’s also written a great deal of music outside Can, including numerous film and TV soundtracks and an opera based on Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast.
So, what do you want to ask a free-rock titan? Send your questions to [email protected] by Friday (March 22) and Irmin will answer the best ones in a future issue of Uncut.