can
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ABOUT MALCOLM MOONEY.
"he actually fitted perfectly into Can's "working methods" as he was unexperienced as we were all. There simply were no methods, there was just a strong will by everyone to succeed in getting something on tape. Our methods consisted mainly of daily rituals. They were actually our motor to get on through the day. One of these rituals were our fights and quarrels. It was the turn of each of us being on duty to start arguing in order to keep that Can engine running. Most of the time Malcolm kept out of them. That might be because we easily could fall back into German language when fighting. Can wasn't sure yet which way musically to go till Malcolm jumped one day to the microphone and pushed us into A RHYTHM. Before we actually had started recording in Schloss Norvenich, the owner had invited the most important gallerists for a Picasso exhibition I think and we were invited to contribute as a music group without a name. We played about 3 hours and this was for the first time ever we played together. There was this big staircase in the castle and Malcolm started singing "upstairs-downstairs-upstairs-downstairs..." going on for at least one hour. In front of the microphone he really was walking upstairs/downstairs all the time. This was the way how he turned us on in getting tuned into a rhythm.
We owe him a lot to get started as a group, but also I'm asking what did he take out that became essential for his further development? Though Can might be considered being a group of artists we were right the contrary to it at the same time, an artistic black hole so to speak. We actually were not interested in the artists' scene and thoughts as such. Thinking of that Can became a bunch of punks from the very beginning. Punks by our own and free decision with a lot of sensibility what's going around unlike the punk development at the end of the seventies who cared more or less about nothing. As far as I can see the situation right Malcolm had left this cooking creation plant in order to stay with the artists league. At least this is my impression."
published in Popwatch Magazine #9 march '98