With the unfortunate news of Damo Suzuki’s passing recently, we’re here to honour the former Can singing legend. As the great man himself put it:

“Life is so short, so face in front of you, not backside.”

First off, we’re taking a look at the 2021 documentary Energy: A Documentary About Damo Suzuki.

Plus, further below personal reminisces about the singer. As we got to meet him twice! Which we’re very pleased about and we also know he spent some time where we grew up here in Rivington of Lancashire.

Energy: A Documentary About Damo Suzuki

Directed by Michelle Heighway, Energy the film is a very candid tour through the existential journey of Suzuki’s later life.

We knew he’d been ill for some time, which began in 2014.

There are discussions of that across the documentary with Suzuki on philosophical form about the meaning of life. That’s all interspersed with the music performances that have been so central to his life.

He joined the legendary Krautrock band Can in 1970. That’s after he was spotted busking in Munich by bassist Holgey Czukay and the band’s genius drummer Jaki Liebezeit.

Suzuki had his first gig with the band that very night and instantly gelled with the experimental nature of their music.

The music was brilliant and nuts! And Suzuki’s shamanic qualities immediately came to the fore, marking Can’s finest moments across three landmark albums.

He left Can in 1973, took time off, then returned to music in 1983 with the Damo Suzuki Network—he toured the world playing small venues, turning up and performing live with musicians he’d just met in “instant compositions”.

The documentary covers much of that, plus his illness. Despite that, he was on top form for the documentary with many engaging and insightful witticisms.

Naturally, if you’re a fan of Damo Suzuki this documentary is a must!

With his sad passing, it’s also now an important time capsule of sorts. One that captures the man, myth, and legend in free-flowing form. As it should be! A very intriguing account of a gifted performer.

Our Time Hanging Out With Damo Suzuki

The above shows his 2006 UK touring appearances (we didn’t record that clip, by the way, it was someone else).

The Damo Suzuki Network, an unusual touring method, led him all over the world. We saw him in 2005 in Nottingham, which at the time was just jaw-dropping for us.

We couldn’t believe the Can legend was there, at a typically small gig with barely anyone in attendance.

And Mr. Wapojif has a clear memory of accidentally tapping a young lady in front of us during the gig. She turned her head to give us the nasties based on this slight tap… very British, but we would have done the same (to be fair).

But it was a damn good gig! We remember the amazing drummer, although that was because he played heavily of Jaki Liebezeit’s beats. But he did an amazing job replicating that.

The next time we saw Suzuki was in London in late 2006.

Back in our day (THE GOOD OLD DAYS), the internet was basic. But Suzuki had an online forum where he posted about where he was going to play. We remember dropping a message on that about out plans to see him in London, to which he responded.

We arrived all excited at the venue having gotten very lost. We couldn’t find the bloody place, but then we saw the sign… a tiny blackboard out on the street with chalk on it scrawled: “Damo Suzuki Live“.

After going downstairs into the venue we remember asking an employee lady there when Damo would begin his set. “He’s over there!” she said. He standing by the bloody entrance! Pre-gig he was just there and you could go up and talk to him!

So 21 year old us did so. And we got a solid interview for our MA course of journalism that we were doing at the time.

We also mentioned we’d contacted him on the forum and he remembered us, “You were the guy!” he laughed.

At the end of his gig, which you stood about one foot away from, he jumped into the audience (drenched in sweat, we must add), and gave everyone a hug. We got our hug. As we were leaving I (Mr. Wapojif) waved over to him and he waved and blew a kiss. What a lovely bloke—he knew it all meant a lot to that young guy.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see him again.

The last interaction we had was when he was acting. He did a few films, one of which led him to Rivington of Lancashire where he spent some time in 2018 (see The Future Stone: Can Legend Turns Actor). We helped make some suggestions for the young people running that, but didn’t get to see the production.

It’s great to know he hung about in this area, though.

Suzuki was world famous… but not.

And what a great state of affairs. Spending your entire life touring around making spontaneous music with random musicians, in the most minimalist fashion, and free from people pestering you for autographs 24/7.

Suzuki had a fantastic life. And that’s to be celebrated.

But for that moment when Czukay and Liebezeit spotted him busking, we doubt he’d have had any widespread recognition. But Suzuki went on to prove that’s kind of irrelevant.

As he toured worldwide with random musicians, all for instant compositions, and all in the name of the music.

Suzuki’s Can Contributions

Above is Can’s almighty Halleluwah. Probably the most Can song that ever Canned in its life—18 minutes of hypnotic lunacy.

It’s fair to say Damo Suzuki had quite an alarming stage presence with the band.

Wildly experimental, and at least 50 years ahead of their time, the band was prone to all-night gigs with hypnotic, looping performances.

Their first singer, Malcolm Mooney, was driven into a mental breakdown due to the band’s creative focus and live requirements. And that’s not a rock ‘n’ roll exaggeration, the band’s intensive gigs (going on all night), triggered off Mooney’s underlying mental health issue.

After that they got Suzuki and he was perfect for them.

He graced their three best albums: Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi, and Future Days. All from 1971-1972. Three better albums you won’t find. Up there with Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and The Who.

One of the reasons they didn’t have major commercial appeal? They didn’t play the hits. They didn’t have many hits, for a start, the songs were too unusual for the mainstream.

The likes of the below, Vitamin C performed live, are very rare.

Whilst avant garde, Can could also create catchy numbers like the above. Suzuki graced these best moments.

If you want to do his memory a favour, head off and listen to his contributions to Can, the Damo Suzuki Network, and whatever else you can lend your ears too.