Faust - Live In Edinburgh

Edingburgh Festival 1997
FLUX NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL

Tracklisting:

01. The Opener       
02. Allerdings Weisst Du **       
03. Drachentoter **   
04. Largo       
05. Was Soll Das       
      (aka Na Sowas)     
06. Druck - Walk Under Pressure       
07. Water Impression   
08. w.b.d **

Faust are:

Werner Diermaier
Hans Joachim Irmler
Steven Wray Lobdell
Lars Paukstat
Michael Stoll

Ed was the tour manager for Faust's appearance at the Edinburgh Flux FestivalA major interview and retrospective article in THE WIRE, March 2003
I have just sat down for my only meal of the day, little realising that I am the condemned man. Had I known, I would perhaps not have had lasagne and baked apple. On the other tables in the Jaffa Cake's makeshift refectory are assorted hippies, record company executives, bouncers and the beautiful people. The opening line from Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs comes to mind: "I find myself in excellent company."
I'm in Edinburgh to help out some of the hippies. This means twenty hours waiting in a black-painted room while Zappi Diermaier and Jochen Irmler set up the combination of rock group and scrap metal exhibition that is Faust's current incarnation. I introduce them to the ever-beaming David Sefton, the hyperactive co-organiser of Flux, whose mobile phone is never silent. Jochen plays keyboards and smiles a lot. Zappi plays drums and lights fires. As the day goes on, the surly sound-engineer warms to the band. I go buy them a bottle of whisky. Everyone seems pleased to be there. Why is it that I've a knot in my stomach? I bite into another piece of apple.
Jochen walks in, turns to me and smiles.

"Can you come upstairs and see what you think? We want to set off a kind of, a kind of firework really."
"A firework? What, an indoor sort of thing?"
"A Catherine wheel I suppose you'd call it - it shoots up flames into the air."
"It sounds a little dangerous. Do you mean a flare?"
"It's magnesium. He's done it many times before. We thought we ought to see if it hits the ceiling or not."
"Oh, fuck. They've just had the club redecorated. I know it's just black paint but I don't think the owner'd be too pleased if you set the place on fire."
"No, no, it's all going to be fine, we just want to set off our little bomb."
"A bomb? Oh for Chrisake, don't do this to me. What is it with you people? Okay, I suppose it's pointless me saying, 'You can't set off a bomb.'"
"Well, yes - I mean Zappi will do it whether we tell him no or yes, so maybe you should just come and see."

Initiated: Ed Baxter
Postproduction and produced: Hans Joachim Irmler
Southend Studios
Cover: Thomas E. Martin