Holger Czukay on Conny Plank
Conny Plank was certainly one of the most unusual producers that I ever met and it took some years till we stood vis-a-vie. He told me how much he had laughed about an article I had published in a technical magazine for musicians where I maintained how to fire a tone engineer in order to save money. Conny said “you are right“. It was the beginning of a close friendship. At that time ‘conny’s studio’ together with the can studio (former inner space studio) became the no.1 addresses among bands and musicians who wanted to reach out for unknown horizons.
Les Vampyrettes were born out of deep friendship and by chance.
There was no problem for versatile conny working with artists from the Past like Duke Ellington & his orchestra or Bert Kempfert as well as with younger groups like Killing Joke, Ultravoxx!, Devo, Eurythmics, Brian Eno, D.A.F. and Scorpions. They often took the chance to experience the difference between both studios especially when Conny rolled on with his mobile equipment in order to integrate them into one functioning unit.
One day he left his ‘driving’ chair and came to the can studio with his trumpet. Together with can drummer Jaki Lebezeit and Tommy Engel from cologne group Black Föss he gave groove support to dancing metal clothes artist Pop Top from new york presenting some of his coca cola snap collections. A row of additional artists became present on our studio. Collaboration list like David Sylvian (japan), Jah Wobble (public image ltd), Arno (tc matic), Trio and S.Y.P.H.
Often Conny’s kitchen became the meeting point of musicians who had never met before. I remember one lousy afternoon in November when I suggested to conny a new series of special singles called ‘horror with comfort’. We immediately started working on some lyrics when a gentleman from new york dropped in who had played in the ‘bread & puppet theater’. ‘Biomutanten’ was born where a car driver got a motor problem next to a slimy garbage place from where he got attacked by yet unknown monsters.
I never met such a creative partner like Conny Plank again.