I am friend with Damo Suzuki(Damo Suzuki at Biltmore in Vancouver)

I remember when I was 15 or 16 ,this Dutch guy called Gerard suggest me this band called Can. It was their album “Ege Bamyasi(Aegean Okra)” , I can pronounce it perfect because turkish is my first language.It’s Can’s perfect answer to pop art. It’s a “can” of okra on a black background. It was so bizarre and back then I was not bizarre enough to buy the album for another couple years. But after I first listened I was regret to wait for few years.

About 3 weeks ago I saw the poster about Damo Suzuki’s concert at Biltmore and I was pretty excited.

On the concert night ,right after I parked my car , I was walking to the venue and there he was. I wasn’t sure first and I though the question “Are you Damo Suzuki” would be too stupid. I guess I starred at him too long , he asked me if I was gonna see the show. Then I was damned sure that it was him. Damo Suzuki was talking to me!!!!

Another legend The Fall’s singer Mark E. Smith made a song called “ I am Damo Suzuki” and now I am talking to Damo Suzuki. He was wearing Italian National Team’s Soccer t-shirt( I think that’s enough weird.He is a Japanese guy who lives in Germany. )

He said he arrived one day before and had to leave Vancouver 5 in the morning on sunday.He didn’t look very happy about it. I was excited to hear that he lives in Cologne(in Dusseldorf) , where there were few legend Krautrockers made great albums like Neu!,La Dusseldorf and Can. He didn’t like me to use the word Krautrock, he said that it is German Rock.

Luckily i wasn’t too lazy to bring my camera with me and I have got some picture taken. He had some nice friends there( I don’t know if he knew them before), some german immigrants who came here long time ago.

Damo Suzuki said that he like the challenging part of what he is doing because he doesn’t have a band and that’s why it’s called Damo Suzuki’s Network. In each city he plays with different musicians that he never met before.

Anyways , after our nice chat I went in. Biltmore’s staff are friendly plus they have one of the best beer in BC, Phillips Blue Buck Ale.

The opening band Defektors were pretty good , it was the first time I saw and heard them. It’s a trio and they reminded me a little bit Minutemen. Their performance was very good but I believe that they better keep some of their songs shorter.

Then Damo Suzuki came to the stage with this band named “ Sex Negatives” . They were mostly improvising pretty loudly , which became annoying sometimes because I couldn’t hear Damo Suzuki. It was a long set without a stop . Damo Suzuki was like a Shaman and his singing healed all our devil sides. When it was over ,everybody was tired and it included the fans.

August 9 2009,Vancouver