Health, Body and Soul: The Beginning of Everything • Damo Suzuki on the value of time

By Bill Furbee

WHEN I LAST SPOKE TO DAMO SUZUKI – the influential performer perhaps best known for his years spent as the singer of Krautrock godfathers Can – the world was in a different place.

“Energy is the most important substance for everybody’s life, not only music-making,” he told me in an interview for Chicago’s Newcity just one month ago. “I like to have only positive energy, because this world is really dark enough, so, why should I make something dark? You can share this energy as well, in a good performance.”

Anyway, coming back to the topic of Damo, that upcoming Chicago appearance, along with the rest of his tour, has now been postponed in the wake of government mandates to avoid crowds and shelter in place.

And so, like the rest of us, Damo has been staying at home. “I don’t have a job at the moment,” he says. “It’s not possible to do anything. I cancelled my US tour, I cancelled my Italian tour … in May I might have some other concerts, but I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he reports from his home in Cologne, Germany, while opening the stopper to pour himself a Kölsch beer.

“But it’s okay,” he tells me. “Maybe (this is) an opportunity to make something else.” He reflects for a moment, then beams a wide smile. “Cheers!” he says, lifting a foamy glass of beer to the camera on his computer monitor.

I’M SO GREEN

At 70, Damo is considered an at-risk individual for illness from COVID-19. Those individuals — older adults, and those who have underlying health conditions — have been urged to take special precautions to minimize the likelihood they would fall ill. Fortunately, Damo already practices daily rituals for both mental and physical health.

“I was in a hospital for three years,” he reminds me [Damo was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2014]. “After that, I’m taking much better care of myself. It’s always important to have really good immunity. I’m keeping my body condition as good as possible.”

He points out that the home he shares with his wife is outside Cologne’s downtown core – and “only three steps from a huge park,” where he exercises every morning. “I like to hear birds singing, I like to see a blue sky. I like to be there with just my body, being in nature.”

As he told me during our last conversation, he begins each day with the same routine: “The first thing I do, I stand in front of a mirror and [look at] myself, ‘I am Damo, I have a responsibility for this person. Keep a smile on, don’t get angry; if it’s possible, support people; so that I’ll be happy at the end of the day.’ If you have a good feeling to share … then you’ll have a much better experience.” He considers it “being good to Damo Suzuki.”

He added, in a message leading up to this second call, “I think positive and often laugh.”

DAMO SUZUKI’S NETWORK

Our modern world is one swimming in too much information – and, during times like these, managing your intake of that information is even more important. As news and misinformation spreads about our present-day global issues, Damo stresses the importance of not losing touch with oneself.

“If you know yourself,” he advises, “and you’re not so much influenced by information, you can live better.” Too much information, he worries, can wear us down. And especially vulnerable are those desperate for an answer.

“Most people don’t have anything to believe,” he feels. “So they must [take in] every information, so they get so much fear, and so much panic, and so they are not free. It’s a very difficult choice,” he says, of “which information is correct.”

Not to suggest it’s wise to ignore the world around us.

“Don’t put your head in the sand,” Damo cautions. But, he continues, “you must do things which you actually like to do. Concentrate on these things, besides immunity, and make something.”

He also believes in the importance of healthy eating and exercising, and confesses a fondness for oysters. “Positive thinking comes from good food as well. If you eat really good food, you’ll be happy,” he believes. “Train your soul, and train your body. That is all you can do. To take natural things is always good.”

FUTURE DAYS

With tour dates around the world being postponed or cancelled, many modern-day musicians are finding themselves embracing the concept of virtual concerts, or revisiting the home recording process; not so much, in Damo’s case. “I don’t make anything about music, because I make music on the spot,” he says. As an improvisational collaborative artist, his creations are rooted in the belief that fellow musicians – sound carriers, he calls them – limit the information they share before setting foot on stage.

But, he is a big film buff. “I watch a movie every night,” he points out, and strongly prefers his DVD collection to turning on network programming – in consideration of controlling his own schedule, rather than being told when to tune in.

“I like to have my own time, that’s why I like to watch DVDs more than [films on television]. I especially don’t like to watch [television] news, because it’s at 8 o’clock, exactly at 8 o’clock you must be controlled to move, everybody does that. [But] I can control my own time,” he says.

Using that time wisely is paramount for Damo.”People [are] searching things on the internet about this virus, using so much time, instead of making simple things, [like] cooking something, or baking cakes. You’re doing [that] for yourself. Too much believing in information is quite dangerous. Because you’re losing your time.”

He reminds me that, regardless of age, time is in limited supply for all of us.

“Everybody has a short time, a life, [so] why must you spend so much time to get so much information, it doesn’t help anything. It’s better to get a good book.” As a devout Christian, Damo reads the Bible daily and has even quoted passages in some of our communications.

“I’m quite … I can’t say happy at the moment,” he laughs. “After this pandemic is over, I think many people [will] change themselves. I hope many people find their own life, how to live. How to decide, and how to make actions. To find their own way, and not only influenced by information. Better information you can give to the people, but not always taken from mass media, mainstream, conspiracy source, [all] is quite dangerous because it’s taking too much time. It’s better to have your own time.

“How weak is our society, if things like this have happened?” he continues. “There is no answer. You can see it now. You’re almost like in a jail. If you get the time again, then think different, more simple things. If you have your own way, it helps you quite a lot. It’s a great essence, to health, body and soul; it’s the most important thing. So everybody should think about this. Because it’s the beginning of everything.” •

Author Bill Furbee happily makes his home in the hills of Kentucky, where he collects antique organs and ventriloquist dolls. He’s also a music heritage enthusiast, and has written for Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Cincinnati CityBeat, Chicago’s Newcity, Detroit Metro Times, Ugly Things magazine, and many other fine publications.