Jorn Wenger - IODI Interview
Tell me about growing up in Paraguay? What was your childhood like growing up with your brother Dirk Wenger? When did you first begin to fall in love with music and what was it that initially fascinated you about it?
My brother Dirk and I (Jorn), since we were little, were musically influenced by our grandparents and parents. Every afternoon we got together to play some songs and that was our fun. Do not forget that there was no TV, no Internet, no cell phones. I already had music in my genes and listening to some old 78rpm vinyl from jazz bands (Oscar Peterson, Louis Armstrong), was part of my first influences.
What would you and your brother do for growing up? When and where did you see your first concert and what kind of impact did this leave on you? Who were some of your earliest nfluences? Prior to Jodi you and your brother participated in the psych group The Rabbits.
When the first Beatles songs began to play, there was a radical change in my style. The basis of the Beatles songs was to have an excellent melody and fantastic vocal arrangements. Besides, the Bee Gees, Herman Hermits, Creedence Clearwater, were already playing. I analyzed each piece of vinyl, each song, and without copying it, I dedicated myself to recording my first experimental tests on a Grundig analog recorder with one track. The Rabbits were a group of college friends who formed a band, and we played covers. Some performances at the college was our experience. But this bored me. Together with my brother we left the group and formed our duo JODI, initials of our names.
After The Rabbits you and brother traveled to Germany to study with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Can you tell me about those times as well as building your very own home studio, “Jodi Studios - Asuncion”? Around this time you guys established your own genre and sound of music, “Spontaneous Pop”. What was the overall vision you guys had for your music as you moved away from the psychedelic music at the time?
The separation was really positive and we began to record precariously with two UHER one-track recorders and recorded track by track. That was called ¨Ping-Pong¨.When going from one recorder to the other, a new instrument or a voice was added... Until the song was finished, it seemed that there were at least four musicians, but we were just two. Of course, when you got a note, or voice wrong, you had to start from scratch. In addition, the audio tapes, even had the quality, which were improving over the years. Apart from the RABBITS EP, we already recorded 4 JODI EPs in our small studio. All editions were of 300 units. Then we launched ¨POPS DE VANGUARDIA¨ in 1971 on the Philipps-Argentina label. It was a moment of happiness for us, but it did not last very long. He had a song called “Memories of a Russian friend”. No radio was playing our album and the vinyl was saved. It was a hard blow, but I kept recording simple, psychedelic, instrumental songs. On my trip to Germany I met Karlheinz Stockhausen, who was giving lectures at the Folkswang in Essen. I participated in some talks and was lucky to become friends with him.
I was able to see his recording studio that he had in Cologne. Stockhausen changed the musical chip in my head. The synthesizer for me was the maximum and always an infinite source of sounds. My first synthesizer was an EMS - AKS, which I still have today. Then I started with romantic songs in Spanish, to be able to enter a South American label. EMI-ODEON, carried out the first test and depending on whether they liked our style, they were going to hire us. The test single was ¨Te Estimo¨, which was accepted and we signed a contract with EMI. The songs YO PIENSO EN TI, SUEÑO DE TUS OJOS, YO NECESITO DE TI, entered the South American Hit Parade. EMI released three LPs between 1975 and 1985. Then I retired from EMI and kept recording my rare songs. In 2015, after a long musical silence, a friend of mine from Argentina, Eduardo Pietruzyk, suggested that I present POPS DE VANGUARDIA on the Guerssen label in Spain. Firm contract with Guerssen and Pops de Vanguardia came out in 2016. In 2018, Pop Espontaneo is released and then in 2021 ¨SPHERICAL DISTORTIONS and ALARM IN THE JUNGLE in digital form.
What have you been up to in more recent years with JODI and anything else you may be working on? Anything new on the horizon for 2023? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
The last surprise I had in October 2022, the Groovie Records label from Portugal releases ALARM IN THE JUNGLE limited edition vinyl. Of course, I don’t stay still, I continue to release unpublished songs on digital platforms almost every month that I save from my analogue audiotapes. The released EPs are called THE LUXURY ARCHIVES by JODI. There are already nine editions and I will continue raising more this 2023. Here are some pages of JODI.
https://www.youtube.com/@iodi/videos
https://jodiband.bandcamp.com/
https://groovierecords.bandcamp.com/album/jodi-alarm-in-the-jungle-lp
