Walter Sturm - Necronomicon Interview
From Aachen, Germany in the late 1940’s, Walter Sturm lead a band of complete complexity and diverse reality that pushed the boundaries of human existence and what it means to cherish life and respect the planet from which it all dwells. Necronomicon’s legendary LP ‘Instructions For Suicide’ isn’t exactly what it reads, but what it actually means to be a responsible, co-existing species. It was wonderful talking to Walter about his early days before the band, and his pursuit during, as well as after, to become a psychologist. Enjoy!
The incredible work of Harald Bernhard
When and where were you born? Are you originally from Germany? What was growing up like for you and when did you first begin playing music? Was music prevalent in your household, or was this something you had to seek out entirely on your own?
I was born in Aachen (West-Germany, near the Dutch-Belgium boarder) on 08.08.1948. I grew up in an urban surrounding in a family with one brother (6 years younger). I learned to play recorder at the age of 8 and switched to acoustic guitar when I was 15. Music was not especially prevalent in my family, although my mother had a nice voice and I sang the soprano part in the secondary school choir at the age of 12. Later on I was Tenor in the choir of our Catholic Church. This ended, when I started to play guitar.
Sturm Circa: 1972
What was the local music scene like in your community? Did you attend any shows that may have made an impact on you early on? Where would you go to see concerts? Were you in any outfits prior to Necronomicon?
There was a lively music scene but only small scale. Most concerts were attended to in youth centers of the different church communities. In 1966 I founded a cover-band named "Crickets" where I acted as singer and guitar player and we played songs from Buddy Holly to Shadows, from Beatles to Stones and from Dave Dee to Fleetwood Mac. With a pause of 18 months (military service) we stayed together until 1970, when NECRONOMICON was founded.
Walter Sturm (guitar, vocals)
Norbert Breuer (guitar, vocals)
Gerd Libber (bass, vocals)
Harald Bernhard (drums)
Circa: 1970
How did Necrnomicon come about? How did you guys initially meet each other and when? Before deciding to start the group, what dynamics did you guys have in common, whether that was similar taste in music, film, literature etc.? What were your first impressions of each other?
In 1970 there was a big Carnival dance party where both the Crickets and "Love of Tune", the band Norbert Breuer and Gerd Libber (second guitar player, bassman) acted in. We got into a discussion about music taste and style and we decided to make a further meeting in order to think about forming a new group with accent on Blues and Rock.
Circa: 1970
You guys got together in the summer of '70, tell me about that. Having been inspired by HP Lovecraft, you guys landed on Necronomicon. What was the sound and vibe of the group before you really became in tune with one another? Did everyone in the group have a fascination with horror and the macabre around this time? What were those early rehearsals like and how did you guys initially land on Necronomicon sound?
After having decided to form a new group in February 1970, first rehearsals started in Summer after Harald Bernhard came to the group as drummer. At that time, as a student of Psychology, I came across the weird stories of H.P. Lovecraft and its invention of the NECRONOMICON and I proposed this name as it sounded strange and mysterious. It, in the beginning, didn’t have to do anything with the style of our music. No one else of the group was interested in horror stories.Our repertoire reached from Muddy waters to Ten years after, from Deep purple to Pink Floyd, from Black Sabbath to Uriah Heep. Mick Box's guitar playing highly influenced my style of guitar playing. After some time Norbert Breuer came along with some compositions he had made with the idea of creating an opus about the "History of a Planet".
Bernhard Hocks (bass) Circa 1972
This was highly influenced by the then upcoming (and now even more important) ideas of mankind destroying its own planet by pollution, wars, exploitation and overpopulation. After having presented this new music style to friends, it was decided to do the words in German Language (in the beginning it was English) in order to bring the message to our public. In 1971 we were invited as a supporting act for a big concert of the Dutch band "Living Blues". For this concert I rented a 100 Watt London City guitar Tower which made a 100% change in the band's sound. This concert was very successful and somehow served as a breakthrough for our further musical development. It was there, where for the first, time we played some of our own songs in front of a bigger public.
Fistus Dickmann (keyboards) Circa: 1972
In Spring of '72 you guys recorded six tracks in Kerkrade, in the Netherlands. How did you guys decide on this location to begin recording your music? How did you initially meet Carl Lindstrom? With the title touching more on the damage the Earth has endured by humans, were you guys environmentally conscious of the effects caused by people? Can you explain how these elements influenced the music as well as your minds?
Before we started to work on TIPS ZUM SELBSTMORD we realized that we needed a keyboard player. As far as I remember, Fistus Dickmann came to the band by appointment of harald, because they knew each other from the arts polytechnic. The studio in Kerkrade (driven by two german guys) was chosen because it could make recordings at a price we could afford (unfortunately at cost of quality, because they only had two Revox machines and recording was more or less "live", no multichannel recordings. Anyway - if we had not had a sponsor (Hubert Herwartz, a friend of Norbert with a "rich" father...and a NECRONOMICON fan from the beginning) the realization of an own vinyl record would have been impossible. We all were students, no professional musicians, and we didn't want to get under control of music producing companies.The Carl Lindstroem GmbH was only the factory producing the Vinyl LP, situated in Colognem mostly known under the name "Elektrola". Otherwise they were not involved in the production of the LP. I already reported about our ideas influencing "Tips zum Selbstmord". We we children of the 1968 movement and thus very much sensitized to environmental problems.
Norbert Breuer Circa: 1972
We we children of the 1968 movement and thus very much sensitized to environmental problems
What were the shows like? Any gigs that stand out in your mind? Was there a tour to follow up the release of the LP?
There were no big shows and there was no tour. We had a small group of loyal fans but the biggest concert we ever were acting in was the Living Blues concert. It was not even easy to sell the LP, which at that time mainly was sold on concerts and in local music stores. Price was DM 15,00!!!!!! We often got the feedback that our music was too complicated, too many changes of rhythm and musical theme. Concerts were mostly done on youth parties of Church or Secondary Schools.
Circa: 1973
The album's artwork is stellar and represents something magnificent. Can you go into, so we can fully wrap our minds around this stunning creation? Can you tell me what inspired you guys to inscribe your initials on the orange label of the album in the fashion you did? How did you guys meet Hubert Herwartz and what was his relation to the band? How did the deal with Best Prehodi come about and how long did it take to record the LP?
Harald Bernhards contribution to the (late) success of "Tips zum Selbstmord" is tremendous. Harald and his wife were close friends of me and my wife. He always was (and still is) a guy full of unorthodox ideas and with a great talent in drawing and painting - and even composing during the last years. All covers of NECRONOMICON and all our concert posters were designed by him. He studied graphics in the polytechnic for design in Aachen and he worked many years as teacher of arts in a secondary school in Cologne. Our relation to Hubert Herwartz was already mentioned. Since we were our own publisher we wanted to publish under a name made from the initials of our family names. The only trade-off was the P in Bestprehodi. It should have been a B (Bre for Breuer), but we decided that the pronunciation of Bestprehodi would be easier than Bestbrehodi...! It took about 5 evenings to record the LP. It was more or less a live recording because of the limited technical equipment of the studio. If there was an error, everything had to be done from the beginning...
Can you tell me about your brief time with Rufus Zuphall in '73 before your returning in '74? What made you decide to pursue that group and what made you come back to Necronomicon? Both bands were very aware of things like war, environmental hazards, social matters, etc. Can you tell me why that was so important to get across in the music? For obvious reasons, but there are powerful elements at play here.
I told you that our music was always a matter of debate and criticism in the beginning. Fistus Dickmann lefr the group and was replaced by Dieter Ose, a fabulous keyboarder, but in no way related to our social ideas. in early 1973 he and Norbert started to do new compositions, and these were even more complex than those of the 1972 record. Günther Krause, the guitar man of Rufus Zuphall in 1973 left the band and Udo Dahmen and Manfred Spangenberg (drummer and bass man of Rufus Zuphall) contacted me on a concert with question, if I was willing to replace Günher Krause - last but not least in order to give the band a more heavy and rocky sound. At that time the style crisis in NECRONOMICON arose and thus I decided to move over to RUFUS ZUPHALL. After one year the band split definitely over the decision to become professional or to remain in the amateur status. Thus, I came back to NECRONOMICON, who during this year had set up a completely new program. Very nicely made songs, but some lasting more than 30 minutes...
Rufus Zuphall Circa: 1972/73
What were the band's activities from '74, until its demise in '76? Did you guys work on any other material outside of the LP? What initially led to the group's unfortunate breakup?
From 74 we made concerts with the new songs but for the reasons I already explained the audience became smaller and smaller. I think, our ProgRock music with social critical words were much ahead of its time and it was more than 15 years after the band decided to break up in its original cast that we noticed that the interest in our music was steadily growing and the 1972 LP was highly sought after. There - to my knowledge - was no new material produced by the band members. There are semiprofessional recordings of songs we made during the 1 year of Rufus Zuphall time, but one member of the band - now acting as a Professor for percussion - prohibited the publication.
late/great Dieter Ose (keyboards, vocals) Circa: 1974
Can you tell me about the formation that went on till '81? With the line up changes, what effect did these different chemistries have on the band? How did Bernd Oppitz originally come into the picture? Can you tell me about the process of recording 'Strange Dreams'?
With the 1976 lineup music became less complex, a little bit more "commercial", but never changed over to any main stream style. Most of the compositions were done by Dieter Ose, one by myself. Bernd Oppitz was the brother of a guy with whom I had done some blues and rock sessions parallel to playing with NECRONOMICON and RUFUS ZUPHALL. He was a very good bass player with a brilliant bass sound.We never planned to produce a record, but there were some semiprofessional recordings as demo. After the untimely death of Dieter Ose in 2007 (only 54 years old!) I decided to studio rework the recordings and publish them as an homage to Dieter Ose.
Norbert Breuer (guitar, vocals) Circa: 1974
What brought the band together in deciding to reform in 2010/2011 after all these years? What's it like to be working on new material with one another again? How did you guys go about working on new material compared to the approaches you took on the debut LP back in the day?
We never lost contact completely, because we had to do decisions on CDs and re-issues. When I was browsing through my archives in order to produce the "Strange Dreams" CD I listened to a tape which I formerly put aside because it had the inscription "Carnival Music". Instead, it was a recording of one of our last concerts in 1974. On the 1991 LP booklet "4 Kapitel" we had published shortened versions of our 1973-1976 songs but this newly detected tape had the songs in full original length. Unfortunately the recording quality was so bad that reworking in a studio for publication was impossible. Thus we came tother, discussing what to do. The problem was that some of us stopped playing their instruments in the 70s and 80s. Nevertheless we decided to try a reanimation of NECRONOMICON, be it only to work on these redirected songs in order to prepare them for a studio recording. Fortunately in the meantime there was a great recording studio in Aachen, which we could ask for help and where we finally made all our recent recordings in professional quality.
During the ‘Strange Dreams’ sessions. Circa: 1976
Can you tell me about the live concert in June of '73 at the ballroom of the Alten Kurhaus Aachen? Who's idea was it to initially put this together? Do you recall the performance? Who was it that discovered the recordings in the Aachen Ludwig Forum?
The head of the art gallery "Neue Galerie" regularly organized "happenings" and rock concerts in the ballroom and in 1973 we were invited to give a concert there. It was our last concert with the lineup with Fistus Dickmann and before I left for Rufus Zuphall. When we were planning our new repertoire in 2010 it came to my mind that there was a song we had made in 1972 as an "extension" for our song "Die Stadt". It was called "Stadt 2", but the song was only performed twice before the group paused in 1973. Initially Stadt II was also planned for the 1972 album but due to lack of space it was decided to skip it. We had recorded the instrumental parts in Kerkrade but the tape was left in the studio and was destroyed during a fire some years ago.
While trying to rehearse that song I remembered that we played in on the ballroom concert and I had the faint memory that this concert was recorded during the performance. We, however, never had seen or heard of this recording. Thus I contacted the former director of he "New Gallery", now director of Aachen's famous art museum "Ludwig Forum". After some attempts he enabled a contact with the head of the library of the "Ludwig Forum". She called me and told me that in fact there was a number of tapes in their stocks but there were no inscriptions nor did they have a tape machine to hear what was on the tapes. Thus, I made a date to go there with my own tape machine and after many frustrating hearing sessions we found the recording on the last tape which I had put aside, because it was the only one with an inscription.
Strangely the inspiration was "The Giants", which was another rather well known band in the 70s in Aachen and surrounding. When I listened to this tape in the end, I of course expected to hear the Giants and was surprised that they made a music reminding of the Dutch bands "Focus" and "Exception". In fact, I did not recognize that this was our initiating song which we had only made for this concert ("Overture"). Only with the second song "Die Stadt" it was clear, that we found the lost recording of 1973.
Circa: 1972
Only with the second song "Die Stadt" it was clear, that we found the lost recording of 1973
What did you pursue outside of music throughout the years? Have you guys always kept in contact over the decades? Are there any plans for Necronomicon in the near future? How has the pandemic affected you both personally as well as artistically?
I was a Professor for Neuropsychology working in the University Hospital in Aachen until 2013. I love vintage cars and had an intensive time of vintage model flying (starting again a little bit now).
What memories do you reflect on the most with Necronomicon? What did you take away from those days and the experience of being in the band?
It is hard to reflect the memories associated with NECRONOMICON. I love best that we managed to get together again after such a long time and that we were able to make some high quality recordings of the songs formerly undocumented and of even completely new songs on our last LP. Our rare concerts are much fun though always accompanied by a high effort of organization because we still do organize everything ourselves. Over all these years the interest in music kept us together somehow as did the surprisingly rising interest in our 1972 recording. We had to struggle against bootlegs and organize official re-issues.
Sturm Circa: 1972
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
Enjoy listening to our music and messages and use the new channels of YouTube etc. Make comments about what you like, but also comments what you dislike. We want to know what you think.
Addition to my story: the name NECRONOMICON was never thought to represent a specific direction of music, e.g. esotheric rock, horror rock etc. As I said, in the beginning it was chosen, because it sounded strange and weird but later on we argued that Lovecraft's NECRONOMICON tells of fictitious evils and horrors, while we want to denunciate real atrocities, and remind people of their own responsibility for saving this one world. Thus, the title of our 1972 LP "Instructions for Suicide" was not meant to instruct people how to kill themselves individually but wanted to face mankind with the danger, that their actions might cause a general wiping out of man - thus provoking a universal suicide.
