Video Interview: Dave “Sula Bassana” Schmidt of Electric Moon
The vitality on display throughout Electric Moon‘s Live at Freak Valley Festival 2019 is no less an instrument at the band’s disposal than the guitar, bass, drums and various effects and synth swirling about. Atop solidified, space rock-derived beats, the German outfit are in their element to a degree that’s striking even in the context of their many live releases. With Dave “Sula Bassana” Schmidt on guitar and synth, “Komet Lulu” Neudeck on bass and sometimes vocals, and Pablo Carneval on drums, the band’s well-honed live chemistry does nothing to take away from the exploration at the heart of their approach to heavy, resonant psychedelia.
Schmidt, who also runs Sulatron Records out of his home, stands among the psych/space luminaries of his generation. With a pedigree that includes outfits like Zone Six, Liquid Visions and Weltraumstaunen, as well as the synth-based take that has flourished in his solo work done under the Sula Bassana moniker, he has helped bridge classic progressive and krautrocks with modern, forward-thinking creative methodologies. In Electric Moon, the goal is immersion of self and listener alike — both become a party to something greater, an unspoken conversation between players and each other, players and audience, and ultimately the audience with and to itself.
We rescheduled this interview a couple times, but when I spoke to Schmidt, he was in his music room at home, surrounded by keyboards and vintage synths and amplifiers, some of it still semi-packed from a recent move. He had spent the day before engaged in an environmental protest to preserve a stretch of old-growth natural forest being destroyed to make way for the Autobahn, and detailed his work in that regard as well as where he’s at with his various projects. As you make your way through the video below, note the fact that Electric Moon — now a four-piece with Joe Muff on guitar — managed to sneak a gig in this past October in Marburg at the Bright Mountain Festival before Germany went back into lockdown, playing on a hilltop at an outdoor, limited capacity festival.
In a normal year, that would’ve been part of a tour or a series of festivals, but of course this has been no normal year. Still, Sulatron has kept up with releases as well, reissuing work from Electric Moon and putting out records from Permanent Clear Light and UK “lost classic”-type psych rockers Sun Dial, whose work I was particularly keen to discuss with Schmidt. The story he told there was a highlight of the conversation. I hope you’ll agree.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Electric Moon a couple times over the years. Even if you haven’t, it goes back to the vitality noted above. As with few acts, that is a common thread in everything they do.
Enjoy the interview, and thanks for reading and watching.
Electric Moon Interview with Dave Schmidt, Dec. 7, 2020
Electric Moon‘s Live at Freak Valley Festival 2019 is out now through Sulatron Records and Rock Freaks.
Fantastic interview.. Great to see you both my friends… I enjoyed it so much but it was hard to hear Dave for the first half… Take care guys.. peace.. scott