After nearly three decades in the wilderness, a lost video of three of UK rock music's leading lights performing in the studio has been unearthed.
The video, which is premiering on Louder, was filmed in late 1993 at the Stadtgarten in Cologne, Germany, during a session involving New Order bassist Peter Hook and two members of Killing Joke: singer Jaz Coleman and guitarist Geordie Walker. The song the three are seen performing, Giving Up The Ghost, was released earlier this year under the band name K÷.
The trio were in Cologne to take part in Freispiel, an event where dozens of international musicians were invited to collaborate, experimenting together without first being given any guidelines. Other musicians taking part in the festival included members of Can, Gang Of Four, Einsturzende Neubauten, Propaganda, Ultravox and Young Gods.
"Freispiel was the brainchild of Arno Steffan, who’s goal was to get all this favourite musicians in one place so they could jam together," says Jaz Coleman. "Each musician was gifted their choice of vices for the creative processes - as well as being put up in Germany’s premiere Rock'n'roll hotels!
"This unique footage is so special as it’s the first time Hooky, Geordie and myself wrote and played together. A snapshot in history creating music with my brothers."
The trio contributed to a pair of tracks that were released on Freispiel - The Soundtrack the following year, but they also convened at Hook's Suite Sixteen studio in Rochdale to record. The songs recorded during this session - Remembrance Day, Giving Up The Ghost and Scrying, had been missing until Coleman was handed a DAT cassette at a record signing in London.
"I think it surprised all of us," says Coleman. "Peter encouraged the softer, lower tones of my voice. And then of course we emerged from the haze and went our separate ways. When you listen to this rare chemistry, you will understand why I’ve always felt this experience begs for a full opus magnum somewhere in the near future."
“I think these tracks are great," says Hook. "I hope something else happens or at least we play them some time. I’ve missed you lads!"
As if to highlight the fact that this decades-old one-off might turn into something to keep an eye on, a K÷ website was launched earlier in the year, where fans can order the K÷93 EP. Limited to 2000 copies worldwide, the EP features the three tracks recorded in Rochdale, plus a gig flyer postcard and sleeve notes by Coleman and Hook. A video for Remembrance Day was released in March.
The footage for Giving Up The Ghost comes from the new film Freispiel, which tells the story of the Cologne event. It premiered at the Cologne Film Festival last weekend.
