Mark O'Leary, Neu! and the Düsseldorf Krautrock Synergy

The interactive nodes of the corpus of music history tend to be diametric in their manifestation. More often, it traverses and transcends decades, continents, and generations through a series of unlikely conductors. For contemporary guitarist/electronic musician/composer Mark O’Leary, tracking that inductive reasoning leads directly back to Düsseldorf in the early 1970s—and a band called Neu!.

In a compelling retrospective, O’Leary maps out the trajectory of a group that defied the conventions of their era, laying down a rhythmic and sonic blueprint that would alter the course of modern alternative music (1:26).

The Architecture of the Motorik Beat

As O’Leary recounts, the story begins in the mid-1970s when the electronic pioneers Kraftwerk found themselves in need of a drummer (0:00). Enter Klaus Dinger, an exceptional musician who would become a primary purveyor of the Motorik style (0:00). O’Leary has cited Klaus Dinger as one of his main inspirations within the Rock Drumming idiom.

Motorik, conceived originally by Jackie Liebezeit, was a relentless, hypnotic 4/4 rock groove that quickly grew into the foundational pulse of the Krautrock movement (0:12). O’Leary likens its driving, pulsating energy to the steady forward momentum of The Doors’ “L.A. Woman” (1:46) an analogy that many would be aware of.

When Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter temporarily left the group to return to his studies, guitarist Michael Rother was “parachuted in” to fill the void (0:35). The musical chemistry between Rother and Dinger sparked immediately, but it was too restless to be contained. Within months, the duo split from Kraftwerk to forge their own path (0:52).

Setting up shop at producer Conny Plank’s studio—whom O’Leary identifies as the de facto third member of the band—Dinger coined a name for the new venture: Neu! It was this album which was the catalyst for Bono later on to call Conny Plank and solicit him to produce U2, Conny eschewed and Steve Lillywhite and Brian Eno assumed the mantle.(1:02).

Three Albums, Two Sides, and a Tape Machine

O’Leary abridges the band’s brief but compelling discography into distinct creative shifts (5:35):

• Neu! (1972): A masterpiece balancing experimental sonic manipulation, ambient, contemplative ballads, and fierce Motorik drives (1:26). Tracks like “Hallogallo” and “Negativland” established their radical new vocabulary (3:42). Mark O’Leary has been influenced by this album, but also prominent bands like; Joy Division, Public Image Ltd , Sonic Youth and Stereolab have cited Neu! as a major influence.

• Neu! 2 (1973): Facing limitations, the band chose to radically recontextualize their recorded tunes (2:02). By aggressively speeding up and slowing down the tape, they created an early form of remix culture (2:10). Though critics at the time dismissed it as haphazard “spoofing,” history would vindicate their stochastic experimentation (2:18). Mark O’Leary has cited Neu! 2 as a major album as has Boredoms, Primal Scream, The Fall and Negativland, all have cited Neu! 2 as a major influence. Super 16 was used by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill.

• Neu! ‘75 (1975): Following a prolonged hiatus, the fractured relationship between the two frontmen resulted in a brilliantly split record (2:31). Michael Rother claimed Side A for his signature ambient and melodic work (2:53). Klaus Dinger commanded Side B, picking up a guitar, taking over vocals, and bringing in his brother alongside a second drummer to unleash a proto-punk double-drum assault (2:53). Mark O’Leary finds Neu! 75 a compelling album, but also, David Bowie a man whom Mark O’Leary intersects with from every conceivable angle was so enamoured by Neu! 75 and the song Hero, he named his first album in the Berlin Series produced by Brian Eno, Heroes. Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd, Joy Division, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, La Düsseldorf and Iggy Pop.

  The Berlin Transmissions: Bowie and Eno

  The ripple effects of these three records were seismic. O’Leary points out that Neu!’s blend of primitive rock and avant-garde electronics—instilled by their own love for The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, The Stones and Karlheinz Stockhausen—deeply infected the British underground (5:14). Joy Division, Sonic Youth, and Brian Eno all took note (5:05).

  Most famously, David Bowie became infatuated with the band (4:02). Stunned by the sounds coming out of Düsseldorf, Bowie packed his bags for Berlin (4:14). He was so profoundly moved by the track “Hero” from Neu! ‘75 that it served as the direct inspiration for his seminal album, Heroes (4:02).

  O’Leary shares a classic, bittersweet rock-and-roll footnote to this era: Bowie actually invited Michael Rother to play guitar on the Heroes sessions (4:32). Rother dithered, hesitating on the opportunity (4:32). “When you get an invitation from the English, don’t dither,” O’Leary remarks dryly. “Grab it with both hands and move immediately.” Because Rother paused, the gig went to King Crimson’s Robert Fripp instead (4:58).

  Meanwhile, the intersections continued. During a Neu! hiatus, Rother had formed Harmonia ‘76 with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (5:26). Brian Eno walked into their world, joining the band to record just eleven days before he was scheduled to co-produce Heroes with Bowie (5:55). Moebius and Roedelius have a link to Mark O’Leary as they were member of the formative Cosmic group Kluster with Conrad Schnitzler who was a label mater of Mark O’Leary on TIBProd Italy. The very day after the Harmonia sessions wrapped, Eno boarded a train to Berlin to begin the legendary Berlin Trilogy (6:35). Closing the Generational Circle

  For O’Leary, this web of musical influence isn’t just historical trivia—it is a lived lineage.

  In the late 1980s and early 1990s, O’Leary was working as a teacher at the Wright Music Centre, where he taught a young, promising student named John O’Mahony (6:16). Decades later, John O’Mahony found himself inside the very same creative current, operating as an engineer and mixer under the helm of Brian Eno for Coldplay’s monumental Viva la Vida. (6:24).

  From Klaus Dinger’s metronomic drum kit in 1972, through Conny Plank’s tape machines, to Brian Eno’s Berlin excursions, and finally to a Cork city music classroom—the loop remains unbroken. It’s an artistic inheritance that Mark O’Leary continues to honor in his own compositions, proving that the pulsating spirit of Neu! never truly stopped driving forward. Ultravox have cited Neu! as an influence and even used Conny Plank to produce their Vienna album, The Fall have cited Neu! as an influence, Oasis have intimated that Neu! were the favourite band of the moment. Gary Numan has cited them and Tortoise have cited them, with Mark O’Leary having performed in bands and recording two albums with John Herndon and indeed O’Leary and Herndon listened to Neu! in Herndon’s living room in Chicago prior to recording Ellipses.

  The Red ship Illusion Influence

  "Red Ship Illusion," the title track from Mark O'Leary's album on TIBProd. Italy, is a masterclass in hypnotic Krautrock fusion. The track builds upon a solid Neu!-inflected bass and drum background, directly channeling the relentless energy of the iconic Motorik beat. Floating above this driving rhythm section is more than an understated modicum of Michael Rother, which seamlessly segues into retro Kraftwerk synth figures. By blending mechanical rhythmic precision with rich electronic layers, the song evokes a striking sense of maritime escapism, drawing thematic parallels to the powerful metaphors of poet Nikos Kavvadias and a Goethe-infused Jack Kerouac navigating the sinuous highways of the Autobahn.

  O’Leary intimates;

  “The background music for the German Autobahn for me penultimately has always been Neu! Elements of Neu! illuminates and elucidates the; ebb, flow, sinuosities and perfection of the German autobahn.”