The guild of the rock critics.
A chat with Mario Scherrer & Hotcha.
Mario Scherrer, circa 1986.
I discovered the works of Mario circa August 2020. Being a former music journalist for the Tages-Anzeiger, he released only one album in 1986, under Biennese label Calypso Now. The music highly stood out to me due to the fact that at its core, it could be put under the umbrella term minimal wave. Using this genre as its foundation, the album's originality came from the fact that it was inspired by religious themes, Gregorian chants and medieval drones.
The following months were spent trying to find a person that only released one album 36 years ago. At this point, I only had his name, album title, location & date and the label he originally released on. Whether he was still alive or willing to do another release was unknown at the time, but the origins of Mario and the genesis of this album made me highly determined to find out more. After many social media accounts bearing the same name and location, emails, obscure forums and possible family relatives, I was on the verge of giving up. It was only a year ago that I decided to make one final attempt by contacting a person Mario used to make music with. The person, Priska (his then bandmate and girlfriend) not only knew of his whereabouts, but explained to me that they got married and are now retired in rural Italy.
Since there was little to no footage, I had the privilege to work with a very talented Bernese artist to rebirth the physical appearance of the album to better suit the intent and vision of Mario, whilst preserving its vibe and past authenticity. Now reconstituted (to which I could not ask for a better outcome), the end product features; new artwork, the original music provided by Hotcha (Calypso's Now label head) gorgeously remastered in toe-curling stereo, liner notes comprising of photos and interviews from Mario and Hotcha along with excerpts of their thoughts of the making of this album from that time period. With nearly two years in the making, it is my utmost pleasure to introduce in a cathartic headspace DDP004 Mario Scherrer: Squares and Crossings.
During the 1980s, the Züri brännt riots were violent protests against exorbitant cultural subsidies enforced by the city, which had also dismantled alternative governmental cultural programs for Zurich’s youth. Platzspitz park was once known for its gorgeous gardens and Baroque architecture until it started to become a gathering point for heroin users, subsequently being referred to as Needle Park. Authorities permitted illegal drug use and sales at the park to try to solve the issue, but the lack of regulations meant that drug dealers and users arrived from all over Europe and crime and overdoses became rampant. Zurich became reduced to a mess of violence and anger, mud and used needles. From this atmosphere rose the genesis of the music within this album. Originally released on Calypso Now in 1986, Squares and Crossings was supposed to be part of a series called The Guild, a collection of music written by Swiss music critics. Mario Scherrer was the only one responding to this invitation, thus making him the sole contributor for this project. These productions are coated in punk varnish, simultaneously blending elements of new wave, pop, musique concrète, improvisation, poetry and ambient, which would only make sense coming from the same city as the home of the Cabaret Voltaire, the birthplace of the Dada movement. This album is not only an artistic diary, but also has an environmental affinity with this snapshot of Swiss history.
Mario Scherrer performing at the Conservatory of Zurich, 1980.
Born on the 2nd of January 1955 in Romanshorn by the lake of Constance, Mario Scherrer had almost always lived around the Zurich area. He eventually attended its University and Conservatory, where he studied music science & history and guitar, respectively. After his studies he wrote articles for Der TagesAnzeiger and Basler Zeitung about music and literature. In 1984 he founded, together with his wife Priska, the band Nordland. They mainly self-released three LPs within the period of 1986 to 1992 and played major festivals such as the Montreux Jazz but despite this, never quite reached international mainstream success. There was some interest from Virgin France but to no avail. The couple then returned to Switzerland where Mario began his career as a classical guitar teacher, spanning about seven years. Afterwards they went to Spain for a year where he became a music teacher at the Swiss school in Madrid before returning to Switzerland. Upon his return, he became a teacher for German literature at the high school in Trogon for about 18 years. Today, Mario has been retired in Italy with his wife Priska since summer 2018.
Design by Linda Meli. 2021.
Back then it was already the case that I wanted to make music and become a musician. So I took the opportunity to write about music for Der Tagesanzeiger because I could make some money like this. I always did either music and band reviews (such as Magda Vogel, the singer of UnknownmiX) or literature pieces, but rarely interviews. That was a problem for me because record labels always wanted me to do interviews but I wanted to distance myself from it all, so I always denied their request. An interview that comes to mind however is one I did with Robert Wyatt. Susanne Riga is another one. At the beginning of her career I could have gone to Paris and it would have been paid for, but it was not something for me. I wanted to stay independent in my choices. So through my work is how Hotcha found out about me. He then contacted me and wanted to do a release for a project he had in mind. So this is how it happened.”
-Mario Scherrer, 6th of July, 2021.
Mario Scherrer, circa 1982.
Calypso Now: A Helvetic research department of music
Music chroniclers sometimes make the mistake of referring to the music scene of the eighties as the only world of big, powerful record multinationals: the so-called ‘majors’. What many tend to forget and what was of eminent importance for the advancement of the music scene at the time is there was also a very lively and globally networked underground cassette scene - it was practically the research department of music, equivalent to the methods of discovery through the Internet in modern times, essentially containing everything that the big record labels could not exploit. What cassette culture brought was the possibility to break free from the usual studio/pressing/distribution/label-system, due to its affordability, speed and accessibility. A lot of people suddenly freed their minds. By no means did every band that worked on a new musical expression with the affordable synthesizers and drum machines in the eighties have the financial opportunity to produce an album. The cassette was the alternative: being able to experiment with sounds without great market pressure. Recordings were made at home with a four-track recorder or with a stereo microphone in the practice room. And with success in the tape scene, you could build a name for yourself around the world.
The original cassette cover of «Squares and Crossings», under its concept name “The Guild”. Designed by Martin Schori, the artwork was actually composed of articles and reviews that Mario wrote for the Tages Anzeiger, back in the 1980s.
Calypso Now was part of the cassette culture movement in Switzerland. Located in Biel/Bienne, it was founded in 1983 by the Swiss musician and concert promoter Hotcha (born Rudi Tüscher). Up to 1989, about 200 cassette releases were produced, featuring artists mainly from Switzerland, Germany, UK, USA and Canada. After returning to Biel/Bienne from a six-month stay in New York, discovering the music magazine Option (known for printing several pages of short reviews of the latest cassette productions) was what inspired Hotcha: to launch something that Switzerland had not seen before. Hotcha bought a system for filling up cassettes and various double cassette decks, made contact with musicians from the cassette milieu, produced catalogues, licensed recordings, established a mail order company and persuaded record dealers to include cassettes in their catalogue. This was additionally supported through Calypso Now’s various radio shows on several Swiss radio stations, such as Sounds on DSR2 (now defunct since 2012), promoting samplers and self released compilations such as Sonique Suisse or the Starspot Compilation.
Original liner notes for '“The Guild”. Bienne, March 1986.
“I had a project through my label Calypso Now to invite Swiss music critics of that period (1985) to submit a solo cassette release. Of course the idea was for them to show that they can do what it is they write about. Mario was one of several critics I asked to contribute to what was meant to be a series - The Guild. Meant as ‘the guild’ of the rock critics. At that time, Mario was a music critic for Der TagesAnzeiger, with a focus on new/experimental rock music. He was very well known for writing really long and deep articles. One was used for the cover, in excerpts only. He was the only one who responded and so his tape came out in 1986, beginning and ending The Guild series. The others didn't have the courage or weren't interested. Of course it was slightly ironic for me, since I gave them an opportunity to prove themselves as musicians. So I found that very nice of Mario.”
-Rudi Tüscher aka Hotcha, founder of Calypso Now. 6th of April, 2021.
Confrontation with your own music
Coming from a person who does not ‘only’ make music, but also writes about it, most people expect it to be easy for them to write about their own.
It is just as difficult for me in this regard, as it is for everyone else, due to the fact that music in principle cannot be described as well as the lack of distance to one's own creation.
Nevertheless, I want to try to describe in a few words what the title of my criticism (End Times and Romance) selected by Hotcha with musical sensitivity as a cover, already aptly encompasses. ‘Romanticism equals longing for a different, better world’ and ‘end times equals confrontation with reality’ must, according to my artistic self-image, merge with one another in order not to appear as a mere representation of the present or as a ridiculous longing for the past. I understand my music-making to be a 'constant search for unity'. It is not surprising that Freud, industrial noise, the French-Flemish sacred music of the 15th and 16th centuries, Peter Weiss and Hans Henny Jahnn, Minimal Music, Joy Division/New Order and the Cocteau Twins are my greatest influences. For me, music must never remain mere entertainment, it must stir things up, not cover up: it must open up different perspectives on life.
The pieces that can be heard on this cassette were created, so to speak, improvisationally. So at the beginning there was no ready idea that would have worked out compositionally, but the music organically washed up. More specifically, I used a drumstick pattern along with the bass line on a track on my four-track device. Then I improvised with the synthesizer, and my voice manifested along with other little additions. With such a procedure it is inevitable that both small and large mistakes are left on tape: but this is an important part of the process of spontaneously creating moods.
‘Words and thoughts for Hotcha’, Mario Scherrer, circa 1986.
Mario and his wife, Priska Weber, performing as Nordland at the Rote Fabrik, circa 1986.
"Where some are desperately looking for something new, others play with what has been forgotten, whitewashed by the dust of centuries. A kind of music which is developed in permanent motion, a music of endless flowing. There are no rests, no breaks. It could almost be called a boundless music; a music, however, which carries you away, wherever it goes. La Nouvelle folk music: a wonderful conglomeration of Swiss cultural history."
-Mario Scherrer, circa 1987.
Design by Linda Meli. 2021.
“So before the band with my wife Priska (Nordland), I actually only made experimental music that was far from what I did in Squares and Crossings. It was more free improvisation and a bit jazzy... A person that comes to mind that I played with was the drummer of HERTZ, Evelyn Müller, before she moved to Seattle. But among all of the people I have collaborated with, for whatever reason, I never actually showed this album to them.
I've chosen this new title because some of the tracks are decisive and some are more undetermined. ‘Squares’ stands for the structured tunes and ‘crossings’ for the more open ended tracks. When I first started writing music, I prioritised the melodies and harmonies as well as the rhythms over storytelling. Lyrics are always necessary, but not my first intention. That said, I do find being a writer and a musician share a very similar feeling. The basis of Squares and Crossings probably came from the fact that I started to listen to music very early on and my interest in music was very broad. Starting with classical music at a very young age, I soon started looking at more popular rock music that also incorporated classical elements. A song that I really enjoyed was ‘Rain and Tears’ by Aphrodite’s Child. But yeah, The Nice interested me a lot and Keith Emerson too, and actually, music with melodies was most important for me when it came to musical parameters. You may have noticed that a few of my song titles relate to religious themes. It’s not because I’m religious: my influence is my interest in medieval music. Gregorian chants and drones. It's not so much the history but the sound experience and the layered polyphonic structures. Regarding contemporary artists, influences that come to mind are Porcupine Tree with Steven Wilson, Japan, Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen and La Monte Young… Other people in the local scene that were doing this kind of experimental music on their own was Stephan Eicher. he used to play in a Bernese band called Grauzone and had a long prolific career in music, singing in all Swiss languages. His bandmate Marco Repetto also did all sorts of crazy weird stuff, much harder and approaches techno.
Design by Linda Meli. 2021.
Living in Zurich during the eighties meant being subjected to an environment that was simultaneously revolutionary and depressing. I find that this is both subconsciously and intentionally reflected in my music, but not necessarily directly in the lyrics. It's a bit like a story about that period. Moments about it. Feelings. As I was in my early thirties? I don't know. It was a very long time ago. I think for me, it sounds a bit like a diary. A diary in music. That’s my impression anyway. Regarding the lyrics though, I had to improvise. I couldn't speak fluent English as my native language is Swiss German and this language is too harsh and not very suitable for singing. Most lyrics are not in real English. Actually, it's a bit like Cocteau Twins. They were always a band that I praised as a music critic and wrote about. They were an influence on me by partly singing in tongues: unreal English with incorrect grammar but that sounds like English. It interested me more to sing and to perform the word for its sound as opposed to convey meaning. I’ve tried to reconstruct the lyrics, but unfortunately it makes no sense, because a lot of them are incohesive. They were sung only for the sound-colour.
Design by Linda Meli. 2021.
The writing and recording process was at the same time both very challenging and easy throughout. It was particularly challenging because I have never composed anything of the sort, let alone recorded an album upon request all on my own. But because of my music studies background and the fact that I was a great music critic, it also came out quite naturally for me. It was very intuitive. I had a Tascam four track recorder? Yeah, Portastudio. Also an echo machine (HH Electronic Tape Echo Unit) and then recorded it straight into a two track reel-to-reel tape recorder. An old one, but it sounds very nice. And for drums I had a TR-808, Roland JX3P, Fender Jazz Bass, Krog Classical Guitar 1978, a simple school recorder and a microphone. For instance, for certain sound palettes I would record sixteen tracks on top of each other and the accumulated layers would create the desired atmosphere giving an otherworldly fever dream with a melancholic feel. And improvising bits. Bits in recording. Bits of singing. Bits of sound designing....”
-Mario Scherrer. 6th of July, 2021.