Music: Helge Schneider on AI, music and unnecessary grammar

The artist and musician Helge Schneider Under no circumstances does he want to be represented by an artificial intelligence. «I find it spooky. I think it’s weird. But it would be even worse to send such avatars on stage like those at Abba,” said the musician and composer on Tuesday in Munich, alluding to the Swedish pop band, which is virtually on stage in its concert show “Abba Voyage”. Schneider promised: Everything at his concerts would be live and real, and his band would consist exclusively of living people.

Schneider shows no signs of fatigue: his album “Live from Graz” was recently released and his “Litter Box on Wheels” tour starts in Zurich. With over 70 performances, it is “a world tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland,” said the 68-year-old. Schneider composed the song “Katzenloo” in 1993, when people could not yet imagine that it would be possible to see each other on the phone in the future. Now his audience is also using cell phones at concerts. “It bothers me, but as soon as I bring it up or something, it bothers me even more,” he said.

His new crime novel “Tepptanz” was published in October. In Munich the author joked about grammatical rules. Sometimes it is even better to write the way you speak. “I don’t really care what my grammar is – the main thing is that you understand it,” said Schneider.

The 68-year-old left it open whether he would write another book. He would rather devote himself to music. «Writing is not as imaginary as playing the piano – music is a real art, it is so heavenly. And writing is more down to earth,” says Schneider.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:231205-99-190908/2