German electro-rockers To Rococo Rot have claimed that British punk legends Wire are a massive influence.
Hailing from Berlin, To Rococo Rot ask questions that rock music is incapable of answering. Mixing electronica with guitars, the band’s output is extremely forward thinking yet does not forget its heritage.
Speaking to ClashMusic ahead of the release of their new album ‘Speculation’ the band opened up on their influences. Name-checking more lateral reference points such as Kraftwerk, To Rococo Rot also heavily praised British punks Wire.
Famed for their brevity, and their eagerness to embrace new forms it seems that the London art-punks are a huge influence. “When I was a teenage punk fan Wire was my favourite band” claimed Stefan Schneider.
“They were against the cliché of punk rock. Punk, for me – and it was the same for Ronald and Robert – it wasn’t very nihilistic, it was the other way round; everything was possible! Everything was possible from that moment onwards: we can play music, we can do whatever we want now, we aren’t ashamed anymore about our poor technical skills.”
Continuing, the German musician revealed that Wire’s Colin Newman is also a massive fan of To Rococo Rot. “Colin Newman came to a concert of To Rococo Rot in 2002 and he came all the way from London to Copenhagen to see our show” he explained.
“This was big for us as we had all adored him as a legendary punk figure when we were younger. His early music was kind of between pop music and art music. We all started in punk bands when we were fifteen.”
To read the entire interview just click HERE.
