Your first album, Modular Experiment, was very adventurous and almost experimental, but then the trio became a duo, so what were the issues?
Modular Experiment is indeed representative of the music we were making at the time: largely improvised and experimental, heavily influenced by our German models. We were on a very cosmic trip, our music invited listeners on great interstellar journeys... The few concerts we gave were in the same style. The rather monstrous equipment we moved around on stage, the minimalist lighting, and sometimes the accompaniment of Popdreams' slow-motion dancers contributed to the hypnotic nature of our performances. In retrospect, it was quite an incredible challenge, between the weight of the flight cases to move, the time it took to set up and dismantle on stage, and above all the task of tuning the modular synthesizers... As the music was largely improvised, and the stage layout did not allow us to talk to each other directly, as we could in the studio, we rented headsets and intercom microphones for the occasion to communicate and, in a way, mix and evolve the music in real time.
Relations with Serge Leroy had become complicated, and it was he who took the initiative to leave Lightwave. It was a rather tense period. Relationships subsequently improved, and Serge supported us in various ways, lending us equipment, but also acting as an artistic advisor and informal manager. It was thanks to him that we came into contact with Hector Zazou, Jacques Derégnaucourt, and of course Paul Haslinger, as he had organized Tangerine Dream's two Paris concerts in March 1986.
Jacques Derégnaucourt (Concert Alpha Centauri, Bussum, 2001)
The refocusing of the group around the core formed by Christoph and myself ushered in a peaceful and very productive period that has allowed us to continue our musical journey together to this day. Christoph brought his technical and practical skills to the running and maintenance of the studio and equipment, and he was also our sound engineer, in charge of recording and mixing. He always found the best solutions to the many technical problems we encountered. As a designer, he was also in charge of Lightwave's entire visual environment, most of our CD covers and booklets, the band's logo, and more recently, the Lightwave website and the videos and projections used in our concerts. For my part, I was in charge of management, public relations, project follow-up for concerts and record releases, writing press kits and interviews, and currently our presence on social media. The partnership with Christoph also helped us consolidate and develop our musical identity. We worked extensively in the studio and have dozens of hours of recordings. Most of the time, we would engage in free improvisation, which often resulted in highly elaborate and coherent compositions. These improvisations were based on attentive listening to each other, as well as the complementarity of our respective sound palettes, with each of us contributing successive touches to the overall soundscape. Our duo was joined by occasional or regular collaborators, both for concerts and studio sessions: I am thinking of guitarists Kent Condon and Pierre Chaze, Jaques Derégnaucourt (viola, electronics, voice) and Renaud Pion (wind instruments, electronics), Bruno Heuzé (electronics), and of course Paul Haslinger (electronics, piano) and Jon Hassell (trumpet).
Lightwave in these different configurations functioned as a small chamber music or jazz ensemble, as these partners were all experienced musicians, capable of playing in live performances, either in the studio or on stage, where instrumental playing was inseparable from a process of collective composition and live mixing, with each member adjusting their levels and modulating their contributions according to the overall sound.
Lightwave in concert with Jacques Derégnaucourt and Pierre Chaze (Alpha Centauri, Bussum, 2001)
Originally published in AUDION MAGAZINE #83, August 2025.
Interview by Andy Garibaldi.
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