KLAUS BLATTER

The comeback of Klaus Blatter to the scene in 2019 was going swimmingly. The acid house pioneer played live at Glastonbury Festival, Pikes in Ibiza, Berghain in Berlin and Corsica Studios in London, and released a raft of singles via acclaimed label Sunday Best, including the anthem ‘(I Find Myself Surrounded By) The Lunatics Of Acid House’. 2020 was his for the taking.

But then came the pandemic, which forced Klaus into a three-year hiatus. With no gigs and his comeback thwarted, he sunk into a deep depression, only lifted out of it at the turn of 2023 by his manager Sven Larsson and his music producer Novak Spormento. Now it’s time for the comeback of the comeback!

The next release on KAB is by Klaus Blatter himself. ‘Bill Gates’ is about Klaus’s former associate from his Seattle days, who subsequently made a fortune from his Microsoft computer empire. In ‘Bill Gates’, Klaus has some friendly advice for the billionaire, whose infamy rose inexplicably higher during the pandemic after a number of conspiracy theories implicated him in all sorts of misdemeanours.

Klaus believes that Bill “is looking much too straight” and advises him to buy new outfits from Hugo Boss and get his eyes lasered so that he doesn’t have to wear glasses any more. Most cheekily, he suggests that Bill transfers money into his account in the song, which would go some way towards saving the planet, he believes. Near the end of the song he philosophises that with Gates’s money, the politics of former Police man Sting and the ideas of Klaus Blatter, the triumvirate can heal all of the world’s problems. It’s a track that is certain to divide the critics.

When performing the song live in Germany, German fans mistook the chorus for the phrase ‘Wie gehts?’ — and you might well ask how it is going for Klaus now. “Sehr gut,” is his deadpan answer. “They try to stop Klaus Blatter and acid house through global pandemics and lockdowns. Yet those fools will be discredited and acid will once again reign supreme! They only announce their own demise.”

On the ‘Bill Gates’ track specifically, Klaus told reporters: “I make this video with Beel before pandemic, and we see times being for simple. Now the planet-saving game has grown tougher. But with Beel, Sting and Klaus at the helm, we will get through this.”