Richard H. Kirk - Freezone

I’m not sure if this eulogy by Mal for R.H.K has already been posted here, but please delete if it has. As published in the latest Electronic Sound magazine. “The last few days have been quite overwhelming,” he says. “Losing Richard has made me think about the significance of what we did together. That time after punk had kicked down doors was incredibly vital. It was a period that set out a framework for what people see as contemporary music and we were a part of that. As the Cabs, we had a way of viewing the world and an attitude that was totally in sync. It always came quite naturally because it was inside us.” Groundbreaking as Cabaret Voltaire were, Kirk never rested on his laurels. He innovated and reinvented again and again, especially with Sweet Exorcist and Sandoz. “Richard was great at working as a catalyst in that way,“ says Mal. “He broke new ground as Sweet Exorcist with Parrot, and the Sandoz stuff is brilliant. It was just something that was in him and it had to come out. He was prolific, he did so many recordings under different names and that was because it was just his response, it was a natural thing. There was no overthinking, it was the same with the Cabs. We never had to discuss whether this was right or that was right or what we thought. If he did something I’d think, ‘If it’s good enough for Richard, it’s good enough for me’, and if I did something, he’d think, ‘If Mal did that, that’s good enough for me’.” What will be his abiding memory of Richard? “My memory of him will always be the Richard people didn’t know,” says Mal. “It was the social thing, when we were out or nights round his house. He projected this gruff exterior, but when he could relax he had a heart of gold and he was a sweet, lovely generous person... he’d kill me for saying that! The memories I take with me late at night are of me and him pissed and stoned, arsing around, listening to tunes, or being in a hotel somewhere after we’d done a gig and just kicking back. We never stopped being Mal and Richard from the Cabs. We were always switched on to what we were doing and everything filtered through into our work, so the social part, the friendship part, it was all the same thing. That’s what I’ll take with me.” For those who grew up with the sound of Cabaret Voltaire ringing in their ears, these last words from Mal perfectly sum up the respect and love that being in a band like that engendered. “We didn’t really speak in the last few years,” he admits. “We’d known each other since we were kids. Probably a good 20-odd years went by when I spoke to Richard every single day, often multiple times. It wasn’t a case of us falling out, Richard just retreated into his own world and the lines of communication started to wither, especially in the last few years. It wasn’t either one of us particularly, it was the way Richard was. He was just being himself and doing his own thing. I respected that and left him to it. “It’s been difficult since the news came through. I’m going to miss his presence and I’ll certainly miss the times we shared together. I never at any point stopped respecting him as a person or as an artist... even if sometimes I could have throttled him. He was the closest thing I’ll ever have to a brother. He was complex, but I loved him, simple as that.” Odin Blackoid