PASCAL's KEVIN COYNE HOME PAGE


Helmi Coyne

interview by Pascal Regis, 29 Sep 2011

Helmi got married to Kevin Coyne in 1996. Kevin died in her arms in 2004.

(photo by Jos van Den Berg)

In what year did you meet Kevin?
1985-86, about this time.

He had been living in Nürnberg for some time aldready?
He had been living in Nürnberg and the way I came up first was he lived in a kind of communal flat with my brother. He was sharing a flat with him and two other women.

That was Kevin at his lowest point?
Oh yes he was at his lowest point. He was very ill, drinking, no carrer and in a very bad situation.

Do you remember when he left London and divorced with Lesley?
The divorce came much later. We got marrid in 96, quite late.

Did you talk to Lesley, did you see her?
We actually had no contact. Kevin had left London; first he was staying with a friend in Munich then he came to Nürnberg where he was offered a place to stay with this other woman. And it was really never planned that he would stay for good.

He had a third son in Germany at that time?
He had a son with this woman. Then the situation got worse because he never really planned to have another family, he was feeling so bad, he was in such a terrible situation himself that this kind of new relationship and then a son… it didn't work out in any way. And this is when I met him, because he was struggling with this woman and she had left him, and he tried to look after the child, but it didn't work out so it was all a very complex, complicated, very sad situation.

Especially with alcoholism I suppose.
He was drinking and he had no money and then he was on his own in this other place, and he couldn't pay the rent, the telephone was cut off and he was really at the end of his life, he was in a terrible shape, shaking a lot. It was awful to see and when I met him I just tried to be very practical and help him to get things sorted out, like, getting the telephone back and paying the rent and looking after him. It was not a love affair by any means. It was just that I saw that he was in such a terrible state that I thought: "How can I let this great artist finish up in a place like this?".

Were you afraid he was going to die?
Yes. Because he was so alone and everybody had given up. My personal feeling was nobody really gave a shit.
I did not know much of his music, I had heard his music a couple of years before when I was in Mexico with a friend, and then I met him in person when he lived with my brother. They were all drinking heavily and it was a scene I did not mix with at all.

He was not playing, he did not have a band or anything?
Nothing at all. He just really came to Germany in the beginning to stay with this friend for the Oktober Fest in Munich. And he only had a couple of t-shirts and nothing else. He never really went back.
So I just tried to help him and look after him. And then he tried to stop drinking, he failed and then he tried again half a year later and it worked.

Did he quit with the AA?
Yes in Fürth, which is the town next to Nürnberg, there was an English speaking AA group, because in those days the American Army was stationed there. Twice a week I would give him a lift to Fürth, he was attending, I was waiting in the car to pick him up again and drive him back. That was really hard work. But it worked and he really stopped for good. The first year was extremely difficult because he was so incredibly restless. He could not stay in, so every night we had to go out and go from bar to bar, but now he was not drinking alcool anymore, he was drinking drinks with half mineral water and half apple juice, and he would drink gallons of it because he needed the liquid I guess. In the end he really settled down, he was not as restless, he could stay in a place for an hour and he found a way to work again, got into a work rythm and instead of going to a bar he would work day and night… I have to say AA saved his life.

Was Kevin in contact with his older kids?
He tried to keep in touch with them, by telephone. When it all came to a sort of heating point, Lesley came over – that was before I was involved with him – they did not really get back together; he just stayed on in Nürnberg and we became very close and then over the months or years it just turned into a relationship but it was definitly not a relationship in the beginning.

It was not love at first sight.
No definitly not.

When did he play with the Paradise band? Was that before you met him?
That was actually around the same time. Before I met him, he played with different guys, because he had one promoter in Nürnberg who provided him with musicians so he would play with all kind of people; then he got him a band because Kevin did not know anybody and he was definitly not interested. His method was to work with anybody who comes along. He felt so run-down and emotionnaly exhausted and so powerless because language was another problem, he could not really take an active part, so they would provide him with musicans.

At one time he was working with a very young guy called Martin Odstrcil. There's a couple of recordings from '83 or something with him.
He played with all sorts of people for short periods of time and they would come and go. The first real band was Hans Pukke and Falk Steffen and Robert Steinhart. They're all long gone now.

I hear Hans Pukke is living in the USA now.
Yes he is and after Kevin died, I went to see him. I always liked him and Kevin sacked him. And Hans was very upset and his wife wanted Kevin to take him back in the band but that was not Kevin, once he sacked somebody…

Yes, over the years of his carrer, Kevin did sack a number of musicians.
I always felt over the years that this was not OK. One of the first things I did after Kevin died was to go to the US the following Summer, went to LA and met up with Hans.

To apologize!
He was very happy to hear that from me. It had hit him hard, he was very upset.

Yes, they had done many things together. But it was probably time to change.
I can't really judge about music wether this was the right thing to do or not but from the personal aspect…

Also that was sort of the time he began working a lot with his son Robert.
Deep down I think Kevin always prefered to work with his own sort of people, I mean English speaking friends. As far as I remember, he thought German musicians in general had perfect technique and knew how to play perfectly but, as he used to say, they lacked of soul, the real "Spirit of Rock'n'roll" they couldn't find it! It was just out of the situation, him being basically stuck in Germany, not that he came here to play – but again later he said it saved his life. Everything got two sides of a story.

In the end he also found good musicians with Werner Steinhauser and Harry Hirschmann.
Oh yes, Werner became his longest standing partner. The band he had at the very end of his life with Andreas Blüml and Werner and Harry Hirschmann, this was really the favorite band of all times and also they were extremly kind and nice guys. When Kevin was ill, they really looked after him when they were on tour.

This is true. I've been to several shows in 2004, and it was great shows and the guys were really nice with Kevin.
They loved to be with him. It was such a shame that they did not have more time to work with him because this was really the band he most enjoyed working with, highly professional and very kind and he was very impressed  when Andreas came to replace Keili Keilhofer; he was such a perfect musician – I mean in a German way! – but he knew all the songs, his equipment was always in perfect condition and he was very versatile and could play anything. Also a great mind, very intelligent guy. These last guys were his top band.

Andreas was very different from Keili I suppose?
Oh yes, character-wise. I mean I like Keili, he's a nice guy. But again, over the last couple of years, Kevin was very strong mentally, to say "I'd like to work with these guys" or "I'd like to work with somebody else". Before that he just went along. He just became stronger over the years, became more independant.

Also with the Turpentine label that you two put out.
I just encouraged him to do what he wanted to do. There was no pressure anymore from anybody. I think if you're a musician, you are still very insecure so you just do what you think should please the record company. So he kept a low profile; and then we set up our own label and there was no record company involved, he could say what he thought and what he really wanted. With Werner, he found a really great partner, who took care of the rest of the stuff so all Kevin had to do was play with the guys and it was a real pleasure for him. And I'm very happy for Kevin that he had the chance at least for the last few years to play with people he really liked, also as human beings and they had a great time and great fun. And I have to say I am very thankful to these guys becasur as soon as Kevin left the house, I knew he was in the best hands with them. And they looked after him.

Do you remember the recording of 'Donut City', the first album out on Turpentine? Did you go to the sessions?
Well Kevin would go to the studio with Werner, in Werner's studio and they would just do it.

Improvising.
Yes, as you know, Kevin's method of work was he never wrote anything down, just went to the studio and start. The people had to be ready or he would just grab the guitar and start.
He would actually never wanted to go to the studio. With Turpentine I had to force him or drag him into it and say "Now you have to go to the studio" .He never said "I want to go to the studio" so we always had to set up a time. Once he was there, he would just… unload all the things he had in his head.

He also did a lot of paintings at home. You once told me he drew a Teddy bear drawing every day for you.
Yes. I went to work every day so to make it easier, there was always a special Teddy bear letter left for me on the kitchen table, waiting. Because he was still asleep. That was just wonderful to go to the kitchen in the morning and there was always a letter for me waiting so that made my life very easy and it was a wonderful way to start the day.

You must have hundred of drawings.
Yes, hundreds of them, they are sort of my heritage. It was just a wonderful day every day, because whether it was raining or sunshine, I could rely on my post. He even complained sometimes, "Oh God, I can't think of anything!" Because it's quite a burden – if you've got an idea and if you start to do something then the other person expects it. I did not get a letter at the week-end but always from Monday till Friday. Sometimes he woudl really threaten me and say "No! This is it now, I can't do it anymore". As the same time, he knew it made me so happy, and as a sign of love, he did it. I remember sometimes he did two or three on one day so he could just hand it out to me. In the beginning, it was just like a sketch but over the years they became very elaborate and inventing stories and characters, truly amazing.

It is a full time job!
And I thought "Oh my God, Kevin did it for years!" I can't compare my Advent cards with his Teddy bear Art but I struggled so much for 24 days to come up with something every day and he had to come up with something for years and years.

So you understood how he felt.
Yes and it just shows his creativity, brain and mind, to be so consistent.

And that's another credit to Germany: the fact that he got exhibitions of his paintings, which he did not get in the UK.
Another thing he kept saying over and over about what he liked about Germany: first of all the peace and quiet, the space and time to work and that Germany in general appreciate Artists. It was not like in England where an Artist is just an "Artiste" and not really necessary for society or a luxury item. But in Germany Artists get treated very kind. Or when he was touring in France he was always really found of going there because he was treated in a very well respected and wonderful way. You get the best food after the gig, all sorts of things… but touring in England is really just hard work unless you are one of the Beatles or Sting or whatever.

Do you think Kevin liked Germany in the end?
Yes he was very found of Germany, he felt in a strange way very close to Germans. I think he liked the discipline because deep down he was a very discipline person himself.

He was a very hard worker.
He was always going about the German Angst, which is also the reason for his creativity because you are driven by your inner Angst or emotions. He also liked the German fierlesness of everything, the discipline and the order. In many ways, he was more German than a German! Apart maybe for the "Spirit of Rock'n'Roll", which is what he would call "The British Ease", but the daily living and the correctness, the manners… he really fitted in perfectly well. At the same time, he made fun of it because he had the distance, being not a native German he could see the funny side of it. And he was very well loved and very well respected and he felt very at home. I remember when we were in England to spend the Summertime there and Christmas… he was missing of course England, cricket and the very English things and he was often complaining about the Germans, but when we were there, after two days, he said "Oh God, I want to go home!".

So you often went to England for the holidays?
We used to go to Torkey, which is really like this English Riviera. We would rent a very nice place. The kids would come down. He just felt so British there. He would work there…
And then we went to the US when he started to tour with Michael Lipton. He was offered a tour and from then on, we would spend the Summer in the US.

His illness first appeard in the US?
Yes in 2002, when he was doing the recording with Jon Langford in Chicago, on the plane back from Chicago, with Robert [Coyne]. He had had breathing problems before. He had stopped smoking a couple of years before but his being short-breathed got worse. He didn't go and see a doctor. He would complain but he thought maybe it's the weight or just getting old. But it was an on-going thing and I said "Look, let's go and see see a doctor" but Kevin and a doctor were something that did not go together. There was the doctor next door and whenever Kevin needed something he did a drawing of his illness and I had to take the drawing to the doctor, who was highly amused. And he would give him some medication. Or, when he went to see him, the doctor was much more interested in his carreer and music – the guy being a total music freak.
Anyway he was on the flight back from Chicago with Robert and we were supposed to meet up in London and spend the Christmas time there, but he was coughing non-stop on the flight. He got off the flight and was completly sick. First, we all thought he had caught a terrible lung infection. He was so weak that he could not walk or anything so he was staying at Eugene [Coyne]'s place for some days I think – I knew he would not go to a hospital – He got a little bit better then I came over to London, he took some antibiotics because we thought it was a lung infection. Then, when we came back from our Winter holidays, I sort of dragged him along to a lung specialist. Because the first doctor diagnosed him with some kind of tuberculosis. But in the end I said "I just have to find a propoer lung specialist because something has to be done". When he did not do anything he was ok but as soon as he was moving along or doing the slightest kind of action – lifting something – he would start to have breathing problems. The lung specialist diagnosed straight away an illness called lung fibrosis.
In the beginning, he managed to be without oxygen, or just take oxygen whenever he felt he needed it. We both knew it was a progressive illness. Over the months and years, he just needed more oxygen.

I remember I saw him several times between 2003 and 2004 and one could see how bad it was going.
I think when he played in Paris [February 2004], he was ill?

Yes, he said that was the first time he had to take oxygen on stage. Which got me very worried.
He would really try no to take oxygen and always be very brave. In the very beginning, when it was diagnosed, we had to go and see the doctor every day because the only treatment was corstisone. To find the right diagnosis, they had to make tests every day; and Kevin would not take the oxygen when we came so the doctor was really angry with him and said "How dare you not to take oxygen? You're lucky that you are still alive!" because the oxygen level was so down. But he still carried on obviously. But then he needed the oxygen 24 hours a day.

It must have been very difficult with all the stairs to your appartment.
Yes at this time, I was looking for a new place. We had this other place downstairs but it was more for a studio. I already had lookd at a house with a garden but then we did not need it anymore.

I have a question about religion… What was Kevin's religion?
Kevin was born a Catholic because his mother was a very devout Catholic. His Mother was Irish. His father was Anglican Church but not practicing. But his mother was a very religious person, and one of Kevin's favorite saying was "Once a Catholic, always a Catholic"! He was very critical of the Catholic Church.

He was very critical about it.
But he was a deeply religious person or, if you like it better, a very spiritual person. He prayed every day. He said that, when he stopped drinking, that particular night, he woke up and said that he saw a Cross… He looked at the window, he was lying there on his own in his flat and maybe it was just a shadow, but he does not really matter; to him, he saw a Cross; He told me this quite a few times, that was like the turning point, and then he obviously felt so different. From that moment he had the strengh to go back and not to drink anymore. That was really the sign of hope for him because he felt mentally so exhausted and so ill. It was not only that he was physically in a terrible state but also mentally so down that I thought he'll either die or he'll survive. He was cut off from his family, his roots, his language and he was on his own in a sort of empty flat with no money, at the very end. And there was basically the Cross of hope and that obviously made a difference.

That helped him. Did you know that in the very early '80s, still in the UK, he once said that he went mad. He was recording this album with Robert Wyatt and he said that he was "clincally mad" for some time. Did he mention that?
Yes he said that. He obviously realised that something had happened to him and that he was really ill. He recovered from it.

It had probably to do with alcool too I guess. He had been a hard drinker for a very long time. I suppose he began drinking very young.
We often talked about the theory: "Why did he drink? Is it a genetic thing?" I don't know. I think he had this incredible creativity, a fire, or you could call it the daemon. To live with it, he obviously needed to drink or find a way to live with this talent, this creativity. He was clearly not a normal person like I am, where I can relax after I've done my work, so alcool was a kind of soothing medicine, where you sort of need it and of course you need more and then he couldn't stop anymore. I think many people think they need it for their creative Art but Kevin definitly needed the opposite and he said he became far more creative without drinking…

Next April [2012], there will be an exhibition in Nürnberg. Robert Coyne might play for the opening.

Hopefully, sooner or later, we'll see the revival of Kevin Coyne and he will get the publicity he deserves. I was in the US last Summer. Michael Lipton has a band called The Carpenter Ants and they play "Party Party Party" and I tell you this song goes down like nothing, people go mad! And I thought "My God, if somebody else would cover it…"

 

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