Biography

Robert Görl is a German drummer, electronic musician, and vocalist best known for being a co-founder of pioneering electro-punk/Neue Deutsche Welle act DAF. Initially formed as an industrial noise group, DAF eventually settled on the duo lineup of Görl and vocalist Gabi Delgado, and their stripped-down, sequencer-driven music and highly sexualized image helped lay the groundwork for EBM and industrial dance music. The duo reached their commercial peak with 1981's Alles Ist Gut and split a year later, with both members releasing solo albums and occasionally reuniting over the following decades. Görl resurfaced as a techno producer in the 1990s, issuing acid-tinged efforts like 1996's Watch the Great Copycat and collaborating with Pete Namlook and Karl O'Connor (Regis). After Delgado died in 2020, Görl revisited unused DAF material from the early '80s, and released Nur Noch Einer in 2021. Robert Görl was born in Munich in 1955. He was trained in jazz drumming and started a classical music education, but he became interested in punk rock and experimental music, and formed DAF (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) with vocalist Gabi Delgado in 1978. Initially based in Düsseldorf, the band included members of Der Plan (which Görl also played in), and their 1979 debut, Produkt Der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft, was a set of free-form improvisations. The half-live, half-studio Die Kleinen und Die Bösen was Mute's first album release in 1980, appearing as the band relocated to London. The same year, Görl played on Robert Rental's single "Double Heart," also issued by Mute. Reduced to just Görl and Delgado, DAF signed to Virgin and released their most successful and influential album, Alles Ist Gut, in 1981. Gold und Liebe appeared the same year, and Görl drummed on the Eurythmics' single "Belinda." DAF broke up during the recording of 1982's Für Immer, and Görl released his solo debut, Night Full of Tension, on Mute in 1984. The album was sung by Görl entirely in English, unlike all of DAF's prior music, and Annie Lennox guested on two songs. DAF then reunited and recorded 1986's 1st Step to Heaven, a more stylized synth pop album that was also sung in English. Görl dropped out of music for a while, and studied Buddhism in Asia for several years following a serious car accident. He released the synth pop single "Electric Marilyn" in 1991, then embraced the harder, faster side of techno. Munich-based Disko B released several Görl EPs beginning in 1993, with CD compilation (Psycho) Therapie appearing in 1994, and the acid techno album Watch the Great Copycat arriving in 1996. Görl collaborated with Pete Namlook as the duo Elektro, which veered from ambient to hard trance, and he additionally surfaced on Harthouse as part of the trio Heat. Görl's Sexdrops, co-produced by British techno artist Regis, was released in 1998, and the entirely self-produced Final Metal Pralinées followed in 2000. DAF reunited and released the drum machine-driven Fünfzehn Neue D.A.F.-Lieder in 2003. After splitting again, Görl issued the solo single "Seltsame Liebe" in 2006, and he performed as the drummer for electro-pop band Client. He released a darker, more experimental techno album called Dark Tool Symphony in 2007. DAF re-formed for their 30th anniversary in 2008, and the single "Du Bist DAF" appeared in 2010. 2018 saw the release of the DAF remix album Reworx and Görl's The Paris Tapes, an album of previously unheard instrumental demos recorded in the late '80s. Delgado died of a heart attack in 2020, soon after the duo decided to work on new DAF material, and Görl recorded the single "Ich Denk An Dich" with producer Sylvie Marks. He then reworked material from DAF's early London rehearsals, and made songs based on unused sequences. Nur Noch Einer, credited to Görl and DAF, was released by Grönland Records in 2021. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi