Nils Frahm: ‘Using a chainsaw gave me strength in my fingers for piano’ | Music

Music was everywhere when I grew up, not just on the stereo. My mother had a piano. My father played guitar and collected percussion instruments: drums, bongos…

My parents both had a deep connection to music. I could see it brought them a kind of serenity. And they encouraged me to play.

Painting, poetry, literature and photography were all up there as important things in the world, but music felt like the most important. I had a twisted idea of what was fundamental in life early on.

By the age of eight, I knew I wouldn’t compose like Bach or Beethoven. I needed to discover something for myself. I was intrigued by modern sounds – each generation of artists needs to find their own language.

My teacher was a Russian concert pianist. He was a classical master who escaped from Stalin and ended up living next door to me in our village near Hamburg, where I grew up. He was a genius – but a hard teacher.

I’m not scared of dark places, caves, bears, sharks – but humans give me the shivers. We misunderstand each other, and the fear of being misunderstood or misunderstanding somebody can lead to disaster – you’re never 100% sure what’s going on. But the biggest fear is not to be loved.

Aphex Twin once came to Hamburg. After that I started to go to more nightclubs, usually on a Sunday, when they played the weird music. I would sit by the DJ and look at the record labels he was playing.

As a teenager I listened to Portishead, Massive Attack… I never listened to MTV or the radio – I thought it was disgusting.

I am a very passionate person. I get passionate about washing the dishes.

I listened to classical, established music, but I looked for composers who were unknown, to find something out of the ordinary. I created a musical map to learn everything about music, so I could steal from the best spots.

I broke the rules of piano practice. You’re supposed to play eight hours a day, but I decided in the last few years to work on a piece of property, repairing the stone walls, using a chainsaw. I enjoyed the craft, it gave me a lot of strength in my fingers.

It is one of the biggest mysteries: why do we need music? We don’t physically need it, it is not rational, economical or logical, but it is what makes us human.

Nils Frahm’s new live album Paris is out now on Leiter (nilsfrahm.com)