Werner "Zappi" Diermaier


Werner "Zappi" Diermaier is an Austrian drummer and percussionist, best known as one of the founding members of the German experimental rock group Faust. Diermaier's muscular and hypnotic drumming has been described as the rhythmic engine behind the group's fusion of rock, noise, and avant-garde composition, and as one of the most distinctive sounds of the Krautrock era.
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Early life

According to the German music historian Christoph Dallach, Diermaier was born in 1949 in the village of Gutau, in Upper Austria.
In an interview for Digital in Berlin, he recalled that his father was a musician who took him to rehearsals at the age of seven, where he first began experimenting with drums.
Little else is publicly documented about his family or schooling. During the late 1960s, he became active in northern Germany's underground music scene, eventually forming the trio Campylognatus Citelli with keyboardist Hans-Joachim Irmler and percussionist Arnulf Meifert.

Formation of Faust

In 1969–1970, journalist and producer Uwe Nettelbeck brought Campylognatus Citelli together with the Hamburg group Nukleus—featuring Jean-Hervé Péron, Rudolf Sosna, and Gunther Wüsthoff—to form a new experimental ensemble for Polydor Records. The musicians were relocated by Nettelbeck to an old schoolhouse in Wümme, near Bremen, which was converted into a private recording studio.
There, Faust developed their collective working method, combining Diermaier's improvisational drumming with tape manipulation, electronic processing, and collage techniques. The sessions produced the debut album Faust, engineered by Kurt Graupner and released by Polydor in a transparent vinyl sleeve—a radical statement of German experimentalism in rock music.

Career

Diermaier's distinctive, heavy rolling drumming became a hallmark of Faust's sound and helped define their early records: Faust, Faust So Far, The Faust Tapes, and Faust IV. His work combined motorik repetition with free jazz–influenced outbursts, creating a rhythmic contrast to the band's chaotic electronics.
After the band's contract with Virgin Records ended in 1975, following the label's rejection of the unreleased album Faust V, Faust disbanded. Diermaier lived privately for several years but remained musically active.
In 1990 he and Péron reunited the band for concerts in Hamburg and London, marking the start of Faust's second period. He contributed to Rien, produced by Jim O'Rourke, and to You Know FaUSt and Ravvivando, which redefined Faust as a heavier, industrial-leaning live ensemble.
During the 2000s and 2010s Diermaier remained a constant in Faust's touring and recording activity, appearing on C’est com… com… compliqué, Faust Is Last, jUSt, Fresh Air, and Blickwinkel. He also collaborated on the experimental projects Arbeitstitel and Rough Mixes with Monobeat Original.

Musical style and influence

Diermaier's drumming has been characterised as both “tribal and architectural,” combining primal power with precise timing. Deutschlandfunk Kultur described him as “the motor and heartbeat of Faust's sonic anarchy,” whose pulse grounded the band's studio experiments.
He is regarded as one of the few krautrock musicians to have remained continuously active since the genre's origins in the early 1970s.

Selected discography

;with FaustFaust Faust So Far The Faust Tapes Faust IV Outside the Dream Syndicate Rien You Know FaUSt Ravvivando C’est com... com... compliqué Faust Is Last jUSt Fresh Air Blickwinkel
;with Monobeat OriginalArbeitstitel
  • ''Rough Mixes''

Videography

Legacy

Diermaier is widely considered one of the defining drummers of German experimental music. His continuity from the early Wümme years to modern reunions has made him a living link between the origins of krautrock and contemporary avant-garde rock.
Music critic Christoph Dallach wrote that “Zappi's rhythm was the gravitational centre of Faust—steady, ironic, and physical,” encapsulating the band's anarchic humour and endurance.