Kraftwerk pair 'not in touch'

Ralf Hütter has said that he is no longer in touch with Kraftwerk's co-founder Florian Schneider.

The only remaining original member of the group told The Guardian that he no longer feels the absence of Schneider after he left the band in 2008.

Hütter said: "It's been such a long time, you tend to forget, because we're looking more forward. And it's been such a long time since he stopped working with us, so what can I say?

"He worked for many, many years on other projects: speech synthesis, and things like that. He was not really involved in Kraftwerk for many, many years."

The pair met in 1968 and founded Kraftwerk together two years later.

The new band lineup will play the Manchester Velodrome on July 2.