#Rammstein glossary

[jackshithere]

Transcription of Rammstein’s interview “Who are They”

...that has been taken down by now from youtube and vimeo. The bolded parts are my (rough) division of topics

about Rammstein

RICHARD: For me Rammstein is really the first natural boy-group band.

PAUL: A six-way marriage.

TILL: The main idea is love in all forms and in all variations.

PAUL: Rammstein is Rammstein.

about work

PAUL: In the GDR you were required to work. You couldn’t "not work".

OLIVER: I trained as a plasterer.

SCHNEIDER: Something with installing phones.

PAUL: Boilerman.

FLAKE.: Toolmaker.

PAUL: You virtually weren’t allowed to make amateur music without having a real job. You still had to have an alibi-job.

pre-Rammstein

RICHARD: Before Rammstein we all knew each other. We were all friends.

OLIVER: A couple of us come from Schwerin and were making music there. And some of us were making music in Berlin at the same time. Band musicians playing in the GDR inevitably got to know each other.

TILL: Back then I made punk music. Pretty much the same with Paul. Olli played in a folk-fiddle band. And Richard comes from crossover.

PAUL: Then there were five of us. Only Flake the keyboarder was missing. We really had to talk him into it, he didn't want to play in the band. He said it was too silly. He said it was too blunt, boring, and too strict. On the one hand we knew we needed a keyboarder. On the other, a person who’d speak up with their objections. Rammstein is like goulash and needs a pinch of sugar for taste. We were always saying, "Man, Flake, come on and join the band". "Are there six or five of us?". He never really answered. And he still hasn’t answered even today.

style of music

RICHARD: We wanted to join machines together with hand-made music. We then made a kind of demo at home. At night Till used to record his songs under the bed-covers. It was late at night and we didn’t want to disturb the neighbors. We sent this tape away and won the Berlin Senate’s Music Competition. On top of this we all had problems in our love-lives. Either we’d just been left, or we’d just left girlfriends. Of course a lot of discussion resulted out of this sorrow. There was a connection between discussion and making music. A kind of elemental force existed back then.

OLIVER: Pain or sorrow is the best starting point for artistic expression.

SCHNEIDER: We all had this feeling: it’s a new beginning. A new name, new music and all the possibilities of the new system. Meaning that you could make record contracts.

SCHNEIDER: We’d thought about what we could do differently to the mainstream. Our musical picture of the West was: a bunch of good musicians. All of them trying to copy American and English bands. And so very few individual bands developed.

FLAKE.: We found our style by knowing what we didn’t want: no American funk or punk or something we couldn’t do. We’ve recognized we can only do what we play. And this music is very simple, blunt and monotonous.

PAUL: It suits the way we are.

RICHARD: We’re a very, very open band that’s always trying out new paths.

PAUL: Each member of Rammstein has a different opinion on every topic. Of the six of us, one of us is always strongly opposed.

SCHNEIDER: For me personally there’ve been two important developments: first, the music’s become a bit more sensitive. Not so coarse and angry as on the first album.

SCHNEIDER: The best part about the second album is that Till began to sing. And not just talk.

RICHARD: The big bang when writing a song, and it works, when the harmony changes, when you’ve the feeling that the song’s finished, that feeling is the most rewarding experience for me.

RICHARD: I like playing a role on stage and being dressed up. It’s good fun. For the others probably as well. In my opinion this is a big part of the show.

TILL: Our stature and stage presentation is flirting with the entire thing. It’s got nothing to do with some sort of "man cult" on our part.

FLAKE.: We just do what we feel like.

PAUL: There’s a bit of theater involved. But the guy who plays Mephisto has to be a bit Mephisto to play him.  

controversy

FLAKE.: You can’t really misunderstand our texts. They’re just normal, romantic lyrics. Every 16-year-old has already seen so much shit on TV. We’re as dangerous as choirboys by comparison.

TILL: I don’t know why people get so hooked onto these taboo topics. There’re maybe two, three or at most four on one album.

TILL: For some hard riffs I really can’t think of anything else. It’d be like putting a Baroque frame round an abstract picture. At some point it has to fit.

PAUL: Hard riff, hard lyrics. Soft riff, soft lyrics.

FLAKE.: It’s the same with our photo. After making our first cover photo, they later wrote in the papers: "They’re selling themselves as members of the master race."

FLAKE.: It’s all total nonsense. It’s just a photo.

PAUL: I’d rather be a Spaniard. Then we wouldn’t have all these problems.

SCHNEIDER: To just scratch the surface, and then read things in that aren’t there, that I really find presumptuous.

OLIVER: Our audiences understand us better than journalists do. Unfortunately the journalists do the writing and not our audiences.

FLAKE.: The news media amaze us again and again with their ideas.

TILL: I always try to make extreme statements, cloaked as allegories. A bit oblique, like in pop songs of the 60s. With lyrics like: "l want to stay with you tonight." And everyone knows they’re both just going to fuck.

SCHNEIDER: What I like about our lyrics is they’re on two levels. Never with a bias in one direction.

(outlooks)

TILL: Women want you to go after them. That’s the normal mating ritual. Male peacocks have a large plumage. And each spotted woodpecker is more colorful than the female.

SCHNEIDER: I can well imagine it’s impressive to see us in concert. But I don’t know what I’d think if I weren’t part of the band.

PAUL: We’re the quality control. What we like is good, and that’s always been good.

SCHNEIDER: Some people say: keep doing the same thing.

first pay

OLIVER: I earned my first pay as an apprentice.

RICHARD: As a cashier at the bottle-return.

TILL: I earned my first pay in a peat-cutting company. In the summer holidays. I was fired after 3 days.

game of associations

(Message on screen) HOPE.

TILL: Without would mean the end.

SCHNEIDER: If you’ve no hope left inside, then you can’t do very much.

RICHARD: Yes, absolutely, every day and every morning.

(Message on screen) BELIEF.

PAUL: Comes with time.

SCHNEIDER: A very important thing.

TILL: Unimportant.

(Message on screen) RESPECT.

RICHARD: You should have a bit of respect for everyone.

PAUL: You lose it with time.

OLIVER: Is a good thing.

TILL: Important.

(Message on screen) DOMINATRIX.

OLIVER: Dominatrix? Yea, why not?

PAUL: Not for me.

SCHNEIDER: Not my line.

TILL: I know one.

becoming more succesful

FLAKE.: When we wanted to make our first video we didn’t know a video director. We simply sent our CDs to all the directors we knew from movies.

FLAKE.: Including David Lynch. He wrote us a nice letter: Sorry, no time, but the music’s good. He had the CD in the car and had to drive to the shoot location each day. So he just happened to listen to it and got used to it.

RICHARD: You hardly sense success yourself. You usually sense success from the people that approach you.

RICHARD: The people reflect this by reacting differently from before. Because in their eyes you’re suddenly a star.

SCHNEIDER: I’m happy that we’re all around 30. We can deal differently with success than 18-year-olds.

FLAKE: We’ve been making music now for 16 or 17 years. Towards the end it can’t go fast enough.

RICHARD: The most important thing for this band is staying together. For me there can only be Rammstein in this constellation. If someone left, that’d be the end of Rammstein. That’s why staying together is the most important thing for me.

[wilder-ramm]

Since Till is releasing Messer in Russia next month, I figured it couldn’t hurt to put out a reminder of what the photos from the orginal publication looked like. No matter how odd the new illustrations are (which include Till’s blood, by the way) they just can’t beat the outright uncanny valley that these are putting out there. I’m not really sure what the actual artistic direction was supposed to be with these, but it is different. I’ve grown pretty fond of them, it’s a pretty big leap from what he usually does, not to mention the poems are fantastic on their own. 

Also, if anyone has a good copy of the original Messer that they’re itching to get rid of, I’ll happily pay you. I haven’t been able to track down a copy. 

[jackshithere]

Long interview with Paul (October 26 , 2005)

Some particular zingers:

beurgueur: do you think you'll be on stage again when you'll be 60? (like rolling stones for example...) Paul: Hopefully somebody will die first. Then we won't have to worry about that.

Synthema: Do you still feel that being in Rammstein is almost like being in a six-way marriage? Does the band still function as a tight a unit or have things drifted apart? Paul: Yeah. Paul: We're still together. Knock on wood. We've been together for 10 years and now that we've gone through our crisis, we feel better than ever. Paul: We've got money, success, beautiful women and all the rest. Paul: Things can only get worse.

luna: First "Snow White" now "Rose Red". Do the members of Rammstein have a fondness for fairytales? Paul: Who doesn't? 

MafiUndomiel: how did you and Richard decided who was going to be lead and who rythm guitars? Paul: Good question. Paul: We're both stubborn. Paul: It's a fight every time but we're still doing alright up to now. Paul: Actually, the winner is supposed to be the one who plays the best solo.

source

Full interview under the cut

atomrt: how do you chose the sounds for each song because all of them fit perfectly?

Paul: Thanks a lot! Sometimes that works out well, sometimes not so well. 

maria: Your album covers have always sparked a lot of controversy. Which cover is your favourite and why? Paul: The cover for Sehnsucht was the most dramatic in my opinion. 

Benzramm: What was coming out of the fake penis during the live act "Bück Dich"? Paul: That was water with Ouzo to make it milky. 

Beurgueur: Good evening, Have you ever thought to write a metal-opera based on rammstein’ story? Paul: Hopefully not. We have enough theater elements already. 

MafiUndomiel: I was at River Plate Stadium in Argentina, 1999, when you toured with KISS. You did almost surpassed KISS music and show with your impact, and many people was really impressed. I still remember the silence during Du Hast, as Till was singing the refrain. What do you remember of Argentina, of this show? Paul: Yeah, that was unbelievable. It's a shame that we can't play in South America this time. Flake was seriously ill. 

MafiUndomiel: Did Till write Te Quiero Puta on his own, or had some kind of external help? I know it's not very complicated, nor elaborated in the lyrics, but it's not easy to put two or three sentences together if you don't know the language... believe me! I'm still trying with German! Paul: He had some help from his girlfriend and from Flake's friend from Chile. Paul: But Till can already speak Spanish so well that he only had a few questions about grammar. 

monkeyman: What type of gear do you use when recording in the studio? Paul: This would take two hours to list. Too much for now. Sorry. 

Hugo: Why did you choose almost the same cover for the japanese version of Reise, Reise and Rosenrot? Paul: Because we thought it would be a shame to use the cover only for the Japanese edition. 

MafiUndomiel: There are many bands that edited DVD and VHS with the footage they got when they recorded their albums, the creative process and all that stuff. Since many R+ fans are really interested in knowing "Rammstein's kitchen", have you considered releasing something of that kind? Paul: I filmed some of the footage during Reise, Reise and it will come out sometime on a DVD as bonus material. 

blastedop: What happened to Live DVD? It was delayed? Paul: Yeah a little bit, but we're going to try to do it this year. 

MafiUndomiel: I wanted to know how did you put your setlists together when you go to a country you've never been... you mix old and new material, or you prefer to show your new material above all, and play only the "classics"? Paul: We play a mix of both old and new. 

Jenna: As you are possibly the most successful band from Germany (singing in German) that you are expected to represent German music and culture to the rest of the world? Paul: It was never our plan to play all over the world. Paul: Sometimes we wonder ourselves how this all happened. 

beurgueur: what american film director would you enjoy to make a ckip with Paul: Tarantino.

Benzramm: Did you ever get hurt when you were working with fire on the live acts ? Paul: Sometimes. 

aeon: One Rammstein member said you had a movie project with Werner Herzog. Do you think this project will be carried out and would you like to act in something different from Rammstein videos ? Paul: It's been awhile with WErner herzog. Maybe it will work out, there's still a plan to do it. 

Rammsteinizied: Dear Paul: What is your favorite live performance effect? (like the flamethrowes in Feuer frei or the bow in DRSG) 

Paul: The nose flame throwers that we use in Feuer frei! 

MafiUndomiel: Which was your first guitar? Do you still own it? Paul: It was a Telecaster copy. A cheap one. I gave away my first guitars at an auction for a good cause. No idea whether it worked out. 

Straya: This has been in my mind for a while now, and I must ask. From the sample songs on the official site, it seems Rosenrot might be your 'hardest/loudest' albums, the songs seem 'hard', in a way, like Ich Will, Feuer Frei, and Mein Teil; what do you think of this? Paul: I don't think so. There are fewer sequences so the guitars come out better. 

Synthema: Do you still feel that being in Rammstein is almost like being in a six-way marriage? Does the band still function as a tight a unit or have things drifted apart? Paul: Yeah. Paul: We're still together. Knock on wood. We've been together for 10 years and now that we've gone through our crisis, we feel better than ever. Paul: We've got money, success, beautiful women and all the rest. Paul: Things can only get worse. 

Jenna: Do you think your videos help to stop you taking yourselves too seriously? Paul: We've always taken ourselves less seriously than many people think. our best friends know this. Paul: At the moment, we don't feel like making any humouress videos. 

whiskeypapa: When writing a song, how many/what kinds of revisions does the song go through before finally making it onto an album? Paul: Some songs make it out directly as we conceived them. With other songs, we make 20 versions and they still don't make it.

Noora: HI! I'm a fashion and design student from Finland and I was wondering about your stage costumes...How much do you participate in the designing and making of the outfits that you use on your tours? I understand that every album has its own look. Do you first design the outline of the look as a band and hen consult a designer and maker? Thanx and welcome back to Finland! :) Paul: Most ideas come directly from the band. For the last outfit, we had the idea to combine Bavarian folkloric outfits with industrial. Paul: Because Bavarian folklore is not very cool and we like to mix things that you're not supposed to. 

Beurgueur: Have you ever thought in what your life would be now if rammstein never was created? Paul: No. We don't think that way. 

minx: It’s been stated in several interviews that the band has two pyromaniacs in the group, but is there anyone who is not so fond of fire? Paul: Everybody in the band has a different specialty. Paul: Each of us is really equally important. Paul: It doesn'T matter what each does, it could be better when two are on vacation during preparation and actually help us to make a good video this way. 

Badeend: Who thinks of the titles of the cd's? Is it some kind of democraty or is it 1 man that decides? Paul: We make the decision as a group but it's not really a democracy. More like a board of directors. 

Biz: How have older industrial bands (such as Laibach or KMFDM) influenced you? Paul: A lot. Paul: Also Ministry.

minx: What is the oily black/brown liquid that you are all covered with on stage? Is it a fire retardant liquid? Paul: No. Paul: That's a secret. 

minx: Why did you wear a paper bag over your head at the concert in Tallin, last November? Paul: I wanted to display an Iraqi prisoner. Paul: There's a photo of a guy behind barbed wire and he's holding his son but he has a bag on his head. Paul: That photo really had an impact on me. 

aeon: Why do you only do signing sessions in London and Paris? Why not in other big cities f Europe or even Germany? Or is anything planned? Paul: Actually we've only planned for Paris. London snuck in at the last minute. Paul: I don't know any more signing sessions details right now. 

Badeend: Did you take gitar lessons or did you teach it on your self? Paul: Self-taught.

minx: I am going to be at the signing in London on Sunday. Do you enjoy doing those types of promotional events or are they just ‘hard work’? Paul: Sometimes it's a lot of fun but other times it can be exhausting.

Synthema: It could be said that the "Rosenrot" photos are quite a departure image-wise from what one would expect from the band. Was this something that was decided by the band for a particular reason, or is this the sort of decision that is out of your hands? Does your management or record label have much control over how you present yourselves, or is that left to you? Paul: We don't like to repeat ourselves. Paul: Usually the band always has the last word on these amtters. But wer'e not always interested in all of the details.

Badeend: What is the new instrument you used in the song Te Quiero Puta? Paul: Trumpet. 

beurgueur: do you think you'll be on stage again when you'll be 60? (like rolling stones for example...) Paul: Hopefully somebody will die first. Then we won't have to worry about that.

minx: Do you do you all do own make-up for the shows? Paul: Yes.

OK-River: Will Rammstein play again "Bück Dich" in a concert, or it is something of the past? Paul: I wouldn't say no.

blastedop: Rosenrot is so diferent from Reise Reise. How is this possible if these songs are from Reise Reise recording season? Paul: I don't think so. Listen to the whole album.

Benzramm: Are you a sort of scared when flake is going with his boat in the public ? Paul: No. Paul: But it was always Oli last year.

whiskeypapa: Which of your songs invokes the most emotion from you? Paul: Seemann.

MsBehaviour: Greetings from Finland and good evening! My question is, you have been playing together as a band for quite a many years now, and there is a big difference in the sound of Herzeleid and the sound of Reise Reise. Does this "evolution" come naturally to you, or do you make conscious decisions as to where to direct your sound? How do you feel about the change? Paul: There are some of us who want to stay the same. Paul: There's some of us who want to always change. Paul: These parties fight each other and the result is a new album or a black eye.

MafiUndomiel: Have you heard a cover version of Keine Lust made by a Russian guy called Miguel? What did you think about it? Paul: Not yet, unfortunately.

Badeend: Do you have a private jet or do you have to rent a plane? Paul: When the record company pays, we fly Business. When we have to pay, it'S Tourist class. Sometimes, when the connections are difficult, we rent a litlle jet.

luna: First "Snow White" now "Rose Red". Do the members of Rammstein have a fondness for fairytales? Paul: Who doesn't?

Synthema: Do you still enjoy performing live after all these years, or is it more of a chore now? Paul: If we didn't like it, we wouldn't have been around so long.

Benzramm: Is there a double meaning in the songtexts of your songs ? Paul: Yeah. But the subtleties and double-meanings get lost in translation.

Badeend: What is your favorite song or cd? Paul: Kill Bill 1.

DRS2G: Is "Hilf Mir" inspired by a Heinrich Hoffmann's tale?! Paul: Yes.

Synthema: Have you ever felt that the success of Rammstein has been a negative thing for you in your personal life? That it makes it difficult to decide who to trust and who not to? Paul: It is difficult to stay normal despite money and success. Paul: We fight this on a daily battle but we usually win.

Beurgueur: from a viewer: what guitar do you use for your c tuning, and what guitar does richard use for this? Paul: I play a Gibson Les Paul and Richard plays ESP guitars.

Benzramm: Did you really go to the mountains for the videoclip "Ohne Dich"? Paul: Yes. The was the funnest video of them all. Paul: The thin air up there was difficult. Paul: I'm impressed by mountain climbers who go even higher. Paul: It was difficult for our crew and us.

MafiUndomiel: how did you and richard decided who was going to be lead and who rythm guitars? Paul: Good question. Paul: We're both stubborn. Paul: It's a fight every time but we're still doing alright up to now. Paul: Actually, the winner is supposed to be the one who plays the best solo. 

Badeend: Do you still have to take guitar lessons to play better? Paul: No.

blastedop: Do you visit fansites? How about a Top 10 Fansites in the official page? Paul: From time to time. 

Badeend: Why did you pick just that girl for the Texas vocal in Stirb nich vor Mir? Paul: It was our producer's idea. 

MafiUndomiel: Paul, is there any country that you´d like to visit or going on tour, and you haven´t yet? Why? Paul: Yes, we would love to go to Turkey, Mongolia, Iraq. We know we've got lots of fans there. 

Jenna: Which current musicians (Not youselves, I'm sorry) do you think are creating the best work at the moment? Paul: System of a Down, Muse, Snoop Doggy Dog, Eminem, Slip Knot, etc. 

Rammsteinizied: Dear Paul, How do you feel about us fans? Paul: It's an honour. 

DRS2G: Will "Rosenrot" be the 2nd single from your new album?! Paul: Yes. 

Straya: I'm wondering how this question has not come up yet... but, plenty of people are asking if you guys will tour in America and Canada. I don't mean for this to be one of those annoying questions. But, has anything be talked about? Paul: I'm certain that we'll tour North and South America with our next album. 

rammsteinuk: I read in a recent interview that there were some arguments within the band during the production of 'Mutter'. Have there been any more strong disagreements like this since? Paul: Thankfully not. There's always stress when six stubborn people meet, but nothing serious. 

minx: Most influential musician on yourself? Paul: Laibach, Ministry, Metallica, Nirvana. 

blastedop: Did you like Benzin video? Schneider didnt. Paul: I don't think it's that bad. Paul: We've had three really good videos in a row, so it's hard to keep the standards so high. Paul: I'm glad that there's some variation, next time we'll improve. 

whiskeypapa: First, Reise Reise saw a "country moment" with Los, and now Rosenrot has Te Quiero Puta. If you could make a fusion of Rammstein and any other world music (for fun), what would it be? Paul: Yes, I interested in all combinations of things that don't fit together. 

Biz: Are there any downsides to being famous? Paul: We're famous but we can still buy groceries in Berlin without bodyguards. Paul: We've got nothing to complain about. Paul: Our band is famous around the world but we still have normal lives, thank God.

minty: Paul are you looking forward to the world cup next year? who will win? Paul: Yes. It doesn'T look good for Germany right now. Paul: I hope that a miracle happens.

aeon: Do you hope your music will still be appreciated in many years from now or it doesn't matter to you ? Paul: I think that we're relatively timeless. Paul: But that'S probably what every band thinks and two years later nobody cares ...

DRS2G: Was it good to be directed by Jonas Akerlund?! Paul: Yes, he's just a cool guy.

Ashr: I really liked Keine Lust video, whose was the idea that you were fat? Paul: It was Schneider's idea. Paul: Inside the suits it was really hot. Paul: Thankfully, the warehouse was really cold. Paul: The whole crew had to freeze but we sweated like pigs. Paul: The fat make-up took around 4 hours. Paul: But it was still a lot of fun. Paul: Most of all, when we had to piss. Paul: But I won't tell any more details on that.

sipp: would you ever consider to bring another musicians on stage during concerts like a trumpet player or so,I really love trumpets maybe because I'm married to that kind of musician unfurnetly he really hates you but I really love your songs and the sound Paul: Six is more than enough. Paul: If you ever see us with backing singers, bongo players and horn section, please shoot me!

Tomix: Is it real the blood of Till in Live Aus Berlin ?? Paul: Sometimes he hits his head so hard with the mic that he bleeds. Paul: Thanks a lot I'm going home now. Paul: See you in five years. Paul: Just joking, we'll be back.

[jackshithere]

Old Billboard’s article about Rammstein,

July 19th, 1997

Till’s fire coat weighs 65kg?! (140lbs)

..no wonder he can shrug off Flake jumping on him

[jackshithere]

About the nature of his poems.

More detail about his father, his mother and his early life.

Die Welt: Should we talk about poetry?

Till Lindemann: Not really. You read poems, and either you find something in there or you don’t. I know almost no one who still reads poetry.

Die Welt: Not even you?

TL: Of course. Mostly older stuff. My Bible is ‘Deutsche Liebesgedichte’ [‘German Love Poems’]. A publication from the East. I have an ongoing search on ‘Booklooker’ and it has come up only once. I already own 82 copies. My dream is to have a whole shelf full. The book has everything in it, from Eisendorff to Hölderlin.

Die Welt: Your father, Werner Lindemann, was a well-known poet and author in the GDR. His book ‘Mike Oldfield in the Rocking Chair’, from 1988, is not about the music of Mike Oldfield, but about you as his son.

TL: I had the book republished seven years ago, after I had a long, good talk with my mother. The second edition was issued by a small publisher in Rostock. We had a new cover picture taken, with me on the railroad tracks.

Die Welt: On the first edition, it was a lonely punk with a cat. Your father was worried about you in the book.

TL: It was at the time after my education, my parents had separated, and I had moved from Rostock to my father in the countryside. I was 18, already had it up to neck with parties and the whole shebang, wanted to leave the fuss of the city behind me and start a new life in the country. I had renovated the loft at my father’s, and he would always come up to my room to bug me about my music. I was listening to a lot of metal and electronic things.

Die Welt: Not Mike Oldfield?

TL: That too. But mainly I listened to Motörhead, Deep Purple and other noisy things. One time he came up, to once again complain about something, but then I was listening to Mike Oldfield, and he sat down and said: “That sounds interesting.” That was a quantum leap for me: my father sits in my room, listens to my music and he likes it. Probably because of its melancholy. He sat there in my rocking chair, which I had made myself, I was a carpenter on a farm at the time. I usually sat in that same chair, relaxing to my music and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes.

Die Welt: In your poem, ‘Kindheit’ [‘Childhood’], you state: “The scab of early wounds/Likes to stick to the soul”. Should poetry be personal, per se’?

TL: That depends on how much of yourself you put into it. I’m always trying to let others have a say and then I realize that I mean myself. And so the cat bit its own tail.

Die Welt: Is it like that with Rammstein lyrics as well? You hide behind a character, the cannibal butcher, and, in the end, that’s who you become?

TL: On stage, indeed I must be. Since I play a role there, I must put a lot of myself into it to act convincingly, just as in the theater. But that is far from who I am.

[jackshithere]

One of the best descriptions of Till:

His body emanates its own unique text, regardless of what is said, and it is enough to make one intimidated by the 50-year old Till Lindemann, who gives the impression of a very strong, powerfully large appearance. He looks like a rock star capable of throwing bauta-stones. Bleached-blond hair, eyebrow piercings. But at second glance, you notice that his body radiates a confident, Baloo-the-Bear-kind of friendliness.

And now for the voice shock: he does not speak in the somber, forced tone the fans know from stage, but with an unusually gentle, open voice. The evilest voice in rock’n roll could just as well narrate radio plays for children. Is it clear to him, that he has two, such entirely different, voices? The tolerant interviewee Till Lindemann: “There’s the professional bass. And this is my normal, everyday baritone.”

[jackshithere]

Richard Z. Kruspe Interview by Revolver Excerpts:

IS THAT WHY IT HAS TAKEN SO LONG FOR YOU TO FINISH THE UPCOMING ALBUM?

We're still in the process of working on it. Everything we do takes so long. Rammstein is such a different cosmos than any other band. I mean, we're all basically in a room fighting for each fucking sound and that takes forever! It's so funny. But it has to be this way. There's no other way, you know. There are seven guys in the room going through each detail of the song. It's exhausting, but it's exciting at the same time. At the moment, we're going through the last polish. We had some test mixes made from certain big names and I wasn't really happy. I wasn't happy about the mix and the guys decided — I don't want to put any names here — but the guys decided on one certain name and I couldn't sleep. I woke up and I went, "I can't believe they want to do that. The mix was not good."

HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE SOUND OF THE NEW ALBUM COMPARED TO PAST RAMMSTEIN RECORDS?

What we were trying to do in the beginning was to actually have more of a live feeling to it. When we started to do the record we were playing together in a room using electric drums and everything came through studio speakers. We were almost in a living room playing very low in volume and we found we could actually perform much longer that way than if we were using loud amplifiers and real drums. We could play for eight hours and not get home with headaches and say, "Oh man, I'm too old for this shit."

[jackshithere]

Oh man, this is a treasure trove.

From the director of docummentary Achtung! Wir kommen, how it started, how it took off and how it transitioned into Rammstein (early days!), 

It’s a love song to Feeling B, to frontman Aljosha Rompe, to movie making and to Rammstein. 

Full of details and fascinating trivia, written in a beautiful style tinged with nostalgia.

If you think Aljosha is not interesting man, here, from the last third of the interview:

Aljoscha came up with the fantastic idea of establishing a foundation. Full of conviction he told me: “You can use the flood of cash to keep musicians afloat who can’t support themselves with their music, just because they don’t want to go along with the musical crap – the shallow apolitical garbage for the masses, that disgusting polonaises music – and are denied access to the media because they refuse to fit in with the mainstream and want to play their own forward-thinking music!” And he added: “It’d be good to help musicians of retirement-age, who have slipped through the safety net of social benefits because the music industry ripped them off with shitty contracts, while they were still successful.”

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How would you describe each of the Rammstein members to someone who knew nothing about them?

Oh man… If we’re being honest, you don’t really start with the juicy bits (that keep making people come for more) if it’s someone who really doesn’t know anything about them. But I will try to make this as newbie-friendly as possible, and add enough simple details to maybe explain the level of fanatic adoration for them. (But I must admit that 1- this will be loooong as fuck and 2- I fangirl about them for their professionalism, so it won’t be as humorous as one might hope)

I’ll do a collection of posts later throughout the week tagged “Rammstein glossary” about each member, maybe get other blogs on board, but I’ll keep this exclusively newbie friendly, if a tad bit too long 

Ok, so, first things first. Facts you can gleam from any wikipedia, with a little introduction on the side.

There are 6 members of the band:

Till Lindemann - the singer, the poet and a professional pyromaniac

He’s an intimidating man, with tall frame and a build of a panzer tank. Till commands the stage with incredibly rich baritone voice and penchant for being set on fire, or carrying big ass flame throwers.

Matter of fact is he’s shy, introverted, doesn’t like being stared at (hence the fire, to distract from his form) and is a soft spoken, polite man - also, his speaking voice is much much softer and gentler. People generally find him fascinating for this paradoxical character.

Richard Z. Kruspe - the guitarist and founder of Rammstein

He is..how do I put this? The typical artist. Diva and control freak, plagued by doubt and striving for perfection, which all make for one hard man to work with. Richard is somewhat of a Tumblr’s sweetheart. He’s aware of those traits, and the most talkative of the group - especially about his mental health, and the problems he faced. Which means people often relate to him, and he’s genuinely a kind and engaging conversationalist, so there are a lot of his interviews to be found online.

Also, it helps that he’s easy on the eyes, let’s be real. Also, he’s a natural meme inducer. Everything that man does and say is meme-able as shit.

Paul Landers - the other guitarist

Always smiling and extraordinarily exuberant, he’s seen as the most approachable and somewhat of a goofball of the group, always up to some antics in the background. He’s the shortest and openly the silliest of the group, so Paul does sometimes get a bit.. infantilized by some fans.

He’s got an unexpectedly rich singing voice, and he’s probably a bit of a control freak himself. For a guy that talks a lot, he doesn’t share personal details as often as Richard, so he’s also somewhat of an unexplored entity. He used to be in a previously successful punk band “Feeling B” with Flake

Christian “Flake” (fla-keh) Lorenz - the keyboardist

This is all you need to know about him. Joking. He’s extremely tall, lanky and born with a soul of a cranky old man. He was with Paul in the previously mentioned band.

He’s.. how do I describe him.. I think he’s the only member you have to go anecdotal to explain him. When they play live, he has a treadmill that he paces on during the entire concert because he gets bored easily. Flake has this sort of… interpretive giraffe-being-tazed-by-electric-fence dance that he does. He’s …somehow he’s the craziest of the group, I really have no vanilla explanation for him. If you get into Rammstein, you’ll get it.

Oliver Riedel - bassist

True to the stereotype about bassists, he’s tall as fuck, quiet and people forget he exists most of the time. Ollie is the youngest of them all, extremely private, and generally a sweetheart. There really isn’t a lot to be said about him - he’s the outdoors-y, athletic type and he also joins in on Paul and Schneider’s antics.

That’s how you do proper crowd surfing

Christoph “Doom” Schneider - the drummer

The sassiest of the bunch. I would categorize him as an extrovert, but a very well contained one. He prefers being called by his last name, though the Doom nickname came from the time he needed a name for the German copyright agency (Christoph Schneider is like John Smith of Germany), and he was suggested by Paul to use Doom, because they like the game. Incredibly confident, but also quite silly man.

In one video, he was dressed as a woman - often referred to as Frau Schneider - and he did it so well (uptight mannerisms, pursed lips, sitting posture that would bring Petunia Dudley to tears all packed in a shockingly beautiful face - I mean, look at him!) that it’s now a part of the live show for him to appear with make up and a wig.

Now, the band, Rammstein.Let’s skip the things you’ll find out from a quick read through of wikipedia, like the name, when they were founded, and all that, instead let’s go for:

What genre are they even?

What songs would you recommend a first time listener?

Why are they so well liked?

What’s so special about them?

The debate about the genre is still on going. You have people claiming they are metal band, you got the German Neue Deutsche Härte genre, you got… tons. Best way to describe, if you want to go for a solid genre label, is Alternative Hard Rock - because they are not really a metal band. But if you’re aiming for the heart of it, it’s Industrial. It’s “abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music, with a side dash of punk”. More on their style later.

For a newbie, you got different types:

Not a fan of metal or hard rock at all - If you want to go for easier sounds, where Till’s vocal’s are more prominent, and the instruments are not as aggressively in your face, I recommend Amour for an easy introduction to his vocal style, Ohne Dich, Rosenrot and then Seemann and Mutter

Preferes rock to metal - Amerika, Mein Land, Ich Will

Fine with metal, but generally sticks to upbeat songs - Ich Tu Dir Weh, Weisses Fleisch, Haifisch and Du Riechst So Gut

Open to metal, but prefers the gothic or more alternative genres - Mein Herz Brennt, Engel, Rammstein 

Metal (take it with a grain of salt, not everyone would call it metal, but the sound is hardest in these) - Mann Gegen Mann, Mein Teil and …Benzin? hesitant on the last one

Of course, this is purely my suggestion, and some won’t agree with this classification, but I think it’s a solid introduction to them. Also if you can convince a friend not to watch the video until they hear the song first, I think that would make it somewhat easier to get them into it (because hey, you made them listen to it twice, and they are watching a video so not as focused and they’ll get int— is it obvious that I forced 3 friends to do exactly that and that’s how I got them all into Rammstein?)

This is getting so long at this point, I am putting more effort into this than into my college essays..Why are they so well liked? In short: Fire, Professionalism, Democracy, Music and Controversy1) Fire. “Other bands play, Rammstein burns!“

 Ok, not just fire. Though it’s pretty cool.

2) The ultimate professionalism. I am not kidding when I say that giant, well planned Broadway Musicals pale in comparison to the sheer perfection and amount of panache they put in their live gigs.

It’s considered that it should be on everyone’s bucket list to see Rammstein live at least once. 

I don’t want to stereotype Germans and working like machines, but what makes Rammstein so good, is that they really stick to that stereotype where everything is a perfectly executed machine with no space for fucking around. 

3) Democracy. This influences the professionalism part in the sense that, since all the members of the band have an equal amount of vote over what gets done and how, it means that they all criticize each other’s ideas until they find the middle ground. That middle ground is how they kept their specific genre, while managing to churn out wonderful after wonderful album (I am being very biased here, I just really like every single album, all for different reasons), all with a firm idea of what Rammstein is for all of them

4) Lyrics

First of all, about the lyrics - they are all written by Till. Yet on all songs, credits go to all the members, because everyone gets an input. It really cannot be understated how much of a group project this is. It’s a democratic band where everyone holds the same weight. 

My personal favourite ones are Dalai Lama and Klavier. I am sucker for story telling songs and the words he uses are so perfectly chosen! The first one is a twist on Goethe’s poem while the second one is a very dark love song.

5) Controversy

Since this has gotten embarrassingly long, let me say this in shortest way possible: Some people like provocative, others abhor it and together when they argue they market Rammstein like no other. Rammstein has been blamed like any other metal band for school shootings, Nazi imagery, promoting physically abusive relationships, inciting youths to unlawful/harmful behavior etc. while doing none of that.

But in general, Rammstein has a wonderful attitude of “Interpret out lyrics anyway you want to, we just draw the line at being called Nazis.” and they usually make a point of just telling a story/ presenting a song whose lyrics and/or video are but an element to the entire thing.

Oh my god, I finally scrolled up to check if I answered everything, and you didn’t even ask for all the rest, I just kept spewing on and on D:Sorry!Once I start about Rammstein, I keep going on and on and on. I hope that at least was a good enough introduction, I’ll do those little glossaries with in jokes and fun facts later, as I promised all the way at the beginning

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Rammstein masterpost is almost complete

Now I just need to add more content to most tags

If any tag doesn’t seem to work, that’s just because it lacks a post behind it (Emigrate is, I think, the only one left)

Done:

All members are tagged individually, if the post contains all of them, it’s tagged as Rammbois

Most of their music has been added, you can find it with “Rammstein - Name of the song”. General tag is Music

The videos work the same way, if it’s a full gifset of one specific video, it’s “video: name of the song”. No general tag (I keep forgetting about it)

Making of gets its own tag

Interviews in text form and video/gif form have been differentiated

Trivia tag added

Crack tag added, because there are plenty hilarious people in the tags and I need to have a convenient tag for the inside jokes or memes and such

Live is a general tag, the Madison Square, Paris and Völkerball have their own specific tags due to sheer quality of gifs 

Fanart tag added, please contribute, either reblog in Rammstein tag (I’m usually active in bursts of intense searching) or pm me links

For hilarity’s sake all “Incidents” get their own tags - if anyone wants to make big glossaries about them, do so and I’ll add it

The posts get further differentiated by Eras (divided roughly by decades) and Tours

To do:

Glossary on all members specifically, with relevant information and memes

Add and format “censorship incident(s)” - be it the full stories about Liebe ist für alle da, or any other stories

add documentaries tag:  Rammstein in Amerika,  Anaconda in the net,  Reise, Reise: The Making of the Album (From Völkerball)... I’ll re-name the last to Reise: Volkerball for easier tagging

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Knickers gig

AUG 16, 1997 

 One day before their performance at the Bizarre Festival, Rammstein play for their fanclub at the Stollwerck in Cologne - the "knickers gig" becomes legendary.

The setlist:

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Till Lindemann

Till was born on January 4, 1963 in Leipzig, but grew up in the village of Wendisch-Rambow near Schwerin. His father, Werner Lindemann (translation of the article) - children's writer and poet, and mother - Briggitte “Gitta” Lindemann (translation of the article) - artist and writer (wrote in collaboration with her husband one book). Till has a sister, six years younger.

At the age of 11, Till went to the Rostock Sports Club, and from 1977-1980 attended a boarding school. His parents divorced in 1975, when Till was 12 years old.

In 1976-1979, Till was a good swimmer, and finally he won the junior title of vice-champion at the European Championship. He graduated from sports school in 1979. Perhaps the cause was a conflict with the authorities. “At the age of 16, I went to Rome with the GDR national team for the European Championship. Who at the time of the GDR went abroad - was king! Previously, it was not possible to freely travel abroad. I was just fascinated by Italy. After the competition, I went off with a girl I met in Rome before. I just wanted to see the city! We skipped a whole day with her. The next day, I reported to the team about my return. Unfortunately, it was too late. I got in serious trouble - I was called to STASI for long interrogations. What I did was a crime for them. At that moment, for the first time, I thought about what a proprietary spy system we live in. After this trip, I had no doubts about this. I spat on everything and became a punk. ” But besides this, Till was injured - he had torn his abdominal muscle, a significant enough reason to leave the sport. Till himself says that "I actually never liked sports school, it was very hard work. But as long as you are a child, you don’t think about it."

Till's first job was on a peat mill, but he threw it three days later. He also worked as a carpenter's apprentice, as a technician on an adit, but the most well-known and beloved occupation of Tillem by the fans was basket weaving.

In 1981, Till, apparently, rejected the mandatory 9-month military service, for which he was nearly imprisoned. Many young men at that time used so-called. "Ersatzdienst" - civil service, replacing military service (for those who refuse to be drafted into the army for moral reasons) - an analogue of our alternative service. So he could take advantage of it.

In 1985, when Till was 22 years old, his first daughter, Nele, was born. Till and Nele's mother got married after her birth, but soon divorced, so the father raised her daughter on her own. In the 1997 interview, Till said: “I played in one punk band, and our rehearsal room was right in the house where I lived. I have been raising my daughter alone for seven years, but often she lives with her mother, because for almost half a year I am on tour with the group. ” In 1988, Till was enrolled in the Olympic team, but was injured, as a result, participation in the competition becomes impossible. The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, Germany begins the reunification of the West and East. In this regard, Till said: “After the fall of the wall, I went to West Germany and bought gummy bears (gummy bears) and yogurt for my welcome money (the state for each newly arrived citizen of his country - after this citizen crosses the border and upon presentation of an identity document - gave him a hundred German marks). Yes, there simply was nothing else. "

Tilla's father died on February 4, 1993 (born October 7, 1926) as a result of alcoholism (he developed stomach cancer). The gravestone with his name is located in Tsikhusen cemetery near the village of Wendisch-Rambow. One school in Rostock is named after him. Among the books written by Till's father, the greatest interest of fans is “Mike Oldfield im Schaukelstuhl”, since the prototype of the main character Timma was 19-year-old Till.

Till has a second daughter from Anja Köseling, his ex-wife. Köseling had the audacity to complain to Lindemann for physical abuse that occurred during their relationship and for not paying alimony for his daughter, Marie-Louise (born presumably in 1993). Till did not comment on this statement.

In an interview on radio in 2004, Till said that he would like to take 50 years to rest in order to spend more time with his children. In the last interview for Playboy, he said that he has a lot of them - and from different women. It is known that there is another boy - but we can only guess about other children. In 2005, Paul said that Tilla had a girl who spoke Spanish, and she helped him write the text to "Te Quiero Puta!". She is 28 years old, and Till said about her that “I used to give a damn about everything. I thought I would not live to 50 years. But now, having met this woman, everything has changed. I am really a happy person. Now I want to grow old. ”

there are bits of rough translation, due to it being written in Russian, but I decided to post it unedited because it’s one of the rare sources that both has all relevant information, and the fine details - like about the whole swimming thing

source

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Sacrifice a woman and you'll get Richard

Zoran Bihać

Ok, that is completely out of context but made me laugh. The entire interview is here

There is quite a lot of interesting details in it

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Fantastic, off the wall interview with Paul. 

With amazing answers like “ Till can also eat wine glasses”, answers to what type of an animal Till, Paul and Richard would be. And what type of a funeral our local joker would love to have

Total Guitar: Who would you most like to have a riff battle with?

Paul: Richard [Kruspe, Rammstein’s second guitarist]! As it happens, we have this competition every day because the guitars are the only instrument in Rammstein that are doubled up. We have a competitive battle on a daily basis. But I would rather have a coffee drinking competition with him, or anyone else for that matter.

Total Guitar: If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be?

Paul: I would be a tiny cross-breed dog that’s permanently yapping at you. While we’re on the subject, Till would be a dog the size of a calf with a lazy eye, and Richard would be a boxer dog. If you tried taking food away from his bowl, he’d really growl at you.

Total Guitar: Who would play you in a film?

Paul: Danny Devito.

Total Guitar: If you weren’t the guitarist in Rammstein, what would you be doing?

Paul: I’d have a company called ‘Unasked-For Advice.’ You could come to me and get hints and tips on anything from feeding birds, to the color of your car, to how many children you should have, to fixing a problem with your shower.

[wilder-ramm]

To anyone that would like to read the interview I mentioned before, this is it. Till discusses rap lyrics, his small solo tour in December, and a very small commentary on politics.