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Big Cheese - On the Reise:Richard interview

Big Cheese – November 2004 – Issue #57 Germanic Industrial lords Rammstein have returned. And they’ve brought a sense of fun with them...

It’s a bit of a surprise that Rammstein are around to conduct this interview. In late 2002, most people thought that Rammstein were on the verge of splitting and Richard admits that they very nearly did.

"I think that in music, you always say that you want to do things differently. The biggest difference between ‘Mutter’ and ‘Reise, Reise’ was that after ‘Mutter’, which was a really intense record n a personal level, we said that this time we don’t want to be under so much tension. ‘Mutter’ almost split up the band so we thought that we had to change something to keep the band together.

The problem with Rammstein is that it us a democratic project. With ‘Mutter’, I was too closed on everything. I was so tied up in the song that I couldn’t really realise that the other guys had a problem that I was too close and too controlling in a way. After a while, they just couldn’t work like that. For myself, I couldn’t realise what I was doing because I saw it that I was doing everything right to make this record work but I had to move away. I moved to New York to get a bit of distance and to see the band with different eyes. With ‘Reise, Reise’, we came back into the rehearsal room.

‘Mutter’ was really a project that I wrote on a computer almost and came to the rehearsal room afterwards. ‘Reise, Reise’ was more of a project that we created in the rehearsal room. There’s a difference between making music on a computer and making it in a rehearsal room. On a computer you don’t know what you want to do, no part is too long or too short. In a rehearsal room, you play about. That was a big difference. We really started to become a band again."

So like a phoenix, they have risen from the ashes that were the ‘Mutter’ recording sessions. Which is sort of apt for a band that uses so much fire in their live shows. Richard isn’t sure as to whether if he made ‘Reise, Reise’ on a computer instead of the rehearsal room, it would gave been the final nail in Rammstein’s coffin.

"I don’t know, I wouldn’t be able to tell. It would definitely sound different. It is important for a band to come together and rehearse. Sometimes you have to make mistakes that you know are mistakes but let other people realise that they are mistakes. You can’t just say ‘no, we can’t do it because I know better’. So it’s important to be relaxed in order to keep the band together. But the end result of this record is that everyone is really happy with it."

Recent single ‘Amerika’ marked a radical departure for Rammstein as they sung part of their songs in English as opposed to German, for the first time. "I mean it was quite obvious, you know, to make the chorus English because for us it just came out. It wasn’t something that we thought about, I mean, English is almost like the world’s language and singing in it makes the point even stronger about what the song is all about. I try to explain the song by saying I love strawberry cake but I have to eat the whole cake and then I puke. So that’s a little bit of what’s going on in ‘Amerika’. It’s not like we’re against America, I live in America and there are lots of things that I love about America, but everything has to have a balance."

The accompanying video is a humorous take on the theory that the moon landing was faked and disproves the stereotype that Germans have a poor sense of humour. "Rammstein have always had a hard time creating a sense of humour. When it comes to humour, you guys have the best sense of humour in the world. At first it was hard to make things funny but humour comes from self-confidence and that‘s a thing that Germans generally have a problem with. So for us, it was important to get it in a funny way".

The first single taken from ‘Reise, Reise’ was ‘Mein Teil’, which translates as ‘my tool’, the tale of German cannibal Armin Meiwes who ate Bernd Juergen Brandes after they first both ate the latter’s cooked penis. Strangely enough, some elements of the press weren’t too happy with Rammstein’s source of inspiration for their hit single. "Of course, they were saying it was disgusting to pick up on these themes. They were complaining about it. I’m not against provocation, especially in rock music, but I think that us is really interesting to be a witness in the times we live in. I don’t really think about press reaction so much."

Rammstein have had a bit of a hard time in the press. As well as being accused of being depraved, they have been accused of directly causing the Columbine massacre, looking camp on an album sleeve and of being Nazis. "At the beginning, the German press thought that we were odd or weird but they didn’t refer to us as Nazis. Actually, it came from England, The DJ Goldie referred to us as Nazis after he saw one of our videos that was inspired by Leni Riefenstahl (the German director who had done some filming on behalf of the nazi Party). So the whole blame came from England and Germany started to pick up on it. If we were to sing in English, there would definitely be a different theme but if you understand German and read the lyrics, you would think what the fuck are the critics talking about? I mean, of course the songs are dark and not cheesy love songs. Rammstein’s music is very intense and I’m proud to be able to write in German in this kind of way and I really love it."

While Goldie may not be a Rammstein fan, the Pet Shop Boys certainly are. The duo recorded a remix of ‘Mein Teil’. That was something that I wasn’t actually part of, I have to say. This guy did an orchestral record inspired by our music. It was really great. He also worked afterwards with the Pet Shop Boys and he played it to them. They were really interested and wanted to remix our work."

Rammstein have also briefly flirted with Hollywood. They appeared in the Vin Diesel extreme sports version of a James Bond film that was ‘xXx’. Richard didn’t view it as a great piece of cinematic art, though. "Our set was the best part of the movie. That movie was like yeah, whatever. It definitely wasn’t Lost Highway".

Lost highway was a fantastic film by classic art house director and Twin Peaks creator David Lynch. Rammstein sent him their music, as they were such fans of his work. Lynch used their music to great effect. "He made every actor listen to Rammstein while working on Lost Highways. Wow, that was cool".

‘Reise, Reise’ is out now on Island.
Paul Hagen


© 2005 Sue Lindemann