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Interview with Till & Flake "Heavy oder was?"

Interview with Till & Flake No other German band is currently as successful as the Berliners, who are known and celebrated in over 40 countries. If the likes of Rammstein invite someone to Listening- and interview-sessions, renowned magazines such as Der Spiegel don’t turn up to make a report. So on to Hamburg, to hear the album planned for a September release...

It’s loud and rocking. Typically Rammstein. Yes and no: the fourth studio work is substantially richer with more facets and provides new sentiments. Afterwards Till and Flake sit opposite me and explain their universe.

-What is the new album to be called?
Flake: The working title is "Reise Reise'. What do you think?

-It works.
Flake: I found that too. I would have used ‘Mein Teil” as the title but that’s already the name of the single.

-For me however, in the long run it a very untypical Rammstein album. It has so many other sounds, rhythms and riffs added into it. I even laughed over "Amerika'.
Till: Now ask the question about why the new record differs from the others and then what you’ve already said, take as an answer. There’s no need for me to say any more.

-Okay, from where do these innovations come?
Flake: I think, after three albums it was time to do something new because three similar records are enough. I am more extreme than the rest of the band. I would have happily gone with a Coldplay-style record. I would love to have my dream music and added a little Till growling and it would be beautiful. But the band would get together and get the thing back on the Rammstein track.

-Till, how you would react to such a glaring change of direction?
Till: I let the music inspire me. Sure, if it does nothing for me, I say: "That is shit!" But I always try very much to deal with it in a melodious way and in addition conjure up lyrics in that style. To that extent is doesn’t matter from where it comes.

-In some ways the album is very soppy in parts and almost pop. Am I being fair to you there?
Flake: If one starts to become artificially bad, the listener feels it. If, however, it’s like that because that’s the way it is, then it sounds genuine.

-Are you interested in the expectations, what the consequences will be for you?
Flake: It simply would not be good to think of such things at the time you are making the music. One thinks about it later, when mixing or whatever. Such thoughts would only harm the creative process.

-Tell me if I’m wrong but the lyrics seem somewhat more personal.
Till:Your colleague said the exact opposite a while ago. For this reason, I’ve totally held back on my comments and left fantasy to run. That is always best. The reactions are simply too different.

-I am just surprised by the love songs.
Till: There’s a really good ballad on the album: "Ohne Dich’. To explain the lyrics would be to take away the whole attraction and afterwards perhaps the fans would even be disappointed. I would rather leave things in this area untouched so that everyone can bring their own interpretation and their own feeling to it.

-You survive strongly on your image, so tell me first how much "I" is involved in it and secondly whether being upfront with such interpretation-openness has brought you a lot of problems in the past?
Till: We’ve grown a thick skin. It really doesn’t interest us at all whether we come against the famous misinterpretation again or whether such hip words as "provocation” are thrown at us.

-It could be, however, that the silence is considered calculated. Including the misinterpretations...
Flake: That would be much too exerting for us. We wrote "Links 2, 3, 4”: "My heart beats left”, one cannot really say it any clearer than that. If anyone still thinks after that, that we are Nazis then they must be very stupid. There were many things that hurt us and annoyed privately, so and it was without calculation.
Till: We have always done what others don’t do. Perhaps that is our recipe. For example, how we don’t speak on stage. It’s all rubbish and it filters through to the audience. In the theatre the actor doesn’t shout nonsense such as "Hello Dresden, is everything okay?" or some other shit. Everyone does what they want to but not everyone can do the exact same rubbish on stage and continuously explain themselves. I think it’s fine to block out these things. Also people have a brain in their head: to think for themselves. Unfortunately, many don’t do that.
Till: In the meantime, it is for this reason that I find interviews in Germany totally trying. You all say the same, you don’t listen properly and you write something false. I’d rather give twenty more concerts.

-Okay, what’s the attraction of death and sex lyrics to you?
Till: They are abysses; longing, love, pain and humility. There is a lot of potential in these topics for writing stories. We see ourselves as being in a kind of fairy tale book. The majority of stories have been told. We are not extreme all the time but people feel these things can be addressed and perhaps some can identify themselves in some way with them.
Flake: If anyone told someone the story of "Mein Teil' (about the Cannibal of Rotenburg) they would consider it total garbage. The reality of this case is the best story and that I find very good. I don’t think it’s so misguided at all.


-Eating people?
Flake: One also eats pigs! That is just as disgusting as eating humans. Allegedly it is sweet to the taste, and in this case it was completely voluntary.
-But quite abnormal. But let us get on to something different, before someone thinks you are a real cannibal. What does success mean to you?
Flake: For me success is to see a girl dancing in a Stripclub in the USA to Rammstein. This woman has selected it herself and felt it was suitable. That’s when one sees that the music has arrived. Or the Pet Shop Boys making a remix for us, which makes me proud.

-How about imitators? Till: There is enough room for everyone to do what they want. Joachim Witt was really cool. He is very pleasant, as you know he reaches many people.
Flake: There is Czech band that play cover versions of us. With some of the songs they are better than us: they adapted our feeling very well. I know the fans can also download our music from the Internet. If they think its good, that is enough to me. I certainly stand alone in the band on that issue.
Till: Yes, for me that is theft.
Flake: One can get angry over this, but I play music for a feeling of well being so I find it generally wrong that one must pay for music.
Till: Nevertheless, it is a fact that record companies are copied and newcomers get no more chances. To produce and promote a record simply costs too much money and so bands are ditched. The price for music is, however, much too high.

-With all the hustle bustle around you, what do you do to unwind?
Till: Nothing in particular actually... however I have a small garden in the city.
Flake: We are rarely bothered in Berlin anyway, even if we are recognised. Otherwise I enjoy photographing landscapes and seventies house fronts.
Sven Bernhardt
Photos: Olaf Heine.

© 2005 Sue Lindemann