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Metal Hammer interview with Richard & Schneider October 2004

"For you the war is not over"
Just two years ago, 'Mutter' may have been Rammstein's crowning glory, but unknown to anyone at the time, the band was tearing itself apart from the inside. Terry Bezer asks the kings of Teutonic industrial rock about returning from the precipice with new album 'Reise Reise' and how they're still healing the wounds.

It's late in the afternoon in the Berlin sunshine and I've spent the past half an hour conversing with Rammstein drummer Christoph 'Doom' Schneider and guitarist Richard Kruspe-Bernstein, in their plush suits inside the Radisson Hotel. Our time together has been polite if occasionally difficult (which we'll get to in due course), but despite the to-the-point questioning about the band's somewhat turbulent last 12 months, the chaps seem in fairly high spirits (an incredible feat when you add that this is the first ever interview in English). Which is why Hammer is just dying to throw the proverbial spanner into their works and test the stereotype that Germans have no sense of humour. So this is the conversation I start as I'm about to leave the room: Do you reckon it's fair comment that Rammstein are a band with a large homosexual following? The pair smirk incredulously at each other as I have asked them to do a naked rendition of 'The Birdie Song' with me.

'What do you mean?' Richard replies quizzically with eyebrows raised.
Well, your debut album has a sleeve that's orange and features you shirtless and covered in baby oil, your singer has a penchant for buggering your keyboard player with a strap-on dildo during your live shows and your new single 'Mein Tiel'*1 translates into English perfectly as 'My Tool'.
Here the pair raise a wry smile at each other.
"Well...", chuckles Schneider. "If that is the case then I am flattered."
So there you go. Germans do have a sense of humour. In the meantime, we'll get our coats.

Rewind to May 30th 2002. Rammstein have just completed an extremely successful UK tour that's climaxed with a triumphant display of hard-hitting anthems – and the sort of explosives that you usually only get when you set light to an ammo dump – in front of nearly 9,000 people at the now defunct London Arena. The record they were touring (their third studio effort, 2001's 'Mutter') has just hit sales of around four million worldwide and they play three sold-out nights at the Berlin Velodrome (Germany's Wembley Arena).

This is the part where we would normally talk about how much excess and fun the group were having with each other, paying witness to their dreams coming true before their very eyes. Indeed these should have been the happiest days of these guys' lives. However internal bickering and death in a band members' families put paid to that. Away from their breakthrough success, there was a very different story to tell.

"During the time of 'Mutter' we definitely had a lot of tension inside the band" Christoph confesses. "There was tension while making the album but when it came to touring, sometimes it would boil over and become too much for us all. I was very unhappy within myself. There were times when I completely switched off and while everyone else was doing things I saw myself as just a guest in the band because we were fighting all of the time and I was just so tired of fighting I didn't want to talk to anyone."
"We reached the end of the Mutter tour and were really tired," nods Richard. "And we really needed time apart from each other so that we could come back and begin enjoying each other's company again."
"We just had to change within the band," Christoph continues. "The way we were feeling with one another was too aggressive. There are six characters in the band and some are strong and some are weak and we had to start making sure that everyone had a say in the democracy and everyone stopped being so hateful towards each other."

Notes:
Spelling errors are as shown in actual article:
*1:Mein Tiel should read 'Mein Teil'

Then, at the tail end of 2002, came the inevitable rumour which seemed to confirm that all was indeed not well within the Rammstein ranks. The news dropped that the band had decided to call it a day and split up. Only they hadn't. Well apparently hadn't anyway. It's when questions over this alleged split are made that the two band members are drawn in two different directions. One more believable than the other.

"I never really ever felt that the band would split up or that I would no longer be in Rammstein," says Richard speedily without pausing for breath. "We have been together for 10 years and no none has ever hit each other – no matter what happened between us." This is all Richard will offer on the subject. He's very quick, very assertive and very cold in his tone. Christoph on the other hand, looks far more willing to elaborate about what went wrong with the band.
"It was hard," he sighs followed by a lengthy gap. "I felt close to the edge for the whole last tour. We had so many different issued and arguments about things and some band members were like, 'We cannot work with each other any more' or they would say, 'I will go because things are becoming too difficult for me.'
"We have the same line-up we had when we started 10 years ago and without just one of the guys, I would not want to carry on. So we were very close too..."

It's here that Christoph stops himself, looks at his band mate and recollects his thoughts. "They were hard times, but during a couple of months off with distance, we had to realise how much we values Rammstein and how good a band this is and that we shouldn't end it because of a crazy moment.
"So we took some time apart. During that time apart it also meant that we could have some time to realise that maybe we shouldn't just blame everything on the other guys and that we all had to take a little responsibility for ourselves. After we had a distance apart from each other we realised that we didn't have to fight with each other all of the time to get results and it would be better if we just became friends again.'

Would you say that you were no longer friends during the 'Mutter' tour then?
"I think that right now we are becoming friends again," asserts Richard. "During a certain period of time, I don't know so much. There was a lot of competition within the group. It would be like a therapy group in that we would have a problem with each other and try to solve is as a group but that was not so easy all the time with six different egos in the band. We started the band as friends then over time we became colleagues and now we are feeling good towards each other and are becoming friends again."

If peace and tranquillity are the soup de jour for the boys then you'd never be able to tell it by their suitably mental comeback video for 'Mein Tiel'*2 (a song based around the true story whereby a German man found another male on the internet who agreed to eat him). A dark affair, the clip features singer Till Lindemann receiving oral sex from an angelic monster before biting it to death and dragging it's corpse into the darkness. Also included is the sight of Richard wrestling himself and the disturbing final image of Christoph leading the band on a five-way dog leash across a Berlin zebra crossing. Basically you've got as much chance of seeing this video before 9pm as you have of C Beebies showing Cannibal Holocaust. It's comforting to know that even though the band are now in their 40s, they can still manage to maintain a high shock factor level.
"We like to be different with our visuals," says Richard, pointing out the obvious. "We just get together and get creative. We're not concerned about whether it's shocking or not, we just like those sort of things ourselves. There's no alcohol or drugs involved with those decisions either really. Once you see the new video it could be said that maybe we're a little twisted... actually we are very twisted!"

Notes:
Spelling errors are as shown in actual article:
*2:Mein Tiel should read 'Mein Teil'

It's here that we arrive at the solution of all the past troubles, new album 'Reise Reise'. Sceptics have in the past torn into Rammstein for being a little predictable and one-dimensional. It can be argued that the group have their trademark regimental style of riff and drum patterns and are perhaps a little afraid to try anything approaching experimentation. It is a criticism that will be swiftly knocked for six when this new record hits the stores. Here the German bruisers throw caution to the wind and throw themselves wide open, doing a fantastic job of reinventing themselves.

"For me it's definitely more alive and less aggressive than 'Mutter'," says Christoph. "It's still Rammstein and it's not like Radiohead where we have to change our sound entirely with each album, but the big difference in this record is that we had to try a lot harder to do things differently and not do the same old thing that people expect of us. Before this, everything was black and white and always in the extreme and we didn't feel like that this time around; we wanted to be more colourful and human. Everything didn't have to be only one way, we wanted to explore new directions. We realised that to make aggressive music, you don't necessarily have to be angry all of the time. We had to do this for ourselves."

It's certainly a risk-taker of an album. The guitars here are content to take a back seat and let the keyboards create a far more gothic landscape than we've come to expect from the Rammstein camp. Hell, there's even an acoustic near-rockabilly sounding album closer that includes a harmonica which doesn't exactly suggest 'Du Hast' Mark II? Isn't this too radical a departure for Rammstein fans?

"We are so happy with this album that we will consider it a success personally even if it sells less than our previous albums," explains Richard. "Sometimes success is measured in how many copies you sell and not how good your albums are and that's just got to be wrong. You know, is Britney Spears a better artist than Nine Inch Nails because she sells more than Trent Reznor? Of course not, don't be ridiculous! There is the worry that when your fans like a certain flavour of soup and you change the ingredients, they may not enjoy it. All we can say is that we are happy and proud and we just hope that our fans will feel the same way when they hear the album."

Though the band won't be drawn into their plans for the next stage show ("Just know that Rammstein without fire is like ammstein without the 'R'", offers Richard), one thing is for certain: Rammstein are finding peace within themselves whilst declaring war on everyone else with their best record to date.
"It was important that we discovered that we can create aggressive music without being aggressive towards each other. We made a hard album while feeling good." Says Christoph. "In doing that we have taken Rammstein to the next level." So are you going to join them?

What did the Germans ever do for us?
Well if you ignore the wars, a whole host of interesting stuff, meine kleine Schatze...
Mullets:
Superb 80s rock haircut sported by many a German tourist on visiting the UK. Now adopted by a host of young Welsh emo kings. "Business at the front, party at the back."
Unglaublich.

Waken Festival:
Notoriously brilliant summer festival that has played host to countless metal legends. This year the festival featured artists such as Arch Enemy, Children of Bodom and Anthrax.
Metall herauf ihren arsch!
Caliban:
Upcoming young metalcore act from Germany
Sehr gut.

Hot Dogs:
The frankfurter was created in Germany in 1484 but was not given its current name until 1852, when the butcher's guild in Frankfurt introduced a sausage which was packed in a thin casing.
Gute arbeit.

Kraftwerk:
70s and 80s freaky electronica 'robot pop' act whose pioneering work in the field of experimental music has gone on to influence millions.
Himmel!

VW Beetles:
The only good thing to come out of Nazi Germany, the 1930s Beetle is a cult design classic that has been adopted by surf bums across the world as the urban love wagon of choice.
Qualität.

Heaven shall burn:
Teutonic vegan metal band with brand new album 'Antigone' out now on Century Media.
Für die zicklein.

David Hasselhof fans:
Without his German music fans, Baywatch king Hasselhof would have wasted away in his Hollywood mansion. Thanks to their support, his pop career is still in full flow.
Für sicheres.

Helloween:
One of the most influential heavy metal bands to come out of Europe during the 80s. Power metal at its' finest with accompanying spandex and big, permed barnets.
Komisch.

Metal Hammer:
Incredible heavy metal magazine that has brought joy to millions since its creation in Germany during 1986.

© 2005 Sue Lindemann