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Paul & Schneider Interview – Metal Hammer (Germany)

Border Experiences

Metal Hammer – February 2002

Rammstein are at present and without doubt, the biggest German Rock-Band and the largest export hit in heavy music. 2001 was the citizens of Berlin’s year: Release of the 3rd Album ‘Mutter’, the US -, German -, European tours, the publication of the Rammstein book by Gert Hof as well as the Freiburg concert in December. Everything was discussed with guitarist Paul Landers and Drummer Christoph Schneider.

The intensive Tour, which took you eventually right through the USA, Australia and Japan then on to Russia and Europe, has ended. Was it stressful?
Schneider: We were in America twice, and one of the two Tours really exerted us. It was long and seemed never to end. Occasionally we returned home, we recovered and now I have to say that the European tour was a lot of fun.

Why only one German concert in Freiburg on the Tour?
Landers: The Promoter knew that we want to play in Germany if the Tour would allow it. However, in Freiburg the fans saw the European version of our Show, not something they’re used to. It is an exhausting production, because we can’t take eight trucks with the complete show such long distances. It was regarded as special concert.

How much do you remember of the many concerts of the Tour this year?
Schneider: If I go somewhere a second time, I always remember the place. Paul is different: He mostly remembers the meal of the respective region. With me it’s more the people or little things.
Landers: The concerts, which you don’t forget, are important. Nobody can recall 150 concerts. That doesn’t have to be either. We are always on alert, even if at times the Band seem to be quiet, the public just don’t always notice it.

In that case, which of the many cities you’ve played, offers the best audience and reaction. Do you notice the difference?
Landers: There are two different opinions. First of all: the nightly appearance. Secondly: the hanging around. The venue is many more important than one thinks. In the contrast the Shows in Europe are easy compared to the US tour. The concert Tour through America seems to me more like a travel, travel, travel. One city resembles another; the ones that stand out are the major cities like New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles. The rest turn out to be very similar, boring towns without character. Then the emphasis is on hard work. The fans moods are usually just like the climate, although there are exceptions. In Iceland it is very cold, but with the concert was electric. Moscow was also insane. In the Eastern Bloc the response is generally always very hot. Altogether I must admit however that worldwide, the Rammstein audiences share many characteristics to each other.

How do you feel now if Russian or American fans shout out the lyrics in German?
Schneider: That is the coolest of all, because in that moment I feel my efforts have been appreciated. Just to transport German beyond the national boundaries and to animate other peoples to sing in our native language, that is already a special feeling.

Do you ever consider how the foreign fans interpret the lyrics?
Landers: I do not know, how good your English was as a child? Mine was terrible. It was a bitter disappointment for me when I first understood what “Smoke on the Water” really meant. I thought it had something to do with smoking and cigarettes. And other people have the same ideas. Fred Durst recounts that he had always compared “Chainsaw” with “Sehnsucht”. With Kraftwerk, people at the time understood “Drive, drive, drive on the motorway” as “Fun, Fun, Fun.” There have already been many false translations. A Song such as “Links 234”, the fans know it but it’s difficult to translate. It’s just crucial that the music and the lyrics fit well.

Did everywhere on the US Tour welcome you with open arms? Or was there any lack of understanding, or maybe even some problems between you and them?
Schneider: Frequently, there were restrictions on our Pyro Show. Also Christian demonstrators, comparing us to Marilyn Manson – insulting us as Devil’s disciples and blasphemers. Even in London there was a demonstration vehicle by the door, and we declared that we were not with Satan and they should let us in.
Landers: When we tour outside of Germany, the fans encourage us to sing in German more and not to start with English.

You have tried it however, with two English versions of Engel. and Du Hast...
Landers: and we failed miserably. That was however not because of the English lyrics, but because we had developed our songs in German. If we would write a song in English language, from the outset, rather than in German, it could be good. We do not have anything against globalisation, at least not in the context of Rammstein.
Schneider: With Stripped, it work, it didn’t sound stupid; if Till sings in English sings, they have to be good English lyrics.
Landers: We are lucky that German is such a cool language for evil music. If I were Englishman or Belgian, I’d be sure to sing in German. With bad, hard music nothing goes over the German language. English has too much soul and sounds much too nice. You can distort it; that leads to a problem all English speakers have with us. If people hear German lyrics, they are immediately on guard and think that bombs will rain down on them. We had to explain at times that we were only singing, not starting a war. The English still associate German with the bombs that fell in the Second World War on London. Afterward that they heard nothing more from us. Perhaps from time to time a Mercedes drives through London, but otherwise they don’t consider German. Rammstein try to convert the negative image of the Germans in the world into positives. The Reichstag had a negative image also. Since then Christo wrapped it and you think of it differently, that is a new component. In a similar way we try to show that German also has its place.

Do you see you it as a challenge or annoying, the extra effort?
Schneider: Even if that may sound arrogant now: I am the opinion that we pursue foreign policy. It will help us later, and after our deaths we’ll be honoured in the history books.
(everyone laughs).
Landers: We get positive reactions to our Band everywhere, because the world is not used to something like this in music coming from Germany. It happens too rarely.
Schneider: In Russia the children learn German with our lyrics, we were very pleased with that.

You had to become Ambassadors from scratch; because when the Band started their career you didn’t assume you’d reach so wide?
Landers: No, nobody could have guessed we’d sell one disc beyond the national boundaries.
Schneider: In many places, in the American Midwest, people knew of only one thing from Germany, Rammstein.
Landers: Some knew about BMWs also...

What happens after the long Tour?
Schneider: We will rest four to six months and spend plenty of time with our friends and families. In the summer 2002 we are planning Festival appearances, the large European Festivals.
Landers: That brings in the money. Substantial amounts. In the autumn, there’ll be a European tour and a further Germany Tour to follow. Then we want to give ourselves a breather to work on the next album. We hope that it’ll go somewhat faster that the time spent working on Mutter. The prolonged touring activities showed us that we grew together more than ever to as a Band. We went to Stockholm, and 12,000 people wanted to see us, that’s unbelievable. It’s just us...

Do you argue often on Tour?
Very often! We never have the same opinion and it obstructs the flow in that Band. The democracy within the group is sometimes pushed to the limit, so it doesn’t even function any longer. Everyone persists in his point of view.

Who takes the initiative then?
Landers: The democracy doesn’t give way to anyone. In the past seven years we learned to argue in such a way that it does not get out of hand. Schneider and I were at each other’s throats in the past. On the other hand arguing makes us tired, and so we do it in such a way that nobody worries about anything any more. With the book for example, I said what I thought. In the coming break we will recharge ourselves again with energy, so that we can argue again in fun.

Do you worry, after living together for so long, that Band will fall into oblivion at the end of the Tour?
Schneider: Small children and wives wait for us at home. That helps bring us back down to earth...
Landers: When you wipe bottoms and change diapers, then you feel again at home. On Tour you live as a King and it spoils you. We fight to make sure this doesn’t take us over. I enjoy not washing up or taking out the rubbish. Food is put in my mouth; I almost don’t need to chew anymore.

How did you come to be on the US Tour with Slipknot?
Landers: At the start we had a lot of prejudice and thought, they’re just stupid.
Schneider: It was quite inspiring. I can understand why the Kids love this Band. Landers: Slipknot have a certain appeal. In the states we are also a Band, which the Kids like, but the parents think, is shit. At the start we felt like old men and had a Scorpions syndrome. Slipknot now enjoy in America the status, which we held before three, four years in Germany. The Band polarizes opinion strongly and is provocative. We’ve put out provocative phase behind us. Everyone knows what to expect of Rammstein. I do not want to use the word solid, but after seven years we can’t really shock people anymore.

You’ve stated even the fans have become accustomed to the messages and the agenda to which Rammstein belong, those things which would have drawn attention some years ago. Does this mean that you constantly question yourselves and your actions, in order not to stand still?
Landers: We try not to repeat ourselves. Even in Germany we are expected to be at a certain Show business level, so that we had an enormous expenditure with the last Germany Tour, almost on the verge of losing money. The fans are also worth that to us.
Schneider: Meanwhile the people don’t come so often, they keep a certain distance. If we go again on Tour, we can always ignite ourselves because the people want to see that.

However, the Show can’t be expanded sometimes.
Schneider: A lot of it is a question of the ideas. New directions to go, new elements in the show, it’s better to do that than to just increase.
Landers: Ten flames are not better than one. We noticed that fast. A few simple lamps as stage props can make a good show.

Does you still enjoy playing live?
Landers (laughs): Yes, if you do not want to avoid 200 concerts in the year, which you’ve given yourself to play. We however always try to put the dullest concerts at places where it’s not notices.
Schneider: I always say that it is an honour to play each evening for so many people. I would envy this in every other Band.

Rammstein as art form, as phenomenon, is limited. What sort of logical progression do you see for the Band?
Landers: We would like to redesignate the Goethe Institute into Institutes for Rammstein...
(laughs)
Schneider: We are perhaps just as limited as Kiss. I do not want to boast but we’ve achieved much. Success abroad is in my opinion our biggest success.
Landers: We do only what we want, “our” Music, not because we’ve changed, but because we haven’t changed.

Could you return to normal jobs? And if so, which would they be?

Schneider: No, because you do not go in one direction, in order to turn around again. You move forward.
Maybe if you have to?
Landers: We’d rather not. We won’t return to our former skills and install people’s telephones. We don’t know what job an aging Rock Star can do, since we don’t think about it. I know only that I will not start a job at a record company. That is loathsome. I don’t want to have anything to do with activities close to the music business. I do not want to have anything do with that because I would be then always be asked about Rammstein. Perhaps I could compose music for films later, or for advertisements with Schneider...

So it doesn’t cause you concerns, questions about the future?
Landers: Not at all.
Schneider: If life doesn’t provide for you, you must make something of it yourself. You have to learn to go in a new direction.
Landers: Up to now it has been incredible. Problems only started when the cash came in abundance. We had to learn to remain unconcerned despite this enormous lump, this Lottery win. We wasted it fast and senselessly on everything, and now we can be again more unencumbered. Schneider: You have more concerns with money than without.

In November 2001 the book by Gert Hof, was published, giving for the first time an intimate idea of your private live, by showing you amongst other things in photographs with friends. Why?
(silence)
Schneider: The book should be a little more colourful, and we thought it better not to use just publicity photos. We thought it might be more interesting perhaps to see how Rammstein looks in private.
Landers: But the proportion of privacy is still very small.

The people we see in the photos could they be someone close to you?
Schneider: Sure, our mothers, wives, friends, children...
Landers: Not everyone close to us is shown, but those will be in the next book.

You intend producing more books in future.
Schneider: It was already hard to find a reasonable concept for putting Rammstein in a book. The result is a mixture of photos, not too much text, a little Band history, some personal thoughts and that pleases me.
Landers: I would have preferred a few explanations to the photos, but I was alone with this opinion. With Oliver you think, he is with a friend, but it’s his mother. The Band wanted to let the photos stand for themselves, so that the fans may puzzle, who it is they are seeing.

Can you still be spontaneous? The Rammstein-machine is nevertheless a heavyweight, unperturbed monster, which cannot be allowed to falter due to the marketing potential.
Schneider: You are so right: Rammstein are like a very large airplane, which needs an enormous start and runway. Before a Rammstein in concert can take place, so much has to be prepared. We can just go off on a Tour Bus to play.
Landers: Even, if we want to add a song again into the program, it can take three to four shows. We place a request with Schneider, he ignores it, then he hesitates and it’s changed sometimes.

Which fans do you prefer? Those who like you because of the music, or those who identify with the image the Rammstein have? Or is there no preference?
Landers: We can’t choose who we like. As a Band you have to find all fans good. That is your job. Everything else would be arrogant. The fans may say to themselves who in the Band is shit and who is not, but we don’t. We play for everyone.

Does it cause problems for you to maintain that the image of Rammstein of hard, angry men who are always strong and can never cry?
Schneider: If we didn’t have fun, we’d change. We play exaggerated male roles, it fits the music.
Landers: Before Rammstein I played for ten years in a Fun Punk Band, and that was much more difficult. Because as Funpunker, you have to be amusing, you can see this with Die Ärzte. The fans tip beer over your head, and you have to come across nicely. With Rammstein I can be to 99 per cent, as I want. Being angry is simple, it requires no disguise. Even in a totally bad mood, totally pissed, I can do the show one hundred per cent. I can do the entire concert without blinking an eyelid - and it’s still great.
Schneider: This is why the Band is such a success. We come across with more honesty. I would be happy to ask Die Ärzte whether it pisses them off to be so nice.

Honesty loses something in your opinion?
Landers: In former times we felt it was weakness that we were so normal in the interview and never played with the image, but instead we have always said what we thought.
Schneider: We had a phase from which journalists have not grown. The accusations that we were politically on the right disconcerted us and we did not react correctly.
Landers: We just denied it because we had no idea. We invented stories and didn’t know what we were talking about.

Then you did it all wrong.
Schneider: Nobody wanted to talk about music, instead we were constantly questioned about politics and that bothered us.

Can Till actually be persuaded to interviews?
Landers: Hardly ever, only in rare exceptional cases.
Schneider: Many people want to talk with Till, because they think that way they’ll experience the truth about Rammstein. Actually he does not want to talk, and it would not be very good anyway, because he lacks experience, and he always tries to give official responses.
Landers: He does not possess the necessary routine. I believe rather that many people respect or even have a fear of Till, because he looks the embodiment of an uncouth, tough guy.
Schneider: It’s better to leave it that way. Till will certainly give interviews some time, perhaps only after Rammstein, but for the moment we do not want to encourage him.

Do you think about solo projects?
Schneider: From time to time, but as we’ve been together for so long a time, I can’t start again in another Band.
Landers: If I made other music, it would be best, if all Rammstein members shared in it. You see it with other Bands: If the artists make solo discs, the result is usually not good.
Schneider: If you spend your whole life in a team, then at some time you make your own border experiences.

© 2005 Sue Lindemann