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Record Raiders - Rocksound Issue 42

Rocksound – November 2002 (Issue 42)
Interview by Ronnie Kerswell

What was the first album you bought?
Christoph Doom Schneider: Pink Floyd 'The Wall'. I didn't buy it, I had it on tape; in East Germany, you couldn't buy any records, we only had one record shop and you had to queue before the shop opened.

What was the last album you bought?
Paul Landers: I don't buy CDs, but if I did, I would buy System Of A Down ‘Toxicity’ and Muse 'Origin Of Symmetry. Muse are the best band of last year, they offer a modern view of rock, which I like!
CDS: I actually had a copy of the System Of A Down record given to me but I lost it so I had to buy another one.
An album that changed your life for any kind of reason?
CDS: Pantera's 'Far Beyond Driven', I was really impressed with the sound and how tight they played, they had the same ideas as we have about our music.
PL: We like extreme and intelligent stuff but not death or black metal.

An album you've listened to (or you're still listening to) the most often?
PL: As a band we had a phase of listening to Lenny Kravitz, then a Clawfinger stage, and at the moment we are only listening to Moby '18', although it doesn't really have any effect on our music.

Favourite album sleeve?
PL: I like The Rolling Stones album with the zipper, 'Sticky Fingers' and Pink Floyd 'Pulse' - there was a flashing light on the spine and it blinked for five years.
CDS: I like simple covers like The Velvet Underground 'The Velvet Underground And Nico'- the one with the Andy Warhol banana - that's very good.

The worst album sleeve you've ever seen?
PL: Our first one, 'Herzeleid' because it looks like fried chicken! We didn't know how bad it was at the time and thought it was cool.

Album you would offer to your best friend? CDS: I'd offer them something by Yann Tiersen, he wrote the music for the film Amelie and it’s very relaxing. Album you would offer to your worst enemy?
CDS: I'd give them Slipknot; I like them but I can't listen to them, they are full of energy and I'm definitely too old for that.
PL: A remix CD, remixes are always boring.

Album you would use to seduce a member of the opposite sex?
CDS: I never use the same music twice – when I have a new girlfriend I have to have a new CD, because it reminds me of the girl before.

An album you would use to seduce a member of the same sex?
CDS: I don't have that kind of experience!

An album you'd have loved to have played on?
PL: Nine Inch Nails, any album, I love NIN but I think they would have been better if I'd been part of them!

Favourite album in your parents' record collection?
PL: I gave my parents a Supertramp album for Christmas once but they never listened to it, so I gave up giving them records.

Most embarrassing record in your own record collection?
PL: I have a lot of embarrassing records at home because everyone who makes music thinks that they have to give me a CD to pass on to a record company, and I can't throw them away because I feel bad. We get everything from stuff like us to really embarrassing stuff.

Album or song you generally sing in the shower?
CDS: 'The Linden Tree' by Schubert, it's a German folk song.
PL: I don't sing, I try to find the resonance in the bathroom, I like the acoustics.

Someone asks you to recommend a '70s album. What would be your advice?
PL: Queen 'A Night At The Opera'. They had their own sound and own style and they were the only band to combine classical and rock in a good way.

An '80s album?
PL: All the electro-pop stuff was really great, like Visage.
CDS: We were teenagers then and all that music made a deep impression on us and formed us.
PL: Gary Numan's 'Pleasure Principle' (technically it was '79, but we'll let you off! - Ed). rock sound: What do you think of his industrial music now?
PL: If you are an electronic band it's normal for you to try other styles and advance, but he's making the same kind of music people were making 10 years ago and just repeating the same things. But Gary Numan is a legend, he can do whatever he wants.
A '90s album?
CDS: Nirvana 'Nevermind'. It was the start of a new style of music and influenced so many others. Even now bands are trying to copy it, like Puddle Of Mudd, but it's boring, there's only one original.
If Rammstein had to be summed up in one of your songs, which one would it be?
CDS: I think our first song 'Rammstein', that says everything about the band. Till (singer) would like to play nothing but this song over and over live. It has a kind of power and when we play this song now after almost 10 years, I have the same feeling.

Album or song you would like to be played at your funeral?
PL: I'd have 'Seemann' from 'Herzeleid'. It's a good song and releases lots of emotions.

A double A-side single 'Feuer Frei'/'Mutter' is out on October 28 on Universal/Island Records.

© 2005 Sue Lindemann