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Revolver - Feb'05 : Interview with Richard

Teutonic Madmen of the Year

After the release of their last album, Germanic troublemakers Rammstein were all but positive that their flame had been extinguished. But somehow, cool heads prevailed, and the rekindled group is continuing it’s remarkable journey.

There's something oddly compelling about six men dressed in black leather who occasionally light themselves on fire. When they're playing monstrously huge industrial-fueled heavy metal at the same time, they become absolutely volatile, and it's this combination upon which Rammstein have built their incendiary legacy.

Five years and two albums after they unleashed the hit single "Du Hast" on American listeners, Rammstein - Till Lindemann (vocals), Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers (guitars), Flake Lorenz (keyboards), Oliver Riedel (bass), and Christoph Schneider (drums) -have returned with their fourth release, Reise, Reise (Universal), the most diverse recording of their 10-year career. More emotive than previous efforts, which relied on a mechanized formula of stomping beats and chunka-chunka guitars, the new disc finds the band exploring a range of dynamics and textures. They're still singing in their native German-a Rammstein trademark- but Lindemann possesses a deep bass rumble that, combined with the guttural nature of his native tongue, could make a commercial jingle for bubblegum sound oppressively menacing.

But if Reise, Reise stands as a decisive musical victory for Rammstein, it also highlights the challenge they face. Despite their arena-filling success in the fatherland -and the rest of Europe-the band's popularity waned in the States, as audiences and critics, unable to breach the language barrier, ultimately passed off "Du Hast" as something of a novelty. Now, with America at war, can the band hope to overcome the country's isolationist tendencies and once again draw the interest of stateside audiences? We talked to guitarist/songwriter Kruspe about this, as well as cannibalistic sex, the band's home of East Germany, and giant squirting dildos.

Reise, Reise's first single, "Mein Teil," deals with a cannibal who recently made headlines in Europe for eating the penis of a voluntary "victim."
Richard Kruspe: Yeah. And the voluntary nature of the situation is what made it so interesting. For me, it's a kind of psychological way of thinking about love. This guy, the cannibal, was living with his mother his whole life, and she wouldn't allow any kind of relationship. I think the reason why he was into eating someone was to keep him inside and not have to let him go.

That's about as intimate as you can get, I guess.
Exactly. So it's like reaching for love. And it needed to be reciprocal. The cannibal had other people in his house, and when they reached the point where he wanted to eat them, he'd let them go if they refused. He waited for the right guy to come along. But the guy obviously needs help. What if he had other people over and things progressed and approached the part where he asked to eat them -and the person said no. Would the cannibal be able to let him go? Would he keep control of himself?

In America there's the sort of clichéd archetype of the East German dominatrix: the SS cap and the whip and some poor bastard getting his ass beaten. It's something you guys have definitely played up in past performances: S&M onstage, giant spraying dildos.
[Laughs] We have our moments. I think our personality comes from living behind the Iron Curtain for 25 years. That's why we are so motivated to do whatever we do. We had to go to demonstrations. It was almost like living in the Third Reich. So we grew up with this stuff. Everyone was asking me, "Do you think Rammstein would be possible without living in the East?" And I said, "No, not really."

Were there any negatives for you when the Berlin Wall came down?
There were so many things we didn't have that we really compensated for once the wall came down. We got into drugs and that kind of stuff. But everyone managed themselves and got out of those situations. Because we're disciplined. You need to be if you're in a band, or else you fuck yourself up.

Humor's always been a big part Rammstein: Your videos, your photo shoots, the content of your songs. It's not always what you'd expect from a bunch of Germans dressed like the cast of Hellraiser.
[Laughs] That's true. No one thinks East Germans can be funny. But the humor's often unconscious. It turns out to be funny. We wanted to be cool and stuff, people were sometimes laughing. And we were confident enough to laugh with them.

This new record's quite different than your previous releases. It's more vulnerable.
You have to understand that after our last record, (2001's Mutter, there was big tension in the band. We couldn't really deal with each other. Rammstein are a democracy. It's really hard to deal with all the guys sometimes, and I think while we were doing Mutter, I was in a situation where I was really trying to control the whole process. I was writing about 90 percent of all the material in my home, and 1 definitely had an idea of where 1 wanted to go. The guys felt really uncomfortable with the situation. Eventually they said that they couldn't work like that anymore. For me, there was a point in my life where it made sense to just go away. So I moved to New York two and a half years ago to get a different view of things.

How did you record your earlier albums? Did you record them at your home, too?
Our first record, [1995’s] Herzeleid, was kind of a rehearsal project. We went into the rehearsal studio and started writing songs. But that was too slow for me, so I said, "Listen, I can't wait for someone to come up with a breakbeat," or whatever. So I went by myself and started to write my own songs. For Reise, Reise, we went back to the earlier style of writing, and it came out really well.

What allowed you to write that way? It didn't work the first time.
Getting away made a big difference. I had to let go of controlling things. I learned to trust the band, have faith in them and in the music.

Was that the result of playing together for 10 years?
There was just one decision: to keep on going like I was and destroy the band, or to realize that sometimes it's better to make mistakes - to take that chance.

Do you feel like there's less friction now that you've reconvened?
This record made the band stronger. It didn't really matter how this record would turn out, it was just important that the band come together. I think that's the best thing you can have. It's kind of a marriage. Sometimes it's about compromising. If you're dealing with five other people, you have to see the sights.

Did you ever worry that the breakup would be permanent?
No. I didn't even think of it as a breakup. I believe in chemistry so much. I know if we come together there is something really special about us. It's just chemistry. We are six people-together, it's explosive. And it's fun. And exhausting. But it's worth it.

But now you need to convince American audiences, again.
Yeah. We had a lot of success in the beginning. But I think that people had trouble with the language. Plus, after September 11, the country changed so much. It closed itself off to the outside. I don't think people wanted music sung in another language.

Do you think they're ready for it now?
I don't know. I hope so. A lot of time has passed. I'm not too concerned about it. I think that this was mostly important for us. But we have ways of getting around the language.

How?
The shows, for one thing. All the fire, all the theater. It's a way for audiences to bridge the language problem and get into the show and the music. We love playing with fire, and while it sometimes feels like a pact with the Devil - we can't get away from it - it's something we still enjoy. And the audiences enjoy it too.

Ten years ago, did you think it would last this long? Looking back, is this the way you thought it would be when you formed a band?
Not at all. One thing I've learned about life is that every time you are too desperate or too pressured to do anything, you fail. Life comes out saying, "No, that's not the way.' With Rammstein, I'm now always like, Be open, try something new. Obviously, right now it's an institution, in a way. You ask yourself sometimes, Do I need this? Because it's a lot of stress. But it's always a pleasure in the end to have something resolved like this record. And then I feel that it is worth it to stay in the band and that it's worth it to play with those guys.

It seems like the band has really helped you get through some issues. It's like group therapy.
Yeah. There are a lot of things that you can learn from the band and take into your personal life, into personal relationships with women or whatever you have. I managed to cairn down. Becoming a better person, that's what it is, and it's worth it to continue for another 10 years.
Morrison White.

© 2005 Sue Lindemann