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Till interview - Netzeitung.de 04-Dec-02

Rammstein singer Till Lindemann has published a photo and poetry book - and has thereby allowed a deep insight into the soul of a Misanthropist, somewhere between eenie-meenie-mo and mysterious rumours.
By Peter Disch

Till Lindemann remembers the first time precisely. A castle at the Schweriner See. A view from the window. Twilight.
An association. Suddenly: The kiss of the Muse. "I thought: That is an impression which I simply must write down because it would be unfortunate if the thought was lost."

Thus we owe it to the Mecklenburg lakeside for the steam hammer lyrics of Rammstein, contributed by Lindemann as the singer to the music of the controversial German Band. A poetry and photo book now allows a deeper insight into the world of ideas of this pounding Misanthropist from Berlin. The auspicious title: "Messer". Gert Hof is to thank for the 144-page sturdy work. The lighting designer and director has produced the Rammstein Live Shows for years.

"Great. Got any more?"
In 1995, when Hof was looking for a suitable text for a concert Intro, he asked Lindemann. "I brought him five, six things at my discretion from earlier" Hof saw them, read them and he was convinced: "Great. Why did you just leave them? Got any more?" Lindemann had. He showed him hesitating "Ten or twenties pieces" which had come together over 15 years. Secretly Hof looked over the texts and encountered a selection of 1000 poems. The idea of a book became more concrete. "During the past two, three years I then tried to complete them"

About the "Obligation to write"
That was not hard for Lindemann to do. Whether "in the airplane, bus, bed, in front of the television, on the toilet" the "obligation to the write was a daily one", it was simply there in each situation in life. He always has paper and pen nearby. The inspiration is delivered by everyday life. "One only has to look." Dialogue in a film, a news report, an amusing event on the road - "Sometimes a word is enough in order to create the connection to another idea, which I already had before." The paunchy Lindemann believes also as a poet that "it’s in the first five minutes that such things develop”.

"Biggest self critic"
“Bringing it into shape afterwards is a lengthy process, for which I am my own biggest critic". Primarily he must be happy, which is what takes so much time. Rammsteins' song lyrics are to Lindemann’s poems like a single to the maxi-version. The only difference: Whilst musicians contribute to the lyrics, Lindemann is the lyric writer on top of the arrangement of verse metre and rhyme.
The simple form is in both cases however usually the same. Also "Messer" offers counted verse, crossing over into the too insidious and profanely flowing. As is the case of "Big in Japan":
“This is the sad story
of a man standing before a court
because under his heavy overcoat
he had hidden a testicle dumbbell
this served the purpose
of frightening young children
when it rose and in front of the kindergarten
the kids of strangers stared
as he opened the coat wide
to show off his talent
the girls laughed to humiliate him
so after he put three kilos on
it was so heavy with the weight not only
did the sack tear off
the artist screamed”

... and you are out!

Between despair and loneliness
Poems like these easily qualify for the eenie-meenie-mo league.
At the other end of the scale there are texts such as " Auf dem Friedhof" in free form and like a mysterious rumour:
“When my father was still alive
he happily told war stories
about a shell splinter which went through his uniform into his back
and he could not have it removed
as it was too close to the spine
and over the years the shrapnel moved between the shoulders
in a large pus bag.
I am tired of the complaint
and I never found the thing.

Lying between them the far field of despair, longing, isolation, Sex and force, which has already brought Rammstein scandal and headlines. The fans love it. The opponents hate it.

Longing for the world of the soulless
By doing this, at the very least it should be a risk. While Rammstein appear in videos and on stage with thunder and lightening, Hof created other pictures for "Messer": The bald Lindemann, pale, in a white one-piece costume, surrounded by shop window dolls – a humans amidst clones, an individual under flawless copies. One, which itself longs for the world that is soulless.

Their promise: Harmony and peace instead of pain and agony. Is this also a pledge? Instead of the mallet the duo Hof/Lindemann use a scalpel here. What else is underneath, nobody wants to know too exactly.
Till Lindemann: Messer. Poems selected by Gert Hof. With photos by Jens Rötzsch and Gert Hof. ISBN 3-8218-0927-2, Eichborn Publishing House, 29,90 Euro

© 2005 Sue Lindemann