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Metal Hammer - Polish Edition- November1997

Although they released only two albums, they gained so great popularity that they are said to be one of the most loved bands on Germany. Their debut album "Herzeleid" had its revival this spring, and one year after being released it visited the hit list of the best selling albums for quite a long while. It was a surprise even for the band itself. After such a great success of the first CD, the ground for the second one was already wonderfully prepared. "Sehnsucht" CD was released in the best time possible, and everyone who heard about this band before grabbed it greedily as the alcoholic on vodka after long break in drinking. And the most famous band from former DDR didn't fail our expectations recording the CD which is maybe softer, but incredibly intriguing. A few weeks before the Rammstein's visit in Poland (the band is to play on Odjazdy 97 festival) the vocalist of one of the most interesting discoveries of last years-Till Lindemann gives a special interview for Metal Hammer.
MH: How are you Till? In your voice I can hear that you are a bit tired. And maybe this is just an illusion?
Till: No. Indeed I am a bit tired and stressed.

MH: Why? What happened?
Till: The tour! Just the tour.

MH: Do you have any problems?
Till: You could say that. But it is not about the band, but the production. Because it is so huge everything is done in a rush and you have to hurry everyday to get everything done before the show. Everything has to be ready on time.

MH: How long is this tour?
Till: It will last precisely till the 25th of October, so more than 4 weeks. You could think that those problems spring from the fact that we are only a few days on tour, but I think it doesn't really matter. Everyday we play in a different place, so also in different conditions and each time everything has to checked as we have a lot of pyrotechnics with us. Then we have to discuss this with all possible security services, with firemen especially. This is sometimes very stressful.

MH: I can imagine. So we can now pass to some more pleasant things. Congratulations for the CD "Sehnsucht". In my opinion this album is even better than "Herzeleid" that was by the way a great stuff too...
Till: I am very glad...

MH: Could you already say that Rammstein is a star?
Till: You know, we don't really like such terms, and certainly we don't feel as stars, but in Germany people tried to make stars of us. There is high pressure for our music and everything is done to make Rammstein more famous. So in a way - without consulting it with us they made a star of Rammstein.

MH: Everything happens so fast, and you didn't have an easy start at all. Generally how did it happen that you started to play such music?
Till: We have known each other long before founding Rammstein. We were friends in those times - and actually we still are - we have known each other for more than 10 years and we all have been playing music for that long. However we played also before in different bands. I was for example in a punk band, in which there were only drums and deformed bass. Sometimes we used guest guitarists, and among them there often appeared Richard and Paul, who play in Rammstein today. One day started to sing together with playing bass and then the idea was born to found a new project together with Richard. We wanted it to be dark, gloomy, with low vocals, something like Sisters of Mercy. So we started a side project like this, but we did so fine that we decided to quit our main bands and concentrate entirely on our new child. So we focused on our side project because we realized that we can fully express ourselves here, that this music is the one we really want to play. It satisfied us, it made us happy, it was something completely new, it was our music. Everything fitted and the constellation was just perfect in every aspect.

MH: And when did the name of the band Rammstein appeared?
Till: Generally it was our first song, the title of it. Earlier we had many different English names, as Stamping Prayer and a few others. Still we couldn't fully decide on any of them, and Rammstein fitted us perfectly. This was a song about the victims of plane crash, and the name Rammstein sounded great and you could feel in it some monumentalism and firmness. It suited perfectly the character of our music, so instead of looking for another name we decided to stay with that one.

MH: Which of you had the most direct contact with electronic music before? Who introduced those influences to Rammstein?
Till: Practically our keyboardist was the first to do that, but then almost all of us took their interest in this kind of music: Richard and Paul and also our drummer Schneider. Quite fast they got through all secrets of this music and of the equipment you need to play it. It is obvious that living in the East we didn't have any contact with such things so we just didn't know them at all. So we had to make up for this and invest some money in ourselves and in the equipment. This way we got to know loops, breakbeats, and other gadgets like these.

MH: In one word all your true career started after the Unification of Germany?
Till: Yes. Earlier we played too as I said but all this had some different atmosphere to it. We were more like in the underground.

MH: Certainly there were some problems with getting albums of western artists, new recordings and trends. However living in East Berlin you had probably more possibilities than were here in Poland. I mean finally there was the West just behind the wall.
Till: Yes, but it wasn't so easy. It is not like that everything reached us, and if it did, it was very late. And this was related with a different way of thinking, a different attitude to music. We couldn't see many bands live as almost no one came to us. So even if we had any contact with western music it was very weak. We got to know many things only from the magazines, and there was always a good dose of imagination involved. In a situation like this the progress of the band followed an entirely different pattern than in case if we had everything in our reach.

MH: But it had probably also god sides, as because of this seclusion your music is deprived of the influence of the other bands and it remains original. Indeed it is very hard to compare it to anything.
Till: Certainly. We had a different view on music, different ideas, we used our new equipment differently than our western colleagues. This without doubts gave a different character to Rammstein music and I don't think that it was a negative influence.

MH: In your career, you had luck or maybe you were just good enough?
Till: Ha, ha, I don't think I can answer that question, as you embarrassed me a little. But I guess you always have to have a bit of luck in this business. After the success of "Herzeleid" we became more confident, we knew that we are creating music that is very different from the rest of the German bands, that we do something that people weren't use to, that no one actually listened to such music before. And because of the response of the audience at our concerts, because of the warm comment in the press and the positive attitude of the journalists, we could believe in ourselves even in the times when we were still "small and little". Certainly we didn't expect such positive responses for our music, and we didn't imagine even that everything will turn out so great. And I guess that to achieve something like this you always need a drop of luck.

MH: How would you describe the music played by Rammstein? It is not a classic form of industrial, is it?
Till: No, we call this music Tanzmetal so dance metal. But we tend to use German name for it.

MH: So you think it is possible to compare you with for example Die Krupps?
Till: Yes and no. If you look at the way of recording and the attitude towards music, using more or less the same equipment, these are generally similar. But anyway through the small details, little things in music Rammstein differs much from Die Krupps. I think that such similarities are very few to find.

MH: Exactly. Already your first album "Herzeleid" was really appreciated, but the most interesting thing about this CD was another event. Almost a year after being released, out of a blue it came back to charts and became one of the best selling albums in Germany. It was incredible, I mean after all firstly it wasn't such a great success as now when a few months passed. Situations like this happen very rarely in music, and in case of non-pop bands almost never. I mean I cannot remember anything like this happening before. It was just wonderful!
Till: Yes, it was only one time event.

MH: But what in your opinion was the cause of so great interest in your debut album after such a long time?
Till: As you said it was a debut album, so we weren't any famous band and not everyone could get to know our music. Then we had many concerts and a lot of people found our music long after the release of "Herzeleid", as before they just didn't have the chance to stumble over it. Because of that the interest in the band, and what follows in our album, increased. The concerts were really good, we were in a really good form and the show was a bit different than normally. Because of that the number of sold CD's began to increase extremely fast. We weren't really included much in popular radio and TV stations, but by the means of so called from-mouth-to- mouth-propaganda more and more people got interested in us. They talked about us and passed to their friends information that there is a quite good band called Rammstein to check out. And at last everything started to turn in the right direction.

MH: So the best promotion for Rammstein were the gigs?
Till: Exactly.

MH: So I guess we can speak about luck that your new album wasn't released earlier, as it was planned at first. In such case the second success of "Herzeleid" wouldn't probably happen...
Till: Yes! It could be like that.

MH: In other words the success of the single "Engel" as well as of the new album could be foreseen. Did you expect that after so good selling rates of "Herzeleid" people will be very interested in your second album too? The time to release it was the best possible
Till: That is, it just fell out like this. We didn't know that such a thing would happen. But our label had control over everything and they took care of that, choosing the right date to release both the single and the album. They acted professionally and they did everything in the right moment. If we had to decide about it ourselves, it certainly wouldn't turn out so well. We weren't sure at all that "Engel" would become a hit. We gave the label free hand, and they selected "Engel" and hit the mark. I mean we could choose any other song. But they have experience in these matters, so we fully trust them.

MH: What do you think, what is the secret of Rammstein phenomenon?
Till: I think that it is just that we is something completely new. No one played this way before and you will not get any other CD with similar music.

MH: But for how long can you stay new and original?
Till: I have no idea really, ha, ha.. If you try to do it consciously, it may fail. We didn't approach it like this, that we want and have to do something new and original. It wasn't our plan. We just recorded what we wanted, we continued the concept with which we started. You cannot let anyone manipulate you and for example do everything in the way your producer wants it. He can have good intentions but if under his influence you do anything that you are not sure about, it is very possible that it will turn out a failure.

MH: Have you ever imagined that after just two albums Rammstein will become one of the most famous bands in Germany?
Till: Never.

MH: Don't you think that everything happens a bit too fast for you?
Till: No, "too fast" is not a good word in our case. We realize what is happening and we are able to follow it. We are not scared by this situation. And moreover it didn't happen in one day, suddenly. We made one step after another, the lift was going up slowly on higher and higher floors. It was indeed a bit tiring, and required much work and effort, but we managed to cope with it very well.

MH: In your opinion can people change after achieving success?
Till: Oh yes, they can change completely. You have to be very careful. But I think that it isn't possible with us, because as I said earlier it didn't happen in one day. I mean certainly we changed a bit because of this situation, but it is normal. Now we have contact with different people, with different environments and people treat us differently than for example two or three years ago. The most important thing though is that we have to be very careful not to lose the contact with the ground we stand on and to succeed in remaining just normal people.

MH: Success and fame can change you but I guess money is the factor that does it more efficiently...
Till: In our case you cannot speak about it at all. I don't know what is said, written or thought about us, some people may think that we have earned a lot of money already but this is not true. I can assure you with a hand on my heart that we didn't gain much money. It is too early for that, and I think some time has to pass before we would earn any serious money in this business. Contracts with labels are written like that, that you don't get your money straight away. I mean everyone knows that each band is an investment for the label. They have to put a lot of money in you to enjoy the income later. Of course it doesn't always turn out well, as not all bands are able to earn so much money to give the label back all that was invested. It was just unreal and it would be too beautiful. The label also invested a lot of money in us, all the more that the matters of recording and producing albums are very expensive and concerts too in our case. But we don't look forward to the money we will get for our work, and in spite of the payment we always try to do the best stuff we can. Of course if you want to record a good album some money must be paid for that, but the company takes care of this. We don't have to worry about it. For example "Sehnsucht" was recorded on Malta, and we created "Herzeleid" also abroad because it took place in Stockholm. Why there? We thought that these would be the best places to record our albums as we will be able to fully concentrate on our job. Make everything perfect from the beginning to the end. So that we don't have any need to make corrections , to do something once more from the start. We wanted to record those albums in a way that they would be good at once, so that we would be satisfied with them.

MH: So we can say that Rammstein is a band of perfectionists?
Till: Yes. Certainly.

MH: What music do you listen to privately and is it in any way related to the tastes of other band members?
Till: Our musical tastes are a bit varied. They stretch from metal, through crossover to ompletely different atmospheres. Yesterday for example we listened to the new Clawfinger's stuff and everyone liked it. We also try to get to know new things from metal/industrial shelf. But I am not really a fan of this type of music. I prefer EBM, gothic, this kind of things. Except that I listen to techno and a lot of classical music. I don't like metal at all, and industrial, well, it is better. Ha, ha...

MH: Does that mean that you were never a fan of metal? Even in your childhood?
Till: Never. The old metal is completely not my piece of cake.

MH: I am a bit surprised with this, but I was prepared for such an answer as I read Track Attack in German Metal Hammer in which songs of various metal bands were played to you. You didn't like Hammerfall, and you didn't say anything positive about new Kreator either. I thought maybe "One Second" by Paradise Lost could get closer to your taste, but it also didn't
Till: Yes, I know. It may seem funny.

MH: Exactly. I had the impression that such music would suit you, and it turned out opposite
Till: Well, this music didn't impress me from the beginning so I denied it at once. For me a song has to have that special something inside, has to arise my interest from the first sound. If it doesn't have this, it is impossible to force me to listen to it. So I couldn't be any musical expert as I am not really able to review albums and give my opinions about them.

MH: What do you think will be the direction in which the hard music will go? Is it gonna be more like electronic, studio playing in your opinion?
Till: I think that the basic structures will stay more or less the same, but I can also imagine that there will be more melodic elements and influences. Certainly the guitars will retain their central position, but even today we can already notice that some bands stride in the direction of Depeche Mode and similar things. Vocal should be low and music dark and gloomy. I can only hope that not all the bands will use such ideas as otherwise the music will become very boring.

MH: I heard many good things about your concerts. Does your current tour differ much from the last one? Did you change anything?
Till: I wouldn't say that we changed much. Our gigs certainly have the same atmosphere but they are now more professional and more interesting to watch. They contain much more pyrotechnics. Two specialists take care about that, and before we did it ourselves and sometimes it didn't turn out exactly what we wanted to achieve. Now the effects are more interesting. There is more of them and they are bigger, and that also because the halls we play in are bigger too. But this is still the same kind of things, just the quality is better.

MH: Where and with whom you already had the chance to play? Did you have any spectacular shows?
Till: We played for example with Ramones, Clawfinger, Project Pitchwork do you know this last band?

MH: Unfortunately only the name.
Till: It is the greatest German EBM band. Anyway during the summer we also played on various festivals with such bands as Marilyn Manson , Metallica, Skunk Anansie, Jamiroquai, Megadeth and so on. Quite a lot of them.

MH: What is your opinion about Marilyn Manson? Did you have a direct contact with him?
Till: Sincerely I must say I am fascinated with him and he really impressed me. As far as music is concerned, I think 3 tracks are really good, and the rest isn't anything special for me. They are not masterpieces, but the whole album is well produced. I am enchanted by the show he makes on the stage. It is something really great, he should be admired for that. Still I found some things similar to our gigs.

MH: Do you think Rammstein can be as famous in Europe as it is in Germany?
Till: I don't know that. Certainly it will not be as easy because of the language barrier. We have to try. I think in some countries we became very popular already. Still I guess the point is not to become a whore and make all our music in English.

MH: Generally have you ever thought about singing in English?
Till: No, but maybe there will be a situation when we will be forced to do it. These are the requirements to enter the US market and it is possible that we will record some songs in English

MH: In my opinion it is not the best idea, because your music may lose a lot through this. Aren't you afraid of this? German fits really well to this kind of playing and it is hard to imagine another language in these songs...
Till: That is true, but if we want to achieve anything in the US we have to be understood there. These are unfortunately the laws on their market, even if it is very difficult for us to agree with them. Currently we are trying to think of something different not to abandon German. Maybe we can just release the CD with translations and during gigs we can have lyrics translated on some kind of screen. It would be something like watching the movie in the cinema without dubbing. We don't know yet how to solve this problem. But as for now we will try to leave the lyrics as they are, in German. And that is because as you said our music can lose much with such a change. It is a great risk.

MH: What are the musical differences between "Herzeleid" and "Sehnsucht"? Does your new album differ much from the debut CD?
Till: I think that new album is more vocal, there is more singing, whereas on "Herzeleid" we had more declamation, more normal speaking. New album is also more melodic. And it has more bright parts, the songs are better composed and that is because of the progress we made as a band. Each song has its structure, it contains stanzas and chorus and all typical elements for the composition. There are great melodies, beautiful keyboard parts. "Sehnsucht" isn't also as dark and gloomy as "Herzeleid" was, it has different atmosphere. Some people like it and some don't. Some accused us of recording an album that is not as heavy as the previous one. I would call it another way. This is still the same soup, but it contains a little less pepper, but it doesn't spoil the taste at all.

MH: Are "Bestrafe Mich", "Kuss Mich", and "Spiel Mit Mir" the lyrics related to love? Are these Rammstein's ideas of love songs?
Till: You have to look behind the curtain to understand what is it all about. These lyrics are quite hard and brave, but we show this dark side of love, because it also exists, so we try to talk about it openly.

MH: "Sehnsucht" and "Eifersucht" are also words that can be associated with women. So it seems there are more lyrics like these. Is "Sehnsucht" a concept album then?
Till: It can appear like this, but I guess not. I write lyrics to the music. I take the tapes home, I listen to them and I try to think of the words fitting them. And the fact that such topics come to my mind? Well, indeed, it may look as some kind of general idea but it isn't anything like this at all.

MH: There are some moments on this album, for example in "Du Hast" when one can feel a bit of techno, but luckily "Sehnsucht" is not techno album...
Till: No...

MH: And that is very good, as a lot of bands is simply exaggerating with these influences.
Till: The most important thing is to keep the balance. You cannot have too much techno elements but in the same way you cannot have too much metal influences. The most important thing is to find the right proportions, the golden middle. I think that we managed to do it, because you cannot put us on any shelf really. Keeping of these balance is really very difficult, because even something very tiny may decide on one of the sides.

MH: On "Engel" there is a female vocal. Who is singing?
Till: It is our friend Bobo. At first I wanted to do those vocals myself, but then I thought it would be better when she sings it. The first part is of the devil - me singing, and the second is of an angel - and nothing could fit this better than a delicate female voice.

MH: Didn't you think about using it more on your album?
Till: Certainly there will be more of it on our third CD. We will see if it works. Not in every song there is a need of female vocal. But next time we will certainly work on this.

MH: The cover art of "Sehnsucht" is also much more interesting than the artwork on "Herzeleid". Whose idea was it?
Till: This is a concept of Austrian painter and photographer - Gottfried Heinwein. He worked with such stars as Michael Jackson , Arnold Schwarzenegger or even The Rolling Stones, so he is a very famous guy. We got to know him through a friend of ours, who is a film director in Berlin and a friend of that painter. He introduced us to Gottfried. We are really satisfied with the effects of his work.

MH: There are pictures of all the band members in the booklet, but on the cover it is I guess your face, but on the other hand your hair is dark...
Till: This is not me. It is Richard. But of course I wouldn't have problem with dying my hair.

MH: I guess that on the current tour you are the headliner.
Till: Yes, soon KMFDM will join us. They will support us in Europe and we will support them in the US. Just the exchange of courtesies. I wonder how it will be in America. This is really a very strange and difficult market. But we will try.

MH: What are the responses for your concerts in the countries speaking different languages than German?
Till: We haven't played much concerts like that yet, so it is hard to say. We were on festivals in Holland, Sweden, France, Belgium and it was always wonderful, but those were festivals, so a completely different kind of performances. It is not the same as our own tour.

MH: Do you think that Rammstein id already a ripe star, or maybe although you are so popular it is still just the beginning of your way?
Till: It is only the beginning. We have made the first step forward, but as for now only in Germany. In Europe everything turns out well too, so I think that all will be OK for Rammstein.

MH: As nothing points to the fact that it could be different. Thanks Till for your time and a very nice conversation. I wish you good time on tour and see you in Poland.
Till; Thanks very much. Our tour manager just came here, so I guess it is time to start working and get ready for our tonight concert.
MH: Good Luck!

© 2005 Sue Lindemann