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Legacy october 2005 - Interview with Oli

Rammstein

Where has the love gone?

“Rosenrot” will be the title of the new Rammstein album which will be released four days after this Legacy issue on 28 October. Certainly it will make one of the first rankings in the charts. Everything the band touched became – literally- golden. Where does it go, the motorboat Rammstein in 2005? Only a year ago the predecessor “Reise, Reise” was released and now we are allowed to ask.

After the journalists were given the opportunity to listen to the album twice in the morning we all met for the interview. I had a private meeting with bass player Oliver Riedel.
I hope I might not disturb you?
“No, everything o.k.”
Already a year ago I have listened – as I believe – to one or two of the songs which were not put on “Reise, Reise” then. The most urgent question first: How much of the material already had been ready for “Reise, Reise”?
“We had recorded 18 songs for “Reise, Reise”. Seven were left over and really fast the idea occurred to make another album in the following year. But seven songs are not enough for an album. The plans for the tour already were made at that time and we decided to write four new songs in the time when no concerts were scheduled. In the end it was a bit difficult. The real new ones are: “Benzin”, “Mann gegen Mann”, Spring” and “Te quiero puta”.”
Oh, the Spanish song is new? I thought this was a left over from the last recordings in Spain. “No. It has to do with Till’s interest in South America. He is there a lot, especially in Costa Rica and he is going on our nerves before the concerts start with his Mariachi-songs. Therefore it was obvious that we would write a song in Spanish one time.”
The female singer’s part of this song is well done in my opinion. That is how witches must sound like!
“We had told the record company: we need a deep and smoky female voice. A bit “slut-like”. Suddenly a woman from South America was in the studio, sang her part and already had gone in a second.”
All songs on “Rosenrot” seem to be a bit less strong than those on the last album.
”Most of the songs we did not release on “Reise, Reise” were calm ones. “Reise, Reise” needed to be stronger in our opinion. The idea then was to make a calmer album after that.” The calm before the storm? Has the motorboat Rammstein got stuck, like it can be assumed with the cover, or is it aiming at new shores with full power?
“The album should have been called “Reise, Reise Vol.2”. But we dismissed this title very fast. With the new album we needed a new title. But it was a bit unlucky that the cover already was done (A kind of ice breaker in the icy sea – the author). We called the ship on the cover “Rosenrot” and now everybody can have his own ideas what it could mean. Opposites? The cold world? Where has the love gone? No idea. But the ship is not a symbol for the band.”
On the one hand the two albums are connected, on the other hand they are not?
“Exactly. For “Rosenrot” we momentarily do not have any plans for touring, stage shows. But this will change again in the future”.
I already have noticed with the last album that every band member now can show his skills as a musician. And the band seems to be more relaxed.
”In the end we all were a bit bored with the old and traditional Rammstein sound. Sequenzer starts, drums get it, guitar and bass play the same. We did not want that kind of grove anymore. It is obvious that the drums will search for new rhythms. The march is definitively our strength, but one always should do what he wants to do. Then you are authentically.”
But you obviously have more fun playing together now in comparison to the times of “Mutter”?
“Sure! “Mutter” was our darkest chapter. After the long touring we all were exhausted and we had no more balance in the band. Now for example it is nice that Richard can work on is solo project. With it he can realise his musical ideas he would never had been able to develop with Rammstein.”
Were you about to split up?
“No. We just made a pause. But we all realised really fast what we had achieved with the band and how we missed it.”
Like in a marriage?
“A bit, yes. But in a marriage you cannot take a time-out. There the points of view are a bit more hardened.”
How often do you see each other?
“When the points of contact allow it. Paul’s and my children are of the same ages, so we meet. In times of rehearsal we all meet every day, on tour sometimes only in the evenings, and Richard now is in New York, so we do not see him at all.”
So more like meeting at home in the living room?. Everybody comes and goes as he wants to do and if somebody is there, you are glad to see each other.
“Exactly.”
“Benzin” was the first single with a brachial video, perfectly matching with the oil crisis. But it could have been a motorcycle songs as well, or a typical Rammstein song. What does “Benzin” stand for?
“It is a multiple theme, but actually fire is a big part of the band’s history. It has accompanied us for a log time. Paul just went to Till and said ‘Benzin is a wicked word. Can’t you make song about it?’ And that´s what came to Till’s mind.”
“Mann gegen Mann” seems to have a homosexual background. It will be awesome when thousands of metal fans sing this song together, because especially in this scene there still are many prejudices. So why this topic? Is it only about the taboo or the break of it?
”We do not want to discriminate homosexuals; it‘s more a pro homosexual song. We just wanted to ease things and wanted to handle it as a matter of course.”
What should the fan take from this song?
“A normal understanding for something different.”
The text of “Ein Lied” would force me to write a real heavy rock song. But the song turned out to be a real calm one, with a filthy children’s song melody. How got text and music together?
“The texts are put up on the studio wall and “Ein Lied” was done in ten minutes. There was the riff, Till took the text and sang. We recorded the song and that it was. The texts from “Mann gegen Mann” we already had from the “Mutter” times.”
I could read beforehand: The Brothers Grimm and Goethe are combined in “Rosenrot”. No surprise for me -as Rammstein is concerned.
“This information wil apply depths to our songs we do not coquet with. Till always has used old and romantic verses, but he does not deal with Goethe or the brothers Grimm all the time.”
Are Till’s texts beyond questioning?
“Everything can be questioned. If someone of us has dealt with a topic quite a long time of course he will try to get through with it. But that can lead to a limited view and we then try to correct the view a bit. Some had to face a lot of criticism therefore.”
“Spring” does not only have a hard guitar part, but also a text which deals with the problem of staring people. Is there any connection to the band? Do you criticize the mob which deals with others unfairly? As it had happened to Rammstein, too.
“Sure. The mob creates his own creature, he wants to push it into a special direction. So you are right.”
Just pick the discussion about your first album cover.
“We hadn’t dealt with the topic before. We were naïve. In the end this was good for us, because otherwise we would not have found our special aesthetic. But the discussions about Rammstein never have hit the inner part of Rammstein, they just scratched the surface.”
“Rosenrot” also scratches surfaces well and maybe also to reach the kernel. The ice is broken and the motorboat Rammstein is gaining full speed. Just wait and see which seas the men will travel in the future. Maybe they will set sail, maybe they will use a kerosene motor. Excitement is to be expected as the band always is able to stir up discussion between love and hate. What would the (musical) world today be without Rammstein?



Rammstein “Rosenrot”
(Universal)
Is it only picking up the remains or isn’t it, with this new album of the Berliners only a year after “Reise, Reise”? In the midst of an oil crisis the band burns down great fireworks with the single “Benzin” in a typical Rammstein way with a clear structure and the Flake typical nearly epic keyboards. “Mann gegen Mann” is snappy and has a bit of the White Stripes. Rammstein have discovered their liking of fluffy bass guitars. The line “Mein Geschlecht schimpft mich Verräter “ (My gender calls me a traitor; also: my gender reviles about me (to be a traitor)) creeps inside the ear and one listens anxiously to a homoerotic song. It will be funny when 10000 will join in at the live shows. The title song is a mixture of Goethe and the Brothers Grimm and only a typical Rammstein song. With “Spring” not only one hundred hard metal guitars return but also the band’s irony. The text is about the so called mob with a wonderful refrain, whose loveliness in the choral refrain will stuck in the throat. “Wo bist Du” is carried by the singer’s lyrical talent. “Ich liebe Dich, ich liebe Dich nicht, ich liebe Dich nicht mehr, ich liebe Dich nicht mehr oder weniger als as Du” (I love you, I don’t love you, I don’t love you any more, I don’t love you more or less than you do). The song winds around the keyboard-line, respectively the sound of a clarinet/oboe which harmonises perfectly with the morbid text. “Zerstören” is pure Rammstein then. No stone is left on the other. Songs like “Feuer und Wasser” and “Ein Lied” do surprise; they stress the new (?) calmer sides of the band. In my opinion the climax is “Te quiero puta”. Trumpets always sound great, there seem to be some o them in Mexico. The song grows stronger, the voices grow louder, and the female voice honours every choir of witches, that’s more than great! Ten or eleven songs will be on “Rosenrot”. If the motorboat Rammstein still is on a “Journey, Journey” or already has landed we will try to find out in the interview. We do not judge on the first impression here.

© 2005 Richiebaby