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Rock One (french) Interview with Paul and Till - November 2005

Paul’s interview :

Why did you release a second album so quickly ? That’s something big bands have seldom done…

Paul : We had so many songs for reise Reise that we didn’t know which one to choose. Usually there are too many songs and we put several aside. But this time, there were so many good songs we couldn’t do this. However some were missing to bring a credible following to reise Reise. So we did what we had never done before : we went back into studio very quickly in Berlin, and we did 4 or 5 additional songs amongst which Te Quiero Puta and Mann gegen Mann to complete the album.

Weren’t you afraid to make two similar albums because the two studio sessions were so close in time ?

Actually that’s what we wanted to do. It’s really like a double album we would have separated in half and sold in two times to make more money ! (laughs). No, really, there was another reason for this : we had a contract with Universal for 5 albums and the record company accepted to consider this supplementary album like a full album, so we 're done with our 5 albums now and our contract can be renegotiated.


Rammstein has been going on for 12 years now, how do you explain the ease with which you write new songs without repeating yourself ?

To begin with, inside the band there are so many strong-headed people we could make three different bands. We don’t have any blank-page problem, since most of the texts and first sketches come from Till. The day he has no more ideas, maybe we’ll have that kind of problem then. But as far as music is concerned, the thing is we have too many ideas. And most of the time 3 years go by between each album, when we can open ourselves to something else, and so we always have new ideas. This album excepted because he followed Reise Reise right away, there are not so many surprises concerning the music.

One can feel all band members are pretty lucid about the relationship between the band and its fans. Is lucidity the best way to go on without caring for external opinions and for what people think about you ?

There are 2 kinds of bands : the ones like AC/DC whose last album sounds exactly like the first one, and those like U2, Depeche Mode or Red Hot Chili Peppers with which you can always see some evolution and changes ; there is also a third kind of bands who start very well and become worse and worse with time (laughs). For us the important matter is not to repeat ourselves. It’s one of our obsessions inside the band. And also times are changing, music is evolving around us. We have to think about this. We’re no more at the time when we started and techno was dominating. The “rock metal” has come back. We evolve with this environment.

Which song was the beginning for Rosenrot ?

It doesn’t work like that with us. Once we know we’re going to make a new album, we come all together and we experience with all ideas that come to us. Everybody says what they want, and after a while, some elements stand out and point in a certain direction. For example, at the moment we want the next album to be harder. Maybe it will not be the case but right now this is the starting point.

Do you make a new album in opposition to the last ?

Every time we want to take one step forward. But it is almost automatic for Rammstein. There are some things you can’t repeat because it would not work as well in the end. That’s why we prefer to change things radically.

Your songs seem to be more and more precise regarding the texts as much as instrumentation or production. Is it another way not to repeat yourself ?

With time you learn a lot of things about music, the songs structures, how to arrange such or such part, and so on. But you still need to have good ideas to start with. We often have internal fights to obtain the best from ourselves and not to satisfy ourselves with previously recorded material.

Do you fight over non-musical matters ?

Always. Like I already told you, our personalities are very different. But now we have learned to take that into account and the important thing is that each of us is allowed some freedom , so the six of us can function smoothly. It’s like a participative democracy where every idea has to pass the group’s testing.

What does the title of the album mean ?

We wanted to call it Reise Resie vol 2 to show it was the second part of it because we didn’t want to cheat with people, but our record company thought it wasn’t poetic enough (laughs). So we thought it over again, and since with us the title comes always from a song’s name, Rosenrot seemed to fit the spirit of the album at best.

Like pink and red are opposed, the themes of that new record are also very contradictory, more than you usually find in rock albums. Is it a way to distinghish yourself too ?

It has always been like that in Rammstein since the beginning. We’re so lucky to have Till who writes these texts and who touches really people’s heart. It’s not something we can calculate and predict in advance. It comes naturally. Maybe even the next album will not work, you can never tell.

Do you really think it could not work some day ?

It could very well happen. It is not because of our merit that our music worked so well until now, it just happened like that. Some groups who made one good album manage to produce less good records, but one must not be angry at them. One should rather congratulate them for the good work they did once. It’s very difficult to repeat the exploit, and the more your records work, the more challenges are difficult to achieve.

In which extent does success add pressure on you ?

For our 3rd album, the pressure was almost unbearable, for the 4th, it was very easy but as soon as success came, the pression was there and it’s very easy to fall because of that. When you are a new band on the start you fight to become famous and all your energy goes into it. But as soon as you are famous, you need as much energy to stick together and, in the beginning, you don’t imagine this second phase will demand so much efforts from you.

The best challenge for a band is still to make songs that were never written before ?

Yes, that’s for sure but we don’t feel it like something difficult that much because we love what we do, and because we have lots of ideas, so it comes by itself, we don’t need to force it. Bu all these idea would be of no use if the band didn’t exist anymore, if there wasn’t this cohesion between us. It’s like the group is a car and the ideas are the fuel.

2/ Till’s interview

The album cover shows an icebreaker . Does that mean you want to break the ice with people ?

Till : No, it’s more a romantic meaning, like a couple landing up in the middle of nowhere, and there’s also an esthetical reason. What is best is that everybody find their own interpretations, it’s interesting for me to hear what everyone thinks about it.

It’s a little like with your songs : once they’re recorded, they don’t belong to you anymore ?

Yes, exactly, it can’t be another way. We’re at home, we prepare our song and once we are in the studio, the song isn’t ours anymore, it already belongs to the group. And then we release the album and it belongs to the audience.

You said a lot of time that your last album Reise Reise was made under a lot of stress and difficulties, one can feel it was the opposite with this record…

It’s the second time I hear this, I don’t know which group member initiated that rumor there was such a pressure during the “Reise Reise “ recording, because for me it wasn’t the case at all. It’s true there is sometimes a big pressure during the preproduction, because you have to make decisions and even if it’s a democratic process, there can be some conflicts. For Reise Reise we were in Spain, mostly in Malaga, and there wasn’t that much pressure. Not more than before at least.

Does the title of the album refer to German literature ?

No, not directly, it’s only an expression taken from the chorus of the song wearing the same name. This chorus is like a signal, like red colour can be a signal too. Apart from that Rosenrot is the story of a woman who absolutely wants to have a rose that fell off a cliff, and she’s ready to send her man to death to get it back. The word “Rosenrot” is like a symbol, it could also be a diamond, a precious stone out of reach.

Is it a way to say that all love stories end up badly ?

No, not at all. Besides, there’s another song on the album whose name is “Stirb nicht vor mir” which means don’t die before me. So, no, all love stories don’t end badly. “Rosenrot” might be our most romantical album.

How does your personal romances participate in the texts ?

It’s true that in Rammstein the songs are often very autobiographical. During the recording of Rosenrot, I didn’t feel really well, and as luck would have it, the other didn’t feel very well either. But, we were on the same musical wavelength since we shared almost the same moods. That’s why there was a coincidence between this album and my melancholy. It’s true this is really our most romantical album.

That is also why there are so many oppositions, between good and evil, energy and stillness…

These are not aspects that strike me at first. If it is the case, it wasn’t on purpose. But it’s maybe in the course of things, very often do opposites come together.

The power of songs is also this capacity to evocate things and tell some stories so that people can tell themselves other stories ?

What is good is that whoever reads or listens to the texts starts figuring out his own stories. One should think of one’s own experiences, discover common aspects and tell oneself : “Somebody expressed something similar to what I’ve gone through”. I, for instance, have read a lot in the past. And at that time, I couldn’t see myself in the future. I was happy to find in my readings some solution for a few of my existential problems. It’s always good to read, one feels less alone.

Is it hard to maintain an interesting relationship in a band for a long time ?

We all know each other really well, more than if we were married. Because a married couple generally leaves each other in the morning and works in different places, while we are always together. During the tours for example, we’re together night and day. And there is only a few hours sleep to be apart. That’s why we know very well each of us sensitiveness, how we can make one angry and make the other laugh. We find ourselves in a kind of cell, it’s working like in a biotope, and of course, everyone is trying to avoid the others, and as soon as we have a free moment, we spend it alone.

Do you still dream of Rammstein sometimes ?

Yes, most of the time, these are nightmares ! (laughs) many times, when you wake up you realize reality is not that serious at all. But what is really difficult during the preproduction phase, it’s an extremely concentrated process and during this period you absorb everything that’s going on around, you tell yourself : “This I can use for my text, some guy falls on the floor and I can use it for my work too, etc…” And all these observations and impressions enter your dreams too. It’s a bit annoying because your head is full of musics. As far as I’m concerned, I feel rather exhausted, shattered, burned down after the preproduction phase of an album.

The opening song for the album is Benzin. The band is 10 years old now : what’s your fuel ?

I think it’s the equality that exists inside the band : each of us has the same rights and the same duties, and is paid the same way. Nobody’s priviledged. It’s the kind of democracy we wish to live. I think this is possible cause we talk to each other very often, which helps a lot. It’s easy for a band to have pleasure together for some time and to have fun. But after that it becomes difficult when you have to keep on talking and very often, bands explode and end up not talking to one another anymore. That’s not the case with us. Everything is about the art of dialoguing, we must free ourselves from our personal obsessions and put ourselves at the service of the songs and the democracy that works between us. That’s what you call often a group therapy, without any bad play of words.

This therapy works all the more when the band feels it is stepping forward, is it the case at the moment ?

The success of the band depends on each one’s own will, and the “group therapy” is but a metaphor. What I mean is, there must still be there some kind of confrontation. Sometimes an argument can have a therapeutic function. This will to keep talking is indeed the key to the harmony between us.

© 2005 Aeon