Sinzine

Rammstein is a 6-piece band that boasts an original line-up since 1994. All of the members originally came from other bands, which didn't quite have the sound they as individuals wanted, however, they soon found that together they did. It improves with age too! From the incredible Herzeleid (1995) escalating from strength to strength to Liebe ist fur alle da (2007) - with lots more to come.

They played Wembley arena and Sonisphere in 2010, and hit the Americas this year after a 10 year 'break' from performing there. The tour sold out in 15 minutes, proving a massive following from Canada down to Mexico. Fans all over the world though are equally as eager to snap up tickets as soon as they become available.

Rammstein produce an awesome gig, not just a band playing songs, but performing a visually spectacular, all in show. Pyros are a main event, showering fireballs throughout, others include 'adult toys' being ridden, shooting liquids over the audience - all great fun!

They also love controversy - from lyrics to videos, live shows to media. All have their own stories to be told. I personally don't want to risk a copyright problem, so if you wanna see the items, look'em up!

The band has a serious side too with compassion for the 'named disaster' and political views creeping in the lyrics. Till Linderman. the bands front man, is responsible enough to be a trained and qualified pyro-designer despite several burns to various parts of his anatomy.

They are a band to be reckoned with, and played to the death and then more. I for one have 'soiled' my kids (and friends) ears as they sing along now!

So, long live Rammstein, and may all ears who listen to them, sail on. xx

The following originally appeared in Black Monday Magazine v2.1. ©1998 Reprinted in Sin Zine by permission.

(Jill Grant) Could you tell us what kind of a musical background everyone comes from?
(Christoph) All six of the band members played in other bands before Rammstein and with different music styles. For about ten years, we've done music.

(J) And how do you all know each other?
(C) We've known each other since the early days. We're early twins, if you want to say so. We all played in different bands and some members also played in bands together, but not in the constellations we're playing now with Rammstein. And we were all happy playing, but we were not really satisfied with the style so we came together and wanted to invent a new style.

(J) How would you say your music stands out from other bands?
(C) It's the combination of the music, but not only that, it's also the lyrics - which we sing in German and the live show, which is outstanding.

(J) Why did you sign with Slash Records?
(C) We were in discussion with different labels and Slash seemed to be the suitable label for Rammstein.

(J) Is international success something that has always been a goal or is it just incidental?
(C) Since we formed, it has always been a goal for us to not only be successful in the German speaking territories, but also in the others.

(J) It seems that the reason for a lot of bands' success is more by creating hype than their talent. Which do you think is responsible in this case and how do you feel about that?
(C) Rammstein is an absolute live band so you have to see us live which then goes along that the people have the interest in Rammstein, but the media were not really interested when we started. We're a live band and that's how we got our fan-base all over the world.

(J) How did the tour in the US go?
(C) We didn't really have expectations about the outcome. We toured with KMFDM, who supported us too, even though we sang in German, the interest from the people and the success we had on that tour was surprising.

(J) Is it true that you sang some songs in English?
(C) We sang one verse in English as a promotional tool and for fun.

(J) Has anyone ever gotten hurt from the antics on stage?
(C) Quite a while ago at a concert in Germany, there were three people injured slightly and of course we took action against that and have been more secure since. We've toured tons of times, but nothing major ever happened again. Only slight injuries and burns because we do the pyrotechnics sometimes ourselves. We handle it and then of course if you play with fire you get burned, but only slight injuries. We're pros in that.

(J) Why are there different versions of the cover for your newest album?
(C) The reason is there are six band members and all have the same impact in the band. A very famous European artist did the cover. Those are some reasons why they put six different covers on the Sehnsucht album. If you open the cover of the original German version, you have all the six heads together like a poster. In Europe, they changed the cover because it's folded differently, so each time you see one in the shops, it might be with a different band member's head. We look a lot alike so if you see them from a distance, they look the same. But if you come closer, then you have six different versions of the cover with six different faces. The album title is not printed on the cover in Europe, but it is on the jewel box. So, if you buy the album and you're a fan of one of the band members, you can fold it as you like. In the US, they went with just one head as the cover, so that's different.

(J) What's the Rammstein computer game on the CD single for your cover of "The Model"?
(C) The idea was a combination of both the management and the record company because they wanted to give the fans another special something. You have to shoot down little men with flames. It's very simple, like the other computer games where you have to shoot down different targets, but here it is with fire.

(J) Of course!
(C) With flames, you know, fire flames!

(J) Please tell me the story of how you came to be on the Lost Highway soundtrack.
(C) The wish of Rammstein was that David Lynch would produce a video of us. That was the main idea when we approached him with our debut album in Germany and Europe, Herzeleid. We sent it to him and he came back and said, "Well, listen guys, I'm really sorry because I don't have time. I'm in the middle of doing a movie here," but he liked Herzeleid so much that he wanted to use different tracks. He also made the whole crew on the set listen to Herzeleid in between the scenes!

(J) What does Rammstein mean?
(C) It's a word game because it has different meanings. First of all we were searching for a name, which sounded cool in German, and Ramstein sounded like what we were looking for. Then you can take it as it stands. On the sidewalk in Germany you have stones there so cars can't get through, which are rammstein. And then a tragedy happening in a village called Ramstein, with only one "m." A lot of people got burned there. It was an annual air show at a US military air base with jet fighters doing nice curves up in the sky and two bumped into each other and fell into the people. Quite a few people got burned and died. So it has three meanings actually.

(J) Why is it significant for you to have the crash as a part of the meaning of your name?
(C) When this accident happened, there was still West Germany and East Germany, although we didn't hear about the crash when we formed Rammstein. We were more interested in the sound of the name and of the meaning of this sidewalk stone. That's why we write our name with two "m's" and then out of a coincidence, we heard about this tragedy happening at the village Ramstein. We thought, "It's interesting that there was an accident with fire."

(J) I've read Rammstein described as sexual torture fanatics. How do you react to that?
(C) Well, if we're on stage, we kind of jump into that role, but off stage, we are just like you. Our show is really a show so we all kind of jump into the role on stage.

(J) How did the fall of the Berlin Wall change your lives?
(C) Before the fall, we had many restrictions in East Germany and including getting music. Nowadays, we are able to listen to all the music we want and are able to work in this business – to get a deal with a major company and stuff – so that's the freedom which we gained musical-wise.

(J) I've read that you actually don't like Germany very much. Is that true?
(C) That's not the case at all. The German media didn't really react nicely to us at the beginning, however we're very interested in getting to know other countries and the people who live there as well.

Fin

Grab a PDF here of the original interview as printed in Black Monday Magazine.