| Biography |
Rammstein members, instruments and their former bands:
Richard Kruspe (Guitar) -Orgasm death
gimmick
Paul Landers (Guitar) -Feeling B.
Till Lindemann (Vocals) -First Arsch
Flake Lorenz (Keyboard) -Feeling B.
Oliver Riedel (Bass) -The Inchtabokatables
Christoph Schneider (Drums) -Die Firma
Little is known of the six East German men who have ascended to international fame and notoriety under the moniker of Rammstein. There is speculation, for instance, as to whether the band takes its name from the site of an inordinate number of plane crashes in its homeland, or from its more literal translation: A battering ram made of stone. A ramming stone.” Rammstein.
As it happens, either would be appropriate. The relentless
“Tanzmetall” (figure that one out for yourself, schdtze) pulse of the band’s
sound and the unparalleled pyromania of its live show have accounted in
equal measure to Rammstein’s meteoric rise to fame in its native Germany.
Formed in 1993 by an assemblage of factory-weary proletarians raised in
East Berlin and the more remote Schwerin, Rammstein wasted no time in crafting
a distinctive voice: The unerring utilitarian synchronicity of Richard
Kruspe and Paul Landers’ guitars locked with the bolt-tight rhythmic backbone
of bassist Oliver Riedel and drummer Christoph Schneider, providing an
unshakable foundation. The crowning touches that distinguished Rammstein
from ... well, anyone were the keyboards of Flake (pronounced flah-keh)
and the booming basso profundo poetics of onetime Olympic swimmer Till
Lindemann. “Our style came out of knowing exactly what we didn’t want,”
explains Flake. “We didn’t want to make American ftink music, or punk.
That’s something we couldn’t do at all. We realized we could only make
the music we make.”
Word of Rammstein’s “Horror Romanticist” blend of theatre
and muzik spread like wildfire. Literally: Lindemann would sing entire
songs engulfed in flame from head to toe. This obsession with fire meshed
perfectly with the band’s driving operatic melodies and dramatically intoned
tales of lost love and longing, tragedy and deviance, dominance and submission.
“The main thing is love in all its shapes and variations,” countered Till
Lindemann. Adds Flake, “They are completely normal, romantic lyrics.” This
was naturally taken to be with a grain of salt, coming from a man who set
himself on fire nightly and the colleague who would break fluorescent lighting
tubes over his bare chest. However, a passage from any number of Rammstein
lyrics would bear out Lindemann’s claim. Take, for instance, this
rough translation of a snippet from the title track of Rammstein’s 1995
debut, Herzeleid (or “Heartache”):
“Protect one another from heartache for short is the time
you will have together or although it may be many years lit will someday
seem to have passed like minutes...” (Forgive the somewhat rusty translation
as i don't speak fluent german :).
On some level, it all struck a primal and resounding
chord with the German populace. Herzeleld built relentlessly on the groundswell
created by the band’s live reputation, ultimately providing bonafide entry
into the European mainstream. Scaling the heights of the German charts
(and remaining there until the release of the second Rammstein LP some
two years later), the album inadvertently introduced the band to the world
outside the Germany/Switzerland/Austria region: When it came time to make
a Rammstein video, the band innocently sent copies of Herzeleid to its
favorite filmmakers. One responded: David Lynch. While Lynch replied that
he was too busy working on Lost Hif4h@a to direct a Rammstein video, he
had become so enamored with the record that he eventually included two
songs ftom Herzeleid in the film and soundtrack: “Rammstein” and “Heirate
Mich” (or “Marry Me”).
Herzeleid’s increasing success and visibility did not come without a measure of controversy, specifically accusations of Nazism and fascism leveled at Rammstein by the German media. The origin of these allegations is unclear. Some said Herzeleid’s cover art- the six members of Rammstein shirtless, buff and shiny against a backdrop of giant yellow flowers-suggested the band members as progenitors of a new master race. “That’s complete rubbish,” says Flake. “It’s just a photo.” Stranger still, others decried a similarity between Lindemann’s rolling r’s and Adolf Hitler’s diction (!). Whatever. The fact remains that the band has never penned a political lyric and continues to laugh off such conjecture. “If we were Spanish,” says Landers, “Then we wouldn’t have to deal with this hassle. If some of the journalists want to stick us in the Nazi corner, we can’t help it. It’s the same they did with Kraftwerk twenty years ago...”
As Rammstein’s second album, Sehnsucht (or “Longing”),
was released, the band was headlining throughout Europe to crowds of 10,000
to 30,000. Sehnsucht entered the German charts at #1 immediately upon its
August release, and came very close to doing to the same in Austria and
Switzerland. Within weeks, entries on other countries’ charts had Sehnsucht
rubbing elbows with Prodigy, Radiohead and the Rolling Stones on Billboard’s
cumulative Eurochart.
By the time you read this, Sehnsucht will have gone double-platinum
in Germany, platinum in Switzerland, gold in Austria, and will be ascending
the top 100 of Finland, Sweden and Hungary. Rammstein will have also completed
a debut U.S. mini-tour, introducing a scaled down version of its
pyro-psycho pastiche to a routing suspiciously similar to the Sex Pistols’
first American jaunt: Tulsa OK, Texas ... concluding not in San Francisco,
but in Los Angeles, where the band blew away a capacity crowd of KMFDM
and Lords Of Acid fans (Literally and figuratively; there were quite a
few explosions lighting up the Hollywood Palladium that night). What’s
more, this landmark performance had Rammstein merchandise flying out the
door-no mean feat for the opening act on a three-band bill- and U.S. rock
luminaries including members of the Foo Fighters and Afghan Whigs re-routing
their travel itineraries to catch the band’s L.A. debut.
All this and Rammstein has yet to release a record in the U.S. Sehnsucht will be issued Stateside by February 1998 on Slash Records. Whether or not the drum ‘n’bass interludes of the title track, the haunting whistling and eerie chil(Iren’s choir of the German #1 single “Engel” (“Angel”), or the riff-driven techno-metal of “Du Hast” (“You Hate” [ Du Hast translates to "You have" RNW Editor] -also a top I 0 hit in Germany) will resonate with an American audience is anyone’s guess. One thing, however, is certain: Rammstein will not compromise. Fire codes will be subverted, lyrics will remain in German, videos will continue to push the envelope. Otherwise, it just wouldn’t be Rammstein.
“We can’t help the way we are,” says Lindemann.
Or as Landers so succinctly puts it: “Rammstein is Rammstein.”
1994
Beginning of 1994 Six musicians
from Eastern-Germany (from Berlin and Schwerin)
form the band Rammstein. The
line-up and the former bands are :
Richard Kruspe (Guitar) from
"Orgasm death gimmick".
Paul Landers (Guitar) from "Feeling
B".
Till Lindemann (Singer) from
"First Arsch".
Flake Lorenz (Keyboard) from
"Feeling B."
Oliver Riedel (Bass) from "The
Inchtabokatables".
Christoph Schneider (drums)
from "Die Firma".
The initiator Richard Kruspe
was followed by Christoph Schneider and Oliver Riedel.
Paul Landers, Flake Lorenz and
Till Lindemann then completed the formation.
1995
Record-deal with MotorMusic/Polygram.
The album "Herzeleid" is produced
in the Polar-studio in Stockholm , cooperating
with the Swedish producer Jacob
Hellner (who also produced the swedish
Crossover-band "Clawfinger").
Release of the first single
"Du riechst so gut".
Release of the debut-album "Herzeleid"
Beginning of the co-operation
with the concert agent Henry von Fichtel for the agency
"Blindfish".
Rammstein on tour with the German
EBM-band "Project Pitchfork" (15 concerts).
Rammstein support the Swedish
Crossover-band "Clawfinger" during their two
concerts in Warsaw and Prague.
Rammstein are on their first
headliner-tour on Germany, again in co-operation with
the "Blindfish"-agency (17 concerts).
1996
The second single "Seeman" is
released. The videoclip is produced in Hamburg by Lazlo Kadar.
Rammstein supports Clawfinger
in Austria and in Switzerland (3 concerts).
Rammstein supports "The Ramones"
on their "Adios Amigos Tour" in Germany
First co-operation with concert-agent
Scumek Sabottka for MCT.
Rammstein on tour in Germany,
in co-operation with the "Blindfish"-agency (14
concerts); support: DJ KOM (Ger).
Live-gig during the MTV-show
"Hanging out" in London.
Showcase on the Polygram World
Congress in Hong Kong.
Rammstein on tour in Germany,
in co-operation with the "Blindfish"-agency (21
concerts); support: Farmer boys
(Ger) and Mink Stole (Ger).
The american cult-director David
Lynch chooses two Rammstein songs for his new
movie "Lost Highway": "Heirate
mich" and "Rammstein"; the film started in the USA
in Autumn 1996, in Europe in
April 1997.
100 years of Rammstein jubilee-concert
in the Arena in Berlin/ Guests: Moby & Bobo
and the Berlin Session Orchestra
Beginning of the cooperation
with the painter and photograph Gottfried Hellwein (A) /
he gives one of his original
pictures for the stage set. For the light show, there is now
Gert Hof, a director from Berlin,
compulsory.
Ceremonious foundation of the
first official Rammstein Fan Club.
Rammstein on tour in Germany/Austria/Switzerland
in co-operation with the
"Blindfish"-agency; support:
Secret Discovery (Ger) (13 concerts).
The album "Sehnsucht" is produced
in the Temple studios in Malta, producer is once
again Jacob Hellner from Sweden.
1997
The album "Herzeleid" enters
the German sales charts for the fifth time.
Release of the first single,
"Engel", from the coming album "Sehnsucht". It enters the
charts from rank zero to rank
12; the videoclip is produced in Hamburg by director
Hannes Rossacher.
Rammstein on a sold-out tour
in Germany/Austria/Switzerland in co-operation with
the agency MCT; support: Eskimos
& Egypt (GB), (17 concerts).
"Engel" reaches the state of
gold! At the same time, the remix "Engel"-fan edition. It
also contains the two unreleased
collectors-items "Wilder Wein" and "Feuerräder".
Release of the second single
from the coming,"Sehnsucht" album: "Du hast". The
videoclip is produced in Berlin/Brandenburg
by director Phillip Stölzl.
Both "Herzeleid" and "Engel"
are awarded with gold, until then, both records have
sold more than 450.000 copies.
Lowland-festival, Dronten, Holland
The second album "Sehnsucht"
is released having six different cover. each with a
Hellnwein-portrait of one of
the Rammstein musicians. "Sehnsucht" chart entered in
rank one of the album charts,
"Herzeleid" is in the top-twenty of the album charts as
well. In the singles charts,
both "Engel" and "Du hast" can be found in the top twenty.
Sold-out concert halls during
the autumn tour in Germany/Austria and Switzerland
(average hall-capacity: 7000
persons), in co-operation with with the agency MCT;
support during the first part:
Vitro, during the second part: KMFDM (23 concerts).
Release of the "Kraftwerk"-coverversion
"Das Modell", including the unreleased track
"Kokain" and a Rammstein Computer
game.
1998
Rammstein makes video for "Du
hast" and premeires on MTV.
Rammstein does a cover of the
Depeshe Mode song "Stripped" for the tribute album
"For the Masses." A single is
also released with different remixes of the song.
