Interview with Richard for METAL HAMMER N°12 - 1996
It goes on restlessly: While Rammstein’s debut Herzeleid is currently aiming for the 100,000 units mark, the Berliners are busy working on the second stage of their plan for world conquest - new songs, new fire, new power.
They were just testing some new inspirations and new music in the battlefield of the concert halls - starting with a relatively chaotic concept concert in Berlin, where classical music, Moby, contemporary art and Rammstein entered into a creative symbiosis in front of 7,000 people for the purpose of reorientation. “The thing was definitely too big in the end,” remarked Richard Kruspe, the Rammstein guitarist, a few days later. “Unfortunately we were already in the pre-production for the next record and therefore couldn’t take care of the organization at all. The idea was to work together with completely different people, to get new impulses. If you always work in the same environment, you fall asleep, dumbed down in a certain way. The tour we’re doing now (early October) is to try out live new songs that we have together in pre-production so far. Usually you write songs and record them without ever having played them outside of a rehearsal room. Certain things only work on stage and I want to play every song live once before I sign off on it.” Which in itself is just a copy of the long road from Rammstein to the first record. “That was a good principle. I don’t think you can just sit down somewhere and make a song.”
Richard quantifies the current level of creativity with “twenty ideas that we’re going to rub in with the old things.” Although he can get the effect mentioned from the endless touring activities, he sees them more as lost time from a purely creative point of view: “It’s completely impossible to work on new material on tour. From time to time there’s a little something going on at the sound check, but then the time isn’t there. Most of the time we do other things: stay healthy, go swimming…” In short: times have changed. “More than us anyway. When we started with the first Rammstein songs back then, we never thought about success. We were a lot more naive, we went a lot more gutsy - but that’s the only difference. Rammstein on the second record will be the same Rammstein as before, just more mature.”
Richard is excited to work with new material now that ”there’s a story to every note of heartbreak.“ Nevertheless, Rammstein’s music has something strongly ritualistic, stageable right from the start - was that a mental help to play ‘Du riechst so gut’ even after the 300th time with pleasure? “I see it more like this: Our songwriting suits that. It’s very monumental, rather… well, simply structured; we do not attach importance to distinguishing ourselves through virtuosity. The problem isn’t that you still feel like the songs, it’s just that you’re totally overwhelmed if you keep playing the same thing. No more enthusiasm: Everything used to be great, today you play a riff that is maybe much better than on the first record and still think five times whether it’s any good. In the last four weeks of pre-production, we’ve all noticed that music doesn’t really appeal to us anymore.” Of course, pressure also plays a role, “quite automatically, unconsciously, you cannot deny it…”
In this euphoric rather subdued creative period, Rammstein helps the proven parallelism between lyrics and music in songwriting. “We’ve noticed that our creativity basically only comes from the meeting of these six constellations - all six of us have to be there when mixing, for example, otherwise it sucks. The basic ideas always come from the individuals, but from a very early stage people talk about them and work on them together. Of course, a hard riff usually comes with hard lyrics; a lot arises from simple associations, especially in the relationship between music and text. There are always a lot of quarrels, but that’s what makes it special: Rammstein is democracy with creative scratching and hair-pulling. If everything was always straight it would be boring and we could all do solo projects.”
The plans up to phase two of the world conquest are already set: “After this tour we will do a second pre-production in Berlin, together with a producer. We’ll be recording in Malta - we thought, let’s treat ourselves to some sun. But just heard that it’s not supposed to be that great there… Anyway: recording runs from mid-November to the end of December, then we’ll take a break for a few weeks and then, from February 1st, just like with the mix for the first record in Hamburg.”
What remains after a hundred Rammstein (that’s the motto of the Berlin event)? Thousands of other German bands who upgraded with 'Rammstein guitars’? A new sound? “I don’t think anyone reinvents a sound. There is a kind of development: a certain artist becomes popular with a certain sound and then logically get copied. There must have been a bunch of grunge bands before Nirvana, but Nirvana were the first to succeed - not without reason, of course, but because they were good. They were then copied by thousands. It’s similar with Rammstein. There are already many bands that wanted to combine techno, modern music elements with hard sounds - we were lucky enough to be successful with it, which is why such attempts are now associated with our name.” Of course, the reduction to catchy sound clichés is a bit annoying, “but of course it’s also a compliment for us when people emulate us - which is also a form of development.” Richard doesn’t necessarily want to admit higher musical authorities, but “the interesting thing is to be inspired. I’m listening to a lot of Prodigy right now; for me an electronic band that tries new things, is courageous. They take sounds that don’t exist yet. That’s important to us, also when it comes to our outfit: we don’t want clichés! Musically, we are not interested in things that were already there.”
Outfit, lived out pyromania - all things that success has made more and more feasible. ”Sure, that’s a double-edged sword. It’s fun, there’s variety, and people want a show, they think it’s cool: 50 percent good music, 50 percent good show.” Whereby Rammstein, in contrast to the American model - all entertainment - do a blatant balancing act between provocation, fetishism, extremeness on the one hand and entertainment. “Both are included. It’s fascinating for me to look at the people listening to our songs. It starts with the cop asking our truck to stop traffic and with a 'Rammstein? Then see you tonight!’ goodbye. And how many children are on the shows!” Although the predicate 'pedagogically valuable’ is certainly anything but appropriate for some texts… “I also constantly think about what makes our attractiveness to them. Maybe it’s because we’re a very easy-to-understand band in terms of musical style elements. The problem is rather that we are becoming more and more the slaves of our effects - according to the motto: once a pyro, always a pyro. The most we could do is change the element…” Add a few cold showers? “Like this. We still have opportunities and it’s exciting. We also sell a few records, so it can’t just be the fire.“ Or else, albeit in a metaphysical sense: Jugend forscht, part 11 - playing with fire. But it is certainly true that, as Richard says, above a certain mass effect, fire, monumental music are perceived. If there’s a future for a mix of Kiss and Einfallende Neubauten in the German music scene, then Rammstein are about to get seriously mega. As for you personally: It’s progressing! And we keep at it…
My taste in music is eclectic… I like everything from classic rock to alternative to modern pop to jazz to (occasionally) heavy metal… and for the past three years I’ve had a couple songs on my playlists that I don’t know what they say or mean… because they’re in German. Which I don’t speak.
I googled them, out of curiosity….. and let’s just say that Rammstein is more… interestingly messed up than I knew about before. I’ve been listening to “Ich tu dir weh” while running (what can I say, angry sounding music makes me more determined) without realizing how sadistic it is. I’m actually impressed (and a little shocked) by his ingenuity (as far as ways to actually cause someone pain) in the song.
Hot damn. Maybe I should look up what songs I listen in other languages mean more often.
