- Richard's [Richard Kruspe] problem is that he does too many things! [Richard laughs]
- Our audience in America is younger, the German audience has been behind us a lot longer.
- [Why do you think Rammstein is the only popular German band in the USA?] To cut it short: We are great, original and outstanding!!!
- [Did Kraftwerk make a statement about the cover version of "Das Modell"?] They think it's a terrible version. The worst they've ever heard.
- [How did it come about that Emu became your manager?] It was love at second sight.
- It was a long time ago that I tried drugs. I'm not interested in drugs as a rule.
- There are lots of reasons why I like America. Everything is bigger, you feel like there's space. People are talkative and things are less complicated. Life in general appears to be more relaxed over there. I like touring in the US a lot. It's great that our German music is so successful in America, people even try to understand our lyrics. We've travelled the whole country with the band, it's better than being on holiday. I've met lots of people there and we were able to play together with other good bands (Korn, Limp Bizkit and KMFDM). The US is most definitely a completely controlled police state however, contrary to all talk of freedom. I really don't know what to make of American morality. I could imagine living there for a while, but would never apply for American citizenship.
- I'm actually more of a hippie, but the hairstyle apparently had an influence on my playing style.
- [Paul Landers] has a very exhausting personality.
- We were funnier when we didn't know we were funny. In the beginning, we wanted to be hard and extreme. Nowadays we want to show that we're not that evil, and that we can laugh at ourselves. We are only humans, and I think we should explore the hard with the romantic in the future.
- [on his first impression of Oliver Riedel] I thought Olli was a dangerous type, because he was always silent, but six months later, he spoke.
- Richard had to stay in this costume for 12 hours [for the Rammstein: Du riechst so gut '98 (1998) music video]. They kept him waiting. It's about 4 am here [in this photo]. He was very pissed off and cold and exhausted. You can see it in his face. [Paul Landers: And he couldn't sit down. But Richard can handle such things. He is strong.]
- One of our buddies went to the West, so the band [Sam's Dice Group] was dead. My parents persuaded me to join the army so I could study at the university. I was in the NVA for three years, which was pretty much idiocy. I lost contact with everyone because of that. I realised during my time in the army that I had made a wrong choice. When I came back in 1988, I had a powerful hatred of the army, the GDR, and socialism. It was clear to me: either I leave or I find good, cool people in the underground scene.
- If it is all six of us together, people will recognise us, but alone it rarely happens. But that is quite okay. It is very important that everybody has his private life. How everyone manages this is his own responsibility, how much he allows the band to be a part of it. For me, it is very important to separate it. I do not carry my worries with the band into my private life.
- [on the beginnings of Rammstein] I said: I'll play on the condition that Paul doesn't play with me. But I had grown fond of them [his former Feeling B bandmates Paul and Flake] too. And then the other boys, Till and Scholle [Richard], wanted to have them with them, and tugged at them.
- You have to communicate and see what's best for the whole. Once you're sitting there in the rehearsal room and you think the song you're working on sucks, it's not as easy. Yoga and group therapy helped me a lot when it was as its worst, it made me able to go with the flow instead of swimming against it. The most important thing I've learned about the working process is to think positively about my own ideas, but not beat myself up about them getting through.
- My parents played classical music, so they didn't support me, but hoped I would change my mind. I was pretty sure I wanted to play drums and what style I wanted to play. I listened to hard rock, AC/DC and stuff like that, and that's what I wanted to play. And it turns out that being a musician has become a good life for me, ha ha.
- You can't be an artist if you're endlessly anxious about the potential for misunderstanding: you've just got to be confident that your spirit is right, that your integrity is there, and that people fundamentally will get the point, will respond to it because you're human beings. We're honest to the point where other Germans just hide and stick their heads in the sand. I think that's true bigotry, when you let the legacy of our history dictate and oppress you.
- That song [Mutter] was Till's thing alone. A very personal song. That was the first time we decided we didn't want to participate. All band members have to buy the lyric, and be associated with it - and I couldn't accept it. So we had a huge fight, and we didn't see each other for months. And yes, some people felt, 'I don't want to continue'. It didn't get that serious that we thought we were definitely finished. But it was a turning point, where we reorganised.
- I don't speak any Spanish so I don't even know what it [Rammstein's song title "Te Quiero Puta!"] means, but it means something bad.
- We're very different. Some are quieter, some more loud-mouthed. Loud-mouthed, that's how the guitarists are, Paul and Richard. They are the most ambitious within the band. They're also the ones who crave control most. Olli, the bassist, is a rather quiet guy, but he voices his opinion. He's not really into public life though. Flake is more of a funny guy - the man with two faces. He likes to be at home with his family, and stands for the funny side of Rammstein. Flake is the antithesis to this harsh men's world. Till is a really cool guy and he knows that, as a singer, he's the one who catches most attention. He's not interested into arguing, he just gives his opinion now and then. It's hard to judge yourself : I rather belong to the quieter part of the band, and am sort of an harmonizer. I can act as a link between all parties. So each one has his role...
- [do you have any phobias?] Yeah, I have a phobia of insects, especially spiders. Somebody told me that in order to cure the phobia, I should observe them for a while. So I watched them and told myself it was OK, and that they also have their place in the world. I don't kill them; I don't kill anything any more. Even flies have the right to live.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content