All language subtitles for Rammengka (2015)

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I was asking Till, I said you know,

what's with all, you know, the fire
and everything about the fire

where does this come from?

And he looks at me and says:

There are three kinds of fire!

First is the fire of the mind,
your thoughts... Ok?!

Second kind of fire is the
fire of the heart.

It's your passion...

and I am waiting for the third kind...

and he says, then the third
kind of fire, it's just fire!

They'd offered me earplugs.
Before they'd said, you will need these!

And I am ah...

So I used the earplugs,
it was still too loud...

my body was shaking!

When the fans are there it's your job
to give them bang for the buck.

We are brothers in pyro! We
lead by fire.

The first time I met Till,
he came into my dressing room on fire.

That's a great entrance!

We couldn't even shake hands,
because Till was on fire.

I probably could have roasted
marshmallows from the seat I was in.

And I wasn't in the front row.

The production was over the
top! It was great!

It's everything that Americans
think of Germany.

It just runs, Germany,
it runs really well,

like it's a very well oiled machine.

It was an incredible display
of power and beauty,

light and shade, entertainment.

It was a rock opera!

Their backstory is
unbelievably interesting!

Six guys from behind the Iron Curtain

who really did not believe they're ever
gonna have the opportunity

to play the kind of music
that they are now playing.

It'; The 1980s!
The East German music scene is small

but active, and very tightly knit.

Bands come and go,
everyone knows everyone else

and there is a great sense of solidarity.

On the road
with their former band 'Feeling B, '

Paul Landers and Flake Lorenz
play every venue they're allowed to.

Back then, it was normal
to play together with a lot of friends.

If you had time,
you'd meet up and play together.

'Feeling B' and 'Die
Firma' were still around

so everyone had their own bands.

Back then life for Paul and Flake
revolves around 'Feeling B.'

Later they are joined
by drummer Christoph Schneider.

In Schwerin Till Lindemann is playing
drums in the band 'First Arsch, '

Richard Kruspe is with 'Das Elegante Chaos,
' and later 'Orgasm Death Gimmick, '

while Oliver Riedel
is with 'The Inchtabokatables.'

Their role models however
are predominantly Western.

Because we could listen to radio, we had
the same radio broadcasts as West Germans.

Radio Free Berlin had such great programs,

and so musically we were
on the same level as the West,

because music quickly crosses borders.

And we knew the American bands, too.

School, of course,
gave us a politically tinted view.

The GDR tried to portray
the Soviet Union as good,

and the West as bad, including America.

It actually accomplished the opposite!

I had a huge 'Kiss' poster
on my door at home,

and one day my step-father came in and
ripped the poster into a thousand pieces.

I spent the whole night
putting the pieces back together,

and the next morning at about 5:30,
I was finished

and could hang the poster back on my door.

When they would be able to get their hands
on a tape, you know

of a band, it was so...
It meant so much to them.

So when the wall came down, obviously,
that enabled 'Rammstein' to even exist.

In 1993, Schwerin friends Till, Richard and
Oliver celebrate their new found travel freedom

with a voyage of discovery
across the south-western USA.

Simultaneously 'Feeling B' are
visiting the south-eastern part of America.

Blissfully unaware of
each other's existence,

the future 'Rammstein' members
discover the formerly-forbidden country.

We only knew America through films
and thought it was a dangerous country.

We could speak school English,
but it wasn't enough for communication.

The only one who could speak
a bit of English was Till.

Oh could say “yes" and I could say "no,"
so we were a good team.

Yeah, and it was terrible on the phone
when they towed our car.

They were so inconsiderate,

wouldn't speak a little slower,
it didn't work...

We've taken your car away...
I didn't understand a word!

Then they mentioned some kind of "fine,"
and I said: Is it fine?

But they wanted money!

Till, Oliver and Richard's traveling party

don't allow themselves
to be waylaid by such problems

and continue to enjoy the new world.

Paul, Schneider and Flake however
take it a step further,

and try to top up their depleted vacation
fund with occasional performances.

When we were in New Orleans it was
Mardi Gras, which is carnival for us.

There were bands playing in every bar,
there was areal party atmosphere.

Then we said we'd may, too,
and suddenly the whole venue was empty!

No one came in, everyone just ran out.

I remember how Schneider
asked the drummer, can I play on your kit?

Then the drummer looked
at Schneider's sticks,

they were quite thick,

and gave him two thin ones, right?

He was completely over the moon.

Then he gave me his sticks and I had
to keep playing with the thin ones.

And he asked me not to play too hard.

This American adventure
is more than just a journey

through the land of
seemingly unlimited possibilities.

It is also a turning point.

At that time,
we were a little bit directionless.

We still had the bands
that we had in the East,

but we knew that we might want
to start something new.

It was a kind of crossroad.

For all of us, independently of each other
and both groups,

seeing how music was made here, was
an inspiration that we took back to Europe.

We saw that in California,

there were two people in L.A.,
on Sunset Strip,

listening to this band playing.

They were kind of awesome in a way,
it sounded good,

at least to our East German ears.

There were two people in the pit,

and then the band started, and they acted like
they were playing for ten thousand people.

They went crazy!
I said, what'; Wrong with them?

You can't go on stage like that!

Because we always thought,
at the youth club,

when a band plays there,
it's always packed,

or there are at least a few people there.

Two people! I didn't understand
why they would even start?!

I thought that this is the American way,

to always give one hundred percent
no matter what.

I noticed that music
is more important to people here,

because they have to live from it.

We're from the GDR and
it was like paradise,

you lived your life
and then played music on the side for fun,

because there was always money.

Here, people who make music are dependent
on it and therefore take it more seriously.

Lives led in East Germany
and experiences gained in America...

These are the foundations
on which 'Rammstein is built.

The musicians also view their new band

as a reaction to the situation
in the reunified Germany.

We didn't want 'Rammstein'
to sound like American bands!

But we adopted the energy
of the approach for our band.

We conceptualized the
band to stir things up!

We'd done it already
with our bands in the East,

and 'Rammstein' happens
to be just what the West needs.

We were never allowed to say anything,
that's how it was in the East.

The problem was always
that certain topics couldn't be addressed.

In music, for example,
the lyrics would be vague or in English

so that no one could understand them.

Then all of a sudden you have the opportunity
to say and sing whatever you want.

Even do some of the things
you want to on stage,

and of course in that moment
you scream it from your soul.

Basically, we do what many people
would like to do.

And you get the angriest about
the mistakes you'd like to make yourself.

Basically, we rustle all the
feathers we can here in Germany,

and people get angry
because they don't dare do it themselves.

I think it's good that
'Rammstein' polarises.

I like it when a band
provokes people into discussing the topic.

I think it's good in general.

People thinking about certain things and
then maybe even realizing where they stand,

and what their own opinion is.

We started as a completely normal band.
We just played.

There were no show elements.

Till actually saw us in Berlin 1994.

He said, he was at that show
and for him and his friends,

it was like one of the most
important shows they ever went to,

and he said especially 'Anthrax, '

because he had never seen a band
moving so much and trying to entertain

and he said, it was
really, really influential on them,

when they were first
putting 'Rammstein' together,

thinking we want to entertain people.

American audiences,
Western audiences like to be entertained!

There is a long history
of entertainment from the West,

starting from Elvis Presley and...

but it has to have, for longevity,
it has to have some substance behind it.

I know that 'Kiss, ' I am sure
was a big influence on them

as they were with me.

They were my heroes.

The first band that introduced
certain special effects into their shows

like pyrotechnics etc.,
I'd never seen that before.

'Rammstein's stage show
is constantly evolving.

Pyrotechnics quickly become an
integral part of their performances.

Before long the band
is reaching an ever-greater audience.

'Rammstein' now play major festivals
with international line-ups,

and many American acts
become aware of the German band.

I remember being
somewhere in Europe and hearing

bubbling commentary about a new
important German group called 'Rammstein.'

And it rang a strange bell,
what is 'Rammstein', 'Rammstein?'?

"Stein" of course is German for "stone"
and "ramm," to "ram" is a verb in English,

it'; An aggressive verb.
It means to push through

and with aggressive force

but I'd heard something else
and all of a sudden, I realized...

Ramstein is the big American base

and I thought, oh! Somebody put
their finger on the belly button.

I remember,
we saw them in 1997 on this festival,

And he was shooting
that flamethrower out over the crowd

and I remember going:
You can't do this at home!!

We played at festivals in Germany
where international bands played, too.

After the concert, they'd come
to us and say: You have to come over!

And we always thought, what? Really?

We sing in German,
no one is interested in that!

Feedback from international artists,

and their rising
popularity in Germany and beyond,

spur 'Rammstein' on to
take the next step.

The band wants to crack
the American market.

The path from Germany
to America just doesn't exist.

There's only the path
from America and England to Germany.

There aren't even telephone lines.

They don't even have the numbers!

They just get called up
and told what to release.

In their search for a suitable American
partner they come across Bob Biggs,

founder of the
independent label 'Slash Records.'

He has experience
of working with acts

like 'Faith No More'
and 'Asian Dub Foundation.'

Biggs decides to take a gamble
on 'Rammstein, ' and says yes.

I came from a punk rock
background, I think.

And I mean, the stuff that the bands
that I had were doing, was, you know...

it wasn't as slick
and as produced and as good.

But they were doing crazy things on stage.

To understand 'Rammstein, '
you have to see 'Rammstein' live.

That's why we invited him back then,

and he came to see us
play at the 'Bizarre Festival'...

At the time,
I had pretty much complete autonomy!

I could do whatever I wanted to do,

and when I first started
talking about 'Rammstein, '

it wasn't really popular
within the company.

Biggs is particularly fascinated by their
stage production as a total work of art.

He saw it and then fell
in love with the band,

and, of course, with his motivation
he accomplished a lot of things we needed.

In this country, you need someone
who believes in you.

And then, we brought them over to New York

to play a couple of gigs,
just to get them introduced.

In September 1997 the
time has finally come!

'Rammstein's American
adventure begins.

European success counts for little here.
America is a totally different market,

in which it is difficult
for European bands to get a foothold.

So, in New York,
'Rammstein' start again from scratch.

This is the location
where we played for the first time.

The venue was called 'Banks'
because it used to be an old bank.

I recall that we played
here for about 15 people.

We were playing this festival
called the 'College Music Festival.'

And then, we heard a band called 'Rammstein'
was going to play the same night

and we were very excited going,
who is this band from Germany?

Wait a minute!
We sing in German, they sing in German.

This is awesome.
We have to hang out with them, right?

We sat on our gear
in the hallway when 'Rammstein' arrived.

And all of them appeared
at that time to be about eight feet tall.

And they just filed in one by one
in front of us, walking stoically.

They came in with a smoke machine.

It was like the sun was
behind them, they came in like shadows!

The smoke machine
and we sat there and went like...

I remember, back then,
we always started with the burning jacket.

I remember that Till
set himself on fire out here,

and then walked
through the venue to get to the stage.

Because we didn't have a backstage
area to prepare the pyrotechnics.

'Rammstein' went on considerably late

and played to
about 30 people, two of which were us.

Of course, we waited around
and we were just, it was just like...

It was insane, it was
an arena show in a bar, it was a barena!

Bob had said to me,
you need to go check out this band!

They are gonna be
a very big priority for you!

You're gonna have to work this and
we're putting this album out in January!

And I remember watching
this and seeing this

and saying to myself:
This is it? This is the big priority?

The German band's
show causes jaws to drop.

The press now take notice of the six
lads from the fallen East Germany,

not least of all due to
the band's extreme physical exertion.

Back then,
we had a song that we played called...

what was it called again?

“Ich tu dir weh."
“Feuerréider."

No, "Feuerrader!"
Yeah! That's what I meant.

That was the performance
where Flake rode around on Till for a while

with a neon tube
in his hand, and then, for the finale,

would basically shatter it
into a thousand pieces on Till's back.

German neon tubes are thin
and very easy to break.

But Flake didn't know that American neon
tubes are about three to four times thicker

and not as easily shattered.

Exactly! So he went nuts
trying to break it on Till's back.

Poor Till almost couldn't
handle it anymore,

and at the end it didn't really shatter,
it just broke into two pieces.

The other piece flew at me while I was playing
and suddenly it was stuck in my shoulder!

And then we all went out onto the street

where Till and I bled like crazy.

Till'; Back looked really bad!
It was full of shards.

That was our first show in America.

It was like trial by fire!
We're seeing it live in a small club

with them playing and smashing
fluorescent lights across each other.

I left and I just remember
walking out shaking my head and saying:

What am I gonna do with these guys?
How is this gonna work?

Listen to the band! It
didn't really matter!

I mean the trilling of
the German like an opera singer,

and the way it came out and the attack that
it had and the point that the music had,

was so aggressive and so, so, so striking!

I didn't really care what was going on.

It didn't matter to me,
I just thought it was wonderful stuff.

A mere three months
later, in December 1997,

'Rammstein' embark upon their first major U.S.
tour, supporting the industrial band 'KMFDM.'

Pyrotechnics are
'Rammstein's trump card at this point.

I flew out to come and see the band,
to see them perform,

to see them really let loose.

I'll never forget, the show ended.

The end of the show, Till held out the
flamethrower and was blowing flames,

it couldn't have been more than 25
or 30 feet over the crowds head

and I saw the reaction of the crowd.

And I remember leaving that show
that night and realizing this could work!

So that was the next step
for me to sort of believing

and seeing what 'Rammstein'
could really ultimately achieve.

The band still lack an American agent
who can book shows for them in the U.S.

As a result Wayne Pighini
has to do an awful lot of persuading.

He had called me and said, we are
looking for an agent for this band

and I think you would be perfect.

Your company represents 'Metallica, '

you've some
of the biggest artists in the world,

but my initial instinct was,
that this will never, ever work in America.

So I called Wayne
and I said, I'm passing, I'm out,

it's never gonna happen here!

Americans will never listen
to a band that sings in German.

And he wouldn't give up! So I said, OK!

Listen! I'm gonna go see the show.

So I went to Los Angeles,
I walked into the Palladium,

'Rammstein' comes out,

Till has his arms open with the
metal jacket, completely on fire...

I looked at Wayne and I said, I'm in!

This is so extreme, this is so real,
that America will eat this up!

The biggest dream for every band from Europe
or Germany is to be successful in America.

If you're then lucky enough
to gain that success in your own language

without having to imitate anything,

if you can stay true
to yourself, your music and language,

you feel even better, of course.

That'; Why these concerts
were incredibly important to us.

That we managed, after a certain time, after
we'd already been successful in Germany,

to do concerts here with 'Rammstein.'

Because we just knew that our show,
the pyrotechnics and everything,

would also be well received in America,
regardless of whether we sang in German,

we knew that it was definitely worth
trying to come here with 'Rammstein.'

So it's possible that someone would go
to a 'Rammstein' show in the States

and have no interest
in guitar-based music or heavy metal,

but they just love
the fireworks and the spectacle.

The first headline tour that
we booked for 'Rammstein' across the U.S.,

we did San Francisco,
L.A., Denver, Chicago and New York.

It's 1,200 miles to Denver!

From where?

From L.A.

Maybe we should leave earlier.

Presale! Denver 464!
Chicago 740! Presale! 740!

Fucking beautiful!
520 New York City!

Two weeks left! Looking good! Very good.

Kids were coming to the show,

knowing that they were gonna see an
incredible, intense show with pyrotechnics!

And the band
was challenged every day by the authorities

as to what they could do or couldn't do.

When we were in Chicago in 1998,
the fire department came down to the show

and they told them
they were not allowed to do fire!

And they were like: Oh, my God!
How we gonna do a show, without FEUER?!

So the band had two choices! One: Go home!

Two: Do a show with no pyro!

So they said: Fuck it!
There's 1,100 people here,

we're gonna play without pyro
and we're gonna kick some ass!

We didn't know that almost every type

of pyrotechnics needed
to be inspected for permission!

One of the drawbacks is that everyone here
in America takes their job so seriously!

150 percent seriously,
and you have to show them everything.

Even to this day, the band will not play,

cannot play in the city limits of Chicago,

because they had massive fires
way back in the early 1900s.

But the band receive surprising support
of a very different kind from Hollywood.

Visionary director David Lynch
uses two of their songs

in his now-legendary film 'Lost Highway.'

Lynch was definitely a door-opener.

A door opened for us
into that style of art.

All these intellectuals,
noticed us for the first time.

I mean, Manson was involved.

Trent Reznor of 'Nine Inch Nails'
did the soundtrack back then,

so it was a good soundtrack
with Lynch, yeah.

I was playing a prisoner in the jail scene.

Henry Rollins was the prison guard.

So during that scene on the set David Lynch
was playing this music to set the mood.

Because he wanted it to be
very dark and very scary.

Start the music quiet!

And then, when it hits the quiet part of the
music, we'll crank it up on action, OK?!

So he starts playing
this song: "Rammstein!“"

I never heard it before!

He's playing this really evil heavy music
with some guy with this voice

and singing in German!
And I am like, this is fucked up!

I'm sitting in this weird jail cell
and I've never been in a movie before,

so I was nervous anyway
and the music just made me more nervous

and that was the point.
David Lynch was like:

I want everyone to look really nervous
and scared, and the music did it!

And then I asked afterwards.
I said, what'; That music you're playing?

He goes: They're this German band
called 'Rammstein!' Isn't it great?!

I mean certainly
having 'Rammstein' in 'Lost Highway'

was the introduction
that 'Rammstein' had to a lot of Americans.

I think, they still
would have had success without that,

but it's such an amazing scene
and the music works so perfectly.

You know, it's hard to imagine
that scene with any other music in there.

I was involved with
David Lynch making 'Lost Highway'

and I had heard some music
that he was considering using for the film

and for some reason, he had asked me
about 'Rammstein'.

And it ended up being in the sex scene
when fucking somebody: Patricia Arquette.

So that's where it first started with,

so I hopefully had a part
of the suggestion to David Lynch

because I was such a fan of the song.

At that point, David Lynch
and Trent Reznor were like demigods.

And so David Lynch and Trent Reznor
saying that they liked 'Rammstein'

suddenly made it OK for everyone else
in America to like 'Rammstein.'

Cut it! Good deal!

We're there, man!

I think we gained
a lot of hardcore fans at that time.

People that listened to that type of music,
not the mainstream public.

But these were the first fans
to notice 'Rammstein' in America.

So, the first American
interview they did here

was with a major
fashion magazine, was with 'Details?

And I knew it was the right thing to do,

as soon as people started calling up
and saying: How the fuck did that happen?

I was just working on these things, like
I wanted them to be in 'Details' or 'GQ'

or 'Esquire' or 'Vanity Fair'
first before anything else

and 'MTV' started getting into them,

ready to do some sort of
Headbangers' Ball rock thing

and I said, no, I didn't wanna do it
until Kurt Loder did it himself

and I also knew that
Kurt Loder spoke German.

Metal isn't a musical combination
one comes across every day.

When the German band 'Rammstein'
passed through New York recently,

in flames literally,
we had to catch their act.

The group is fronted by
an Olympic swimming champ,

oddly enough has already been featured

on a soundtrack
of David Lynch's film 'Lost Highway'

and doesn't speak English.

So in a tribute to Raymond Burr's placed-in
appearance in the original 'Godzilla'

we dusted off our rusty German and
pretaped some questions to put to the boys.

It seemed like a good idea, but let's see.

Good evening, gentlemen.
So tell me what's going on with the fire?

There's fire in the videos and fire
on stage, what's up with that?

It's important to have
something more than just for your ears,

because that's what you
get on the CD at home.

It was always my experience
that when I went to a concert,

I wanted to see something other
than the music.

Isn't that dangerous?

Only minor things have happened to us,
like light to moderate burns sometimes,

some singed hair
and maybe a burnt ear and...

those guys 'Rammstein.'
Please don't try this at home, kids!

Guitars can be dangerous!

At the time, the music scene was
the 'Spice Girls' and stuff like that.

It was 'Hanson, ' it was terrible!

And it was also this new metal scene with
'Korn' and 'Linkin Park' and those guys.

'Korn' and 'Linkin Park' were
pretty powerful bands,

but they weren't as interesting to look at
as 'Rammstein' was.

They were just very theatrical sort of
like 'Kiss' in away.

So they were much more interesting I thought
and they knew exactly what they were doing.

Till is a great singer.
And I just loved it,

"I love “Du Hast" and I love that album,
it's really great.

Hard heavy music, metal,
whatever you want to call it,

was really on an upswing at that time

in the form of bands like 'Limp Bizkit,
' 'Korn, ' 'System of a Down, '

'Tool, ' 'Rage Against the Machine, '

these bands at that time were starting
to become really popular mainstream

and radio had to support that.

Again these bands
were just getting too big outside of radio

and that whole movement
of heavy bands really sort of had dictated

a new direction for radio stations.

Alternative radio in the States was
'jewel' and 'The Wallflowers'

and was very lighthearted.

And then almost over night,
it became 'Metallica, ' 'Limp Bizkit, '

'Puddle of Mudd, ' 'Disturbed'
and 'Rammstein' fit perfectly into that.

The only other German band
we really knew was 'The Scorpions' before.

And, you know, they always sang in English.

So it was very interesting to see
this band playing such heavy, heavy music

and singing in German,

and American kids loving it, they loved it.

Because think about it,
before that it was "99 Luftballons.“".

So you got, it was 'Nena, ' 'Rammstein.'

it seems like every decade, there is one
German song that is incredibly pervasive.

And it seems like this country allows only
one German song per decade to be a hit.

'Rammstein' were fortunate enough
to get the 90s.

'Rammstein's single “Du Hast"
becomes that hit song.

Even the smallest radio stations play it.

'Rammstein' have managed something that has
eluded almost all other German artists -

they've broken America.

I'm from a very small town
in the United States.

It's very unexpected that
they would even play the song.

And I remember right away,
I loved the production, the sound

and I remember I had to
ask someone right away what that meant.

And I felt anytime
someone has to question art,

it means something to you!

It doesn't pass you right by!

At the time MTV was very important.

You had to be on MTV! So, 'cause
then your fans can see who you are.

They wanted to crack this market obviously.
They wanted to be big in America!

Be afraid, be very afraid, if you love
having the holy crap scared out of you,

and I know I do, then you
are gonna love this!

Performing "DU HAST",
oh my sweet lord, it's 'RAMMSTEIN!!'

Once U.S. radio got a hold of it
and saw the reaction

and how it worked and MTV played it,

it just continued to snowball
and it was everywhere.

I remember a friend of mine at MTV called
me up and said, oh hey,

they passed on this third 'Smashing Pumpkins'
video of whatever the album was at that time

and they're giving the spot to your hand.

I was like what band? Like 'Rammstein, '

they're gonna put "Du Hast"
into heavy rotation.

I had just left 'Hole, ' just joined
'The Smashing Pumpkins'

and I remember james Iha,
the guitar player in the Pumpkins,

during like between songs just started
going "du, du hast, du hast mich"

and got the whole crowd to chant
and that was my introduction,

was through the guitar player of 'Smashing
Pumpkins' doing an a cappella chant.

One of the greatest things I remember,
was walking into a strip club

and I don't frequent strip clubs,

but when I heard "Du Hast"
at the strip club, I knew the band made it.

Boosted by this success, the album "Sehnsucht"
climbs into the American Billboard Top 50 -

a massive success
for a German band with German lyrics.

In the summer of 1998 'Rammstein, '

in conjunction
with some of America's hottest bands,

launch the 'Family Values Tour.'

Every town we went to at first,
the people all stood like this!

What is that?

The 'Family Values' name was
kind of like this group of bands.

Ironically 'Rammstein' was really
the black sheep in that group,

they really had nothing to do with those
bands other then being classified in the.

U.S. music marketing
machine as a metal band.

It was always encouraging
to play with these cool bands,

because we really had
the creme de la creme.

They set quite a high standard
and we could only just keep up.

Or let's put it this way,
it was a good measuring stick for us.

Because it's easy
to be the king back home in Germany.

But to keep up internationally,
that's something else entirely!

They were embraced in this group,
in this tour

which was built as 'Family Values' because at
the time "Du Hast“ was exploding in the U.S."

I think we were supposed
to play third or second, in the lead-up.

Then we told our management:
We won't play second out of five bands!

We'll play second to last!
We want to play right before 'Korn!'

And 'Limp Bizkit' was lethal!
So lethal live, really!

They went off!

We felt really shabby! We thought,
they're cool, hard, make awesome music,

and we've snuck in, unjustified,

and are trying to mask it
with a few flamethrowers!

Their music is heavy,
but it almost sounds military,

almost sounds like a squadron
of military musicians has come on stage.

I don't think the audience really knew
what hit them over their head.

It felt like sort of this band coming on

with fire and destruction and death

and by the time it was over,
it was like: "What happened?

What just happened to us?!“."

It was complete entertainment,
the whole time from start to finish!

I remember that on the
'Family Values Tour',

I had a huge problem
just being there

because I couldn't speak a word of English!

So I closed myself off.

I thought it was such a shame,
because I wanted to,

I mean we were playing
with bands that we all liked.

But I never had the chance to communicate!

I was very introverted there, and I suffered
a lot because I couldn't speak the language.

It was strange for us,
the first time them coming over,

we're going to the dressing room
and they're having a table set up

and they'll have a traditional dinner set,

they were all sitting like
eating together at a table and like:

"What the hell is going on
in this dressing room?"

It was very hard to
communicate with the band.

It was very difficult to try to translate

and explain to them some laws and things,
really more cultural things.

You know the laws are different
in every state in the United States.

So the fire marshal would come in
and they would allow this in one city

and not allow that in one city.

I still have language problems!

My English is so bad that those
who understand it turn away from me

and hope that my speech is almost over,

or make a face
like they've just eaten something bad.

It's terrible!

I'm just proud when I get a cup of coffee and
don't end up with a cup of bacon or something!

It hasn't gotten much better,
but I have to admit

that I haven't tried
very hard to improve it.

When you come off the stage, you have
a very peculiar chemistry in your body.

And it has to be compensated,
which I think a party is quite good for.

You have to slowly come down.

The problem is that you always drink a lot and
then spend every evening relatively drunk.

There was always a party afterwards.

I remember hanging out with Till,

we had set up some coffee tables
in the middle of the dressing room

and we had girls dancing naked
on the dressing room coffee table

and one of the tables broke.

We just basically knocked on the door
with like our box of porn.

And then Paul puts the porn on,
fast forward, really fast

and then put our CD on and then started
jumping on the seats and going crazy

and we're doing shots, and I was like,
what just happened?!?!?

I noticed it afterwards in group photos
of us with 'Korn' and the like.

They always looked perfectly normal
and we looked rotten, absolutely destroyed.

Because we got wasted every night and the
Americans just drank beer or something.

We didn't really notice on tour that the
Americans kept an eye on what they were doing,

while every night we treated ourselves
very badly, I have to say.

Well, we had Oktoberfest.

Remember? And then Tom came and
was always giving out vitamin tablets.

A huge bag!

We had to swallow them. And I always
wondered why I couldn't sleep at night!

After three weeks, I
realized: Super boosters!

Something like 10 tablets
and you can't sleep for a whole night!

The bag of tablets came with instructions
that we didn't read!

It said take three in the morning,
two in the afternoon,

and the other four
should not be taken at night!

We always took them all at the same time!

Right before the concert!

And I had to drink a whole bottle of whisky
to even go to bed...

I've never had problems sleeping at night,
but I couldn't sleep for the entire night!

What is going on?!?

We didn't know boosters existed!

And other things to stimulate you.

We met other bands
who gave themselves B12 shots!

I was really impressed!
What are B12 shots?!?

Vitamin B12!

There's another story we have to tell.

This also happened
on the 'Family Values Tour.'

It was Halloween, and the bands all said,
hey, we have to do something special!

Halloween! We have to get dressed up etc.

For example,
all of 'Limp Bizkit' dressed up as Elvises.

For example, yeah!
So then it was our slot.

We went on stage, played one or two songs,
and then suddenly Till was gone!

I thought, Ok, maybe there's a problem
or the mic is broken or something.

Suddenly, Paul was gone!
I thought, strange?!

Then Oli was gone, they were disappearing!

At the end it was just me with drums
and guitar and I thought, what's going on?!

Until I turned around and saw the police
slowly but surely pulling people away!

Really secretively!

After three songs the concert was over!

They seriously dragged us off the stage!
Yeah!

But we weren't completely naked!
We still had nappies on.

Nappies?! I gaffered my balls!

That was black gaffer tape!
Nothing but tape!

And you cheated a bit, I remember!
It looked like an elephant's!

But they couldn't even deal with that!

Just taking your clothes off
or getting undressed, they didn't like it!

Barely a year after touring
with 'Korn' and 'Limp Bizkit, '

'Rammstein' head out
on their own again across the USA.

There are always situations that make
you notice that something has changed.

I remember driving to the concert.

We drove around the corner and suddenly
there were people standing on the sidewalk.

We drove around another corner
and there were still people.

Then finally I realized that it was
a huge queue of people

who wanted to go to our concert.
And I thought, woah!

I was one of the first people
at my school to listen to it.

I brought it to school.

We first listened to it in our music class,

and all the students said:
Horrible! Turn it off!

Then about a week later,
everyone was listening to it.

I don't know! I can't really explain
why I am attracted to it like this.

It's just, it hits on something,
it just stroke a nerve.

It brings over a different culture
you don't have here every day.

The lyrics and the language itself
works as a good instrument.

It's just guttural, it's aggressive.

If it's a song like "Du riechst so gut"
it makes me think of another woman,

But when "Du Hast" comes on, I feel like
I'm walking away from something!

We included, at the time -
again this is all pre-internet -

a card we put in the CD to people
to fill out information.

And we had our address on the back
and people sent it in.

And when people sent back the cards,
one of the questions was:

Would you like a copy of the lyrics
in English?

And we were getting thousands of them!

Oddly enough, I have heard people

taking German based on
being fans of 'Rammstein.'

Each date probably took about
3 to 4 months to book.

The amount of drills we had to go through
for pyro permits, riders, it was tedious.

Tour buses here were a funny thing.

We only knew
the shaky nightliner buses from Germany.

We quickly sorted out everything,
who could lie where.

Richard sleeps there and Till sleeps here.

At the front is the kitchen.

The best thing was that it had a freezer,
it was called Hungry Man, right?

There were 85 pallets of ready meals in it
that you could heat up in the microwave.

We were always excited in the morning
when we met up.

Everyone crept out of their bunks
and then ate that stuff in shifts.

It was such a fine line, because we
thought it was really awesome

but actually it was quite disgusting.

It would expand in the microwave!

Mashed peas or peas with mashed potatoes and
some kind of piece of meat would swell up.

We're in a kind of a bubble, the six of us.

I don't have much to do with the crew
or with any other people.

It's also important
that only the six of us are in the bus,

because we function so well together,
like clockwork.

If there were another cog,
it wouldn't work anymore.

Underwear is fresh,
there's nothing to complain about!

The T-shirt is still OK,
I can wear it again,

but the imprint is a
bit compromising.

I don't think
that American women will like it.

There's no reason to be proud of that.

The problem with touring is that you don't
get the opportunity to entertain yourself.

I take ten books with me every time,
and try to read them.

Every time I come home
with the same ten, unread books.

Maybe I should first explain
how it normally is with a band,

because as a spectator, you don't know
what the problems are on tour.

It's like this, you arrive somewhere,
you don't know exactly where.

Then you go out to eat.

Then you watch TV.

Then it's sound check. Then you hang around
a little bit, and then you play.

If you do it for three
days, it's not so bad,

but if you do it for a month,
it affects your psyche in some way.

I call it the potato syndrome.

You sort of get poured out,

and then have to do what you do every
night, then get collected again.

The only thing you can do,
which I take advantage of,

is watch a lot of films
to learn the language.

A day has 24 hours
and you're on stage for about 1 V2 hours.

The rest of the day is pure boredom.

We have a big toy box with things in it,
like inline skates,

a football, skateboards.

I go with the swim fraction,
which is everyone except Oli and Flake.

The other four go swimming
and I go with them.

Flake always tries desperately
to walk somewhere.

The best part of the day is
when I can wander around.

I can think about things in peace.

When you're so hyped up in the evening,
when so many people applaud you,

the daytime allows you to clarify
why everything is the way it is,

and how to deal with it in the best way.

Because it's hard to feel comfortable
in a foreign country.

I don't really speak the language
so it's nice to have some time

to absorb everything in peace
and think about it.

We have our own cook with us,
because on the first tour of America,

I realised that in order to be
mentally relaxed,

you need good food.

What a service!

So that's our daily routine.

And that's enough to keep
you from going dumb.

Of course there are
unforeseen incidents on every tour.

That's when the fine art
of improvisation is called for.

Can you explain what happened here?

The stage can't handle the weight!
Only half the PA is set up!

We can't set up any more,
it's going to break!

- Meaning?
- That's it!

By virtue of necessity,
we drove back to 'Kern's roadie's house.

He had a pool,
and we invented tequila shotguns.

We had the kind of water pistols
that kids have, the ones you pump.

We put tequila in them
and had a really fun tequila pool party,

where we shot each other in the mouths.

An after-show party without a concert!

In Salt Lake City,

'Rammstein' have completely different
adverse circumstances to contend with.

We had to start in daylight, but we have a
show that depends on starting in the dark.

The show itself, if you play it
in daylight, just doesn't work!

The 'Rammstein' show, the fire
and the contrast, you need it!

At the end, what happened was
that there was a time limit,

I think around 10pm, and we went over it.

We had our encore, the people were
screaming and the show was just cut short.

There is nothing we can do!

The tour manager came on stage and said,

there are two vans
full of policemen in front of the door,

and if you don't stop now
they'll storm the stage!

Don't take it out on the band!
It wasn't them!

Don't take it out on anyone here,
it wasn't actually the fairgrounds!

It was Salt Lake City! So, FUCK SALT LAKE!

There was some kind of drama around
Salt Lake City, because of the Mormons.

- Salt Lake sucks!
- Exactly!

And in Worcester,
where nobody thought about it, of course!

When you stop thinking about it,
that's when they strike!

I'm not surprised, I'm not surprised.

You know, as liberal as America
likes to think it is,

especially now that we have a black
President and gay marriage and everything,

we're still very conservative.
We're still very conservative!

The police came backstage,

we thought they wanted to check
something to do with fire.

Then the tour manager said,
you're now under arrest!

We said, sure, whatever,
and didn't think any more of it.

I said I would shower
first and they said, no!

No showering!
You're under arrest! This is for real!

The police stood there with handcuffs.

I thought, this is a bit stupid.
I quickly showered and put a T-shirt on.

He stood in the bathroom
next to us in his uniform.

They locked Till and me up
in a kind of animal-control van,

handcuffed us to a. Bar at the back,
and drove us to jail.

Is this the band? Sorry about the U.S.!

What can you do?!

It's just like you see on TV!

There's along hallway with bars,
and between them are the cell walls.

You sit on a wooden bed,
and there's a stainless steel slab

that you can use as a toilet bowl
at the bottom and as a tap at the top.

No toilet seat or anything.

So then you can go to the toilet
if you want to,

or sit on the bed. Those are your options.

At night, the newly-arrested arrived.

They raged and bashed against the cells, and
in shackles were dragged in by four men.

One had a bullet wound in his arm
because he shot at police officers

because they shot his dog.

They quickly took him to the doctor, bandaged
him up, and then locked him up next to us.

Some people were drunk
and snored and moaned and farted,

so you couldn't sleep. It was impossible.

And you don't have your glasses
or shoes and no watch,

so you don't even know how late it is.

It felt like a very long time,
but it was only five hours.

After that we were released.

The police intervention is triggered

by the special staging devised for
the song "Buck Dich“ (Bend Down)",

involving singer Till
and keyboard player Flake.

America has these strange, what are called
"indecency laws" or "decency laws."

And Jim Morrison got arrested for it,

lots of musicians over time
have been arrested for it.

These laws are very old, and
they're very selectively applied.

So, it's almost like when the local
police force doesn't like an artist,

then they apply the laws.

If I have an artistic interpretation
of something

it's my interpretation of that thing,
which I don't find bad at all.

I mean, if I get out a plastic dildo
and squirt some milk around,

I don't expect to be
locked up because of it.

That this actually happens,
that such a thing exists,

such narrow-mindedness,

you have to get your
head around that first!

This country is ridiculous,
it's so terrified of everything.

I love the idea of really
powerful macho men

playing role-games, role-playing like that,

to really mainly screw
with other men's heads.

I mean, none of that freaks me out. But
I'm assuming, it freaks a lot of men out.

For most heterosexual men,
that's not really appealing.

Whether or not you're offended
by it or not is one thing,

but it's not really a subject that they
would choose to be exposed to, so to speak.

It would rather have it over here.

And what 'Rammstein' does is,
they bring it right here,

right in from of your face.

Well, I think your average
young meathead,

you see a fake penetration
between two guys,

they're gonna be embarrassed,
repulsed, but ultimately fascinated.

They probably won't be able you know!

And if it's done theatrically enough,
as part of a successful product.

That's good, getting arrested.
That's a good thing.

Your audience loves that even more.

And they worked the dildos, and
they were busted. Fabulous.

They still got to say
what they wanted to say.

They just had to spend a couple hours
in jail and pay a hundred-dollar fine,

and they could've done it again

and the same thing probably would
not have happened somewhere else.

The incident has legal repercussions
for Till and Flake.

Throughout this tour.
In the land of the free

they have to repeatedly return

to Worcester to account to
the court for their actions.

Some of the local citizens
are not used to so much open-mindedness.

I like the band! I think the band is good.

But what they did should have been left
behind closed doors!

America is a much more puritanical country
and we, our sex is sort of kept hidden.

Which is strange because we are
the porn capital of the world,

but we're a puritanical country.

I believe we did have to send documents
just saying that it was all simulated,

that there was no actual nudity and
there was no actual sex on stage.

Yeah, just dumb, dumb stuff.

Our Doggy here

is scared to go back to jail,
back to the big, bad people.

We had to get used
to a lot of things in America.

Because we know it as the Land of Freedom,

the land of dishwashers
who become millionaires.

I always thought
you could do what you wanted here.

It's crazy when a bit of
fun turns so serious.

As a band, you feel pretty untouchable.

You're the king, everyone
thinks you're great,

people flatter you. You're driven around,
and your every wish is catered for.

Then suddenly
you're not the king anymore,

you're hardly anything.

Yeah, but since then you have a record,
and every time they enter the country

they both have to be interviewed.

We just wait. We have two shuttles,

so the band is comfortably in the hotel
while Till and Flake

get to sit there for another hour
and be harassed.

I can't get used to the fact that you
can't just pee against a tree somewhere.

I was put in a paddy wagon in Texas

because I pissed between two bins
at the exit behind the stage.

And then it went off!
You're in my country, in my city,

this is my district
and you won't be peeing anywhere!

Just don't talk back, otherwise
you'll end up in jail immediately!

And that, to me, is a bit more restrictive
to personal freedom

than what we're used to in Europe.

Since then, we're very humble,

even the fire marshal gets fawned over,

because you can't allow
yourself any mistakes.

The so-called authorities here,
they have such power!

They can send you home overnight.

They revoke your work permit
or cancel the concert,

you go to jail or just
pay a ridiculous fine.

If something challenging and shocking
is not a product, you'll be punished.

But if it becomes a product,

“Oh yeah, they're doing that
in Madison Square Garden,

I wanna go see that giant
penis right now!“.

In 1999 'Rammstein'
tour Latin America with 'Kiss.'

Myth,

Power,

Excess,

Eroticism,

The most perfect German machine in Mexico.

The rest is history.

Tickets on sale now!

They still built Beetles here,
you can tell straight away!

There, another Beetle!

One, two, three Beetles.

I'll tell you when I see
a Beetle, Schneider.

There's a press conference this evening.

Who is taking part in the press conference?

All of us!

Right after that...

After the press conference?
There are going to be free records again.

- Where 30 selected...
- CDs

listeners can get their CDs signed.

Quickly, run along the wall!
As fast as you can!

We drove there in a shuttle
and thought there's a protest going on,

we have to get around it somehow.
Then the driver said it was because of us!

And then there was complete panic.

We had to get into this record store
within three, four minutes.

They closed the shutters behind us and the
people crushed themselves against it!

All the roads were blocked!
People were standing on buildings.

Then the chief of police
came to us and said:

If you don't go onto the roof
and say something to calm people down,

because they're taking the flower
boxes apart on the boulevard,

then you'll be arrested!

And I said, how is this our fault?

Well, this is all because of you!
He was really angry!

So we went onto the roof and yelled
through the megaphone in jumbled Spanish.

There were people everywhere!

The parking garage opposite
was stuffed with people.

And when Till took the
megaphone in his hand

and shouted something to the masses,

and they screamed,
there was this feeling of, OK!

You can say anything here, they'll scream
and think we're great regardless.

That was the first time we realized
the kind of responsibility

we carry in what we do.

Then we went down again and left.

Do I have everything? Did they rob me?

Something like that
never happened to us before!

And it was so out of the blue!
We thought we were just going

to an autograph session,
and suddenly there was a riot.

People don't believe us
when we tell them that people in Mexico

sing along twice as loudly as in Germany,
where we actually come from.

I remember that, in Mexico, entire families
came to the concert, with kids and everything.

What left a lasting impression on me was

that the Mexican audience was
fully outfitted in T-shirts we didn't make!

They had unbelievably cool designs
and were graphically very interesting.

Only later did we realize that they
just have their own market for it there.

There was a street
with a merchandise shop on each side.

I've never seen anything like it!

They had 'Rammstein'
merchandise, and they sell it there.

Everything that you could possibly imagine,

everything you need for your household,
had 'Rammstein' on it.

That's what they sold.
It was cheap, but they had everything!

The tour takes 'Rammstein' to the city of
Teotihuacan in the Mexican high plains,

one of America's most significant ruins.

Named by the Aztecs, the place
translates as "where man becomes god."

It's really exhausting!

I fell something like three meters
on the last pyramid and sprained my leg.

How did that happen? You wanted to jump up
somewhere? Or jump down?

I wanted to climb down
normally, I just fell.

Then during the show, because we still
had to play, I was getting shots

so that it wouldn't hurt so much!

The thing about South America is,

it's great audiences,
but very difficult to tour.

Because you have to ship,
fly everything from city to city,

you can't just put it
in trucks and let it go

because you don't know if it's going
to show up at the other end.

So, for the most part.
Also the distances are so great, too.

So you have to airfreight stuff.

The South American tour
also takes in Argentina and Brazil.

The shared concerts
with 'Kiss' in South America

are a particular highlight for 'Rammstein.'

I remember the first concert in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, as they came out.

And suddenly I ran after them
like a little kid

and reverted back to my 14-year-old self.

Because there were,
like I said, these little pictures

that you could buy for something like
20 deutschmarks on the school corner,

and I would stare
at these pictures constantly,

with intense fantasies
running through my head.

I thought their appearance, their makeup
and style was totally awesome!

If we are in any way responsible
for giving them the inspiration,

it's something to be proud of!

They are out there,
maybe if they weren't a band,

they would be burning houses down,
so we keep them on stage.

I think 'Rammstein' seems
like a German band.

They've got something about them,
there's a vibe, the great pyro.

These guys, I heard that a couple
of the guys in the band

are actually professional pyrotechnicians.

So, they do that very uniquely and
it's over the top!

And anything like that, any band like that
definitely appeals to us as well,

even though they probably got some of
their stuff originally from this band!

At some point, I remember, I was on stage
with Oli, there was a moment -

you never saw them, those guys,
because they always had makeup on -

we were standing there looking at them,

and then Paul Stanley turned around
during the concert and went like this.

Or I was with Schneider,
and I was like: WOW!

However, the band find out first hand just
how unforgiving the 'Kiss Army' can be.

We've never experienced so much hate
from the audience as we did in Sao Paulo.

When we came on stage,
they thought 'Kiss' was starting.

And then some German idiots appeared

and started to play things
no one could understand.

Of course they lost it
and started throwing things at us,

lighters, small bottles, rocks.

It was a nightmare!
I think it was the worst concert ever!

At the end, the event organizer
even said to us, I remember

you should be glad
they didn't throw half a goat at you.

That's normal. You did well.

After the South American tour
it will be two years

before 'Rammstein' tour North America
again, with the new album "Mutter.“".

The one mistake I think a lot of
European artists make

when they come to the States,
is they forget how big it is.

And like a lot of European artists
will come to the States to tour

and play ten shows and think that's a tour.

Whereas, you look at some
of these American artists

like 'Kid Rock'
or 'Dave Matthews' or whomever,

they play 200 shows in America every year.

'Rammstein' play more than 40 concerts,

27 of them in 4 weeks on their headlining
summer tour, and a further 20 in autumn -

a punishingly tight schedule
for everyone involved.

It was so tedious, because you spend time
in so many areas that aren't very exciting.

Of course, New York is interesting,
and San Francisco is nice and so is LA.

I loved New Orleans.

It had an extremely dark appeal
when I was there,

but a very interesting appeal.

The West Coast, San Francisco
and Seattle were really cool.

L.A., of course, but everything around
that was quite difficult.

In July alone they perform
in a different city almost every day,

traversing the entire country.

The enormous distances covered can't fail
to leave an impression on the musicians.

Most hard rock bands are on the road
for like 2 years straight,

they have no life and no body,
'cause they just tour nonstop.

When you are an American band
touring the U.S. for two years,

you're like a heartless
soul, it's disgusting.

It's a terrible place to tour.

The toughest time really is
being away from your friends and family.

And a lot of the times
when you're on the road for a long time,

you kind of stay the same.

Like the band, we're still the same people
even if we're gone for 5 or 6 months.

But you get home and things have changed.

Really weird things happen, like they
forget you at home. You're a stranger!

I think that's the
most difficult point,

it's re-adjusting to
life once you get home.

'Rammstein' miss the old days...

Now everyone has their own hotel room,

we don't see each other,
it's actually boring.

In general, it's better like that
for such a long tour,

but sometimes you long for how it was back
when we all drove around in a little bus

and had a plate with sandwiches,
which was the food for the entire day.

As far as the atmosphere goes,
it was somehow better than now.

We were more like a band,
we kind of lived together.

Back then, Till used to go
to the petrol station and steal food.

We'd rip open the bags
in the bus and eat it.

It was fun, and there was
a good feeling among us.

Now you just order room service,
it's not a lifestyle!

What preceded the 2001
'Pledge of Allegiance' tour,

with Slipknot' and 'System of a Down, '

remains stamped in memory
far beyond 'Rammstein.'

This was the apartment
of my then-girlfriend,

and it's also where I
witnessed September 11.

At around 9 am, a friend phoned me
from Europe.

I was lying in bed,
and she wondered if I was OK.

I didn't understand what she meant

because I thought
she was asking if I had arrived safely.

Then she said, no! You have to get out!

So I Raft here and went around the corner.

That's where I saw
the second plane fly into the second tower.

The crew was in the air as it happened,

and then they were rerouted to Montreal and
had to wait in a huge arena for two days,

and were given crispy bread to eat.

I remember the band being frustrated
after some of the shows

because of the reaction,
was not what they expected.

The extreme strain of recent years
takes its toll on the band on this tour.

There are tensions between
Paul and Richard,

and the atmosphere
hits rock bottom.

The post-9/11 political
climate does not help.

Everyone from the bus driver
to the cleaning lady was mobilized!

Everyone wanted to bomb something,
wanted to find those responsible!

We had this feeling, that sentiment
that existed all over Europe,

that America was suddenly so strange
and not like it used to be.

We weren't even talking to each other
from time to time,

whatever. We often didn't talk
to each other anymore.

Some of the band members
were very uneasy with 9/11.

And one m particular
decided to call it quits

and get on a plane and fly out of JFK
and said bye bye.

In the end, Flake just went home.

Right! Now I remember.

It was so bad for him
that he just left everything behind,

went to the airport and flew home.
He just threw in the towel.

So you do notice that it's a certain...

But I have to add that we
totally slipped into this wave of hysteria,

and I found the frenzied atmosphere
very frightening.

The whole of the USA is gripped by 9/11,

with society paralyzed
by the fear of further terrorist attacks.

The land of freedom
and limitless possibilities

begins to turn in on itself
and loses some of its lustre.

And it was sort of a dividing line.

To me, that tour was were 'Rammstein' stopped
trying to force things to work in America

and stopped playing by the rules
and just went away for a while and waited,

whether by accident or design,
waited for America to come to them.

As a result 'Rammstein' concentrate more
on their career outside of America.

By dint of their experiences
after 9/11 'Rammstein' start incorporating

contemporary critiques
into their songs for the first time.

For us, or in my eyes, the song
was a direct answer to the Iraq war,

the US invasion.
We neatly wrapped it in words

so that you should be able to understand,
but you don't have to.

The song describes how all countries are
infected by America and culturally influenced,

that we get all kinds of American brands
everywhere and are very Americanized.

The lyrics describe this with a wink.

Americans are saying that they're
the greatest country in the world,

that they're the strongest country
in the world.

But more importantly, it shows a kind of lack
of understanding of how diverse this world is

and how amazingly culturally different
we are from one society to another.

And I think that that song came out
at a particular time

when America was feeling very powerful

and America's will was being felt
all around the world

whether it be militarily, socially,
economically

and they were having a go with that.

So the U.S. are the masters at

making one-dimensional, Coca-Cola,
nightmare superstars.

It's next to impossible to make it
in this country

unless you do, what I said earlier,
this road-warrior mania,

where you go to every small town.

So there is no appreciation
by the industry.

There are people here who love heavy music,

who love alternative culture,
who want crazy shit,

but the mainstream is like blanketing

everybody's front page
of their whatever website

and every stupid magazine
with the most bubble-gum crap.

The American market is hard to conquer
because it's always changing.

If you are trying to be top 40,
you're like really, really widely popular,

you'd have to keep changing
your sound and your look.

And who wants to do that?
That's pathetic.

In 2005 'Rammstein'
parody the jaded star system

in the spectacularly
funny video to their song "Keine Lust."

Humor and self-mockery become an increasingly
useful stylistic weapon in their arsenal.

I remember I saw that one on MTV once and
I took out my camera and I filmed the TV,

'cause I never saw it in America,
and I was laughing,

I was watching and laughing and the camera
was moving while I'm watching the video

and I'm filming and sent it to my wife
you know, like, check this out.

This is so bad ass.

They're not afraid to take risks,
look crazy, look funny,

look gay even. Which is great, you know.

That's the funniest thing in the world, you
can do anything and not fear anyone,

that's the best thing in the world.

Promoting music is very, very difficult.

Because in the old days, there were
basically three things, four things.

There were record stores,
magazines, MTV and radio.

Now, MTV is reality TV, record stores
unfortunately don't really exist,

radio is 'Justin Bieber'

and magazines just get
smaller and smaller and smaller. So...

that's why most musicians now sort
of try and promote to their fans.

And then hope that the fans
talk about it to their friends.

It is only fitting that film director
Robert Cohen is a massive 'Rammstein' fan.

He wants to secure the band for his
action film 'Triple X' at all costs.

Starring action hero Vin Diesel,

it is guaranteed wide public awareness
amongst fans of the genre.

But their international popularity is being
boosted by more than just the silver screen.

In that time frame, something came along
called "the Internet."

And all the fans of the bands' music,
whoever became interested in 'Rammstein, '

all they had to go on
was watching clips on YouTube.

And the longer the band stayed away,

it almost seemed like the more
anticipation got built up.

Definitely, I look up
YouTubes of 'Rammstein, '

because they just do everything
and there's so many of them

that you can just watch one after the other

and just see something totally interesting
and inspiring.

A new era has dawned. The Internet
is a virtually taboo-free zone.

'Rammstein' are adventurous enough

to exploit the medium's possibilities.

"The band conceive
something special for the song “Pussy,"

supported in this endeavor
by Swedish video director jonas Akerlund.

I wasn't sure if he would like
this kind of humour.

But I said, if anyone can make
a video for this song, then it's him,

because he has a kind of darkness and
seriousness that is somehow never inane.

We sent him the song,
and he emailed me saying,

let's start a revolution!

This video is gonna piss
a lot of people off!

And this video is gonna be
thought-provoking and irritating and funny

and sexy and musical and stylish and
beautiful and everything at once!

We love the way that jonas deals
with controversial topics, and his courage.

The plan works!

The uncensored video is only available
on Internet porn channels.

'Rammstein' cause an outcry amongst the
guardians of public virtue and morality.

It is welcome publicity, and great fun!

Media is so fractured. I'm sure
it's the same case in Germany, where...

it used to be there were like four music
magazines and now there are 15,000 blogs.

It's very hard for one act
to make a huge impact.

I mean, even the big bands like 'U2'
don't get that much attention.

After a seven-year break
the band return to America,

taking up residence in a studio

near San Francisco to record their album
"Liebe ist fur alle da."

What I like about America is that it's
a country with an energy that says do it!

Germans tend to think first, then do.

We hoped that through America, we would
also be able to do first, and then think.

Let me open up another track
and we do one more of those, OK?

- OK!
- Here we go!

It's always fun for me when a song is suddenly
created out of individual ideas or emotions.

The process of the song growing and
maturing is very beautiful to me.

I came up with a little trick.

Every song has a certain tempo.

This song is, for example, 120 bpm.
My heart is usually around 90.

I try to match
my heartbeat or pulse to the song,

so I'm in the right groove
to play to the beat.

I'm at 90 right now,

I do a few pushups
to get my heart back to 120.

Alright! Rock 'n' Roll!

The environment in which you work together
is very important,

and how free
each band member is from stress.

When we looked at the studio on the
Internet, it said there was a tree house.

For me, that was the reason to come here,

because living in a tree and waking up and
falling asleep in nature is something special.

If you get the chance, you should take it,
that was my thought.

And I like to live secluded
and not be right in the community.

After being away for many years,

they kept pushing the issue
to come to America with a full show.

Playing the arena,
playing with the full production.

The first show was up in Quebec,

it was a town festival
and the city had spent a lot of money,

the entire province goes there,
something like 120,000, 130,000 people.

It's a basin, it was totally packed.

And seemingly because of us,
and 'Pink's playing the day before,

40,000 or 50,000 Americans came.

It was an amazing festival.

It means a lot to me
that there are so many people here

that get really excited when we play.

If I can make them happy,
that makes me happy too.

And these people happen to be American, so
you have to play here to make them happy.

You can't just fly them all to Europe.

I think, it's interesting that they stayed
away from the U.S. for so long,

and played everywhere else in the world.
And I think in a way,

that that sort of made people
hungrier here for them, to see them.

There wasn't a single promoter in New York

that would take the risk for 'Rammstein'
to play MSG.

Between all the guys with all the
big pockets, nobody would touch it.

And we made a painstaking effort
to go to MSG directly.

Madison Square Garden is one
of the most famous venues in the world.

I mean, everyone's heard of
Madison Square Garden.

And it's sort of a sign, when a band
can play there, of being real rock stars.

You know, so every band
when you're growing up,

you just have this idea of playing
Madison Square Garden.

It was probably a three-year-plus process,
in discussions and development

and a lot of back and forth
of how crazy this is,

and how risky this is,
but I give the band a lot of credit,

because they really they took the risk.

This was the first attempt
to headline the band in America

with full European production
of 18 to 20 trucks, full pyrotechnics,

as many effects
as the authorities would allow.

This was the show to stake
the claim in America,

everything prior was a build,
was growth, was development.

This was the pinnacle, this was the defining
moment that put 'Rammstein' back here.

When the band finally announced
they were coming back,

all these people who had been hearing
about it and buying the albums

and looking at YouTube dips,
and waiting, finally had their chance.

The fact that they waited might be better
for them in the long run in America

than had they continued to come every couple
of years or every album-cycle. Or whatever.

They're coming!

The most explosive band on earth!

This is your only chance to see
'Rammstein' in the United States!

Tickets on sale now!

I was at home in Berlin when it started.

10 minutes: 5,000 tickets,
12 minutes 15,000 tickets,

In the space of 20 minutes it was sold out,

and I jumped around
in my apartment like a teddy bear!

I was so happy!

This band can sell out
Madison Square Garden,

it's like 18,000 people, it's a big deal.

It's amazing that they did that.

What I found phenomenal about that
is they managed to do all of that

after not playing here for over ten years.

That's quite an accomplishment
in today's music industry and music scene.

So, it was very rewarding.

One of the most rewarding
highlights in my career

as far as being involved in the
music business, if not the most.

The show is huge, I mean it is
a very deep stage, a very wide stage,

so it fills the room quite a bit,

and I just remember the first time that they
let off all the lyco jets at the same time.

The ones up in the air
and the ones on the floor.

It sucked all the oxygen
out of the room instantly,

and it felt
like my whole head was compressing.

It was so bizarre.
It was the most unbelievable feeling.

Can I take a picture with you?

- Come here!
- Awesome!

Is it ready?
Yeah, it's ready! Oh, my God!

Hu ' Hi!

YEAH! OH, YEAH!

Most famous arena in the world!
Right there, baby!

Here's a great story actually: The morning
of the Madison Square Garden show,

we're staying at a hotel in New jersey,
and I met up with a friend for breakfast,

and I'm standing on line
waiting to pay for my breakfast,

and there's a girl in line in front of me,

so the gentleman behind the counter
says to her: "How are you today?"

And she says:

"I'm great! I'm going to see 'Rammstein'
tonight at Madison Square Garden!“."

And I say, did I just hear you say that
you're going to see 'Rammstein' tonight?

She's like: "You better believe it, man!"

I've been waiting
fuckin' 10 years for this shit."

That was the representation of what
everyone in that audience was feeling!

It's finally here and I can': Wait!

My son is fifteen years old,
that's his favorite band,

so I was like dad of the month, because
I got him tickets to go see the show.

We begged to have a few chairs removed
so that at least a few people could stand.

So that it looks like a rock concert.

It's more of a seated Sting' concert venue.

We have a band ritual where we always drink
a tequila right before we go on stage.

We look each other in the eyes and clink
glasses so that we get a bit of a connection.

We don't communicate on stage,

that's why this human interaction
is a very important moment.

I don't know if I've ever seen a band

that did not sing in English
play at the Garden.

I don't know, is there another German band

that can go play all over the world
and sell out arenas?

In America?!?

And we were cordially invited to the show,
and it was amazing to watch,

because more than 10 years earlier,
we played right down the street

with 'Rammstein', , and we were one of
20 or 30 people watching 'Rammstein, '

and now we are one
of like 20 or 30,000 watching 'Rammstein'

Pram -
ax Madison Square Garden,

which is, you know, it is crazy! SURREAL!

A bunch of German guys coming over to
America, it was sold out! It's about time!

About time
the world embraces something like that!

They keep pushing the envelopes,
and nobody can copy them,

and 'Rammstein' is still inspiring
young musicians, you know, it's...

they continue to tour,
they continue to put out music...

It's just more fuel for the fire.

What I noticed also about their show,
was that I thought was unique,

was that they don't use any videoscreens.

And we use screens, I mean most bands,
that's the thing, far away,

people wanna look up at the screen.

I personally would be afraid
of getting set on fire on a nightly basis.

And my guitar player played with 'Rammstein'
on one show, and he didn't move!

He just stood exactly
where they told him to stay

and didn't move for the whole night,
and I don't blame him at all!

I'm low-budget!
I just turn around and show my ass crack!

At the end of day they represent
everything that is rock'n'roll,

but in a new way, that
no one has done before.

I would say to any other band:
Do not go on after 'Rammstein?

To be a German band singing in German,

to be embraced by an American audience,
I would tell you it's impossible.

And yet, clearly through their success,
it's not.

Which leads me all the way back
to where we started talking.

There is a level
of authenticity in their music

and their style and their show
and what they're presenting

that people are relating to.
And it doesn't matter about their culture,

it doesn't matter about
what language they speak, they can feel it.

I couldn't tell you how to do that
in a million years.

I'd just never seen them
so happy and in such a good place

and I think that's what happens
when you wait for success to come to you.

What I learned from it was that we
really tried for a certain period of time

to establish ourselves here,
with a lot of dedication,

but nothing ever came of it.

Only once we were really relaxed about it,

so typical 'Rammstein, '

always when we try to will something
into happening, it never works,

but when we don't want anything,
we get it all.

The feeling of being from Germany
or being German

always had a stain on it
that I could sense in some way.

You always felt somehow guilty.

And in America I didn't have that anymore.

People were more open,

and suddenly certain German virtues
were seen as good.

Reliability and punctuality
and things like that were appreciated here.

And for the first time, I really got
a feel for my own home country.

I had to leave first in order to be OK with
where I come from.

It was a beautiful experience for me.

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