First: Rein Raus

I've bought two of the Rammstein concert DVDs, and I've noticed a definite set of roles these guys adopt in their live shows.

Till very quickly establishes himself as the sinister central character. It's all about domination and humour. He's scary as hell, and very brutal, but is also comical and appealing.

Richard and Paul are his henchman. They're equally wicked and fun, and are as prone to debauchery, but also let him take the lead. They work as a team.

Ollie is somehow untouchable. He's remote and relatively contained, and is like a sentinel watching the central three. He's still part of what they're doing though. He's still a bit sinister.

Schneider is completely different. While the four described already all seem couched in violence the drummer is almost angelic in comparison to them. He's more of a guardian, watching over the warriors. He's calling the beat, but not raising a weapon if you like. He's got clean hands.

Then there's Flake. He's wonderful, because he's the only band member representing natural prey for the others. Don't get me wrong, he's no pussy, but he's very definitely some kind of indomitable prey animal, like a rabbit buck. They may be food, but they can also explode into violence if they need to. Flake attracts all Till's displays of brutality, but shakes them off. He's no loser and no weakling.

The only thing missing is the passive soul. I don't suggest the band take on another member merely to round out their character-set, but I reckon the next stage show should include a woman. A silent, passive, blank woman, as a prop for Till's antics, and a pale, sympathetic foil to his vividly rendered dark demon. It's this woman that my ideas have centred around so far. I've had a lot of them. She's developed into quite an amazing piece of stage equipment!

Anyway, back on-topic, I've started work on my first draft of the Rein Raus poem/lyrics in English. I'll post it when I've completed the draft. All I'll say for now is I've kept the 'rein, raus' refrain in German, as the English 'in, out' lacks the symmetry and flow of the German, and quite frankly sounds dumb.

I'll post more as it comes to hand/mind.

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