Detail for those who miss
the interview during it's limited period of availability: it consists of LIFAD tracks accompanied by RZK talking. We hear nothing from the interviewer, Bruce Dickinson. It starts with Richard's standard lament; 'it's so hard...'. You know the drill. I won't bore you with details of that.
He throws out some new stuff about developing the album, including, confusingly, ITDW played while discussing the development of Wiener Blut. I don't know what they were thinking of there. Anyway, the upshot is that Till had a completely different text going on, and it didn't work, then he came back with the Fritzl story and it gelled. He summarises Till's process by saying he creates text from music. That definitely makes sense to me.
There is talk in there somewhere about how they were looking to go back to their roots, but how tricky it is to move forward and evolve while doing this. I imagine that is certainly true. To maintain the core sound without treading water would be a feat of intense honesty and skill.
He then moves onto his ideas about art, which appear to have stemmed from a question about lyrical meaning. The idea that the individual should be able to build their own ideas from what they hear or see is raised, propagating the mythos of Till's onion-layers of meaning, without explanation, and shutting down any analysis of what the songs are about.
Next he tells us how he came up with the Rammlied riff, and the idea of a new Rammthem, and slides into remarking how the band do not admit limitations or self-editing, hating to be censored. That'll probably come from discussion of the indexing, I expect.
Then comes more old news about choosing first single and electing to make the pussy video 'let's make a revolution...' - yawn.
Something that I took particular interest in, when the explanation of what Waidmanns Heil means came up, is that fact that Till's a hunter. The song appears to be about the hunt for sex, But I think the superficial imagery of a deer-hunt is important. As a hunter myself (yeah, you bleeding-heart hippies can leave me alone) I like that he understands the hunt. It's probably easier and more common for a large man to know what it is to be a predator. There is very little opportunity for a phsyically lightweight female, such as myself, to do so. It is a buzz that Till must be familiar with if he hunts, and I appreciate that he knows that feeling. It comes across in the lyrics, but one never knows if that is coming from the imagination or from experience with Till, since he's a consummate storyteller. Now I know it's from experience, which is somehow more satisfying.
Richard then shifts into talk of the live show, and how the mega-stage from the tour won't work in the festival season during the northern summer, due to it's scale and complexity. They will be rethinking the stage and show for the summer rounds.
From there he comments that they're getting on just fine, that he is loving playing live and is living in the moment, rather than looking forward (very healthy, especially after all that looking back). I'm a firm believer in enjoying the present. Then comes more lament about how hard it is, but a bit less whiny and very brief.
The closer from Dickinson has a rather a charming mistake, in that he refers to the album as 'Liebe ist für alle du'. Very cute.
The interview is long, because much of it is music, and the opening negativity and repetition may deter you. Get past it. It's worth the time.
