Getting Wasted & Laid

And fighting other bands. Awesome.

There is a short Kerrang (podcast) interview with Schneider and RZK about their Inspiration award 3 m 38 s into the video below:



Click here to have the video load at the right time, automagically.

Official Confirmation for Latin America

Feel the love!

November 25th, Santiago, Chile
November 27th, Buenos Aires, Argentina
November 30th, Sao Paulo, Brazil
December 3rd, Bogota, Colombia
December 6th, Mexico City, Mexico

Rammstein Mexico Slash-Dotted

I think excitement over recent tour information has caused something of a traffic glut, so here are the details, as per erikire's post to Herzeleid:

Official confirmations (by the organizers)

* MEXICO
* COLOMBIA
* BRAZIL
* CHILE

Remaining dates to be confirmed...

- 25 de Noviembre / Estadio Bicentenario La Florida / Chile
- 27 de Noviembre / Racing / Argentina
- 30 de Noviembre / Via Funchal / Brasil
- 03 de Diciembre / CEC Centro de Eventos y Espectáculos Sopó. / Colombia
- 06 de Diciembre / Palacio de los Deportes / México
- 07 de Diciembre / Palacio de los Deportes / México (Por confirmar)
- 09 de Diciembre / Monterrey / (Por confirmar)

R+MX


Ajúa!!!

Kerrang Inspiration Award

Kerrang have managed to give best live act to someone else, but something called the Inspiration Award has gone to Rammstein. Yeah, okay. Ah well, a win is a win. YAY!

Sonisphere Knebworth Times from the Times

Rammstein will perform from 2045 hrs Saturday 2010.07.31, according to the Welwyn Hatfield Times website. See here for more information.

Bogota to Burn?

The plot around the rumoured South American leg of the tour thickens. Ticket outlet, Tuboleta, has announced December 2010 will see Rammstein in Bogota (GLT - original Spanish here). Eh, at this point we only have their tweet about it, and not much else, and I'm inclined, as with other rumours (GLT - original Spanish here), to wait for Rammstein.De to announce it before I consider it a definite, but it's still exciting and plausible.

Thanks to the ubiquitous Tempelhüter for the Bogota link.

Win Sonisphere Tickets - Part 4

Here's another one. The Welwyn Hatfield Times has a couple of weekend tickets up for grabs. To enter:

Which legendary British heavy metal band will close the main stage on Sunday?

a) Iron Maiden

b) AC/DC

c) Metallica

Send your answer to Sonisphere Festival Competition, WHT, 31a Howardsgate, WGC, Herts, AL8 6AP or email comps@whtimes.co.uk

Remember to include your name, age, address, telephone number and email address. But hurry, the closing date is Monday, July 26 at noon.

Travel to and from Knebworth is not included in the prize.

Normal Archant rules apply.

* Archant Ltd may wish to contact you about special offers and services by email from time to time.

If you WOULD like to be contacted by email please include your email address on your postal entry or mark your email entry with ‘Agreed to contact’.

* For ticket details, info on camping and the full festival line-up, go to the Sonisphere Festivals website, see link above.

Extreme Idol

There's a tribute to Till here, on a True Cult Heavy Metal blog called Wretched Spawn. There's no new information, but the article is a nice summary of his career to date.

Paavo Interview

Paavo Lötjönen, the least hairy of Apocalyptica's sublime trio of cellists, is someone I have seen very little of outside of their performances and videos, but there is a lovely Musik Universe interview with him (conducted in Quebec) on YouTube that Apocalyptica fans will enjoy:

Knebworth Survivor's Guide

Virtual Festivals have posted a survivor's guide for the up-coming Sonisphere at Knebworth. The experts on the panel that have compiled this guide are the organisers of the festival, so they probably know what they're talking about.

What three essentials would you pack for Sonisphere?
Lucy: “Wet wipes, spare phone battery, TICKET.”
Mark: “Bog roll, condoms, sun tan lotion cos its going to be HOT.”
Zac: “A sun hat to keep sun and rain off, wet wipes and ear plugs.”
Twitter: “More socks, a good tent that you can sit in and my Metal Just got Gay t-shirt for the pit.”
Alan: “Beer, whiskey and vodka.”
Steve: “Money, phone, shades.”

Win Sonisphere Tickets - Part 3

There's another competition/lottery to win Knebworth tickets. Go and WIN, then come back and tell me all about the show. Closes midday Monday 26.

Apocalyptica Wish You Were There

Apocalyptica have been in North America (filming a video I think) and have gone down to Mexico to play some shows. While there they let ShockHound into their dressing room so they could record a message for their fans:



Those Mexican fans are obviously exhausting.

DW Video Article

I've been watching a lot of Deutsche Welle lately, in the hope of catching a Rammstein story I have seen written teasers for online, and have managed to learn a lot about Berlin Fashion Week, German students living in Belgium, and more, but no Rammstein. Now SkeletonCrew has found an article (possibly the one I was looking for) on YouTube, under DW's channel, so enjoy!:



Sehnsucht.DK and its staff feature, so a shout out to them! Here is one of the surprisingly few Rammstein articles DW's website posts.

Schneider Interviewed in Quebec

It sounds like Flake lost the hearing in one ear when he got sick in 2001. Does anyone know if he got that back, or if it was permanent? Also, Schneider's English is getting better and better.

More Quebec Photos

Thanks to Stephan for the link. I wish I had been there. I love Apocalyptica, and they accompanied Rammstein for Haifisch and Ich Will, closing out the show.

Musik Universe Review & Photos from Canada

Musik Universe has posted a run-down on Apocalyptica and Rammstein (GLT - original French here) at the Quebec festival, and a gallery of photos. All well worth a looksie. Set lists are included.

A major treat is that RZK has ditched the helmet haircut in favour of a very flattering and much more age-appropriate look. The emo-kid style just did nothing for him.

Till Rather Sweet, But Extreme

Tempelhüter has shared a link to a Canadian article (GLT - original French here) where RZK discusses Lindemann's tendencies:

"He likes harmony and dislike conflict. It's really a team player. It is not like other singers with a big ego. If the group decides to go in a certain direction, it is always in agreement. "

But that does not stop him from going to extremes in other spheres of its existence, described with humor Kruspe.

Awesome Live Combichrist Photos

To continue the Combichrist run, here's a FB gallery of shots of Combichrist live taken by a couple of people. Some of them are simply stunning.

Christ Combichrist

Gutted. I LOVE Combichrist's music, but I can't fucking stand the vocals. This really bums me out. Every song I have checked out today has been awesome, and then Andy has kicked in and the love has been smeared all over a glass-spiked, faeces-spattered wall of FUCK.

Damn :(

I really wanted to like their work, because I've developed a bit of a crush on Joe Letz, Combichrist's most verbose, maturity-impaired, cute-as-a-button drummer, whose inane musings on Vampire Freaks give me so much enjoyment (he makes me feel old but in a good way).

Sorry Joe. I meant to become a fan of your band, but it's just not going to happen unless Andy stops using his ARGH-I'M-DYING-IN-A-BATH-OF-ACID voice. Lets face it, the dude has the lungs for it. He just has all the modulation of a defective paper shredder.

Paul Interview (French)

Rammstein indexed over Pussy? Research is your friend, Nicolas. It's an okay interview, but Google Language Tools didn't cope terribly well. In English it reads like 1000 monkeys operated 1000 typewriters for 1000 days, but it's worth a look:

Q You do not hate the controversy, but do you think that sometimes went too far and that it could hurt you?

R is not offensive just for the sake of shocking. [...] The challenge is a natural component of our work. We do not ask if we make too much or not enough. This is not artificial, it's just something that comes with the way we create. Sometimes it is necessary that slows a bit, but we can live the consequences of what one does.

Thanks Gonzalo, from Rammstein Uruguay, for the link.

Apocalyptica Post End of Me Video to YouTube

The complete End of Me video is now up on YouTube, so I can embed it here. YAY!:

South America in November?

A French site has information up regarding the next dates on the LIFAD tour (GLT - orignal French here), courtesy of Paul:

...Pour ce faire, le groupe de métal industriel a même dû faire venir la scène par bateau jusqu'à Québec.

«Ça faisait très longtemps que nous souhaitions venir en Amérique du Nord et l'organisation [du Festival d'été] nous en a donné l'occasion», nous at-il expliqué en allemand avec l'aide d'un traducteur anglais.

Le concert, qui est présenté en exclusivité nord-américaine, doit servir de prélude, voire de répétition à une longue tournée mondiale de trois ans qui débuterait en novembre.

Après le concert, les six musiciens (le chanteur Till Lindemann, les guitaristes Richard Zven Kruspe et Paul H. Landers, le bassiste Oliver Riedel, le batteur Christoph Schneider et le claviériste Christian Lorenz) laisseront derrière eux la scène afin qu'elle soit récupérée en novembre pour les premières dates de la tournée en Amérique du Sud.

...To do this, the industrial metal band has even had to bring the scene by boat to Quebec.

"It was very long as we wanted to come to North America and the organization [Summer Festival] has given us the opportunity," he told us in German, with the help of an English translator.

The concert, presented the exclusive North American to serve as a prelude to even repeat a long world tour of three years starting in November.

After the concert, the six musicians (singer Till Lindemann, guitarists Richard Kruspe and Paul H. Zven Landers, bassist Oliver Riedel, Christoph Schneider drummer and keyboardist Christian Lorenz) leave behind the stage so it is recovered in November for the first tour dates in South America.

There is no confirmation on the official site yet.

Joe Cutez

I know it's inane and tenuous as far as Rammstein news goes, but the latest Combichrist blog post has a damned cute Joe photo included:

It's his new Russian do. It's called Dr Seuss.

Sorry!

I've had very little time and there has been bugger-all Rammstein news this week, so everything has gone a bit stagnant. I'll get onto things soon.

Vettel (Off-Topic)

I stayed up to watch the British Formula 1 Grand Prix. I got really worried at about half-past midnight NZT, as Sebastian kept losing time to his team-mate and Lewis, who held a solid lead at Silverstone. He wasn't his usual elegant self, and just didn't have the pace I have come to expect from both RBR cars. I was wondering what was going on, and then he landed a free catch-up in the form of a safety car, and he seemed to fire up and look more like his usual self.

I really love this driver, and he didn't let me down this time, ending classified seventh place from the back of the pack in lap one. I have a tendency to pick a driver and stick with them for a season, but I have been really impressed by Vettel for years now, and it has become stupidly important to me that he does well.

Oddly, it's Vettel, and my association of a German win with joy through him, that lead me to support Germany after New Zealand (undefeated baybee, yeah!) were eliminated from the World Cup, rather than Rammstein or any other aspect of German culture that I admire.

Pair that with the talented and likable Mark Webber and you have a team designed to hold my attention. Go RBR!

Okay, that's the end of my off-topicness for the day. It wasn't as bad as I anticipated.

Awesome Sauce

The Sonisphere site has a write-up of the Spanish show, including a vivid painting of the Rammstein performance:

At twenty past midnight on the dot and with no warning, an explosive boom erupted and the curtain fell to the floor, to reveal a German flag, covering the entire expanse of the stage. As primal screams of unadulterated excitement united the swelling crowd, this too fell to the floor to reveal the six members of Rammstein, split over two levels.

And so the greatest festival show of all time ignited once more in a blitz of pyrotechnics and strobe lighting...

...We’re still trying to rationalise the experience of this show which was like nothing we have ever seen before. Perhaps they will come later, but for now we simply don’t have the words to convey just what an extraordinarily mind-blowing live phenomenon Rammstein are, especially in the festival field.

It's My Birthday

I get to be completely self-indulgent and do whatever I want today, so I am not doing anything useful or practical. I shall write, work on my translation of Mike Oldfield im Schaukelstuhl, and watch TV. I suspect I will probably ramble a fair bit on here. It's a slow news period for Rammstein and I'm celebrating my last 30th birthday, so bear with me.

Garçon! Diesel!

In response to my recent WTF Eva has provided some vital information: Lindemann did the same thing for Pink. He is apparently a closet sommelier, who takes time out from his performance to organise a tipple for any special guest who might happen to be enjoying the show from the wings. I have this wild image in my head of the front-man trotting out from behind a gantry with a glass-cloth-draped arm bearing a tray of wine glasses, serving any artists attending Rammstein's shows with fine German wines.

I must say that I can't think of a higher level of service than to have your drinks order taken, mid-song, by a man simultaneously holding sway over 10,000-plus maddened rock fans. Yes please!

WineTweet 1
WineTweet 2

For Good

Lindemann and a bunch of other artists have contributed their mite for a charity. I have no idea which charity or charities are benefiting from this, but I have emailed the organiser to find out, and will update once I hear back.

WTF?

Really?

Sonisphere Pimps Rammstein

And talks to RZK. The live show is summed up quite nicely, and the inclinations of the band are finally out:

“We’re all like little children,” explains lead guitarist Richard Z Kruspe. “We never really want to grow up and we want to play with a lot of toys.”

Yeah, really flamey, burny, ouchy toys. YAY!

LILT: Roter Sand 1.1

Okay, trying again:

For one love with one heartfelt vow
I said I'll come back to you
With sorrow I break my word now
As his bullet has got through

For one love our two pistols duel
One is levelling on me
He says that it is me who stole you
You love me yet
He can't see

Red sand and of two cartridges
One dies in a powdered mess
The second unerring round is his
And lodged deep within my chest

For one love and one heartfelt vow
So much blood runs from my mouth
And I won't be avenged now
Senseless, I fall to the ground

For one love with two pistols aimed
One was much more quickly drawn
Regrettably it was not mine
You belong to him

Red sand and of two cartridges
One dies in a powdered mess
The second unerring round is his
And lodged deep within my chest

Red sand and white doves attending
Feeding themselves on my blood
In the end there must be an ending
So my life has served some good

Red sand and of two cartridges
One dies in a powdered mess
The second unerring round is his
And lodged deep within my chest

Pink & Rammstein?

I've been thinking about Pink's enthusiasm for Rammstein's live show since I found her Tweet about it, and it strikes me that she has one hell of a rock voice. I can imagine her belting out filthy Till poetry with Rammstein. I wonder if she could sing in German without making an arse of herself...

That or get someone to LILT some Till lyrics for her to sing with them or record a cover with. I'd be game.

Rammstein in the Pink

Another new Rammstein fan?:

Rammstein show was the best show I've EVER seen, not knowing words. Holy shit. I want to be in a metal band. I want to invite them to dinner

End of Me Video Out

Apocalyptica have released the video for End of Me, featuring Gavin Rossdale, from Bush:



The full version is on their site.

Sonne Live

Thanks to jenstt.

Richardstiltskin

Moshpitmum has found a somewhat freaky resemblance between RZK and Rumpelstiltskin in Shrek Forever After:



RZK with red hair, perhaps after someone has confiscated his cigarettes? Grumpy.

Pearls

There's something very frustrating about Rammstein. Their work has been described as 'music to invade Poland to', the live show with 'Rammstein don't play, they burn', or something like it, but both are fairly trite and inadequate.

Rammstein's music, live show, and public life are authored to fuck with the programme. On the latest album there's a heartfelt Piaf tribute about the deflowering of a young man, a very poppy pop song about European sex tourism, and a heavy anthem about Rammstein and its fans. If you got the bonus disk you can listen a very pretty track about the rape of a goose-girl, and a operatic piece centred around the image of conjoined twins. The live show includes as much drama and choreography as any classical ballet, and a foam canon dressed up as a cock. The front-man only opens his mouth to sing and otherwise stands back and stares, and their lyrics are almost entirely German. Yes, fuck the programme. Let's just confuse the uninitiated and drive our fans to distraction, shall we?

To me Rammstein resemble nothing so much as a grain of sand in an oyster's shell. Consider the grain of sand. It gets into the oyster shell and irritates the shit out of the oyster. The oyster is forced to protect itself by coating the grain with crystalline calcium carbonate, and the end product is a pearl, and an overwrought oyster.

Despite the fact that their albums are coherent, thematic, and well-balanced Rammstein manage to avoid fitting into any pigeonhole you might care to invent for them. The tracks are distinct and disturbing, the hooks and riffs keep your body involved, even if you stop consciously listening, and that's without considering the actual meaning of the lyrics, around which this site is built.

Rammstein's stock in trade is their live performance, which I have never experienced. If they don't come down this way I expect to turn out a lot of pearls. Please support this Facebook group, and save me a lot of frustration.

Lateral Slide into Apocalyptica's 7th

It's about time I evangelised Apocalyptica again, as their new album, 7th Symphony, is imminent (August). Before that (Friday) their new video is due out. The song is End of Me, with Gavin Rossdale (Bush) providing the pipes (and doing so very well). I'm really looking forward to this.

There's a making of video below, featuring Eicca Toppinen, as well as Rossdale and Perttu Kivilaakso, showing a very emo, but beautiful series of shots being made, and excerpts from the finished video:



Enjoy!

Win Sonisphere Knebworth Tickets (the sequel)

Ireland's State site has a camping weekend pass for Sonisphere Knebworth up for grabs. w00!