Christchurch Shakes

This is completely off-topic, but I wanted to share it to give people some idea of what is going on in Christchurch, New Zealand, where quakes have been destroying infrastructure, homes, and businesses, leaving people shaken and in shock, separating families from their homes and belongings, and killing and injuring many:



This started in September last year. Donations to the NZ Red Cross will benefit the victims of this awful series of disasters directly.

Confirmation?

Rock Sins has posted that the March 1 Manchester show has been confirmed. It'll be interesting to see how this develops.

Made in Germany

The Gauntlet and Richard

TG has posted content from his interview with Richard last month. It's from here that we had the first intimation that Rammstein might be heading back to the US, and this, an interview conducted in the US during the last LIFAD tour leg.

Back to the UK

March at MEN in Manchester, according to Metal Hammer. More details (and presumably venues) to come. Stay tuned...

Video Release Estimate

Rammstein's site has stated that they expect to release the new video in late Autumn this year. I won't link to the Rammstein site, as it's behaving very strangely for me. The 'Rammstein's North America Tour' link takes me to the article just posted with a URL indicating it's the Golden Gods nomination article, and I'm deeply confused. The CMS seems to have gone a bit haywire.

Aussie Tour Rumour False

It is being put about that someone called Universal Media has confirmed a four date tour in Australia. Here is an excerpt:

Rammstein and Universal Media have now chosen 4 cities in Australia to do a tour, as of yet I have not been advised on these cities or the dates and I am currently talking to Universal Media over the next month and I will post the dates as soon as I know them, and I thank everyone for there support to bring Rammstein to Australia.

I have checked, and this is false. Please do not propagate this rumour. It's unfair Rammstein, their team, and to Australian fans.

Vegas Fan-Photos

A Herzeleid user called bdjules has shared some really good photos from the Las vegas show, and very kindly given me permission to post them:






There may be more to come!

Correction: Attendance Figure

I'm afraid I made something of an assumption regarding the 100,000 number I posted this morning. Because it wasn't specified I assumed that number was for the entire leg of the tour, but it turns out that it's only for the US and Canada! Mexico is not included. That just makes it even more impressive.

Attendance High

The latest leg of the LIFAD tour has been rather impressive, especially if you consider only the US shows, because we all know Mexico has a long-term love affair with Rammstein, which is entirely reciprocated, and Canada is multilingual anyway. An official source has told me that attendance across this entire leg (including Mexico and Canada) has been around 100,000. That is huge. The USA is a hard market for non-English-singing acts to break into, yet Rammstein has smashed their way in, torched the place, and come away with the sort of attendance number that an English-singing band would be proud of. Way to go Rammstein!

Correction: This figure is not for Canada, USA, and Mexico. It's just for the US and Canada! Awesome :)

The Owl Mag Photos

Some excellent photos of both Rammstein and Combichrist have been posted to The Owl Mag. They're from the Oracle Arena show, and the photographer is Mike Roseti.

Rammstein in the USA

Kadri, one of the four people I was able to give concert tickets to, thanks to Webby, has reported back on her Rammstein experience. Enjoy:

Alright, Liebe fellow Rammsteiners, time for some concert rewiews from the concerts in USA!
I was there for 3 shows: Oakland, Los Angeles and Las Vegas (for which I won the ticket from here ). I flew in from all the way from Europe, just to see them in 3 shows, but oh boy! has that been rewarding!!! But let's start at the beginning.
To give you a picture of myself: I am a blond Estonian girl, who has been terrified to go to places I do not know, my whole life. This trip proved to me, that with a good enough reason nothing is impossible. I landed in San Francisco 3 days before the Oakland show and thought to myself, well, let's see some of SF-s sights as well. Hah, it rained nonstop all the time, so my whole sightseeing ended up in couple of shopping malls and many small divebars for some beers. But then... met couple of people, who I got to know (and love) from fan-gathering in NYC in December, and we went out on the night before the show to a have a couple of beers. There, one of them casually mentioned: "oh, by the way, I won 2 meet and greet tickets for the Oakland show and I have a spare one, wanna go?" I swear to god, I almost fell down!!! And it did happen, we got to meet 5 out of 6 band members (only Schneider was missing) just minutes before they went on the stage, got pictures with them, and I got their autographs on my LIFAD CD cover, and a hug from Richard. Happy as a kid in a candy store!!! They were all really nice, although Ollie seemed very shy, and Till looked slightly annoyed and bored. But Richard and Paul were sooo nice, they smiled and chatted with us. After the meet and greet we were escorted to the PIT to see the show, and we ended up in 6-7th row, which was not bad at all. The concert itself was great, as they all are.
The next day it was off to LA, to be ready for the lineup early in the morning of May 20th. I was there at 7 AM, and our group was the second one in line. During the day in the line it turned out, that one of our group members had an extra PIT ticket for Vegas, and I ended up buying it off of him, although I had the ticket won from here, but it was a seated ticket, and if given a choice, I always would prefer PIT. (The PIT tickets for Vegas were so insanely overpriced, that I could not let get away the possibility to have it only slightly over the face value). After looong waiting it was time to run for the first row. Ended up there just between Richard and Till, couldn’t get better than that! Then there was the time for Combichrist, the supporting act on all 3 shows to start warming people up. As I do like them as well, I really enjoyed their act, until… Richard and Paul showed up on the stage to perform “Blut Royale” together with them! What a massive surprise!!! The crowd flipped out! Both Richard and Paul really seemed to enjoy themselves; they were smiling all the time – something, that is very rare for Richard during a concert. After that there was time for Rammstein to enter the stage. They did, with the big black wall with Richard and Paul punching their way through that, and finally Till welding his way on the stage. But, pictures speak louder than words, so I really suggest, you check out the footage from the concerts on youtube. The crowd in the LA show was quite wild, and I got some serious bruises from a couple of crowd surfers, but hey, It’s rock, without some bruises after the concert you will look like a pussy. At the end of the concert I got a high-five from Richard, when he jumped off the stage at the end. WIN!!!
Right after the LA show it was time to head towards Vegas, and after nearly 5 hours we arrived in sin city. We went straight to the lineup, just to see, that we were almost first in line again. Reached he first row again, this time right in front of Richard. And again, the show was amazing! As it was the last show together for Combichrist and Rammstein, then they had prepared a special surprise for the audience for both Combichrist performance (Lacey Conner from “Lords of Acid” and Sin Quirin of “Ministry” performing “Kickstart the fight” and “What the f**k is wrong with you?” together with Combichrist), as well as for the Rammstein (Joey Letz and Trevor Friedrich from Combichrist joined Rammstein on stage for “Ich will” and “Sonne” – there were 3 drumsets on the stage – it was INSANE!).
So to make a really long story short: the trip was soooo worth travelling around the world. Would not change anything, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Du Hast Balalaika

Russians, I think? Awesome, either way.

Rammstein in Rosemont: 7th Highest Grossing

The Rosemont Rammstein show is listed as the 7th highest grossing show in the US for April and May 2011. Not bad for a pack of foreigners.

LIFAD, Especially For This Guy!

The whole idea of LIFAD and the heart symbol really comes into its own when a Rammstein fan (link in Spanish - GLT English here), desperately in need of a new heart, lies in hospital fighting an infection. It would be nice to click my fingers and send the band to him. It would be nicer if I could magic up a heart for him. Spread the word though. This boy needs to be in all our hearts.

Vegas Photos

There're some really great shots from Las vegas here. Yeah, I'm playing catch-up...

Gevolt: Behind the Scenes Video

Roman Kruter has posted a video documenting a Gevolt photo shoot, accompanied by Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn, from Gevolt's current album, AlefBase:

Behind the scene "GEVOLT" from roman kruter on Vimeo.

If you haven't read it yet, my recent interview with the band is here.

New Video Shoot

The Rammstein site has been updated with photos from the new video shoot in Malibu.

On May 23rd, the band recorded the 22th Rammstein video in LA. Once again directed by the Swede Jonas Åkerlund. After Ich tu dir weh, Pussy, and Mann gegen Mann, he is back for his 4th Rammstein video.

What do you think it's for? I'm thinking LIFAD, but I've heard theories that it's Roter Sand or an entirely new track. Given that one of the video's cast has mentioned moshing I shouldn't think it's Roter Sand, but she thinks it's for the 'best of' so the new track idea isn't a bad one.

Real Life

Labouring under the terrible burden of having the most awesome job in the world as I am, and also having huge amounts going on outside work, I have neglected you horribly. I'm sorry about this. I'll be back on track in a few days, rammaging around, digging up little gemstones about your favourite Germans, and posting them here for your delectation.

Oops, got to go and work again...

More Kimmel Footage

Timing is Everything

Why does Rammstein always do cool stuff when I'm flat-out at work, or somewhere without network, or driving, or something? They posted a long-distance shot of a video shoot today, and I didn't have time to post it here until now.

Never Take Joey's Stuff

This is what happens when someone takes Joey's drum away, instead of holding it for him to play:



The lesson here is don't mess with Joe's performance. He's a lovely guy, and messing with his drumming is just...wrong. It's like kicking him in the slats for no reason.

By the way, if the guy who took Joe's drum reads this, he wants you to PM him on facebook.

LV Review

I'm at work, so I haven't read it, but you might like to.

LA Times Review

The Los Angeles Times has posted a write-up of the show at The Forum.

LA Review

LA Weekly has a review of the show at The Forum up, with video.

Las Vegas Photos

The Las Vegas Sun has posted 16 photos from the show.

Metal Sanaz Video

Metal Sanaz has posted an HD video from The Forum in LA:

My Latest Finds

I have two things to post, but neither warrant its own article, so here they are:

LA Review with slideshow
Toronto photos

Listen to The Gauntlet's RZK Interview

TG has posted last night's interview with Richard. You have to hear this stuff to believe it, so listen.

Gevolt Interview

As regular readers will no doubt know, I recently fell in love with another band. Gevolt, an Israel-based Yiddish metal band, has been around for a while, but I only recently discovered it through my relentless search for Rammstein news. I hit upon Gevolt after it was compared to Rammstein in an article on music from around the world. While Gevolt does share traits with Rammstein it is a different creature, with its own unique and incredibly compelling sound. I wanted to know a bit more about the people behind it, so I contacted them. They very kindly agreed to an interview.

Below is the outcome of several emails between myself and the members of Gevolt. Answers have come from the entire band, written by various members, but always labelled or addressed where answers are specific to one of the crew.

Photo by Alex Freiter















How did the founding members meet and come up with Gevolt?

In the early 90's Anatholy Bonder and Dima Lifshits met in the collage class.
Together skipped the entire last semester of the first year and successfully failed the exams))
On the second year they even didn’t try, preferring to play, play, play…

Then they found Vadim Weinstein for a drummming and started a punk rock band called "Pot Of Honey", but in a while military service duty came so they had to split.

In 1999 Anatholy as a singer and Leonid Polonski as a song writer started a project called "ruins of kaballah" - made of programmed orchestration and vocals only.
The Ideas of that project has served as the basis for the GEVOLT in the future. ( some of the songs like “2+2” and “Molotok” were recaptured on a SIDUR album.)

Somewhere in 2001 Anatholy came with desire to make it in electric by gathering a band.
This marked the beginning of GEVOLT.

I'm very glad that you succeeded in failing your exams. The world wouldn't be nearly so much fun without GEVOLT. Out of interest, what were you studying?

Electricity

I consider that rather appropriate :)

'Electrify', 'buzz', 'a bolt from the blue', and more electricity-related turns of phrase all describe what your music is to me in these initial stages of merging it with my mind. In the days since I first found you have have graduated from my main play-list, to my workout play-list, and onto my driving play-list, which is the most critical, as I LOVE to drive, and insist on the best music.

Right music for driving is surely important, that’s true.:)

Photo by Alex Freiter

What do you guys listen to when you are driving or travelling? Also, who would you consider to be your primary influences? I'd really like to hear from all of you on this, as you each bring your own material to your work.

Misha: It’s always depends, on a company ,mood , time of the day, but mostly it’s energetic.

I often use car audio systems as sound reference when mixing.

I can say with certainty, we are listening to all kinds of genres. We often discuss songs or even whole albums either metal or classic, making some kind of analysis, just to understand more accurately the tastes of each other. We share music between us as well.

Our drummer is a big music lover, listens to new music all the time.

His influences: Deep Purple ,Rainbow, Camel, Kayak, Symphony X.

Anatholys influences:
Egor Letov(Grazhdanskaya Oborona), Auktyon, Sektor Gaza, Nirvana, Ozzy Osbourn, Manowar, Sex Pistols, Rammstein, System of a dawn, Pantera, Metallica, Death, Fedor Shalyapin, Nogu svelo, Green Day, Kusturica and No Smoking Band...

Chants of northern and steppe peoples of Asia.
Those days at work: Letov, Gogol Bordello.

Mark says:

Well, I don't drive, but I listen to music a lot when I'm in a bus on a way to work.
Lots of old good Motown records, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Queen, Nirvana, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Slipknot, Michael Jackson, Pendulum, Enter shikari, Air, Mogway, Flaming Lips, Weezer, The Strokes, Blur, Gojira, Pomplamoose, 30 seconds to Mars, Short Stack, Bjork, The Beatles, Imogen Heap, Jan Tiersen, Wagner, The XX... it's about 10% of my iPod content;

influences:
Everything that sounds good. It can be either pop music, indie rock or extreme metal...


Misha: My big influence was Black metal genre, once I played in a band called Arafel - participated on the recording of the first album.

By the way, you can check my other projects :

FB [force]
EIN

Photo by Alex Freiter

Was any of the ruins of kaballah project recorded and released?

7 songs were recorded and never released. Rest of the band didn’t even know this recording existed before the interview, so now some of the members became really curious to hear it.))

Haha! They're not the only ones. Do you ever think you would release those songs, perhaps as part of a retrospective project?

Yes, we will.
We will just post em on youtube or something...

And how have you found your new members as older ones have sloughed off?

We have a musician's community(rock\metal), where mostly everyone knows the other, so when someone decides to leave the band, the hearing spreads quite fast. For example, our guitar player already played(jamming) with the drummer before he was invited to the band.
And the Bass player was well known to us from playing in another bands.

Does the magic change, or do you select new people to fit the gaps they're to fill?

Naturally, the changes are always remain its mark.
Of course the magic has changed. Cause it’s – Magic:)

Indeed it is - I'm spellbound.  I'm going to have to buy Sidur. What should I expect, in terms of differences to AlefBase?

AlefBase – alphabet. ))
sid·dur
n. pl. sid·du·rim (s-drm, sd-rm) Judaism 
A prayer book containing prayers for the various days of the year.                         
- a kit of songs for practical use.
We find Sidur more atmospheric, in some way mysterious with a gothic touch.

Are most of your iTunes sales for Sidur in the Israeli store, or are you getting a healthy market building in other countries too?

We think that we got more iTunes sales outside of Israel)), probably because iTunes is not that big(popular) in Israel.
At this moment, we distributing SIDUR through CD Baby (physical/digital) and its not only in Israel.

The territories from which people are buying and downloading your albums from is useful information. I get the feeling you will do very well in the same territories as Rammstein, partly because of the kinship between Yiddish and High German, and the Russian/former USSR connection, but also because, despite the differences, your sound is appealing on many of the same levels as theirs. Have you explored the Spanish-speaking markets?

Not yet.))

Photo by Yevgeny Raw

While I am on the subject of Rammstein, have they had any influence on the development of your sound, or have you worked in a more parallel way?

We like the way Rammstein sounds, but it never was the landmark on developing our sound.

How did the fusion of metal and Yiddish music come to happen? It seems an unlikely marriage, and yet it works.

We like to do incredible things.

Are all your songs based on existing Yiddish songs, or have you composed them from scratch, only to create a feeling of the old style of music. I feel like I recognise some songs, but can't be sure, if it's because they're old and pervasive, or because you are very skilled at composing in that style.

The entire AlefBase album is based on old good traditional Yiddish motifs.
We have made total changes, rearrangements and adds to the originals, guided by our taste.
Recently we started to work on a new album, which hopefully will consist of a new material in Yiddish and we'll not stop on the sound we got in the AlefBase, we'll move forward to get more (maybe more heavy, maybe more folk, maybe more fun, maybe all together)

In that case I probably am recognising the underlying material.

Photo by Yevgeny Raw
 
Evolution is important, so I'm glad you're not going to let yourselves get bogged down in the texture of the current album. Are you intending to shift away from the traditional theme for the next one, or are you going to develop on that further?

We're more likely to expand horizons in both ways, to create more individualistic and innovative patterns.

I'm really looking forward to this. How long have your previous albums taken to develop?

About 4 to 5 years each.
We all have daily duties, sometimes it's just hard to find enough time for making music.
At that time we have a discussion within the band for most productive system to make the next one faster but with highest quality.

That's a reasonable development cycle. Can you tell me what you each do outside the band?

Eva is a professional Violinist, plays in orchestra

Anatholy: Family and working as programmer.

Mark says:
I work as an art director in some small design studio. At free time I draw a lot, play with my other bands, write material for my solo project and do a bit of sports.

Dimitry is a sound engineer, post production.

Misha: I work as a sound engineer, recording and producing, mostly working with rock\metal bands.

Photo by Alex Freiter

Are you trying for the beauty, along with the brutality, or is that an inevitable side-effect of the Yiddish style of music tinting even the harshest elements with gold?

We are not trying, but doing Music first of all.
...and last of all.
...and in the middle:)

Let the magic form itself, then. The violin is a big part of the old world feel and the beauty of your music. Are there any other instruments you would like to fuse with your current line-up?

Hard to tell at this point, it possible that we will mix in some additional instruments, as we did on AlefBase’s 11 track (Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn)  and 3 track (Der Rebe Elimelekh).
So far we treat this as a post production thing,  which usually takes place at much further step of making an album.

That makes sense, given your method for composing and developing songs. I was thinking after writing the last question that some cellos and double basses would work so well woven through the guitar wall, and boost the violen really well.

We will think about it:)

Given your eastern heritage have you considered 'metal-plating' traditional, non-Yiddish songs from your countries of birth

Not really.
Sudir album is somehow displays that.

Do you plan to tour outside Israel, if so, which countries show the most promising fan-bases so far?

We're working hard on local booking for now.
We'd like to make some long tour, since we have fans in many countries in the world. Recently we've got a bunch of gig proposals in some Europe countries and USA. Also in Russia and former USSR countries (Which is not a miracle, all of our band members were born in former Union).
By now we're doing all of booking and promotion by ourselves, but still looking for some booking agency to help us.

Photo by Yevgeny Raw

Would you like to make an album in a new language, such as English or Hebrew?

Yes,I think, Hebrew is really interesting to make a metal record with.

Which nations are you each from, originally, and what brought you to Israel?

Anatholy:
I was born in Kiev (Ukraine) and lived there. Also lived in Nizhnevartovsk (Russia - Siberia) about 6-7 years.
My parents brought me to when I was 16.


Mark:
I was born at Russian border with China (Khabarovsk, Russian Far East district) and in the age of 17 moved to Israel. Well, I'm not that big sionist. I just was young and wanted some adventures.

Vadim:

Russia - Belgorod . Repatriated with parents at age 15.

Misha:
I was born in Tashkent – Uzbekistan. Repatriated with parents at age 11.

Dimitry was born in Russia, I think, in Sverdlovsk.

Noting the Russian, Yiddish, and then mention of Hebrew, it almost sounds like the band's journey is parallel to your personal journeys, or even the recent history of Russian Jews. Is that a fair observation, or is that reading too much into it?

More or less the impression is correct;
We have absorbed various elements of the different cultures, that somehow were transformed into the essence of Gevolt.

Also, is there an agenda within your music to promote, raise awareness of, or educate regarding Israel?

We are reflecting our ways, our home, and our state of mind through music.
Of course we are inspired and influenced by the environment which we are surrounded by.
Whether it be walking the old city of Jerusalem or hanging around with friends on the embankment of Tel-Aviv.

How do you feel about being compared to Rammstein? This comes about because of the awesome vocals of Anatholy, and the combination of lung-flattening guitar and keyboards, but you each so clearly represent two very divergent focuses.

Being compared to Rammstein is not a crime:)
After all, Rammstein is a great band.
There's nothing to do, we both have a low-pitched vocalist and a wall of guitars.

While Anatholy's voice is different to Lindemann's, they have similar vocal ranges, and both sing with a distinctly operatic touch, so comparison is somewhat inevitable. What really solidifies the similarities between the two men is the exaggerated rolling of Rs. Is this speech mannerism a trait of Yiddish speech, or is it Anatholy's own, as it is with Lindemann? 

Well, we do not see much difference, whether it's Sidur with singing in Russian or AlefBase.
So likely it Anatholy’s specification.))

Photo by Ludmila Bazarov

Anatholy, your singing is a revelation. Which language is your favourite?

I love Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, English, German, Finnish...
Some of those i know well, some of those not much and some of those absolutely not:)
My native language is Russian ( thats why - Rs), then it was English (in school), after that - Hebrew, and now i'm learning (or think that learning) Yiddish - and I like it too.

Your music is brutal, sensitive, and highly immersive. Do any of you ever wonder how on earth this has come about? That is, does it all seem to be much more than you expect, after you've been jamming, and come to pull everything together for the first time?

It's something that has to do with certain people and their specific relationships within the band, which is probably impossible to calculate.
A symbiosis of personalities, various dynamics and desire for self-expression, if you will.

We worked hard on the “AlefBase” album and ultimately - we're satisfied with the result.
Nowadays I get a little bit excited with the ideas I’m writing down for the new one.

How do you develop your compositions as a group?

We do it by stages.
Most of our compositions has been developed within the rehearsals,
then got polished during the recordings.
Since we record and mix by ourselves, final touches are possible till the final point.

Photo by Yevgeny Raw

Do you have a dominant personality in the band, or do you operate as a democracy?

Usually the dominance in our band passes from person to person, depending on the matter.

Cool. What about the cliche roles? You know: the clown who cracks wise all the time, the peacemaker, the weird ideas person, the serious person, the motivator, etc. Who's who?

Every one of us in different times become one of those persons:)

Do any of the band members have musical side-projects, aside from Misha and Eva with her job?

Vadim’s side project

Gevolt website
Gevolt's current album download
Gevolt on Facebook
Gevolt on Twitter
Gevolt on YouTube
Gevolt on MySpace
Gevolt on Last.FM

Thank you, Gevolt.

Rammstein World?

I can't get to rammsteinworld.com in my web browsers. Can you? The DNS looks okay, and the server it's hosted on is responding to TCP queries, but the HTTP service is not responding to my browser's requests. I'm too damned tired to work it out, but let me know whether you can resolve the site okay. It may just be me, for some reason.

RZK Interview

There's a good interview with RZK from Jam Magazine Online. It skips the LIFAD era almost entirely, and delves into Richard's history, Germany's history, and Rammstein's...history. It's different and well worth a read...if you're interested in history.

TG & RZK

The Gauntlet Interviewing Rammstein

If you watch LILTwitter and/or @TheGauntlet you will have seen that he is about to interview Rammstein. As soon as he has recovered from the show and found the time to post that I'll link to it. Knowing TG it should be a goodie!

Photos From SoundSpike

There's a rolling slideshow with 13 shots from Oakland. They're good, though some of the crops annoy me. Worth checking out though.

If you find other galleries that you think are worth sharing send me the link, and I'll post them. It's a shame Silvijo isn't in the US at the moment. I could do with some more of his photos.

Three More Write-ups

Toronto Review
Oakland Review
Another Oakland Review

Paul Interviewed

The LA Weekly blog has posted a Paul Landers interview. He says some nice stuff about Combichrist:

You are touring with Combichrist again. Do you know the last time they played Los Angeles they headlined at the Music Box. Do you guys particularly like them or is there some other reason they keep ending up on the bill?

Well, it's really just because we are all gay.

We like them they are really nice people. I think it's important to get along with your opening bands because you're pretty much in close contact with them a lot.

And then I think we really compliment each other musically as well [with Combichrist] there not long sequences, they have no guitars, I think people are going to just be really amped up and can't wait till we break out the guitars. We're not bringing on some help-out metal band that people will be tired of and we can just rock out after they open for us.

And they're really nice to look at and they bring a lot of energy to the stage, they really bring a great show on as well.

There's plenty of other good stuff in there, so check it out.

Kimmel Show Clip Posted

Thanks for the link, David.

Oakland Crushed

NBC has posted a review of the Oakland show. It's rather well-written, and the writer obviously got the right kind of kick out of the whole shebang.

Do Your Homework

Consequence of Sound has posted about Rammstein on Kimmel, stating that Rammstein have been banned from the US for ten years. Someone hasn't done their research.

Rammstein Fan Missing

A Rammstein fan, who was to cycle from Calgary to Edmonton to attend the Rammstein show, has not come back. According to this article he hasn't been seen or heard from by his family since May 8, and they don't know if he was intending to meet anyone or not. This disappearance is apparently out of character, so if you know or met up with Scott Chunn, 25, at the Toronto show please contact Calgary police.

Rammstein on Jimmy Kimmel's Show

Metal Sanaz has posted this in three parts to her YouTube channel:







I haven't watched it yet. I just got home from work, saw this, and posted. Enjoy!

Eric Tavares Photos

Chart Attack has posted photos from Toronto.

Suzi Pratt Photos

Suzi has posted her photos from Tacoma. She's included Combichrist shots as well. Here is her photography website.

A Bigarse Post

I've got a hoard of material for you, which I would normally have posted as I found its parts, but it's just all been a bit much so this is something of a megapost:

Affenknecht: Review of Chicago
LA Lead-In
Tacoma Review
Toronto Review
Oakland Lead-In
Montreal Review
Silly Work of Fiction
Photos

&

Where to Go to See Rammstein on Kimmel After the Fact

Rough Day

I've had a terrible day; forgetting to take my medication, wrecking my plans and disrupting my work routine; and I now plan to catch up on some work, listen to some music, play with my rabbit, and catch up with a friend online. I have a few things to post, but have made do with a few retweets for tonight, and will post them tomorrow. My apologies for the laziness, but I feel self-indulgent.

Piccies!

SchwarzesGlas.com posted this large collection of photos from the May 13 show.

A Tube For You

Libertype has shared a YouTube channel you need to check out. Agent5021 is the user, and the play-list is comprehensive! Here's a taster:

Brazil!

If you're from Brazil or nearby there's a new page for you on fb. Come Back To Brazil Rammstein has a cause worth supporting, so check it out.

Another Edmonton Journal Review

Yes, two of their writers tackled Rammstein. Here is the first one I linked to...first, and then the latest one I found:

An eye-popping, ear-blasting show.
Rammstein delivers

Setting an Example

Gevolt have this article link on their facebook wall. It's a well-written summary of what they do, and where they fit into the picture of folk metal.

For those interested, they have also got a Twitter stream now. GevolTwitter?

Stupid Journalism

This article might lead one to believe that Rammstein will be taking in Sonisphere again this year, but it's worded in such a way that one can't be sure:

The celebration of heavy metal music tours throughout Europe each year and this year will arrive in Sofia on 21 June 2011. With famous bands from the metal genre on display including the likes of Rammstein and Manowar, dedicated fans will be looking forward to seeing their rock idols on stage.

To me 'the likes of' means bands on the scale and importance of, rather than the Fire Starters themselves, so I would advise caution against reading too much into this.

A Nice Pair

I had built a list of links during the day yesterday, and then my host, Blogger, went into read-only mode so they could perform maintenance on their systems, so instead of going through them them in during the day yesterday, and posting as I hit worthwhile reads, I am posting them now, together...and there were only two worth their salt:

Mothers' Day with 16,000 friends and 6 crazy Germans
An eye-popping, ear-blasting show.

I'll try and find more for you.

Blue?

There's a review of the Rosemont show here, which describes the LIFAD performance as 'The Blue Man Group with flamethrowers'. I'm not too sure about that, but the article is worth reading. It gives an alternative point of view on our favourite band. I consider Rammstein to be more blue than Blue Man Group.

Three Write-Ups

The first two are for the Toronto show:

A Spectacle
Rammstein Burns

The third is regarding the NJ show:

Fire in the Hole

Bell Center Rings

There are some great photos here from the Montreal show.

Free Mini-Concert

Check it out! Jimmy Kimmel appears to be filming a show with Rammstein in LA. Weird mix, but the price is right (free).

A Battery of Canadians (New Collective Noun) on Rammstein Live

A couple of write-ups of the Toronto show:

Fun and Fire
Explosive

Gevolt Player

In case you've been too slack to check out the album by download, here's the player:

Engel in Montreal

Thanks to SchwarzesGlas.com for the link:


Rammstein_Engel by vistadd

Spiel Mit Mir Review

There's a review up on SMM, currently credited to me, which is worth a read. I've let them know this is another (false! :P) LILT, so that will be corrected, but either way go and check it out.

Update 20110509: the link has now changed with the correction to the attribution.

Gevolt - SIDUR

I purchased SIDUR, Gevolt's earlier album, from iTunes the other day, and though I prefer AlefBase I really like it. The vibe is much more modern, but still has an eastern flavour that really appeals. It's darker, less thunderous, and the vocals are once again really compelling. I recommend this album.

PUSSY! (with cock cannon) NJ

More Metal Sanaz Goodness

New Jersey Video - Feuer Frei

NJ Photos

Timeout New York has posted some photos from the show in New Jersey's Izod Center. Some of them are great. I wouldn't mind seeing larger versions.

New Jersey Scorched

FreeGotham has posted a review of the New Jersey show, with video. It's fairly standard fare, in that it's positive and say all the right things. Check it out.

Here's the video:

Set-List

Here is the set-list from the Izod Center in New Jersey. Thanks to Rammstein Army (Argentina) for this:

1. Rammlied
2. Buckstabü
3. Waidmanns Heil
4. Keine Lust
5. Weisses Fleisch
6. Feuer Frei!
7. Wiener Blut
8. Fruhling un París
9. Ich tu dir weh
10. Du Riescht so gut
11. Benzin
12. Links 234
13. Du Hast
14. Pussy
15. Sonne
16. Haifisch
17. Ich Will
18. Engel.

Argentina Feeds Set-List

Watch LILTwitter - I'm relaying posts from other people with good leads on the Rammstein show #LoveRammstein ;)

Get a Little Tan With Rammstein

Rammstein World, the definitive French Rammstein fan site, has posted this interview from Metal Sanaz:



I like this woman. She's not afraid to express her fandom in a professional context ("This is it!"). She even got Till so excited he's told her she can come on stage with them. Lucky, hot, and in a position to interview her favourite bands. Awesome combination! Good girl :)

Summary: 'best of' in September (Till), "Of course we'll be back next year" (Till), Pussy stunt cocks not necessarily used by band members not in relationships (Till), and Metal Sanaz is a huge fan (herself). Schneider said the usual, and spoke less this time around.

The Pussy video thing I can't help you with. I don't know who is or isn't in a relationship, aside from Flake, whose wedding I have seen photos from, and I really don't care to know, but I'm sure a lot of you do and will be able to work out who had stunt doubles.

Facebook Change

For a while I have been running a facebook page for LILT, and a facebook user account, the latter to enable me to post to other pages and feeds as this site. The page functionality on facebook has been improved, so page administrators can now post as their pages. This has rendered the Lilt Rammstein user account redundant, so I posted yesterday that the account was no longer going to be in use, and today I deactivated it. If you wish to stay in touch with me on facebook please join the LILT.Rammstein.me facebook page. That is where I post when I update here.

Old School Snaps

Rammstein Mexico has linked to this gallery of older Rammstein photos.

Rammstein Mexico Interviews Paul

You can get the goods here. A few points of interest for me from this interview are below.

R+MX: You have reached very high levels, musically and visually speaking. Do you feel like you’ve gone the highest possible, or can you reach any further? What do you feel you’re missing to do?

Paul Landers: In terms of the music, we definitely have some reserves, since there are increasing opportunities to improve the quality of the songs. As for the show, there are also lots of ideas and projects…. Wait and see.

R+MX: After 6-studio and 2-live albums, is this the right moment to release a “Greatest Hits” album?

Paul Landers: No, by no means, but the record company insists we are getting the money for a long time and could not hold them back for more to bring out a best of album. Damn.

R+MX: Usually, between every album release, Rammstein takes its time. How much will we have to wait before having a new album in our hands?

Paul Landers: Quite right, after the tour of the Best, we will again take a “short break”.

It would seem that Till's words from years ago, about retiring at 50, are being taken way too seriously by many fans. It would also seem that, while we might see nothing for a few years after the currently announced activity, there's definite anticipation of more projects from our favourite sextet.

Thanks for Rammstein Mexico for letting me know they'd posted this. You guys rock.

Vote Rammstein!

Is Rammstein Germany's best band? Well, duh! So go and vote. Thanks, Rammstein Mexico.

What's a Combichrist App & Why Should You Care?

The Combichrist app is fairly comprehensive, and well worth getting. It includes music, video (music, live-pro-shot, live-fan-shot, and more), photos, a feed to Joe's tour blog, a feed to their Twitter stream, and other bits and bobs. It costs nothing, gives a lot, and takes up SFA space. Grab it if you have an iDevice, and if you're an Android user keep an eye out for your version in the future. I'll tell you all about it once it's released anyway.

Bottom line: Get the Combichrist app.

Combichrist App

Combichrist have released a free app on the iTunes store, with Android to be serviced soon. As someone who works in a games studio I wish them luck with the Android version. It's incredibly problematic, being such a fragmented platform. I'm just synching now and will update with my thoughts and a run-down on what the app consists of shortly.

Another Black Carpet Interview

BareBonesMusic.Com:



Hey, it turns out the YouTube embed function has just been well-hidden. I'm so blonde. I'll go back and sort out the other videos soon.

Anyway, they talk about the next leg of the LIFAD tour, favouritism, and SFA else. These carpet interviews are necessarily brief.

Golden Gods Interview

Schneider and Lindemann have been interviewed on the 'black carpet' by Metal Injection, and Blabbermouth has the video here. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but will add comments here if I hear anything of note. I just wanted to get it out to you lot.

Update: They were asked how they decide how much is too much with pyrotechnical content in the show. That was down to budget constraints, but as much as possible. Okay, asking if they're happy to be coming back to the US? Duh! The last and most interesting question was regarding videos. Lindemann says they're working again with Jonas Åkerlund (mispronounced - the Å is pronounced as 'or' in Swedish). I'm wondering if this 'best of' project is going to include that, or if there will be another single from LIFAD. No idea at this stage, really.

Petshop Boys & Torsten Rasch

Along with the announcement of their first live album, Concrete, Petshop Boys are releasing their soundtrack for the film, Battleship Potemkin, arranged by Rasch and performed with the Dresdner Sinfoniker, and conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer. This collaboration apparently came about after Petshop Boys heard Rasch's song cycle Mein Herz Brennt:

Astralwerks has also released Pet Shop Boys original music for Sergei Eisenstein’s classic film Battleship Potemkin. The music was recorded in London and Berlin with the Dresdner Sinfoniker in 2004, with orchestrations by Torsten Rasch.

It originally premiered in 2004, when Pet Shop Boys and the Dresdner Sinfoniker played the score to accompany a screening of the film in London’s Trafalgar Square. The free event was presented by the ICA and GLA and attracted 40,000 people. At the time, The Independent noted that “this must be the largest audience for an art movie ever recorded”.

Eisenstein’s film, made in 1925, describes the mutiny of the sailors on the battleship Potemkin in 1905, an event which then linked up with the local population in Odessa as part of Russia’s 1905 revolution. In France the authorities destroyed the film; in Germany it was subject to censorship and in Britain it was banned, apart from club performances, until 1954.

For the film’s Moscow premiere in January 1926, its soundtrack was a medley of existing pieces by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and others, but when the film reached Berlin later that year, it had its first specially-written score, by the radical composer Edmund Meisel. Eisenstein would subsequently acclaim the power of such “unity of fused musical and visual images” in his work and is said to have hoped that a new Battleship Potemkin soundtrack would be written for each new decade.

In April 2003, Philip Dodd, director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, approached Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe and suggested that they might write a new score for the film and perform it as a free concert in Trafalgar Square. They wrote the music in the order it would be heard, following the structure of the film. From the beginning they resolved to combine electronic music and strings; the lyrics of the three vocal pieces within it were largely inspired by the film’s original subtitles, though one – After All (The Odessa Staircase) – was also prompted by the role in London of Trafalgar Square as a home of political dissent.

Tennant and Lowe decided to ask Torsten Rasch to orchestrate the work after hearing his song cycle Mein Herz Brennt, a record based on the music of the rock group Rammstein which has sold over two million copies worldwide. Torsten Rasch’s orchestrations were recorded by the Dresdner Sinfoniker, conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer, in Berlin during July 2004. The finished composition – “not so much background music as foreground music”, says Neil Tennant.

Yiddish with a Dash of Pepper

I've been introduced to a new band in my eternal search for Rammstein news. Cultural relevance (which I'm sure is there in spades) aside, Gevolt has so much to offer the world. I found a single paragraph about them here (under Israel), comparing them to Rammstein, and I can see where that came from, but they're a different animal, really, taking an incredibly traditional musical style and turning it utterly upside-down and inside-out. They've basically taken old school Yiddish music and shoved a bunch of pepper up its arse, and it works surprisingly well.

Their album Alef Base is available for free download, but I urge you to pay them if decide to keep it. These guys need to be nurtured.

LIFAD Wants You

LIFAD has issued an order to the USA, Mexico, and Canada. It wants to see its heart everywhere, and has linked to graphical resources on its site for fans to download. You can make of that what you will, but it sounds like a recipe for an impressive display at the upcoming shows, if enough people get into it.

On the Subject of Germany...

TheGauntlet tweeted this mad link today (sound required).

DISCLAIMER: If you're a bit sensitive about the events in the first half of last century you might want to give it a miss (and I have to wonder why you're even reading a site celebrating a pack of Germans), but I think this exactly the sort of levity that is needed. Everyone needs to accept that Germany is now peopled by a nation of new human beings, many of whom are still feeling the need to apologise to the world, despite having had nothing to do with past events, and feel an unwarranted sense of guilt for the crimes of their forebears. Rammstein, for example, is made up entirely of people who did not exist when Nazi Germany collapsed. Celebrate Germany's successes and contributions, mourn the victims of past conflicts, and move on, I say.

Here endeth the rant.

Got Lichtspielhaus?

If you don't and you're interested in why I think you should get it check this preview out. Note that the DVD has subtitle options. It's a great DVD, and has something for everyone, including plenty of behind the scenes stuff.

Also, why are people not allowing videos to be embedded any more? Or is this a new thing with YouTube? It's so counterproductive.




Update:

Mein Teil (Making of Video)

I've seen this, and many of you probably have too, but since it's up on YouTube (appropriately in parts - thanks for the link, Oneon7Billion), and is a good watch, I thought I'd post it.

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



Part 4:

Golden Gods Coverage

Lindemann and Schneider feature (incredibly briefly) in this video article about Rammstein's Best Live Act win at the Golden Gods. Schneider looks about 20 and Till is wearing his best shit-eating grin (such a rare sight), so if you're an OMG-squee-type Rammstein fan it's solid gold. If not it's worth watching for the GWAR shots.

Speaking of GWAR, you'd think they could afford to buy their own drugs...

Update:

Big & Beautiful

I know it's off-topic and a little random but I reserve the right to be both, and post a link to this page. These monuments to Sovietism in the former Yugoslavia have to be the most compelling and evocative pieces of design I have ever seen as a collection. And they are a collection. They were apparently commissioned during the 60s and 70s by the then President of the then nation, Josip Broz Tito, to commemorate sites of World War II battles and concentration camps.

The GWAR Fuck Strategy

Having lost to Rammstein, remarking that at least they didn't lose to Sevendust, the plan from GWAR is apparently to make good on a promise to boff any fan who voted for them. I think I see the flaw in the plan...

Now, if Rammstein had made that same offer it might have worked quite well. I don't know about you guys, but I have seen the internet writings of female Rammstein fans, and I have blushed mightily.

It's Official: Rammstein Are the Best Live Act

The Revolver Golden God Award for Best Live Act has gone to Rammstein by popular vote. That's down to you guys for voting. Good job!

Free Tickets Ahoy!

Well, if you're able to get to Inglewood, CA or Las Vegas, NV and didn't enter you're mad. Four people from my forum are going to be receiving free tickets after this morning's draw. Because I had so few entries there were better odds for each of the entrants winning than these things usually have (a bonus), and I also thought it would make choosing easier having such a small pool of people. It didn't. It was a bit mad. I sat here for ages reading the entrants posts over and over again, stewing, imagining them, agonising, because they all sounded great and shared their passion. I'm ashamed to say that I ended up putting all of their names into a cardboard box, borrowed from a somewhat unimpressed cat I'm staying with at the moment, and drew out four names randomly.

The winners were:

* Eldraug
* wenchithia
* rosenrot1995
* Kadri

I hope They will all have amazing times and come back to LILT to share their experiences with the rest of us.

Something I posted in the contest thread was that one of the winners is assigned to be next to the lovely man who donated these tickets to LILT in the first place. Whether or not he introduces himself is up to him, but I asked the winners to show their enjoyment, so he knows his generosity as not been misused :)

Spinefarm Singles

Spinefarm is releasing some juicy vinyl to celebrate...Record Store Day*:

AS REGULAR manufacturers of vinyl, and proud of it, Spinefarm Records are delighted to be celebrating ‘Record Store Day’ on April 16th 2011 with six 7” singles featuring tracks from some of the key artists on the label.

The Rammstein single (Single 1 - yeah baby) includes Waidmanns Heil and Liebe ist für Alle da.

Thanks to rammsteinbrit for the heads up.

* This caused a WTF moment initially, but I figure it's something those nostalgic for the good old days have dreamt up, and I for one endorse this kind of silliness, so long as it's not taken too far. I love vinyl but lack a turntable. I love browsing music, but just don't find the time. Go the dinosaurs

Seventeen Hours To Go

We're two days into the three day draw for four free Rammstein tickets. If you can get to Las Vegas or Inglewood and want to experience Rammstein (believe me, you do) then check out the draw.

Free Rammstein Tickets

Okay, time to party, thanks to Webby, our kind benefactor. To go into the draw for a ticket to a Rammstein show on either the 20th or 21st of May 2011 please register for my forum, and post to this thread as per the instructions. Note that entry signifies acceptance of the terms and conditions. Entries close in just over 71 hours. Good luck!!

Guitar Con Massachusetts a No-Go

Apparently Rammstein have previously been announced as putting in an appearance at Guitar Con Massachusetts, and they will not be doing so. This is just a heads up, in case any of you were planning to go along to see them.

Unverified but the site seems to bear it out.

LILT Has Rammstein Tickets!

An incredibly generous Australian, who goes by the name Webby, has donated four tickets for two US Rammstein shows to LILT. I am going to give these to you. Well, some of you. I have the following:

1 x LOG6 20110520 @ The Forum, Inglewood, CA.
1 x LOGE11 20110520 @ The Forum, Inglewood, CA.
2 x L115 20110521 @ Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV.

These will be given away individually. Watch this space to find out how to get a chance at one.

Musikmesse Pictures

Rockpictures has photos of this year's Musikmesse in Frankfurt. See if you can find any ramming stones in there.

Thanks to Tempelhüter for the link.

A Mexican Call to Arms

Rammstein Mexico represents a body of Rammstein fans almost unequalled in their passion, drive, and community-mindedness, and they're up to something. A note posted to their facebook page calls for Rammstein-like individuals to sign up to participate in the production of a Rammstein fan video. Now, we have seen what those crazy Poles achieved with their video, so I imagine a nation of fans as awe-inspiring as Mexico can pull off something pretty special too. If you're able to partake in the production of this video and bear a resemblance to any of a certain group of German gentlemen, or just want to contribute and help, then contact Rammstein Mexico. I really want to see what comes of this...

I ♡ Mexico.

Caliban Cover Sonne

Caliban's cover of Sonne, to be included in their Cloverfield EP, is sampled in this video. Thanks to James for the link. I thought I had posted the news when this cover was announced, but apparently didn't, a sad failure on my part.

As an aside, I find it incomprehensible that a band's official YT channel administrator would block embedding their videos on other sites, as having your media playing on other sites is a good way to spread awareness, but this is the way Caliban's people do things, so a link it is. Meh.

Lego

There's been this Lego tribute to Rammstein up on YouTube for years, but I haven't seen it since 2009, and Metal Hammer just posted it on their blog, so I thought I would too, in case any of you haven't see it. It's pretty funky:

*Waves*

I was recently asked for a banner to link to me. I'm so damned old school I didn't have any, so I've whipped a few up, and they're now on my network page, right down at the bottom. I don't flatter myself that they'll get huge amounts of use, but if you want them they're there. Feel free to embed them straight off my host, or download them and upload them to your own, if you do.

Rammstein Communities

Community members should be aware by now that the official fan community forum has been exchanged for a community system, which works quite differently to a straight forum. It's been a shock to many, particularly the English-speaking users, who have found that having English and German users combined into one set of boards resulted in the proliferation of discussion in German, and a severe reduction in English threads. This has now been remedied, bringing about a great improvement in user-friendliness, but many English users have stopped visiting before the change. The only way to make the community revive for English-speaking users is to use the community, so I hope those who have faded away will come back and stamp their personalities all over the place, because we all know that Rammstein fans are personality-plus!

One thing I love about the new community is the ability to share media directly against your account, and the main community feed, so you can see where people are active. You can also friend people and filter the community feed to see what your friends in particular are up to. You can also subscribe to sections of the forum, so you get updated directly when people are engaging. It's very different to the old 'Fan Arena' format, but has way more potential for creating a real family of fans.

I for one have had fun visiting using the Chrome browser by Google. It has GLT built in, so you can go into the German section and read what people are saying, by accepting the browser's offer to translate. If you, like me, are trying to learn German, then switching the translator on and off, to see what is posted in both languages, is awesome.

Chrome is my browser of choice. It has issues with some stuff, so I keep my other browsers installed, but I primarily use Chrome, because it is a superior tool, in my opinion. In a multilingual scene, such as that of Rammstein fans, it really comes into its own. I can read Rammstein World and Rammstein Mexico without having to struggle with copying and pasting content into GLT.

Anyway, back on-point, I really hope people give the new community another chance. I had a really good explore last night, and find myself more and more pleased with it, but the lack of participation that has resulted from such a drastic change is not sustainable. We need to engage, support the community, and ensure it continues to improve.

Many of you won't know this, but I am an active campaigner to get Rammstein's fans to unite. Over the past 18 months-plus I have seen change, and more is to come. I hope these changes get the due consideration and support they deserve. The momentum needs to increase, rather than waning, as it has been, due to the ennui and jadedness of the fans.

My goal is to see more fans engaging on fb, Twitter, the official community, and on their own sites. Link to one another, communicate, and cooperate. Follow each other on Twitter, like each other on fb, join the official community, and link to all the other fan communities on your own fan-sites and MAKE it work. It won't happen overnight, as we have witnessed, but nor will it happen properly if we don't partake.

Okay, pep-talk over. Think it over.