Interview mit Admin "Rammstein USA" - Fangruppe von Rammstein

What is the attraction of RAMMSTEIN for you, why are they the biggest band in the world for you?
In their own way, they champion human rights, the pursuit of happiness, acceptance, independence and personal freedom. Political freedom. Artistic freedom. Social freedom. Religious freedom. Sexual freedom.  Since day one, even before Rammstein was Rammstein, they’ve unapologetically flipped the loudest collective middle finger and basically said “f*ck you” in unity with the socially marginalized.

What song did RAMMSTEIN catch you with – what was the first song you heard that made you a fan?
November of 1997 was when the “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation” soundtrack released and I bought it out of curiosity because I didn’t know most of the artists. At the time, my exposure to the German language had been absolutely zero and I’d never heard of Rammstein but “Engel” just sounded so otherworldly that I was instantly intrigued.  Hearing German for the first time and in that mode of expression really intrigued the hell out of me. When YouTube became popular, I saw their performances and came to appreciate them on a greater scale. For me, it was always about the music first and foremost. I didn’t need the visual aesthetic to compensate for the language barrier back then because the language was interesting enough to keep my attention.

And what’s your favorite song today?
„Imagine“ by John Lennon. Not the answer you were expecting, I’m sure. If you are referring to RAMMSTEIN, my favorite is „Ich Will“.

You are the admin of a the Facebook group Rammstein USA. How did that come along?
Rammstein USA is actually one-third of LIFAD USA, the collective brand that promotes RAMMSTEIN, Lindemann and Emigrate from the United States. It was founded on November 16, 2010 by the previous administrator for whom I took over in 2016. The purpose from the very beginning was to build a high quality community for fans worldwide that focused on involving them more directly, to give fans a forum in which they could connect with others, to offer unique competitions and giveaways for them, and of course to give fans access to useful and trustworthy band-related resources. But most critical is that we consistently honor the band and maintain the highest level of integrity possible where RAMMSTEIN is concerned. There are many LIFAD affiliate fan clubs worldwide that function collectively as a large network. We just happen to be one operating out of the States.

What does it matter to you about the group, what sense do you see in it?
The fans need to feel welcome and have a sense of safety and openness here. That their passion for the band is appreciated and they can participate in something that is fun, that appeals to them without fear of being degraded by others because they have a difference of opinion. Social media in general can be a curse just as much as it is a blessing. It can be very cruel and unsafe. That’s what I personally love most about this community and that is what drew me to it long ago is that I always felt welcome here. Something we absolutely won’t tolerate is disrespect from fans either towards the band or towards each other. Our mantra from day one has always been „For the band, for the fans.“

We publish articles, answer fan questions and interact with them. Coming up with interesting ideas for giveaways is always fun because we sometimes include the fans to find out what they would like to have. When there are official announcements or materials, we share that. Some of the events we host will take on a specific theme based on a song. The Waidmanns Heil Duck Hunt we did last November for our eighth anniversary was a huge hit with the fans across the U.S. Bigger events like that take a lot of planning, networking. developing the rules, promoting and then executing. We’ve got an outstanding team that volunteers for things like that. Band member birthdays are celebrated and sometimes we give away merch for those, or gift cards to the RAMMSTEIN-Shop. Fans really look forward to Christmas because we give out several gifts. Everything we give is procured only through official sources like RAMMSTEIN-Shop, Doctor Dick, concert promoters, etc. All signed items are guaranteed authentic so fans know they are getting the real thing. Engaging the fans in conversation is part of our purpose and the more fans communicate with each other in a positive environment, the more productive the community, as a whole, really becomes. Most important is making sure information we publish is accurate and what we feel will be of interest to the fans and not flooding them with junk every hour. We sometimes collaborate with other LIFAD communities and support smaller or newer ones who are just starting out and encourage our fan base to support them, too.

Have you ever received feedback from the band or the management about your engagement? Do you feel valued for your work for the band?
The things they allow us to do or ask us to do for the fans is positive feedback enough and they’ve given us a lot of freedom in that regard.  The founding administrator and a few fans represented the membership and appeared in the documentary, “Rammstein in Amerika”. That’s the biggest compliment of all. We collaborated with Till’s Doctor Dick manager on a cool competition for Till’s birthday which Till selected the winner himself. Richard and Arnaud signed guitars for us to give away and we interviewed both gentlemen in 2014 just before Emigrate released “Silent So Long”. We will be giving away one of those guitars hopefully sometime this year. We scouted out fans for Emigrate’s video shoot last year in Los Angeles. Danny Wimmer Presents partnered with us in 2017 to give away a hotel and ticket package for RAMMSTEIN’s Las Vegas show. The winners were an Australian couple who got married while they were in Vegas, which was really neat. This summer, RAMMSTEIN allowed the LIFAD fan clubs worldwide to give away rehearsal passes in Gelsenkirchen. We developed a nice competition for that. Seeing the excitement and gratitude from these winners when we contact them is the most amazing thing. It’s life-changing for these fans and that is the ultimate feedback for us. That really defines our purpose.

How often and where have you seen RAMMSTEIN live – and have you met the band off stage?
The first time was Chicago Open Air in 2016, then again in Chicago (Tinley Park) in 2017, followed by this summer’s Stadium Tour in Berlin and Paris. Yes, I have met them.

Did you come over to Europe just for the two RAMMSTEIN-Shows?
The shows were perfect timing because there are friends in Europe I had  never met before, but met because of RAMMSTEIN, so it made sense to coordinate all that at the same time.

Was it worth the effort of time and money? What impressed you most referring to the show?
Absolutely worth it. Berlin was a historic show. Everything about this tour is impressive to me because it’s not something that was hastily thrown together overnight and for everything to come together perfectly is a huge undertaking. But then, everything RAMMSTEIN does is so well planned. It has to be when working with a production of this magnitude. There is no room for error. Paris felt more personal because the venue  is smaller. It’s important that fans feel connected to the band no matter how far apart from each other they are in the venue, and that can be difficult to do in a stadium.

If you had to make up your mind: Which of RAMMSTEIN’s six musicians would you like to drink a beer with – and why with him of all musicians?
Till. I absolutely adore him. He has this quiet, witty, intelligent class about him and he seems easy to get along with. Just down to earth and genuinely a nice guy. I could listen to him speak for hours. Till is the type of person who could be the biggest celebrity in the room, but if you didn’t know who he was, you’d never get that sense about him because he could easily make you feel like you were more important than he was. He just has that quality about him that I admire in any human.

All RAMMSTEIN texts are written in German. Doesn’t that bother you as an American who is used to understanding all the texts?
Not at all. That’s part of the allure of their music for me, is that the lyrics are not in English. The language doesn’t suit their style of music anyway. I can’t listen to the English versions of Engel or Du Hast because it just doesn’t sound right to me. Music in general can be so boring, so repetitive and predictable. Conservative, even. And I’m just speaking in terms of songs in English. The etymology of the German language is still new to me because I didn’t have access to it in high school and it wasn’t until I was at the University that I could have studied German when I first discovered RAMMSTEIN, but didn’t. It doesn’t seem to matter to the fans either that the lyrics are in German. Translations, even though not 100 % accurate, are easy to find so fans get a pretty good idea of the meaning.

What difference does it make for you if you understand the lyrics of a song directly or if they are sung in German? Does it make the songs more exciting, does it tempt you to translate them?
RAMMSTEIN reasoned, at one point, that the pyro and theatrics were necessary because most of the fans would not understand the lyrics so there had to be some sort of embellishment to keep the audience’s attention. I don’t think that’s a valid reason any more for some fans, especially in this age of the internet and the plethora of knowledge available to nearly everyone. Translations are too easily accessible now. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, though. German doesn’t always translate well to English so it’s a bit of a detriment if you don’t speak German as some of the meaning can be lost.

I do research the translations so I can get as much of the meaning of the song as possible. That’s where some fans get the band all wrong. All they hear is the music, Till’s voice and how virile it is, but that’s where their interest stops. They might completely miss things like the classical German literary and cultural references.  At that point, RAMMSTEIN is simply entertainment. There is so much more to RAMMSTEIN than that and there’s a wealth of lyrical content if you want to fully appreciate the art of Rammtsein. The two terms are completely different. If fans value RAMMSTEIN as an artform, it requires respect towards the integrity that they hold as true artists.

True artists embed meaning in their work and their followers should take a genuine interest in supporting that desire. It’s up to the fan base to give RAMMSTEIN the platform to speak, and it has. Entertainment sells us a fantasy that is quickly forgotten. It doesn’t ask anything of us. Art, on the other hand, asks us to make choices, to examine life and be exposed to real feelings. It draws emotion and reaction out of us and holds a mirror up in front of us, depicting realism and the human condition. No other artist communicates that as effectively as RAMMSTEIN.

Generally speaking, Americans are used to rock stars coming from America. How does it feel to celebrate a German band?
Cautiously proud. I say that because, being American, if you mention the word “Germany” or “German” or “RAMMSTEIN” to certain people around here where I’m from, who are not fans, they might look at you with suspicion. They might back away from you, crawl up the wall sideways and accuse you of being a Nazi. It’s either that, or they want to recruit you because they don’t know any better. It’s a perfect mirror of the intolerance and ignorance that exists in some parts of America. If you don’t live where there is a lot of diversity, people who don’t know you will judge you more harshly. There is good reason to keep certain things private. That’s just my personal experience and in no way does it reflect what others experience. The fan club has not existed without risks and incidents, reasons why the founding administrator resigned.

There have been interesting experiences, though. People have tried stealing the license plate off my car because it says FEUER and they think it says something else. A neighbor asked me if he was supposed to salute me when he saw it, so I politely explained what it meant. We receive hate e-mail and messages sometimes, but that just goes with the territory. I’m sure other fan clubs have had similar things happen.

Within an hour of the release of the trailer for Deutschland, our inbox was full of messages from radio stations and other media, demanding to know what was going on. I just kind of sat back and grinned. It was quite amusing really, but also very satisfying in a way to watch these guys figuratively squirm and make assumptions before seeing the full video. It was brilliant.

So, that’s why I say I’m cautiously proud of being a fan. People are persecuted every day for their beliefs and doing what makes them happy, which brings me full circle to what the attraction to RAMMSTEIN is for me. They’ve given me a way I can accept who I am as an individual, and a sense of personal freedom that doesn’t require anyone else’s approval.  RAMMSTEIN is a whole other world to which fans can escape any time we need. I’ve met the coolest, most down-to-earth people who have become some of my best friends because of RAMMSTEIN.

How do you generally explain the success of RAMMSTEIN on an international level? What makes RAMMSTEIN special if you don’t understand the texts directly?
They have globally transcended lingual, cultural, stereotypical and artistic barriers.  There is something undeniably powerful in their art that speaks volumes to the social underdog in us. The human, really, in all of us who desires to just peacefully exist however we feel is natural to us individually, and by our own free will so long as it doesn’t infringe on the freedom and happiness of others.

RAMMSTEIN has inspired people from all over to learn German, to go to Germany, even move there, and to discover the culture and the history. Seeing so many fans motivated to do those things was eye-opening and rather satisfying. For them, it’s not just about the music, it’s really something much larger than the band. That’s an inherent quality RAMMSTEIN possesses that should not be overlooked.

The new album is debatable – I personally am not convinced. What do you think of the work? In your function, could you admit that you don’t find something of RAMMSTEIN completely good?
There are four songs on the new album I really enjoy, but I’m not a fan of the album as a whole work and I have no problem admitting that. It was the same with “Rosenrot” for me. I like parts, but not all. I appreciate the diverse quality of “Diamant” that it shows the talent of RAMMSTEIN to produce a song that doesn’t sound like anything else they’ve done. No one should feel obligated to like everything their favorite artist releases as it’s a matter of personal opinion. Conversation would be pretty boring at that point, so fans should feel comfortable expressing if they don’t like something. That’s what we emphasize to them. Feel free to disagree on whether or not a record sounds overproduced or too poppy.

RAMMSTEIN took a political stand for the first time on their stadium tour through Europe (apart from „Links 2 3 4“): They „welcomed“ rubber dinghies like those of the refugees in Germany, waved the rainbow flag in Poland and kissed in Russia. Did that surprise you – and what do you think?
No surprise at all and when we shared the photos and articles, I expected a handful of negative fan reactions and there were some. At that point, I questioned just how much about RAMMSTEIN these fans really understood. Do they even know where this band comes from? Have they no knowledge of what “Mann gegen Mann” means? Fans were ok with simulated sodomy during live performances but drew the line with a rainbow flag and the kiss? Do they not read interviews or watch any of the “Making of”-videos?

People protest other people loving one another when there is so much hate and division in this world. They protest when others seek happiness and a viable future for their children. They deny the very freedoms to others which they demand for themselves unconditionally.  At that point, it’s not a political issue. It’s a human rights issue.

When Deutschland’s video was released, we brought attention to the historical events that were referenced and it was interesting to see the fans naturally develop this ongoing dialogue in multiple discussion threads, particularly regarding the Holocaust as it was the main focal point.

We purposely started that conversation with the fans as it related to the video in hopes they would continue on and take that dialogue to a whole new level. I think the ratio is something like one in every 20 Europeans knows little to nothing about the Holocaust. If anything, Deutschland is as much of an educational tool as it is a brilliant music video. Think of  how many millions of views it has today and how many people have shared that video on their social media. With RAMMSTEIN, nothing is an accident. It’s all part of the plan. I love the German culture of precision.

Especially in Germany there are many RAMMSTEIN fans who had appreciated the apolitical nature of the band, because they themselves might also be against the tolerance they just mentioned. How is that in America? Which political spectrum would you most likely attribute the fans from your experiences to?
There are people who would argue that you shouldn’t mix music and politics, that musicians should “stay in their own lane,” as the saying goes now.  I say that’s bullshit. That’s easy for Americans, who have never had to survive under dictatorship and fascism, to say.

Fans who are suddenly taken aback by RAMMSTEIN at this point in the band’s career, have not been paying attention. Read between the lines. America is at a very critical crossroads at this point in its very young history and we have an opportunity to do something very special with it. Germany chose, wisely, to make examples of its history as a message to the world of how and where it fu**ed up. Germany is the cautionary tale which the rest of the world should learn but, sadly, it is being swept under the rug. The next generation will be even further removed from that history than we are now.

This might sound foolish to some, and there are fans and critics who will disagree, but I feel that Deutschland is one of the most critical works, both lyrically and visually, ever in the music industry. History is moving further away from the Holocaust; the world is starting to forget.  “Never again” has become a common refrain among those concerned with learning what history has to teach us.  Who has the voice and the power to draw the world’s attention back to these lessons in hopes of encouraging a continual awareness?  It takes a voice that can pack not just Olympic Stadium in Berlin but stadiums across the world. That’s who it takes. It takes a voice that can earn millions of views on YouTube. That’s who it takes. It takes someone who can stand up in front of 80,000 people and they will listen and be moved. That’s who it takes. It takes someone who can motivate others into action and get results. That’s who it takes. The message is easy to deliver and it’s easy to hear. It’s getting people to listen and do something that is the hard part.

While I was in Germany this summer to see RAMMSTEIN, I made it a point to visit Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie, taking particular note that if KFC and McDonald’s across from Checkpoint Charlie didn’t say we won the Cold War, I don’t know what did. But I walked away from each one of these memorials a different person. Humbled. Heartbroken. Watching old World War II and Cold War documentaries from the comfort of my home in Midwest America pales in comparison to physically walking down the death trench where tens of thousands were systematically murdered. Families were torn apart, people who worked in the West suddenly had no job because a wall went up literally overnight and their entire lives were sacrificed to constant surveillance and control. There is absolutely no comparison. Americans have no idea just how free we really are because we’ve never been without. Not yet.

Emotionally, I could not handle being in the crematorium at the camp, seeing the statue built there to honor those who suffered and died. I can still smell the basement of the infirmary. Death. Decay. Inconceivable suffering. It makes your blood turn cold. It’s something every person should experience if they have not already and to think that it’s being untaught is the saddest part of all.

There are two books I’m currently reading. “Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Wall,” is an award-winning book by Anna Funder that recounts personal experiences by both East Germans and former Stasi and what life was like in the East after the war, after the Wall went up and also after it was torn down. The other is by Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt titled, “It Happened at the Wall,” which I purchased while I was in Berlin. Puts things into a certain perspective that Americans find difficult to comprehend because we’ve never lived under those conditions. We were born into freedom automatically. What does all this have to do with RAMMSTEIN? Everything. Absolutely everything. Learn more about the Berlin Wall and you will have a closer understanding of this band and what drives them. There is RAMMSTEIN because the Wall fell, but also because the Wall was built. It’s a bit vexing, isn’t it.

So, when people argue their case regarding music and politics, that the two should not be mixed, do not forget the six musicians from the East who lived behind the Wall. They are well qualified, if not overqualified, as few other people are, to be as political in their art as they damn well want. If those with a voice don’t stand up for those without one, then who will?  Imagine if Richard was to write a book about his life, with greater details of his arrest by the Stasi in 1989. The fans would get a much clearer picture and deeper respect of who he is, not just as a musician, but as someone who was born and raised in the East.

Fans come from all different backgrounds, religious beliefs and lifestyles. Same with politics, so the spectrum is broad. For the most part, fans respect each others’ views but we tend to not discuss politics or engage the fans in that particular regard. They just want to enjoy the music and enjoy the band. They also enjoy the company of other fans.

It’s nice to receive a message from someone who says they met their future husband or wife because of RAMMSTEIN. Or that Oliver inspired them to learn the bass, or that they met other fans at a Meet and Greet and have become good friends since then. Recently, a fan wrote to us that she got to meet the band this summer and she took the opportunity to give Paul a letter of gratitude and in that letter she explained how she had attempted suicide several times but RAMMSTEIN’s music had such a profound effect on her and it changed her life. The moments like these are a testament to how powerful music really is and the change that can be accomplished through music.

What do you dream of as a fan? What else do you want to achieve with your fan group?
That RAMMSTEIN retires soon, that they quit while on top of the world. Another thing I wish for is that they would release all the lyrics in English as official translations.

With the fan club, my answer has more to do with fans worldwide in general, rather than with just here in the U.S. I hope that the fan base becomes that “continual awareness” I mentioned earlier. That RAMMSTEIN doesn’t become forgotten over time and that fans teach the younger generations about six musicians from East Germany, where they came from, how they grew up, and why they are special. Twenty-five years into the future, fifty years…that their art will still be relevant. Depending on certain political landscapes, RAMMSTEIN may become much more relevant in the future than they are now.

And what makes the RAMMSTEIN fan so special, what do they all have in common?
Perhaps there is an attachment to the band that was built by something other than just the music in such a way that only each fan could answer that question. We became attracted to RAMMSTEIN for their ability to infiltrate and change the musical landscape in ways no other artist has ever done before.

Once again thanks for your time.
Thanks for the invitation!

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Publiziert am 24. August 2019 von Moritz Grütz