Rammstein Biography

The beginning

The history of the band starts with Richard, who accidentally walked into a riot in Berlin on October 10, 1989. He was arrested by the police and put into a truck, which drove him for hours to Weißensee. There he had to stand in front of a wall for six hours. If he would move, he got hit. After three days he was released. This experience made him want to leave the GDR. He took the "green route" over Hungary and Austria to West Berlin. After the wall came down, he moved to Schwerin to join Till. By that time, Till was working as a basket weaver. Every once in a while he would sing during his work. Richard stood there, listened and liked his voice. He recorded Till's singing just for fun. This was when Richard was already living in a flat with Olli and Schneider. He created the plan to start a new band. That was in 1993. After Olli left his previous band, The Inchtabokatables, Richard asked him to join his new project, to which he agreed. After that, he would also ask Schneider, who also joined the band. This three-piece started jamming and build up early versions of songs. Remembering the recordings of Till's singing, that he made two or three weeks earlier, he also asked Till, if he would be part of the band. Till came to Berlin and didn't get a single note out, until he drank a bottle of liqueur. He then went away with a tape full of music, to which he started singing English lyrics. The band heard about the Metrobeat competition, to which a tape of demos had to be sent in. They recorded four songs, one of them being an early and English version of "Weisses Fleisch", called "White Flesh" back then, and sent in the tape under the name Templeprayers. They immediately won the competition. The prize was a week in a professional recording studio.

The first ever band photo, 1994
©Rammstein Archive

Noticing that success, Paul heard of the band. At first Schneider didn't want to play with him in a band. He was in different bands with him before, like Feeling B and Die Firma. Schneider even took it so far, that he said he would leave the band if Paul would join. This was due to Schneider leaving Feeling B after a disastrous concert, promising to himself, to never want to see any of them again. But he still liked Paul and stayed in the band. But the band also wanted Flake to join the band, because they wanted his instrument and he was different from other keyboarders. After a while the band wanted to take band photos, to which Flake agreed to be on. Later the band told Flake, that they would really like him to be in the band. But if he doesn't want to be a band member, then there is no way back. The only demand Flake had, was that the band wouldn't sing English, but German.

The band name

To that point, the band was called "Templeprayers". But the name "Rammstein" comes from an early idea of Schneider, Flake and Paul. They wanted to have a band and call it "Rammstein-Flugschau". They had that name already written inside their Robur Lo during their time in Feeling B. Accidentally they wrote "Rammstein", with two M instead of one. Before agreeing on "Rammstein", the band also had other names in mind: Milch (milk), Erde (earth) or Mutter (mother).

First concerts

The real first ever concert must've been in February '94, while the band was called "Templeprayers". The band must've been playing as a four or five-piece (it is not known if Paul was already a band-member at that point), in front of a group of people from the music industry and journalists. It is also not known if this performance was also part of the prize for winning the competition, or if it was part of the competition. One visitor in the audience was Tatjana Besson, who played in the band Die Firma together with Schneider.

The first real "Rammstein" concert was held on April 14, 1994. Their first show was as the unannounced supper for the band Golden Acker Rhythm Kings, which was the band of Flake's brother Peter. The people were shocked by the band, who were a complete contrast to the band of Peter, which was more fun and comedy-driven. After the show, Flake also played with the band of his brother.

During the first concerts Till wore two sunglasses over another to hide his anxiety and for the audience not to directly recognize him.

Record label and Manager

One of the first record labels to approach the band and offer them the possibility to record a demo tape was the label K&P-Musik. The band went to their offices and was listening to their first demo together with employees of the record label. But the songs weren't hard enough, so the band got a CD of "Tass", and left.

Their soon-to-be-manager Emu already knew members of the band from the GDR. He knew Richard from Orgasm Death Gimmick and Paul and Flake from Feeling B. In 1993 the band approached him and asked him to be their manager. They played for songs for him (known songs were "Schwarzes Glas", "Feuerräder" and "Rammstein"). He declined. But he took the demo-tape home and listened to the songs over and over again. He only agreed to be the manager of the band, after he saw them during a concert at the Knaack club in Berlin. The band was still interested in working with him, so he became their manager.