Richard Kruspe interviewed in a Finnish radioshow - Transcript by me
Richard was interviewed yesterday in a Finnish radioshow on YleX. I spent long hours typing the transcript of the English section and also translated some of the Finnish parts.
Toni: "The one thing that differs from Rammstein of course is the vocals, and you sing the lead vocals on this album. I believe that is first time for you?"
Richard: "No actually I don't sing the vocals"
Toni: "You don't?!"
Richard: "Nono I do. Just kidding *laughs*"
Toni: "No? You bastard! *laughs*"
(6-0 to Richard! lol )
Yes, a poor Finnish journalist got fooled. For a while he thought he hadn't done his homework properly. Who says Germans have no sense of humour?
Even 'though this is a sideproject, it's not just a soloproject for Richard.
Richard: "No it's not, because if it would be a soloalbum I would just do it once and you know would then forget about it. For me Emigrate is much more than a solo record. It's more, I kinda balance myself out again. You know I always thought in Rammstein I wasn't really complete, for me there was always something missing, and I was not healthy. I was working too much, trying to compensate my need of something that I didn't know what it was at the time. Since I started with Emigrate I realised that I needed to do something by myself. It's good to be in a band like Rammstein but I needed something by myself. For me basically Emigrate is the cure to go back with Rammstein and be basically happy and do what people expect me to do, like playing guitar."
Toni: "Yea, yea. You have so much success with Rammstein so this is kind of obvious question: Why did you do something else?"
Richard: "Because I think the most important thing is .. the only person you really can please is yourself. And if you feel like there's something missing in your life you know, even 'though you have the most success in the world, it doesn't mean you're happy with yourself. And I don't talk about if you're ever gonna be happy or not anyway. But you can make it better."
Richard was sick and tired of what was happening with Rammstein during the few last records, he needed a change. And a change is what he got. Not only did he start a new band he also moved from Berlin to New York with his (now ex-)wife. And for the first time in his life he felt like home.
Richard: "I mean there's different things that made me move to New York. One of the things that I felt like long time ago that I needed a change I needed a new challenge, you know we kinda felt like you know Rammstein we had achieved everything we could. I felt like I needed a new challenge for my life. And also at this time I was married and I was trying to live this marriage in a way. Especially at this time we had some tension going in the band. I felt like I needed to let go, this is my (fell?) from Rammstein because it was eating me up. It wasn't healthy. Berlin is an easy town to get lost in drugs, you know, the darkness of the city. So I felt like I was living a really unhealthy life, I needed to change. It was definitely a risk because New York is known for being a really unhealthy city. But for some reason I never really felt home when I was a young boy, growing up in a really small village in East Germany. I never had this feeling of being home again and all of a sudden in New York I kind of felt home, I couldn't really explain why. I was just there and I felt like 'OK, this is a new start" I felt like I could form myself again. And that was it."
Toni: " But everybody who visits New York say that it's a very hectic place and people are really rude. Is that true?"
Richard: "It's an extreme place, I would say, with all the good and the bad sides. It is rude, because everything is so extreme. Everyone wants to make it. But still has its own charm. Most important thing to me as an artist; it has so many stories to tell. So much drama in the city that I can use it for my writing."
The debut album is totally different from Rammstein's work. Although the first couple of songs in the beginning could easily fit a Rammstein record also.
Richard: "Yes I totally agree like the first two-three songs could be definitely Rammstein tracks in my ears too. When I decided to go away and started to write I didn't think about which direction I wanna go, it's just writing. Slowly but surely when I came down I think that .. first of all your enviroment has a big influence on your music anyway. And I think slowly but surely I absorded the city and (experienced?) the city and that has a big effect for my music. And slowly but surely all the songs and the sound changed in a way. But I agree the first two-three songs could be Rammstein tracks, but then there was a change in there. I can tell you one thing, because right now I'm writing .. I'm working on a second record for Emigrate too, there will be definitely a different sound again."
So Richard had difficulties working with Rammstein, and since it had been a while since the last record from the band, rumours about the band's split up started to spread around the internet. It didn't help at all when during the summer another nasty rumour appeared to a website saying that the singer Till Lindemann was about to leave the band for good. Richard has his own word to say about these "news".
Richard: "That's bullshit"
Toni: "*laughs* What did you think when you first heard about the news?"
Richard: "I actually like .. people called me up, this time we were on the Baltic Sea, I actually had some crazy text messages like "Is it true?" "What the fuck are you talking about?" And because we are actually really happy at the moment and far away from splitting up, the opposite. These days some idiots can bring something in the net and it gets spread because nobody is doubting anything anymore. Everything is the truth. It's the danger of the net. Somebody puts something in and people think 'that's the truth!'. Which it's obviously not.
Toni: "The one thing that differs from Rammstein of course is the vocals, and you sing the lead vocals on this album. I believe that is first time for you?"
Richard: "No actually I don't sing the vocals"
Toni: "You don't?!"
Richard: "Nono I do. Just kidding *laughs*"
Toni: "No? You bastard! *laughs*"
(6-0 to Richard! lol )
Yes, a poor Finnish journalist got fooled. For a while he thought he hadn't done his homework properly. Who says Germans have no sense of humour?
Even 'though this is a sideproject, it's not just a soloproject for Richard.
Richard: "No it's not, because if it would be a soloalbum I would just do it once and you know would then forget about it. For me Emigrate is much more than a solo record. It's more, I kinda balance myself out again. You know I always thought in Rammstein I wasn't really complete, for me there was always something missing, and I was not healthy. I was working too much, trying to compensate my need of something that I didn't know what it was at the time. Since I started with Emigrate I realised that I needed to do something by myself. It's good to be in a band like Rammstein but I needed something by myself. For me basically Emigrate is the cure to go back with Rammstein and be basically happy and do what people expect me to do, like playing guitar."
Toni: "Yea, yea. You have so much success with Rammstein so this is kind of obvious question: Why did you do something else?"
Richard: "Because I think the most important thing is .. the only person you really can please is yourself. And if you feel like there's something missing in your life you know, even 'though you have the most success in the world, it doesn't mean you're happy with yourself. And I don't talk about if you're ever gonna be happy or not anyway. But you can make it better."
Richard was sick and tired of what was happening with Rammstein during the few last records, he needed a change. And a change is what he got. Not only did he start a new band he also moved from Berlin to New York with his (now ex-)wife. And for the first time in his life he felt like home.
Richard: "I mean there's different things that made me move to New York. One of the things that I felt like long time ago that I needed a change I needed a new challenge, you know we kinda felt like you know Rammstein we had achieved everything we could. I felt like I needed a new challenge for my life. And also at this time I was married and I was trying to live this marriage in a way. Especially at this time we had some tension going in the band. I felt like I needed to let go, this is my (fell?) from Rammstein because it was eating me up. It wasn't healthy. Berlin is an easy town to get lost in drugs, you know, the darkness of the city. So I felt like I was living a really unhealthy life, I needed to change. It was definitely a risk because New York is known for being a really unhealthy city. But for some reason I never really felt home when I was a young boy, growing up in a really small village in East Germany. I never had this feeling of being home again and all of a sudden in New York I kind of felt home, I couldn't really explain why. I was just there and I felt like 'OK, this is a new start" I felt like I could form myself again. And that was it."
Toni: " But everybody who visits New York say that it's a very hectic place and people are really rude. Is that true?"
Richard: "It's an extreme place, I would say, with all the good and the bad sides. It is rude, because everything is so extreme. Everyone wants to make it. But still has its own charm. Most important thing to me as an artist; it has so many stories to tell. So much drama in the city that I can use it for my writing."
The debut album is totally different from Rammstein's work. Although the first couple of songs in the beginning could easily fit a Rammstein record also.
Richard: "Yes I totally agree like the first two-three songs could be definitely Rammstein tracks in my ears too. When I decided to go away and started to write I didn't think about which direction I wanna go, it's just writing. Slowly but surely when I came down I think that .. first of all your enviroment has a big influence on your music anyway. And I think slowly but surely I absorded the city and (experienced?) the city and that has a big effect for my music. And slowly but surely all the songs and the sound changed in a way. But I agree the first two-three songs could be Rammstein tracks, but then there was a change in there. I can tell you one thing, because right now I'm writing .. I'm working on a second record for Emigrate too, there will be definitely a different sound again."
So Richard had difficulties working with Rammstein, and since it had been a while since the last record from the band, rumours about the band's split up started to spread around the internet. It didn't help at all when during the summer another nasty rumour appeared to a website saying that the singer Till Lindemann was about to leave the band for good. Richard has his own word to say about these "news".
Richard: "That's bullshit"
Toni: "*laughs* What did you think when you first heard about the news?"
Richard: "I actually like .. people called me up, this time we were on the Baltic Sea, I actually had some crazy text messages like "Is it true?" "What the fuck are you talking about?" And because we are actually really happy at the moment and far away from splitting up, the opposite. These days some idiots can bring something in the net and it gets spread because nobody is doubting anything anymore. Everything is the truth. It's the danger of the net. Somebody puts something in and people think 'that's the truth!'. Which it's obviously not.