At this time, Richard lived with Oliver Riedel (of the band The Inchtabokatables) and Christoph Doom Schneider (of Die Firma). Richard realized that the music he had previously made was not right for him. He envisioned something with machines and hard guitars together. The three started working together on a new project.
Richard soon found it hard to write music and lyrics at the same time. He got Till to join them as he had often heard him singing while working. A contest for new bands was announced and the prize was studio time. The four of them recorded the first Rammstein demo and won. Paul Landers knew them all and wanted to know what they were doing. After listening, he agreed to join. At this point, all they needed for the machine-sound was a keyboarder. They tried to get Christian "Flake" Lorenz to join, as he had played with Paul before in the band Feeling B. Flake was not entirely thrilled with the idea at first and didn't want to join for a long time. But, he eventually agreed.
About the time the band was formed, they all had relationship problems which provided the foundation for their debut album Herzeleid (Heartache) in 1995. Since then, they have reached gold and platinum status for their music and have become Germany's number one music export.
The Name -
Three Italian air force jets collided on August 28, 1988 at an air show at the US airbase in Ramstein, Germany. About 40 spectators died in the first minutes and several hundred were injured. In the next two months, the death toll rose to 69. In short, it was a disaster.
The name was all over the media at the time and just got stuck in their heads. They changed it from Ramstein (with one M) to Rammstein (with two). It is not a real German word, but literally means "Ram-stone". They chose it to provoke and because the meaning seemed to fit their music. Their first song, "Rammstein" was about this tragedy.
RAMMSTEIN IS:
Till Lindemann - Vocals
January 4, 1963
Richard Z. Kruspe-Bernstein (EMIGRATE)- Guitars / Vocals
June 24, 1967
Paul Landers - Guitars / Vocals
December 9, 1964
Oliver Riedel - Bass
April 11, 1971
Christian "Flake" Lorenz - Keyboards
November 6, 1966
Christoph Doom Schneider - Drums
May 11, 1966
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