The Band Members

Till Lindemann

Lindemann has a powerful onstage presence and a resonant bass voice. One of his signature moves is to partially squat and pound his fist onto his thigh to the beat of the riff, in the manner of a deranged blacksmith. One of his most distinguishing characteristics is a tendency to roll his 'R's, and growl his 'ach's.

Lindemann is a qualified pyrotechnician. After an accident at the Treptow arena in Berlin on September 27, 1996, where a burning stage prop fell into the audience, Rammstein began employing a professional pyrotechnical crew and Lindemann has learned from and also trained with them. Each band member is specially instructed on the pieces of pyrotechnical equipment they use on stage. Of Lindemann, bandmate Christoph Schneider says, “Till gets burned all the time, but he likes the pain.”

Richard Zven Kruspe

Richard was born in Wittenberge, East Germany. He has two older sisters and an older brother. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother remarried, but he did not get along with his stepfather. They moved to the village of Weisen when he was young.

As a child, Kruspe was a fan of KISS. According to him, KISS "represented capitalism in its purest sense, and every child was KISS-infected because they were so big. Kids wrote KISS on their notebooks, and if the teachers saw it, they could get kicked out of school just for having it written on their books." When he was twelve, he had a KISS poster in his room, but his stepfather tore it down and destroyed it, and Richard stayed up all night putting it back together.

At the age of sixteen, Kruspe and some friends visited Czechoslovakia, where he bought a guitar. He had originally planned to sell it, because they were very expensive and thought he could make a nice profit. However, once he returned to East Germany, a girl at a campground he was staying at asked him to play. He told her that he couldn't play, but she kept insisting, and Kruspe got mad and started strumming the strings. "The harder I played," Richard said, "the more excited she got. Something clicked in my head and I realised girls like guys who play guitars." This got him interested in playing the guitar, and as a result, he began playing every day and night for the next two years.

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Till Lindemann	Till Lindemann Lindemann has a powerful onstage presence and a resonant bass voice. One of his signature moves is to partially squat and pound his fist onto his thigh to the beat of the riff, in the manner of a deranged blacksmith. One of his most distinguishing characteristics is a tendency to roll his 'R's, and growl his 'ach's. Lindemann is a qualified pyrotechnician. After an accident at the Treptow arena in Berlin on September 27, 1996, where a burning stage prop fell into the audience, Rammstein began employing a professional pyrotechnical crew and Lindemann has learned from and also trained with them. Each band member is specially instructed on the pieces of pyrotechnical equipment they use on stage. Of Lindemann, bandmate Christoph Schneider says, “Till gets burned all the time, but he likes the pain.” Richard Zven Kruspe Richard was born in Wittenberge, East Germany. He has two older sisters and an older brother. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother remarried, but he did not get along with his stepfather. They moved to the village of Weisen when he was young. As a child, Kruspe was a fan of KISS. According to him, KISS "represented capitalism in its purest sense, and every child was KISS-infected because they were so big. Kids wrote KISS on their notebooks, and if the teachers saw it, they could get kicked out of school just for having it written on their books." When he was twelve, he had a KISS poster in his room, but his stepfather tore it down and destroyed it, and Richard stayed up all night putting it back together. At the age of sixteen, Kruspe and some friends visited Czechoslovakia, where he bought a guitar. He had originally planned to sell it, because they were very expensive and thought he could make a nice profit. However, once he returned to East Germany, a girl at a campground he was staying at asked him to play. He told her that he couldn't play, but she kept insisting, and Kruspe got mad and started strumming the strings. "The harder I played," Richard said, "the more excited she got. Something clicked in my head and I realised girls like guys who play guitars." This got him interested in playing the guitar, and as a result, he began playing every day and night for the next two years.
Richard Zven Kruspe