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State of Mind – Richard Z Kruspe-Bernstein : Rocksound

Rocksound – March 2002

Known for their spectacular pyrotechnical live performances, German juggernauts Rammstein certainly show no mercy. After their recent UK appearance, rock sound caught up with guitarist Richard Z Kruspe-Bernstein to check his ‘State of Mind’.

Do you believe in aliens?
No. The idea that there is another life somewhere in outer space is so remote from me that it’s quite difficult to accept or even imagine. There has to be something there but I’ve never seen it

Do you believe in God?
No. I believe in life justice, that everything that you do, you get back. It’s justice, and it’s what I believe in.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
I think perfect happiness is when you really love yourself; if you love yourself then you don’t have any kind of fear – you are fearless

rock sound: So are you fearless?
RK: It’s actually my biggest wish in life – to loose my fear. I believe that fear is something that holds you back. If you think about fear, you have to go back to childhood to figure out what is going on in your life – you have to confront it to see why and what’s happening. The thing is, when you were a child, you didn’t have any kind of fear and all of a sudden, when you grow up, you become frightened of certain things. It’s a painful process, but I want to do it.

What was your most recent dream?
I dreamed yesterday about Harry Potter, after I went to see the film with my daughter. I was in the movie somehow; I was the ghost, the evil part. The interesting thing with dreams is, its collecting all things in your subconscious – things that actually don’t belong together, and all of a sudden you are putting these things together, like you are making up your own movie. Sometimes after dreaming about someone that you saw five years ago, like they were there. I just think that your mind is fucking with you. I don’t believe that there is something where you can read the future.

If you could travel back in time, which era of the past would you visit?
I would definitely want to be in American Indian times. Some girl – a witch – told me that I was one in my past life. I really like that Indian thing when I was a child. Whenever we are in the United States, some areas feel familiar to me.

What is your greatest fear?
It would be to fail. I would realise that I couldn’t write songs anymore, that my work wasn’t worth it. I have to prove to myself over and over again, everyday – sometimes it’s painful because there is so much pressure, sometimes I’m sitting there for a week, trying to write songs and nothing is going on – but then, all of a sudden, something comes. If I had to sit for a year and couldn’t write anything…that would be my greatest fear.

If you had 24 hours left to live, how would you spend it?
Wow! OK…I would be on a beach with my daughter and my wife and would have a really nice dinner together and then go on a little sailing tour. We’d do something quiet.

Do you believe in life after death?
I believe in reincarnation and destiny and things like that. Sometimes, it’s feeling comfortable things, like when I meet new people and I feel that I know them, for example, my wife – when I saw her for the first time, I felt that I knew her somehow. I think that you go through a few lives to become really happy, I want to reach the highest level that a human being can reach

rock sound There’s the American Indian thing that you mentioned before. Did you have unexplained knowledge of this when you were a child?
RK: Actually, I did. But I wasn’t allowed to say such things, as my family would think that I had become crazy, so I stopped it after a while. But I still had the feelings when I saw movies and stuff – it was really familiar. When I went to America, even though I didn’t like the culture, I just felt as though I had to be there, I knew I had to go there – and also getting married to an American woman, it felt like, all of a sudden, it made sense.

How much money would you have to be offered to kill anybody?
I wouldn’t kill anybody. I think that there has to be one rule, that everyone should respect life, so I wouldn’t do it

What was the last book you read?
It was a book called Conversation with God. It was really interesting. It’s mot religious-based, it’s just questions that you would have about things like life and why people like Hitler exist…It’s really good

What’s the one material possession that you couldn’t live without?
(Whistles in exasperation!) My guitar and my TV. I love movies, they are really addictive. It’s a good way of relaxing – they take you to another world. I love them!

Would you prefer to be blind or deaf?
To be honest, I’d rather be dead. I wouldn’t choose. If I had to decide right now, I would be dead.

What’s the most embarrassing situation you’ve been in?
I don’t think there’s ever been a time that I’ve been really embarrassed, but I can tell you about my most exciting moment. That was when I asked my wife if she’d like to marry me, I’d just known her for two days actually! I couldn’t speak English very as well as I do now, and I asked her “Would you like to marriage me?”

What’s your idea of hell?
I don’t believe in Hell. I believe that everything is inside human beings, every good, every bad. I’m also interested in evil things – but I wouldn’t call it evil, just dark. I don’t believe there is a Hell.

What lessons from your childhood would you pass on to your children?
Never, never hit a child

What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve been given?
I read this: “If critics don’t agree, then the artist is at peace with himself”

What will your epitaph say?
I don’t think that there would be words, what I want to do is, if you were to come to my grave, you would set off a kind of sensor and all of a sudden comes a melody, something that I have written. So there are no words, just music.

Interview: Ronnie Kerswell

© 2005 Sue Lindemann