Richard Kruspe-Bernstein
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Rich Z. Kruspe-Bernstein (formerly Richard Zven Kruspe) (born June 24, 1967) is a German musician, best known as a member of the German rock group Rammstein.
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Timeline
He was born in Wittenburg, Germany, to a family with two older sisters and one older brother. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother remarried, but he did not get along with his step-father. They moved to the village of Weisen when he was young.
Very little is known about Richard's early life. He wanted to be a rock star when very young and he had a very difficult relationship with his step-father.
1979-aged 12 Interviewer: You weren't listening to any of the American metal bands growing up, like Kiss?
Richard: Even in East Germany, you got the information coming across, and big bands, of course, you got information about. You didn't have records at all though. You had to make tapes from second or third copies. Kiss, for example, was an absolute phenomenon. They 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 I saw one of their videos in the U.S., it took all the illusions away from what I thought they were about when I was a child. I used to have a poster of them in my room as a child, and when I was 12 years old my stepfather tore it down and into a thousand pieces. I was up all night trying to put it back together, and you can be sure it was hanging the next day. When I saw their video, my illusions faded away, of course you can't keep the sentiments you had as a child because your imagination is so much bigger than the reality is.
1980 - 13 Richard was timid as a child and took up sports to improve his physique and became a wrestler.
1983 - 16 Why did you start playing guitar?
Richard: When I was 16 I visited Czechoslovakia with some friends, and I ended up buying a guitar. I planned to sell it in East Germany because guitars were very expensive there and I thought I could make a nice profit. I went back to East Germany and I was staying with friends at a campground. I was sitting around the fire and a girl asked me to play the guitar. I told her I couldn't play, but she kept insisting that I play. I got mad, got the guitar out and started strumming the strings. The harder I played, the more excited she got. Something clicked in my head and I realized girls like guys who play guitars. All of a sudden I got really interested in the guitar. For the next two years, I played it day and night.
Then at 19, bored with the apathetic music scene in his home town, he moved to East Berlin and lived on the Lychener Strasser and "made music all day."
Richard: So I decided to move to Berlin, which was a big step for me because I was moving out on my own for the first time and into a big city. I lived alone there for two years in an apartment with a drum kit and a guitar. I made music by myself because I didn't know anyone there. It was a lonely time, but I used it to explore music.
Richard: Then, in late 1988, a few months before the Berlin Wall came down, I was riding the subway. When I came above ground, I walked into the middle of a political demonstration. I was hit on the head, arrested for just being there and then thrown in jail for six days. When I got out of jail, I decided the smartest thing for me to do would be to leave East Germany for good. In those days you couldn't just leave East Germany, so I had to escape to West Germany through Czechoslovakia. When the Wall came down in 1990, he moved back East.
Around 1991, he started the band Orgasm Death Gimmick.
1992/93-25/26 Khira Li was born, (the girl in the performance of Tier in LAB) her mother is Till Lindemann's ex-wife. In this year Richard makes his first trip to the USA with Till Lindemann, and Oliver Riedel. He realizes that he doesn't want to make American music and concentrates on creating a unique German sound.
It's well known they all had women problems about the time Herzeleid was written.
The band Rammstein was "born" in January of 1994, and Till, Olli, Christoph Schneider and Richard won a Berlin Music Competition, the prize of which was a professional demo or four songs, presumably to get them a record deal. They ask Paul Landers and Christian "Flake" Lorenz to join them.
First album recorded in 1995. In September of that year, Herzeleid was released.
In 1996, Rammstein played more than 60 tour dates across Europe.
In August of 1997, the alblum Sehnsucht was released.
1999- 32 Bernstein was his wifes name, as he was married to American actress Caron Bernstein (red shoe diaries). He met her after the New York show (6-4-99 - New York NY, Hammerstein Ballroom) and then only a few weeks later, married her on 29th October on Long Island New York.
The ceremony was Jewish and Richard composed the music for it. [1] (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0077013/) They are believed to have divorced sometime in 2003/04.
Mutter released in 2nd April, 2001, Mother's day.
2002- 35 Finished last date of the European Mutter tour 13th July this year.
Richard considers himself a control freak. This fact nearly led to the band splitting up after Mutter as he has confessed that his need to control all aspects of Rammstein caused huge problems. It was decided that they should all take some time off and then reconsider whether to continue.
Rich began work on a solo project around this time, called Emigrate work continues on it to this day. He has said he wants to record an album in 2005. No other Rammstein band members are involved.
2003- 36 Started work on fourth album, which was to prove a turning point in Rammstein's sound and maturity.
2004 -37 September-Release of Reise Reise Tour in November. Followed by hugely successful sold out European tour of 10 countries, lasting 4 months.
2005 -38 After completing the Ahoi tour in February, Rammstein are due to play 4 dates in Berlin, returning to the Wuhlheide open air arena almost exactly seven years after their sell out concerts of August 1998. They are scheduled to release a new album, containing new songs and songs remaining from recording Reise, Reise in late 2005/early 2006.
Personal characteristics
He is approx 6 ft/1.82 m tall and weighs approx 95 kg/210 lbs. He has no tattoos, or piercings. He speaks excellent English with a strong American accent. Richard is always immaculately dressed.
He lost a large ornate ring while on tour in 2001; it has never been found. The fact he wears nail varnish does not imply he is gay.
When asked if he believes in God, Richard says, "No. I believe in life justice, that everything that you do, you get back. It's justice and it's what I believe in." Still, he is spiritual saying he "practices the 5 Tibetan rejuvenating rites each day."
Rich likes Kiss, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Big Black, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Suicidal Tendencies, and Pantera.
He worked as a cashier and a salesman, and cleaning the apartment for an older woman who had her pet poodles stuffed (one for every year).
Interview with Richard Z Kruspe-Bernstein
On musical influences: Many songs of yours remind me of old Italian cowboy movies. Who is the Ennio Morricone fan in Rammstein?
Rich: that's me.
Till: he likes the old cowboy music and movies.
How would you describe Rammstein’s music?
Christoph: Heavy and EVIL (laughs)
Richard: And it kicks asses (laughs) but seriously, it is hard to describe our music in any reasonable way. Rammstein is a band having more than one face. Moreover, everyone could describe it with his own words and I think he wouldn’t make any mistakes. For example, I would define our music as pop-metal. And that is because indeed we play it quite heavy but on the other hand we include in our music a lot of melody too, and those melodic parts can be associated with pop for me.
On being on stage: What was your first time on stage like?
I remember very clearly the first time I played with a band on stage. I'd never played with a drummer or bass player before and when we started to play the first song together it felt like something was carrying me. Then all of a sudden I felt like I was flying. It was the most amazing feeling I've ever had in my life. It never felt like that again. It's like losing your virginity. You never get that same feeling again.
On how tough recording is: What was it like recording Mutter?
Rich: It was a painful record to make. It took us three years to make, which is the longest it has ever taken Rammstein to make a record. At one point we thought we would have to break up the band because there was so much pressure. Sehnsucht did so well in Europe and America; there was a lot of pressure to do it again. That pressure led to us fighting more. When we were writing songs, people would get very emotional about other people changing their ideas. Plus, we didn't like the direction our old engineer was taking the music. He wanted to lead the music where he wanted it to go. We fired him and found someone who let the music lead him. That's the biggest lesson we learned making this album - you can't lead the music, you have to follow it.
On favorite songs: Rich: It's Mutter. I wrote it years ago, but never wrote lyrics for it. Till wrote the lyrics about the relationship he has with his mother. It's strange because I actually have the same issues with my mother. When I was growing up, she pushed me away because she didn't like me much. The song is about dealing with your childhood as you grow up. It took me a long time to realize it, but my whole life has been affected by my relationship with my mother. It's taking a lot of time to sort things out, but I'm working on it.
On happiness: What is your idea of perfect happiness? Rich: 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.
So are you fearless?
It's actually my biggest wish in life - to lose 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.
On dreaming: Rich: 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.
On if you had just 24 hours left to live, how would you spend it? Rich: 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.
On your idea of hell? Rich: 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.
On the best piece of advice that you've been given? Rich: I read this: "If critics don't agree, then the artist is at peace with himself."
On your epitaph: Rich: 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.
On America: Rich: Of course, we'll have to come back though, because America is like a second girlfriend... We're in love, so we'll have to come back.
Maximum Ink: A second girlfriend! How does the first girlfriend feel?! [laughter]
Rich: The first girlfriend is Germany, and we've known each other for a long time. She can do without us for a while!
What lessons from your childhood would you pass on to your children?
Rich: Never, never hit a child
External links
Material from various interview sources and radio interviews that can be found online at [2] (http://ca.geocities.com/sally_axon/) [3] (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bonaria.blackie/) [4] (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/review/album/s1225288.htm)da:Richard Z. Kruspe-Bernstein pl:Richard Kruspe