RAMMSTEIN Guitarist: There Are No Plans To Tour Or Make A New Album At The Moment

Guitarist Richard Z. Kruspe of German industrial metallers RAMMSTEIN spoke to Jo Schüftan of Horns Up Rocks! about the band's current status, five years after the release of RAMMSTEIN's latest studio album, "Liebe Ist Für Alle Da".

Asked if there are plans for RAMMSTEIN to do anything in the near future, Kruspe said: "Not at the moment, actually. We're meeting every year. We come together for a week. We do a lot of eating. Our singer's a hunter, so he hunts a lot of animals, and we eat a lot of animals during the week and talk a lot about things. And this year we met, and we decided to meet another year and see how we feel then. So there's no plans of touring at the moment and no plans of [making a new] record. But that can change every minute. [Laughs]"

Kruspe also spoke about the importance of putting on a great live show in this day and age, especially in light of the fact that RAMSTEIN's pyro-heavy metal-industrial concerts are considered to be among the best in the world.

"It's very, very, very hard," Richard said. "It's hard for those young guys, those young bands. Because with RAMMSTEIN, it happened really naturally, because nobody really played us on radio — we never had radio power — so what we did, while living in the late '90s and beginning of 2000s, we still were selling records and we took the money of selling records and put it in our live show. So we constantly were aware that the only chance we had was actually putting out a good show. These days, everything becomes a promotional tool — the music becomes a promotional tool, the videos, or scores in movies, or whatever you do, it's promotion. Then those kids should save money and put it in their live show. I mean, it ain't gonna happen. It's very, very difficult."

Kruspe recently told UK's Metal Hammer magazine about RAMMSTEIN's future plans: "We have a live DVD coming out, we have another live DVD coming out, we have another live DVD… We have so many live DVDs right now that we have to work that through. So, I think, at the moment, everyone does his own thing. I think it's important, because, again, RAMMSTEIN was always a band that took their time, that listened to themselves, listened to what they need, how much time they need between [albums]."

He added: "One good thing about that the music industry changed is that you don't have to do a record every year — it's not necessary — and I think a lot of people that did this put [out] records that weren't that great. So I like that idea, actually, to take breaks. Again, I think we will come back together. I love touring with RAMMSTEIN, and if somebody has a vision for a record, we'll do another record."

RAMMSTEIN's long-awaited retrospective release, "Made In Germany 1995 - 2011", was made available in December 2011 through Universal Germany's marketing and distribution deal in the U.S. with Vagrant Records.

"Liebe Ist Für Alle Da", sold 22,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 13 on The Billboard 200 chart. Previously, the group's best rank came with its 1998 chart debut, "Sehnsucht", which peaked at No. 45 off the strength of its only U.S. radio chart hit, "Du Hast".

"Liebe Ist Für Alle Da" was produced by Jacob Hellner and RAMMSTEIN, with recording done at Northern California's Sonoma Mountain Studio. The first single from the 11-track release was "Pussy", which was released as a digital single on September 22, 2009 and accompanied by one of the year's most viral videos.

Kruspe's EMIGRATE project will release its sophomore album, "Silent So Long", on November 4 via Spinefarm. The CD, which was produced by the EMIGRATE bandmembers themselves and mixed in February/March by Ben Grosse (MARILYN MANSON, DISTURBED),features guest appearances by Lemmy Kilmister (MOTÖRHEAD),Jonathan Davis (KORN),Marilyn Manson, Canadian born Berlin-dweller Peaches, and Frank Dellé from chart-topping German collective SEEED.