J.H. – Joern Heitmann (Director).
S.S. – Survey Squad.
A. – Actor.
T.L. – Till Lindermann (Vocalism).
R.Z.K. – Richard Z. Kruspe (Solo-guitar).
P.H.L. – Paul Heiko Landers (Rhythm-guitar).
C.S. – Christoph Schneider (Drums).
C.F.L. – Christian Flake Lorenz (Keyboard).
O.R. – Oliver Riedel (Bass-guitar).

C.S.: I think everyone dreams of playing the bad guy in a movie, or of robbing a bank, and that's just what we do in our video.

R.Z.K.: Normally after you've finished an album there are still things you'd like to have done differently, or where you think you could have done a better job. Not with this album, though. I'm totally satisfied with it.

C.F.L.: We've been on tour almost constantly since the album came out. It was great finally getting to play the new songs.

O.R.: We've grown more confident with performing our songs. When we made the last video we were still a little less secure, we didn't have as much to say about. Now we've got some good feedback from our audience. They liked the record.

C.S.: Playing live is very important to me personally. I think a band only exists if it performs on stage. Anything else is just theory.

P.H.L.: Sometimes you see a guy or girl up front who really thinks what we're doing is great. Then you play as hard and as good as you can, just for that one person.

C.F.L.: You've probably already heard that we're very successful in Iceland. Its population is 250,000 and 12,000 people came to our concert. Everyone knows us there. If we had the same percentage of people coming to our concert in the U.S., there'd be 30 million people.

P.H.L.: Two days ago we were in Mexico. We had a somewhat embarrassing experience there: We realized the fans in Mexico City sang along with the music louder than the fans in Germany (laugh). So we'll have to record our next live album in Mexico City.

T.L.: For me, performing "Ich Will" on our German tour was quite an emotional experience. We communicate with the audience, and I can even remember us wondering if it fit to Rammstein. But then you get out there in front of twelve or fourteen thousand people and they all actually put their hands in the air. It's strange, it actually gives you goose bumps.

P.H.L.: In the States, when we sing the part about "We want to see your hands", this doesn't work but we'll practice that part. Maybe we'll put subtitles on the video so they'll know what to do on our next U.S. tour.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) Flake's got to be here, too!
Something fell off.

P.H.L.: (On shooting stage) My ear!

J.H.: (On shooting stage) Flake's got the bomb. All of you escort him in. You've got to protect him. You march in here and yell at everyone. Then stop and knock this guy over. Next you all follow closely behind Schneider.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) And action!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

C.S.: Normally we don't talk to the audience, we don't make any announcements or say hello or goodbye or anything like that.

P.H.L.: The song is actually dealing ironically… (Mimics the chant with the audience).

T.L.: What do people do at a concert? They clap and sing along. The band however sees the ambiguity of it all: we don't really understand why they go along with it. I'd feel too dumb to do so myself. And we sing about how we don't understand them. That's a good resolution.

P.H.L.: Again, it's typical for Rammstein: Are we being serious or not? Actually we're just kidding, but we do it in our own sinister way.

C.S.: Video has always been an interesting medium for Rammstein. We've been able to outdo ourselves a few times and create a small work of art, like with "Du Hast". Maybe we'll succeed in doing that again here.

T.L.: It's sort of an attempt to do a remake of "Du Hast". We're trying to do something with more action.

R.Z.K.: This takes us back to where we began with "Du Hast". That was a story about a gang, too. It reminds me of "Ich Will", with how we look in it and everything.

T.L.: It's back to the hard stuff again.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) And action! Ralph breaks down!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

S.S.: (On shooting stage) Down on the ground!

C.F.L.: We want to raise hell, we're mean. As characters in this film, this video.

R.Z.K.: I think the best part is the bad boy feeling we get across. It's inside us. And it shows, too.

J.H.: (On shooting stage) Just face forward. That's right. Put your left leg forward.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) And action!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

C.F.L.: Every movie nowadays shows people getting murdered and slaughtered and run over. And they all think that's perfectly OK. But if you show a weapon in a music video then everyone gets upset. That's ridiculous.

O.R.: We would have liked to make the video even a little more violent. But MTV and the media limit us in what we can do. But we don't care if people think we're making violence look good or attractive. It's just a means of artistic expression nowadays.

C.S.: There will probably be two versions of the video, a censored and an uncensored one. The uncensored version will probably only be played at night, or can be viewed on our website.

P.H.L.: We're planning to make two versions. In one, Flake gets blown up at the end. In the other, Paul gets blown up. A nice version and a sinister one.

O.R.: We don't come up with things that provoke people on purpose. We just follow our naive impulse.

C.F.L.: The crazy thing with Rammstein is that when we try to provoke people, they usually only laugh at us. And when we try to play small jokes on people, that gets misinterpreted as being serious. We can't really predict the effect we'll have on our audience.

T.L.: When we saw the Bild newspaper headline: "Dead baby on the Rammstein cover, how sick!" We were somehow pleased. It was an unintended provocation. People got really upset about it. We just thought it was a good picture.

R.Z.K.: I think it's important that Rammstein can work as a band without provoking people, as well. People who listen to this album realize the music can stand on ist own.

T.L.: (On shooting stage) Hello.
I should lean forward first, then back, and then forward again the last time.

J.H.: (On shooting stage) If we could move this slightly, that would be great.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) Camera!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

C.F.L.: The way I see the video is, we're the bad guys who, by doing an evil deed, still earn the recognition of the masses. Because the masses are interested hearing about evil deeds through the media. They worship sinister things. You earn more recognition by doing something violent than by doing something good.

R.Z.K.: And that shows how the attention we get by robbing this bank makes us a favourite of the media. That's manipulation, of course. The media are interested in broadcasting these images. That's the absurd, decadent, crazy thing about it, that in the end you're rewarded.

J.H.: The media pat themselves on the back when they broadcast the award ceremony at the end. The media accompany the band, and the band has had the ultimate success. The band has also lost everything and gone to jail. But that's a small sacrifice for their publicity. And Flake is immortal, his picture is put on display at the award ceremony. He's the one who's benefited the most.

T.L.: I don't think anyone would actually go that far. But looking back, we've always tried to get people's attention. Paul poured gasoline into the audience. We shot flames over their heads, and that set the whole venue on fire. News like that travels fast. All our pyro: The burning coat, for example, or blowing up things. Getting attention is important. So that people remember the name and talk about you. But of course there's a limit to what you can do.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) The helicopter will be here soon.

J.H.: (On shooting stage) You'll need to look further in the distance.

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

O.R.: I don't think the video reflects our relationship to the media. We don't really use the media, we're more their victims, always being misunderstood. But in the video it's the other way around. Maybe it's an expression of our subconscious desire.

T.L.: I think getting on stage and playing, or recording a studio album, that's the whole reason for being a musician. There's no place for bullshit. We know there are lots of so-called artists out there who exist only thanks to the media but who have no talent at all. That's the difference.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) (Tells extra players) So you want to get your pictures, but don't push the policemen back. It can look like it, but they should stay standing where they are.

J.H.: (On shooting stage) (Tells extra players) Till doesn't sing this now, but you'll always respond to the refrain.

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

J.H.: I wanted the band members to have small defects, to show they're outcasts. Till has a club foot so when you see him, you realize that's Satan. Richard has an artificial hand. He pushes the cashier's hand down with it to set off the alarm. The evil attributes underline their characters.

J.H.: (On shooting stage) You stand right at the edge and then you collapse like this.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) Camera! And action!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

J.H.: (On shooting stage) Great! Next shot!

P.H.L.: (On shooting stage) Symbolically we die through the cameras. Normally the police kill you, and you die by the bullet. But we die by the flash of the cameras, the media kill us. They killed us. You bastards (laugh)!

J.H.: (On shooting stage) I think it looks great when you collapse like you're dead, that it looks really brutal!

S.S.: (On shooting stage) And action!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

P.H.L.: We're in the former GDR Council of State building. The GDR is not some kind of computer game, It was a country that existed right here, called the GDR, real small and cute. Evil Erich Honnecker governed it, even in this building.

A.: (On shooting stage) I'll hold your arm like this. If you should fall, then you'll fall to the side.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) Get ready! Close the doors!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

S.S.: (On shooting stage) Stop!

S.S.: (On shooting stage) And action!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

S.S.: (On shooting stage) Thanks, that's it! Very good!

J.H.: (On shooting stage) Olli, you're already standing behind the door.

S.S.: (On shooting stage) Camera! Open the door! And action!

(Shooting video "Ich Will" on screen).

R.Z.K.: What we do is all about entertainment. We want to make people happy in a certain way, we want to fascinate them.

C.S.: Of course Rammstein always attempts to overdo or overstate things. It's what we like to do most, playing the bad guy. But that's what we are: entertainers who play certain roles. It's what a video gives us a chance to do. It's a game. We hide in a closet, jump out, and go boo! And then let's see who we scare.