November 15, 2009
LIFAD "Indexed" in Germany
The new album has been "indexed" in Germany by the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien (Federal Department of Media Harmful to Young Persons). Some of the reasons for indexing include the song "Ich tu dir weh," the video for Pussy, and an image of Richard spanking a naked woman over his knee in the album artwork. The idea of indexing is similar to the Parental Advisory Stickers in the US (to prevent minors from purchasing something that could potentially be detrimental to them), but stricter. Shops are not allowed to advertise the album and have to pull it from the shelves. They have to hold it behind the counter and check the ID of people that want to buy it. For many shops, that is too much of a hassle, so they will likely send the album back. A new album should be available now or very soon with the specific picture removed from the artwork and with Ich tu dir weh removed from the tracklist. A new song was not used to replace it.
An additional aspect of indexing forbids the playing of any song that has been indexed in Germany at a show that is open to minors or the band will have to face fines. It'll be interesting to see what they decide to do for the Germany tour dates.
There is also talk of Switzerland banning the album due to the cover artwork and Pussy. LIFAD is still fully available everywhere else.
Ich tu dir weh Single??
The indexing of LIFAD, due to Ich tu dir weh, has complicated things for Rammstein. A video was filmed for this song (filmed in October and directed by Jonas Arkelund) and it was expected to be the next single (possibly being released December 18th); however, if they are not going to be able to sell the single in Germany (and presumably would not be able to air the video on tv), it might not make financial sense to go ahead with the plan. Band members have given varying accounts of what will happen with the next single, so only time will tell....
Win a Trip to See Rammstein Live (Americans only)
MySpace Music is offering American Rammstein fans a chance to win a trip for 2 to Berlin to see Rammstein perform at the Velodrome in Berlin on December 19th. The contest includes airfare from a US airport, ground transportation to and from the airport in both cities (your city and Berlin), a three night hotel stay, a pair of tickets and VIP passes to the show, and a meet and greet with Rammstein before the show. Entry forms are on Rammstein's MySpace page. You and your guest must be 18 years or older, both residents of the US, and both have valid US passports. The contest ends November 25th.
Setlists
Setlists have been posted for the first few concerts. If you see any errors or if you have information on concerts I don't have, please contact me.Thanks to Curtis and "McKing" for submissions.
Newsletter
The newsletter issues should be fixed. If you do not receive a newsletter within the next day with all of today's info, then you are likely not on the newsletter list anymore and will have to sign up again, sorry for the inconvenience.
October 19, 2009
Eastern European Tour Dates 2010
New tour dates have been added for Eastern Europe in February and March 2010.
Richard Interview
The Gauntlet has conducted a new interview with Richard which has some interesting information about Richard and his take on the recording process.
Newsletter
I'm still working on getting the newsletter issue fixed. Hopefully it'll be fixed before the next news update.
October 6, 2009
LIFAD Tracklisting and Special Editions
The tracklistings for the standard and special editions of the LIFAD album have been confirmed and added to the releases section. There is also a third deluxe edition which consists of a metal box with with Rammstein and LIFAD logos, the special edition of LIFAD, a pair of handcuffs, personal lubricant, and six pink dildos. Currently, this deluxe edition can be purchased at InfraRot.de or INDIEtective. I think this will likely be a Germany only release.
LIFAD International Release Dates
Rammstein has confirmed the release dates for many countries. The release dates span between October 16th and October 23rd.
Rammlied Remix
A digital remix of Rammlied will be available to those who purchase the special edition of LIFAD during the first four weeks of the released. The remix is called Rammstein (Thrash-terpiece Remix) and was made by Robb Flynn of Machinehead. The Gauntlet interviewed Flynn in regards to the remix and his thoughts on the new Rammstein album.
Tour Info
Combichrist have been confirmed as the supporting act for Rammstein's 2009 European tour. For those not familiar with the band, they're more of a harsh electronic act than a metal act. I've seen them live a couple of times; although I'm not a big fan of the vocals, I loved the music and they put on a good show.
Rammstein will be headlining the Rock am Ring (and likely Rock im Park?) festival in Germany in June 2010. This is supposed to be the only German festival Rammstein will be taking part in during the summer of 2010. There is no confirmed word on where Rammstein will be for the rest of the summer.
Newsletter
Starting last Saturday, a major problem developed with my newsletter. In an 8 second span, approximately a quarter of the list was automatically unsubscribed from the newsletter (that's about 500 people). I am not exactly sure why this happened, but it seems like it has something to do with newsletters I have sent out to people "bouncing" back to me and after a certain amount of failed attempts to send the newsletter out, those people were automatically unsubscribed. I have the list of people that have been unsubscribed, so I am looking at my options for re-adding all of those people (very time consuming) or trying to save all of the email addresses and use a different program to send the newsletter (also time consuming!). So, until you receive another newsletter, I suggest you check the site often for news updates.
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