READY TO GO: Rammstein play the Orange Stage at Big Day Out at 8pm.

Big Day Out-bound rockers Rammstein say themselves - and not their band of bitter critics - will decide when it is time to quit.

The notorious German band - who headline Friday's gig at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium - have courted controversy for the majority of its 16-year career.

The long list of bad press includes links between its music and atrocities committed by twisted fans.

The headlining band was caught up in the fallout from America's Columbine High School massacre, when photos emerged of high school killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold wearing Rammstein T-shirts.

Harris, 18, and Klebold, 17, killed 12 schoolmates and a teacher, and wounded 21 other students, before committing suicide in a gun rampage at the Colorado school in 1999.

And following the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, in which 385 died, including 186 children, Russian authorities made the unconfirmed claim that the terrorists had listened to Rammstein songs to keep themselves fired up.

Lead guitarist Richard Kruspe said trying to blame the band for such atrocities was way off the mark.

But he said the attacks weren't the biggest challenge Rammstein had faced.

He said that battle had centered around retaining a united front in a band that included six intense and independent personalities.

"We have been together for 16 years. It is not quite natural that you stay so long in a relationship for 16 years with a man without having sex ... it is just not possible," Kruspe told Stuff.co.nz.

"One day I was thinking, 'Well maybe I should do something else'. But on the other hand, everyone understood that we as a band are much bigger than our personal ego.

"With our history, especially coming from Germany, we never dreamed of something like that ... we wouldn't have dreamed of it.

"There is something bigger [here] than our personal egos. In my case I have to do like five [relationships] to stay in the band, it is a thing that goes on and I learn. I try to have more of a team spirit ... it is hard, believe me."

Kruspe said plenty had changed with Rammstein since their last visit to New Zealand a decade ago.

He said they are now more "intense" on stage.

The German rockers had road-tested its Big Day Out show on a recent tour of South America, where it hadn't performed for 12 years.

He feared some of the band's fans there might have forgotten about them after such a long performing hiatus.

"[But] we saw a great reaction there. Normally when a band doesn't play [somewhere] for 12 years, people tend to forget those things," Kruspe said.

"We're living in a global world where people like checking out on the internet what bands are doing.

"For some reason Rammstein always manage to survive ... it is like an old wine, getting better and better by the year."

That had encouraged the band ahead of its first New Zealand show in 10 years; a place he remembers fondly.

"For some reason, people fell in love with us. We were surprised too that it happened," Kruspe said.

"We are 10 years older and a lot of things have happened since then; the show is much more sophisticated and we are much more confident in what we do.

"I am really convinced that we will not let people down with the show. We're confident we will put on a really good show ... fans can look forward to that."

Rammstein live performances have taken on legendary status during the band's 16-year existence.

A review in the New York Times of a 2005 concert suggested singer Till Lindemann "gave off an air of such brute masculinity and barely contained violence that it seemed that he could have reached into the crowd, snatched a fan, and bitten off his head".

The band are also big on pyrotechnics, unleashing countless fire-balls above the stage during gigs and even wearing masks which unleash flames.

Lindemann - now a licensed pyrotechnician - has also been known to spend entire songs engulfed in fire.

Kruspe said Friday's show at Mt Smart Stadium would be as loud and musically powerful as always, but said some of the stage show had been "stripped down" due to the festival nature of the Big Day Out.

"We can't bring the whole production that we played in Europe. But 70 percent we will bring down there," he said.

"If we have too much going on, people will just be staring at the show. There is so much visual going on, they will kind of get lost in all the visual things and forget about the music."

Kruspe added he was determined to see more of New Zealand than the backstage area of Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium.

"It [the Big Day Out] is one of those events where we can try and combine all our holidays and business together," he said.

"I want to do a road-trip [in New Zealand] ... I have some friends coming with me and we want to rent a car and see some of the country.

"When you are travelling all the time you don't [often get the chance] to see the country. This time I want to get a car and go from city to city ... I want to know a bit more about the country."

Rammstein play the Orange Stage at Big Day Out on Friday at 8pm.

* Stuff.co.nz will have more interviews with Big Day Out artists throughout the week as we count down to the big day.

