How does your songwriting process differ between Rammstein and Emigrate?

"Music leads you somewhere and all you can do is follow"

“When I write for Rammstein, there’s a need to fill my riffs out with melody because Till [Lindemann]’s voice has such a low frequency. In Emigrate, I’m using my own imagination and thinking about what I can sing, so there is less focus on guitar melodies.

"Till also requires musical guidance because he’s so enslaved to the music; he writes based on a song’s mood. When I write for Emigrate, the first words out of my mouth lead me to a chorus, a story or an idea. It’s impulsive.

"Neither method is easier, just different. But right now, I’m so used to the Emigrate way that returning to the Rammstein world and writing seems hard...”

Has assuming lead vocalist duties been a burden or a release?

“It was the biggest problem. I’m so advanced in my guitar playing and writing that I knew what to do, but as a singer I’m just a baby. I had to lower my expectations right down because everything was sounding horrible.

"There were many times when I nearly gave up and accepted that [me singing] was not meant to be. But Arnaud [Giroux - bassist] held me together, and insisted that I was only the guy who could sing these songs."

How much has being entrenched in Berlin impacted the album?

“Berlin has been a bigger influence than any artist on this record. When I was listening back to the first record [which was recorded between Berlin and New York, where Richard was living at the time] I was surprised, it sounded just, well, rock. I expected it to be darker. I don’t even like rock!

"But music leads you somewhere and all you can do is follow. I was trying to fight that on the first record but I couldn’t, musically, it was really rocky and symbolised New York in a way. Whereas Berlin, for me, is a much darker, more destructive place, with a more electronic background. And I can hear that in this record.”

It’s said that you didn’t write these songs with any specific collaborations in mind. At what point of the process did you decide who to approach?

“We just wrote the songs, and some songs called immediately for certain people. Other songs were changed while we were playing them.

"Rock City, for example, was originally this little pop song that I had no idea what to do with. Then the drummer doubled the tempo and created this driving mix that fell somewhere between Motörhead and Depeche Mode. And I was like, ‘this is obvious, we should ask Lemmy to do a vocal!’

"The music is the leader; it tells you where to go, you just have to let go and listen to it. That’s what I like about Emigrate, we had the freedom to ask these people.

“The music industry has changed so much that musicians are more open to collaborate. 10 years ago, you’d need to sign a 50-page contract to collaborate with someone.”