What was it like heading back into the  studio after spending so much time apart?
Because we’d had a four-year break, my instinct was to go back on stage, because we hadn’t played for a while. But we’re a democracy and the other guys felt like they wanted to do a new record so we went into a small studio. It was one of the most difficult records I’ve ever made.

Did you actually fight each other at any point?
Fortunately, we’ve never been through a fist fight! It’s hard if you’ve been in a relationship for 15 years. If you’re in a relationship with a woman and you have fights, there’s always the chance of some make-up sex afterwards, but you can’t really do that with guys, unless you’re gay!

How are things now?
We started to play the record to the media and our friends and the response was actually greater than I expected. Maybe that’s the secret of making good records – maybe the tension, the fights, the pain and all that shit needs to be done. Maybe it brings something out of us.

Why did you write about Josef Fritzl?
It’s controversial to a lot of people. To me it isn’t actually controversial; it’s more interesting and beyond my understanding. Sometimes those stories come quite naturally to the band. We have an interest in those themes that nobody else wants to touch, and I guess it’s our job to do explore them.

You start touring in November. If you could have any effect in your show, what would it be?
I’d like an effect where I’d play guitar and both my hands would be burning… that’d be pretty cool!

Would you be like some sort of superhero, or an evil person?
Wow… don’t those two go hand in hand? Isn’t everything in you just half bad and half good, anyway? That’s what I feel like. And I mean, what’s bad? There’s some darkness in me, obviously, and I’m really trying to get out of the darkness… it’s quite difficult, actually!

If you could make any costume, what would you have?
If we could ever make a costume that could burn the whole show, that’d be something I’d love. But obviously it’s never going to happen. What is it about fire that you like so much? What really fascinates me is that you can’t really control it - – it definitely does whatever it wants to do.

You’ve written about deviant sex acts. Do you have a favourite?
The 16-hand massage! Maybe I’ve done it... or maybe it’s just fantasy!

What’s the weirdest thing that’s happened to you on stage?
Sometimes you really get burned, and I’ve burned half my hair off before. I have to put a lot of baby cream on my hair, you know, the stuff you’d use for a baby’s arse, because we realised that it protects you from the flames. Also, we were playing in Spain one time and there was this guy – or maybe a girl – with the craziest outfit I’d ever seen; he had this metal thing in his face and between his legs there was all this blood everywhere. I couldn’t play anymore because it was so fucking scary!

Liebe Ist Für Alle Da
Rammstein’s sixth album title means ‘love is there for everyone’ – and this record’s going to please lots of different people. There’s the burlesque-stomp of ‘Haifisch’, the words to French song ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette  Rien’ in the offbeat ‘Frühling in Paris’, a nightmarish song about Josef Fritzl followed by a camp Euro-disco tune called ‘Pussy’, and even some whistling in closer ‘Roter Sand’. It’s the German loons’ most diverse album yet, and it’s weirder than latex lederhosen.