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Das Ich
Eight years ago when Bruno Kramm and Stefan Ackerman, co-founders of German industrialists Das Ich, first toured the United States, they quickly figured out The American Way. “When we came over the first time, we were fucking impressed,” says Kramm, who is calling from Germany. “Everything was just more huge. But on the other side, [we learned that] you can do whatever you want in this country if you have money, and if you have no money, you’re just a poor ass.” Neither Kramm (keyboardist/programmer/multi-instrumentalist/album cover designer) nor Ackerman (vocalist) was exactly made of German marks when they first formed Das Ich in 1989. But they managed to carve a niche for themselves in America with its classically tinged, orchestral style with industrial beats over a Goth-cloaked setting—with lyrics sung completely in German. Still, who would have though that the two—a classically trained musician and an eccentric club dancer who met when they realized they were dating the same girl at the same time, would release more than a dozen albums, and become one of industrial music’s stalwarts? The band didn’t have high expectations from its 1991 debut Die Propheten, released on Kramm’s small Danse Macabre record label, yet it sold more than 30,000 copies, and helped launch the band’s dignified, although mainly underground, career. “We first thought about making 2,000 copies [of our first record],” Kramm says, his English fluent yet peppered with a German accent that’s more friendly than stern. “But it overwhelmed us. It came so quickly. The distribution company called us and was asking for 5,000 more copies every week. It was really amazing. We had no clue how fast at this point how fast a band could grow. It was like a dream, actually.” The band’s thirteenth—and latest—album, Anti’ Christ continues Das Ich’s trek down darkened corridors along industrial sectors, incorporating eighties new wave synth pop sounds on tracks like “Engel,” while adding dancy elements to “Das Dunkle Land” and injecting dramatic, somber orchestrations to "Der Uchte Tag." The idea of the Anti’ Christ title isn’t so much slamming religion or aggravating Catholics as it is looking at a post-9/11 world and the division that has stemmed from terrorism. “It was more about the political situation all around the world, especially in days today,” Kramm explains. “Politicians today view the world as good or evil, and this is really dangerous. It reminds us of medieval times when everything was just divided into good or bad. That’s what we wanted to talk about in this album. Look at the United States; they are preparing to go to war against Iraq, and there is no more discussion. It’s more about ‘these guys are evil, and we are going to war against evil.’ In Europe, this war will be much more difficult because we live border-to-border with the Islamic world.” Back home in earlier years, Kramm, whose father was a classical composer and singer, learned to walk and play piano at the same time. When he was 16 he got his first synthesizer, and became a fan of electronic music. “I always wanted to combine both worlds: electronic and classical music,” he says. Kramm and Ackerman met in the late eighties, when the two simultaneously dated the same woman. Instead of fighting over her, the two became friends and started writing music, hanging out at nightclubs donning funky hairdos and having fun. “He always danced like a crazy guy at the discotheque,” he explains of the frontman’s routine, which is still a staple of the band’s live performance, as is the band’s outlandish, demonic punk getups. Building a following in its home turf, Das Ich set out to the United States to promote its music (for a while, Kramm dated a woman in, of all places, Wisconsin), and released a string of albums on its own, including Staub, which was on the German Control charts for 11 weeks, and the downtrodden Morgue. The band teamed with death metal act Atrocity in 1995 for a side project named Die Liebe (Love), and released a self-titled album that merged Goth and metal. Kramm, by this time, had grown tired of working both the creative and business sides of the music, and Das Ich signed to the German Edel label for its 1997 Egodram, an album that introduced harsher tones and spawned club singles including the title track, “Destillat” and “Kindgott.” But the band quickly became dissatisfied with their new label’s efforts—or lack of—to promote the band, instead focusing on its poppier acts and leaving Das Ich by the way side. “We didn’t get the chance to decide on our video clip or single track.” After missing the DIY ethos that it embraced for many years, the band and label parted ways. “I knew it was just better to do it on my own,” Kramm says. “If shit happens then it’s my own shit.” Back under Danse Macabre, Das Ich released 2000’s Re Laborat, an album that features artists including VNV Nation and Funker Vogt remixing various Das Ich tracks. Bruno has also been on the other end of the translation spectrum, composing a soundtrack album (Das Innere Ich) for the Hans Helmut Haessler-directed and produced film Das Ewige Licht (The Eternal Light). “In Germany, we heard from many bands that we had been an influence on them, and it was interesting to listen to all these different remixes,” Kramm says. “You can find out what’s interesting for other people the way they translate your music.” Eventually, American industrial label Metropolis, home of artists including KMFDM, Pigface, and Peter Murphy, offered to release Re Laborat here in the states the following, and, subsequently, released 2002’s Anti’ Christ. While the band promotes Anti’ Christ here in the states it will release a best-of compilation in Europe cataloging the band’s 13-year history. Kramm, meanwhile, keeps busy producing other bands, as well as performing with his side project, Kramm, as well as earlier projects such as Fahrenheit 451, which he originally formed in 1986. It’s not that he’s going backwards or straying from Das Ich. “I’ve have always wanted to do new things,” he says. “It’s just a natural process to experiment. It’s fascinating because it opens your mind and gives you inspiration for new projects.”
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