Paul Landers

Landers was born in East Berlin, East Germany,[1] son of the Slavists Anton and Erika Hiersche. His mother comes from Lyck in Masuria (today Ełk, Poland), and his father from Böhmisch Kahn, today Velké Chvojno, Czech Republic. Both parents had to leave their home after the Second World War and met during their studies in Halle (Saale). Landers lived in Moscow for a short time as a child. He can speak some Russian, as proven in his interviews with MTV Russia in 2004.

In 1983, at the age of 18, Landers became part of the East German punk band Feeling B, which was founded by singer Aljoscha Rompe and drummer Alexander Kriening. Some weeks later they recruited 16 year-old Christian "Flake" Lorenz to play bass, though Flake played just an organ at this point of time. Lorenz used his organ to create bass sounds for the new band. The band had various temporary drummers, including Christoph Schneider later in their career. Landers also played in a number of other bands including Die Firma and Die Magdalene Keibel Combo.[2]

In the late 1980s, Landers met Till Lindemann during some showings of the GDR documentary "flüstern und SCHREIEN", which showed first of all some varieties of young music culture in the GDR. He also met Richard Kruspe, a friend of Lindemann, during this period. Some time after this, Landers played guitar in Lindemanns and Kruspe's band First Arsch. In 1992, that band released their only album, Saddle Up. Lindemann, Kruspe, Schneider, and bassist Oliver Riedel formed a new band called Templeprayers in 1993. They won the Berlin Senate Metro Beat Contest in 1994 that enabled them to have a four-track demo professionally recorded. Landers and Flake soon joined this band, which became known as Rammstein.

When he married Nikki Landers in 1984 (at the age of 20), he took his wife's surname and switched his middle and first name, thus making his name Paul Landers.[3] Paul also has a son born in 1990, Emil Reinke,[4] and a younger daughter.[5]