Paul Landers

Paul Landers
Landers performing "Feuer Frei" with Rammstein
Background information
Birth name	Heiko Paul Hiersche
Born	9 December 1964 (age 50) Berlin, East Germany
Genres	Neue Deutsche Härte
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Motor Music, Republic, Slash, Universal Music Group
Associated acts	Rammstein, Feeling B, First Arsch, Die Firma, Die Magdalene Keibel Combo, New Affaire
Notable instruments
Music Man EVH Signature and Axis (former) ESP Paul Landers Eclipse Gibson Paul Landers Signature Les Paul

Paul Landers (born 9 December 1964) is a German musician, notable as guitarist for the Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein.

Biography

Early life

Paul was born in East Berlin, Germany. His mother was born in Poland and his father came from the former German areas of Czechoslovakia. He lived in Moscow for a short time as a child. Landers can speak Russian a little however he can not read or write it.

Music career

In 1983, Paul Landers formed the East German punk band, Feeling B, together with Christian "Flake" Lorenz and Aljoscha Rompe, in which Christoph Schneider would later also play. In 1986, Landers formed First Arsch with Till Lindemann and Richard Kruspe. He also played in a number of other bands including Die Firma and Die Magdalene Keibel Combo.

Lindemann, Kruspe, Schneider and bassist Oliver "Ollie" Riedel entered and won the Berlin Senate Metro Beat Contest in 1994 that enabled them to have a four-track demo professionally recorded. Landers and Flake soon followed suit to join the band which became known as Rammstein.

Oddly, he has stated that he does not like rock, but "with Rammstein it seems to work".

Personal life

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. After their divorce in 1987, he kept her last name. Paul also has a son from a previous marriage, Emile Reinke (b. 20 June 1990), who is an actor.

After his divorce with Nikki Landers, he lived with his Feeling B bandmate Christian "Flake" Lorenz for a number of years.

His favorite bands are Pantera, Metallica, and The Sex Pistols.

He is the shortest member of the band at 5'8"(1.73m)

Equipment

Guitars^[1][2]
All guitars have EMG 81/60 pickups, unless noted

• Gibson Paul Landers Signature Satin Black with grey binding; has 2 chrome covered EMG pickups, chrome bezels, and one volume knob. Used in Dropped C and D tunings. First used during the Liebe Ist fur Alle Da tour. Was revealed as a signature model and for sale at the 2012 Winter NAMM show. (2009–2012)
• Gibson Les Paul Studio All black with EMG pickups. Used in Drop C and Standard tuning. Used in Standard tuning only for performing "Rammstein". Only used during the Reise, Reise tour. (2004–2005, Black).
• Music Man Axis and Van Halen Signature model Orange w/ Quilted maple top (Van Halen Signature), Silver (Van Halen Signature), Silver/Black Pickguard (Van Halen Signature), Maroon w/ Black pickguard, Black w/ White pickguard; Had stock DiMarzio pickups, but later changed for EMG pickups in 2004. Used in Dropped D and Standard tuning. This was his main guitar since the beginning of Rammstein, but was used less often during the Reise, Reise tour, and then completely phased out of his guitar rotation during the Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da Tour.(1994–2005)
• ESP Eclipse I CTM Paul Landers Signature Satin black with Silver binding, and a recently released version in Satin silver with Black binding, has EMG Pickups. Used in Standard tuning. First used on tour during the Liebe Ist fur Alle Da tour. (2009–2010)
• Sandberg Custom Plasma Guitar Clear acrylic guitar with unknown pickups (Possibly custom Sandberg pickups) and white LEDs inside of the body. This guitar was only used a few times during the Mutter tour for the song Zwitter, and he hasn't played it since. He can be seen using it on a bootleg DVD which contains a performance in Hamburg during the 2001 Mutter tour^[3] and a performance at the London Docklands during the 2002 Mutter tour.^[4]
• ESP-LTD EC-50 Used as a prop instrument for the music video of "Mann gegen Mann".
• Fender Jazzmaster Used as a prop instrument for the music video of "Mein Land".

Amps

• Fractal Axe-FX into Rocktron Velocity 300 power amp
• Bogner Uberschall^[5][6] (He claims he began to use this amp because of the "Ultrasonic" Uberschall simulator in Native Instruments Guitar Rig, Former rig)
• Tech 21 PSA-1 into Mesa/Boogie Strategy 500 Power amp^[1] (Former rig)
• Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
• ENGL Powerball Amplifier^[7] (Former rig)
• Rath-Amp Amplification
• Marshall JCM 800
• Soldano Avenger

Misc^[1]

• Marshall 4x12 Cabinets
• Bogner 4x12 "Uberkab" Cabinets
• Mesa Boogie 4x12 Cabinets
• Engl 4x12 Cabinets
• Native Instruments Guitar Rig
• MXR blue box on "Moskau"
• Eventide Eclipse

References

External links

• Rammstein.com – Official site (English)
• Rammstein.de – Official site (German)
• Info on "Feeling B"
• "Feeling B" – Look out! We're coming to get you!
• Rammstein-Interviews.com