Paul Landers

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Paul H. Landers on RTL.

Paul H. Landers (b. 9 December 1964 Baumschulenweg, Berlin, Germany) is a German musician, most notable as the rhythm-guitarist for the Tanz-Metall ("Dance metal") band Rammstein.

Paul's real name was "Heiko Paul Hiersche", which he hated. When he moved out of his parents' house, he switched his first names, also in honour of his biological father. He soon left out "Heiko", making his name "Paul Hiersche". When he married Nikki Landers in 1984 (at the age of 20), he took his wife's surname, thus making his name Paul Landers. Paul and Nikki had a son, Emil, whose date of birth is unknown. They later divorced (c. 1987), but he kept her last name. After that, he lived with his Feeling B band mate Christian "Flake" Lorenz for a number of years. Paul has since had a daughter. Whether he is married again is unknown.

In 1983, Landers formed the East German punk band, Feeling B, together with 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.

Paul also got his first signature guitar from ESP this year. The guitar is called the ESP "Eclipse I CTM 'Paul Landers'" guitar. Paul plays two Music Man Van Halen guitars and according to the Live Aus Berlin DVD Trivia Game; in his guitar-rack there is a Tech 21 PSA-1 preamp, of which he only uses one preset; he goes from the preamp to the mixer and into a Boogie Strategy 500 power amp and two Marshall 4x12" cabinets.When playing in c tuning Paul uses a Gibson Les Paul.

[edit] Trivia

The H. means "Heiko", referring to his name of birth.
He lived in Moscow for a short time as a young child.
He is falsely rumoured to have been a gymnast at school.
Left home at 16 due to fights with his stepfather.
Landers speaks fluent Russian but he can't read or write it.
Landers has said that he likes Pantera, Metallica and The Sex Pistols.
Former jobs include working as a boilermaker and a telecommunications mechanic.
Landers is a self-taught guitarist. [1]
He can also play the piano and violin, he learned them as a child.

[edit] 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

Discography
Rammstein
Till Lindemann \| Christian "Flake" Lorenz \| Christoph "Doom" Schneider \| Richard Z. Kruspe \| Oliver Riedel \| Paul H. Landers
Albums: Demos - 1994 \| Herzeleid \| Sehnsucht \| Mutter \| Reise, Reise \| Rosenrot
Singles: Du riechst so gut \| Seemann \| Engel \| Du hast \| Das Modell \| Du riechst so gut '98 \| Stripped \| Single Collection \| Asche zu Asche \| Sonne \| Links 2 3 4 \| Ich will \| Mutter \| Feuer frei! \| Schtiel \| Mein Teil \| Amerika \| Ohne dich \| Keine Lust \| Benzin \| Rosenrot \| Mann gegen Mann
VHS and DVDs: Live aus Berlin \| Lichtspielhaus \| Völkerball