Christian Lorenz
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| Christian "Flake" Lorenz | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Christian Lorenz |
| Born | November 16, 1966 Berlin, Germany |
| Genre(s) | Tanz-Metall |
| Occupation(s) | Keyboardist |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Associated acts | Rammstein, Feeling B |
Christian "Flake" Lorenz (pronounced "Flak'-uh Lor-ents"; born 6 November 1966), sometimes called "Doktor Lorenz") is a German musician, notable as the keyboardist for the German Tanz-Metall ("Dance Metal") band Rammstein. He is also known for his role in the band Feeling B.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
His family background is vague. Lorenz has a brother who is three years older. He was brought up and still lives in the former Prenzlauer Berg area of Berlin (now a part of the borough of Pankow), where he still passes his old school building on the way to band rehearsals.
Lorenz is an educated pianist, but he doesn't consider himself very good. Flake says he chose to play the piano because a childhood friend of his played from the age of three. His parents sent him to a music school. Flake "began by painting the keys on a window ledge" and "practiced one-half year on the window ledge". His parents bought him a piano for one hundred East German marks for his 15th birthday.
Flake became "addicted" to rock and roll as a boy. He stopped his lessons in order to play with his father's jazz records. "When I joined my first band," Flake has said, "I noticed that I couldn't play modern music. I still can't!" At the age of sixteen, he apprenticed as a toolmaker, an apparently short-lived career.
[edit] Feeling B
In 1983, at age seventeen, he began to play in the band Feeling B with Paul H. Landers and Aljoscha Rompe, a Swiss living in East Berlin. He stayed with the band for about ten years. Feeling B started out firmly grounded in the underground punk scene. Over time, Feeling B's popularity grew greatly and at the end of the German Democratic Republic, it was one of the most respected and influential Eastern German bands despite their underground status.
Flake squatted/lived in an apartment with Paul during their early years. When they weren't playing gigs, Landers and Flake would sell jackets made from cut-up bed sheets and dusters on the black market. Two jackets a month meant as much money as an average salaried worker. "It was quite easy to make a living; not to work and stay out of trouble," says Landers, "You only got problems if you were caught."
The group disbanded in the mid-1990s. On special occasions, the band members would get together for individual concerts at punk festivals, until Rompe died in November 2000.
There is a book available about Feeling B.[1][2]
[edit] Rammstein
For general information on Rammstein, see the Rammstein article.
In 1994, Till Lindemann, Richard Z. Kruspe, Oliver "Olli" Riedel and Christoph "Doom" Schneider entered and won the Berlin Senate Metro beat contest that allowed them to professionally record a four track demo. Paul H. Landers formally joined the band, then finally Flake. He was initially reluctant to join his five bandmates and had to be pestered into becoming a member of Rammstein. He thought they would be too boring. Eventually he agreed to join, and the group began work their first album, Herzeleid (Heartache).
In the band's performances and videos, Flake is often cast as the outsider of the group, possibly due to his relatively unusual presence as a keyboard player in a heavy metal group. This varies from playing the part of a scientific genius, aloof from the rest of the group, to playing a gimp role, and being bullied by the rest of the band, particularly Lindemann. These distinctive roles in the band's theatrical presentation have led to him becoming a very popular member of the group among fans.
Flake is probably best known for his part in the controversial live performance of the song "Bück dich" ("Bend down" or "Bend over"), where he and vocalist Till Lindemann would engage in simulated sodomy with a liquor-squirting dildo. On September 23rd, 1998 in Worcester, Massachusetts (USA) Lindemann and Flake Lorenz were arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious behavior. A statement from Sergeant Thomas Radula of the Worcester Police Department stated that Lindemann was simulating sex with Flake onstage "using a phallic object that shot water over the crowd". They were held and released the following day on $25 bail. After months of legal debate, they were eventually fined $100.
His role in "Bück dich" is not the only live act he is known for. Up until 2002, Flake would surf the audience in a boat during the performance of "Seemann" ("Seaman"). Ollie took his place in 2002. According to Flake, the change occurred because he was injured too often. Also, during a 2001 concert in St. Petersburg, Flake was tipped out of the boat by the crowd and almost completely undressed. When performing "Mein Teil" ("My part"), Flake is "cooked" with a flame-thrower by Till in a giant cauldron. Flake used to do a dance during "Weißes Fleisch" ("White flesh"). In the video for "Keine Lust" ("No desire" or "Don't feel like it"), Flake is seen in an electric wheelchair. He is seen about to jump off of the top of a burning building (trying and failing to land safely on a trampoline) in the video for "Benzin" ("Gasoline" or "Petrol"). In the video for Ich Will (I want) song, Flake is tied to a bomb that explodes in the end of video. Flake was also the lead vocalist for Rammstein's cover version of "Pet Sematary", originally by The Ramones.
During a concert in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 30, 2005, Till Lindemann suffered a knee injury when Flake accidentally ran into him with the Segway he rides during the performance of "Amerika" ("America"). This caused concerts scheduled in Asia to be cancelled.
In 2005, Flake suffered from an infection that caused concerts in South America to be cancelled.
[edit] Personal life
Brown is his natural hair colour, but he has dyed it various times. His eyes are blue.
Flake's current marital state is unknown, but he has been divorced once and has three children, one of them a girl named Annie, date of birth in unknown.
There is very little information available about his personal life outside of his musical career because he chooses to keep most of it private. He has described the riskier parts being in Rammstein as being like a cold shower. It doesn't feel too good right then and there, but afterwards you get a good feeling. Flake, an atheist, is opposed to organized religion. He is quoted to have said, "I disapprove of religions which are made into rigid institutions. I also think that religious fanaticism and missionary work are dangerous".
Flake has a certain skepticism towards American culture, which he has reportedly called decadent. He likes the net (but is no longer able to access it from home), Poland, and Polish food. He despises McDonalds.
He likes to listen to Einstürzende Neubauten, Die Ärzte, Element of Crime, Coldplay, Placebo, Johnny Cash, PJ Harvey, System of a Down, Ministry, The Prodigy and once remarked that he would've liked to have been the sixth Rolling Stone.
Flake is an amateur painter and likes classic cars. He has a Mercedes and is involved in vintage car hire business.[3]
Lorenz used to write frequently in the Fanarea logbook on the official website fanclub, which closed September 2004.
On 5 October 2005, Flake appeared briefly on Deutsche Welle. When asked how he felt about the reunification of Germany, he said he prefers/misses the way things were then. "Even if the GDR survived, I still would've stayed a musician. The increased size of the world also brought the danger of being compared to all of the international acts. The bands which were in the east were the only ones there, and if you were successful there, you were successful. I miss the simplicity. You went into a bar, ordered a beer, and you got a beer!... They didn't ask if you wanted... with a head or without a head, foam top or bottom... It really gets on my nerves having all of these choices I really don't want".
[edit] Nicknames
Christian Lorenz commonly goes by the nicknames "Flake" (pronounced as "Flak'-uh" in German; the corresponding German pronunciation would be like the German word "Flocke" (flake) ) and "Doktor". "Doktor" came about because at one point he wanted to be a surgeon, but he was unable to study to become one because of his refusal to join the East German military. but in a December 16, 2000 interview, he states it is his proper name.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Mix mir einen Drink. - Feeling B - Galenza, Ronald / Havemeister, Heinz
- ^ Feeling B
- ^ ·: Classicdepot, Oldtimervermietung und -vermittlung :·
- ^ Williams, Jeremy (transcribed from fan chat area on Rammstein's website) http://herzeleid.com/en/press/2000-12_flake_chat
[edit] External links
- Official Rammstein Site (German)
- Official Rammstein Site (English)
- Christian Lorenz Pictures
- Flake Lorenz at the Internet Movie Database
- [1]
- Rammimages.com
[edit] Interviews
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lorenz, Christian |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | German rock musician, keyboardist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 6, 1966 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin, Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
