Paul Landers

Updated on Dec 24, 2023

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Birth name Heiko Paul Hiersche Years active 1983–present Children Emil Reinke Height 1.73 m		Occupation(s) Musician Role Musician Genres Neue Deutsche Harte Name Paul Landers


Born December 9, 1964 (age 59) Berlin, East Germany ( 1964-12-09 ) Labels Motor Music, Republic, Slash, Universal Music Group Spouse Nikki Landers (m. 1984–1987) Music groups Rammstein (Since 1994), Feeling B (Since 1983), First Arsch, Die Firma Similar People Christoph Schneider, Richard Z Kruspe, Christian Lorenz, Oliver Riedel, Till Lindemann
Instruments Guitar, backing vocals

Rammstein s paul landers talks next album thinks linkin park changed their sound too much

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

Paul landers guitar rig

Early life

Paul Landers Paul Landers Archives Rammstein Affenknecht

Paul was born in East Berlin, Germany as son of the Slavists Anton and Erika Hiersche. His mother comes from Ełk in Mazuria, Poland, and his father from Böhmisch Kahn, today Velké Chvojno, Czech Republic. Both parents had to leave their home country after the Second World War and met during their studies in Halle (Saale). 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 1984, 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 used to 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, Emil 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 173 centimetres (5 ft 8 in)

Equipment

Guitars
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 and a performance at the London Docklands during the 2002 Mutter tour.

Ibanez AXS32 See-thru red with silver pickguard, used in Drop C. Was mostly used during the Reise, Reise tour for "Morgenstern" and "Stein um Stein." Has not been used since.

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 (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 (Former rig)

Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier

ENGL Powerball Amplifier (Former rig)

Rath-Amp Amplification

Marshall JCM 800

Soldano Avenger

Misc

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

Paul Landers Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA