Emigrate is the name of a band led by Richard Z. Kruspe, guitarist and founder of Rammstein. Kruspe started the band in 2005, when Rammstein decided to take a year off from touring and recording. In many interviews, Kruspe says the idea for Emigrate came to him around Rammstein’s Mutter era.
The musician said he had a lot of inspirations and ideas that didn’t fit Rammstein’s new mentality. Therefore, Richard decided to found his own musical project to avoid negative tensions with the band; Emigrate was born.
On September 5, 2006, members of the Rammstein.de newsletter were sent an invitation to the Emigrate newsletter and given the chance to download the song “Wake Up”, a sneak peek of the upcoming album. Three song samples were also posted on Emigrate’s website: “My World”, “Babe”, and “Temptation”. Fans voted “Babe” as being their favorite, and newsletter recipients were allowed to download “Babe” in its entirety starting November 29, 2006. On May 21, 2007 the Emigrate Official Website opened and “My World” was made available for download, in its entirety, to newsletter subscribers.
The video for “My World” has been released and can be viewed on the official website. The video was also included on the limited edition release of the album Emigrate. In addition to the video, My World is featured on the soundtrack to the third Resident Evil movie, Resident Evil: Extinction. The soundtracks to the previous two movies contained “Halleluja” and “Mein Teil” from Rammstein, respectively. On July 27, 2007 Richard made an appearance on Bruce Dickinson rock show on BBC. A video for “New York City” has been released. Richard then left the Emigrate project aside due to Rammstein reuniting in the fall of 2007 to work on their new album Liebe ist für alle da which was released in October 2009, and also to take part in the subsequent Rammstein tour.
Joe Letz, who had appeared in the video for “My World”, updated the Emigrate Facebook page on June 24, 2011, stating that Richard has been working on a new record.
On December 5, 2012, an announcement posted on the Emigrate Facebook page announced that demos were being recorded and reviewed, and studio time was being set up in January 2013 to begin official recording of an untitled second album.
In January 2013, Kruspe stated via the Emigrate Facebook page that drums were beginning to be mixed for the new record.
In January 2014, Kruspe, on the Emigrate Facebook page, posted that twenty tracks had been recorded for Emigrate and that mixing would be performed in Los Angeles, California, alongside Ben Grosse, with a projected release in the summer of 2014.
On March 7, 2014, Kruspe announced the second album was complete and he is departing back to Berlin.
On May 6th, 2014, Emigrate’s main website, Emigrate.eu, stopped displaying its usual content and started displaying a simple message on a plain white background saying “It works!” in black writing. As of May 17th, 2014, the website has returned to full functionality.
On July 22nd, 2014, a post was made to Emigrate’s official Facebook page with a teaser trailer to Emigrate’s new album, titled “Silent So Long” and an official release date of October 17th, 2014
Members
Current members
Richard Z. Kruspe – vocals, lead guitar (2007-present)
Olsen Involtini – rhythm guitar (2007-present)
Arnaud Giroux – bass guitar, backing vocals (2007-present)
Mikko Sirén – drums (2013-present)
Former members
Henka Johansson – drums (2007-2008)
Joe Letz – drums (2008-2013)
I love Emigrate and it really showcases Richard’s creativity and his ability to work in different genres. I also like how he picks other singers from other bands, I.E. Marylin Manson, Peaches, etc. For those of us who cannot get enough of Rammstein, we have Emigrate to compensate for that. Generally all the tracks are well done and Richard has a pretty good voice. I love Emigrate but -and pun intended- a million degrees less than Rammstein. Okay, more like 10, but you get what I am saying. I look forward to Richard continuing with Emigrate and would like to see other band members release albums of their own, like Till did with Skills With Pills as Linderman. Another album I love as it cracks me up that he has the cojones to tackle the material that he does.