Rammstein promo shot: click to zoom image in new window

Sometimes to best way to illustrate a point is by exaggerating it. There are a lot of musicians out there competing for the world’s attention.  Thanks to Google and YouTube every recording artist since the dawn of recorded music is still around in some form or other, and the numbers keep going up. New generations of musicians continue to be born, growing up and join the fray year after year.

Your promo image tells the world everything they need to know about you in a single glance – think of Tom Waits, Diana Ross, Lee Scratch Perry, Lou Reed, Grace Jones, kd lang or Laurie Anderson and an image comes instantly to mind. Most emerging musicians spend weeks, months and years honing and perfecting their art. But very few devote a similar level of attention to perfecting their artwork.

For me this is the definitive band photo: nothing, but nothing is there by accident. Every tiniest buckle on every item of clothing, the old wooden stage, the backdrop, the stance, the grouping, the facial expressions, the hair, that weird impossible microphone flute, those strange fire extinguisher/flame thrower/whatever the f*ck they are/things on either side of the stage… Even the fact that the image is in black and white.

If you knew nothing about Rammstein, this picture would tell you in less than a second everything you can expect from one of their records or live shows. And that’s why, for me, it’s the Best Band Photo Ever.

Tom Robinson