Oliver Riedel

Oliver "Ollie" Riedel (; born 11 April 1971) is a German musician, best known as one of the founders and the bassist of band Rammstein.

Early life Riedel was born in Schwerin on 11 April 1971. Growing up, he had relatively good relationships with both of his parents, which he attributes to the small gap between their ages. As a child, he was not a good student, but he made his way through school with the assistance of his mother. Riedel was quite shy, especially during his teenage years; while his friends partied, he would often be found just "hanging around".

Career In 1992, Riedel began playing in a folk/punk band called the Inchtabokatables. That same year, he traveled to the southwest of the United States together with Richard Kruspe and Till Lindemann. Paul Landers and Christian "Flake" Lorenz would later join the band, which was then renamed to Rammstein. He is the tallest member of Rammstein, standing at 6 ft 7 in (2 m). Riedel is known to live a private life and rarely gives interviews.

Musicianship

Technique Riedel is primarily a fingerstyle player, although he uses a pick for most songs when playing live.

In certain softer songs, Riedel has been known to play with a banjo style plucking technique with his right hand to play arpeggiated chords, such as in "Seemann". He also plays the acoustic guitar introduction to "Tier" and "Frühling in Paris" during live shows.

Gear His known gear is:

Sandberg California PM Sandberg Terrabass signature model MusicMan Stingray (used during the early days of the band) ESP Eclipse bass (used during the Sehnsucht tour) Sandberg Plasmabass 4-string custom built model Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI Glockenklang Heart-Rock Amp (Later rig) Ampeg SVT-II (Early rig) Ampeg 8x10 Cabs

Riedel also uses selected overdrive/fuzz pedals for songs such as "Mein Teil" and "Rosenrot".

Discography

Rammstein

Herzeleid (1995) Sehnsucht (1997) Mutter (2001) Reise, Reise (2004) Rosenrot (2005) Liebe ist für alle da (2009) Rammstein (2019) Zeit (2022)