Rammstein drummer Christoph Schneider has spoken out about the sexual assault allegations against frontman Till Lindemann.
Lindemann is currently being investigated by prosecutors in Berlin and his bandmate took to social media to share his "personal emotions and thoughts".
In the message (translated from German), Christoph, 57, said: "Dear people, I would like to share my personal emotions and thoughts with you. The accusations of the last few weeks have deeply shaken us as a band and me as a person. You fans certainly too. I feel as if in shock by the things that have been shared on social media and in the press and in print about our singer. This is an ebb and flow of emotions for us band members and crew.
"No, I don’t think anything criminally relevant (such as the use of knockout drops) happened. No. I don’t think anything illegal was going on, I’ve never seen anything like it, nor heard anything like it from any of our crew of 100 people. All I heard from Till’s parties were adults celebrating together. And yet things seem to have happened that, although legally ok, I personally don’t think are ok.
“Certain structures have grown that went beyond the limits and values of the other band members. It is also important to us that Till’s parties are not confused with our official after-show parties. Till has distanced himself from us in recent years and created his own bubble, with their own people, their own parties, their own projects.
"That made me sad, definitely. I believe Till when he tells us that he always wanted and still wants to give his private guests a good time. How exactly these guests had imagined this, however, seems to differ in some cases from his own ideas. The wishes and expectations of the women who have now come forward were probably not fulfilled. According to their statements, they felt uncomfortable, on the edge of a situation that they could no longer control.
“I feel sorry for her and I feel compassion. However, it is important for me to emphasize something objective: every guest in the backstage area is free to leave (they may have to wait a moment for security to lead them safely to the exit). All bottles are sealed and in full view of the guests freshly opened or they open them themselves.
"We want all of our guests to feel comfortable and safe with us! This is our standard. So I’m sorry to hear that some didn’t feel that way.”
"We have the greatest fans in the world and they all deserve to be treated with respect! I’m sorry for anyone who wasn’t treated kindly or felt unsafe backstage with us.
“I don’t want this whole public dispute about our band to feed the extremes: neither the beast social media, which has not yet been tamed by our society, nor paternalistic tendencies to deny women in their mid-20s the ability to make self-determined decisions about their sexuality and also by no means victim blaming, so that people continue to date to talk about it if something happened to them. I wish for a calm, level-headed reflection and processing, also in our band. And all together, six of us. We stand together.”
Universal Music has halted all marketing and promotion for the band amid the investigation and previously told The New York Times: “The accusations against Till Lindemann have shocked us and we have the greatest respect for the women who have spoken out so courageously in public in this case.”
