Die Krupps interview on the 45 Years of Industrial Steel North America Tour
Die Krupps (Photo by Karo Kratochwil)
(Interview by Karo Kratochwil) Forty-five years after they first welded steel, sequencers and social tension into one brutal language, Die Krupps are bringing their industrial machinery back to North America. In spring 2026, the German legends will cross the U.S. and Canada with a full 45th Anniversary Tour, joined by special guests Ghostbells, to celebrate nearly half a century of sonic construction work.
The run picks up where last year’s shows with Ministry left off, but this time the spotlight is entirely on Die Krupps – a band that turned “metal and machines” from an idea into a genre. Expect a career-spanning set that taps into their early industrial beginnings, their metal-driven phase and the newer material that has kept their sound evolving. With the back catalogue now finally available on all major digital platforms, this tour underlines that these tracks are not museum pieces but a living, heavy and still uncomfortably relevant body of work.
From Austin to Vancouver, from New York basements to West Coast clubs, the 45th Anniversary Tour promises nights of pounding percussion, serrated riffs and that unmistakable Die Krupps chant-energy that turns a room into a moving engine.
Die Krupps Interview
Karo: Hi Jürgen Thank you so much for taking the time today. I know you’re in the middle of preparing tour, so I really appreciate you squeezing this in.
Jürgen: Hello
Karo: I know you are probably extremely busy, so let’s get straight to it. You’re about to take the 45 Years of DIE KRUPPS celebration across North America again. The first run already felt like a statement. What convinced you that this chapter still had more to say on American stages and that you needed to come back?
Jürgen: We hadn’t toured here in probably two decades before the Ministry tour we did last year, and the response from the audience was amazing. The reason we wanted to go back out on tour is because we want to make our fans happy. Also, I live in the U.S., so for me it’s an important thing to do. I feel like we haven’t really taken advantage of the fact that I’m based here and that we can actually tour here because we definitely have a fan base. The U.S. has been neglected for a long time, but that was mainly due to costs. Most European bands that tour here downsize. I’ve seen many over the years – Project Pitchfork, Covenant, and so on – and they don’t come over with the same kind of lineup they have in Europe because the costs are immense. Touring in the U.S. is more expensive: you need flights, work visas, which are crazy expensive nowadays, and the nightliner buses are a lot more expensive. In general it might be cheaper to live here, but for European bands touring is definitely more expensive. Since I live here I obviously don’t need a work visa, so that’s not a big problem for me personally. But bringing our crew over, bringing the band over, and getting all the gear here – my steel phone is usually in Germany – that all costs a lot of money. It’s not easy. I also never wanted to downsize the band. Whenever we had offers to play here the promoters would say, “Why don’t you use some local crew, some local musicians?” I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to tell people: “Sorry, we have a U.S. tour, but you have to stay home.” That’s not right, and that’s why we basically didn’t play shows here for a long time. When we got the opportunity to do the Ministry tour, that was great. The pay, when you’re not a headliner, is not so great, but in the end it was a very important tour for us to put our foot down again and make a mark. We are a strong live band and we went over really well. The fans loved it every night, we had an amazing audience, and the pictures I posted online speak a clear language.
Karo: An anniversary tour can easily slide into a “greatest-hits jukebox”. How do you build a setlist that honours the different phases of DIE KRUPPS and still keeps the feeling of urgency and risk that defined the band in the first place?
Jürgen: The setlist will probably differ slightly from the one we played in Europe, but not too much. There are a lot of songs that we should be playing, and we are playing the obvious singles and strong tracks: “Machineries of Joy,” “Fatherland,” “Robo Sapien,” “Vision 2020 Vision,” and so on. It’s not that hard to choose from our catalogue because there are a lot of good tracks that the fans love. But some tracks are not so well known in this country. For example, “Industrie-Mädchen” – we played that on the European tour, but we wouldn’t play that over here. Instead, we may pick something from Odyssey Of The Mind, because that was a very popular album here, maybe even the most popular one in the U.S. So we might choose a song like “Isolation Again” or “Scent.” It’s not that easy to switch out songs and keep the same kind of flow, because I really liked the flow of the set on the last European tour. Changing songs is always a little tricky, but we’ll manage. It will differ slightly – maybe three or four songs we might replace – and I’ll go with my feeling for what keeps the flow similar.
Karo: You mentioned living in the U.S. while the rest of the band travels over. After so many line-up shifts and collaborations, what does “DIE KRUPPS as a band” mean to you today? Is it a stable core of people, a certain way of working, a sound, or more of a mindset that survives regardless of who is on stage with you?
Jürgen: It’s very important who is on stage with you. There’s nothing more important. You have to feel right with the people on stage. The current line-up was great. For me, the feeling on stage with Ralf, Paul and Dylan was perfect. We had a perfect vibe on stage, a great time, and a clear understanding of how to work the stage. That’s very important. Between Dylan and me it was totally in line – we had no problem working the stage just the two of us. In the past I sometimes had the feeling that I had to work the stage more to compensate for others not contributing as much. It’s very important that you have a good feeling on stage. There are many angles to this, but for me as a performer it’s most important that I feel comfortable there. It’s my territory, but I share it, and when I share my territory it has to be with the right people. It’s like working a job in an office: you want the right team. You don’t want anybody who is creating friction or issues while you’re working. What happens in your private life is different, but when you’re on stage or on the job, you want to make sure you have the right people on board.
Karo: Your DIE KRUPPS work has always reflected industry, power structures and social pressure. When you perform songs like “Machineries of Joy,” “Metal Machine Music,” “To the Hilt” or “Fatherland” in 2026, which lines feel most disturbingly relevant today? Have you ever been tempted to rewrite or update anything, or do you prefer to let the original lyrics speak for themselves?
Jürgen: I wouldn’t rewrite them because they’re all still relevant. It’s not like humanity has changed a lot. I think our lyrics are more or less timeless. I don’t feel that any of those lyrics have really lost their dynamics or weight. I also wouldn’t want to change lyrics anyway. Those songs were written at a certain time, which may have been different, but they’re still relevant. I don’t feel like something like “Fatherland,” “Robo Sapien” or “To the Hilt” has lost any of its important meaning. To me it’s still relevant and nothing needs to be changed. If I felt we had written a song that is totally irrelevant nowadays, I just wouldn’t want to play it. But rewriting lyrics is not that important to me. Why would you do that, unless you’ve written a bunch of crap – like a lot of other bands have done – and then they still play it. So why change anything?
Karo: I also wanted to ask about the DIE KRUPPS EP that accompanied the European anniversary shows, Collision Course. It presents a very current, hard-hitting side of DIE KRUPPS. When you were working on those tracks, did you consciously think about how they would sit next to the ’80s and ’90s classics in the live set, or did you treat them as a separate chapter?
Jürgen: When I write music it’s always connected to the past as well – it comes from the same person. Certain ingredients of the music have to be there. When I approach music and we compose tracks, what comes out is always going to be DIE KRUPPS, and it’s going to be connected with the history. We have a broad history. When I compose a track there are usually pumping sequencers, heavy riffing guitars – all that stuff. It’s always going to be there. I wouldn’t try to open a new chapter by reinventing the wheel or reinventing DIE KRUPPS. Why do that? We have found our niche. We are DIE KRUPPS. We sound like DIE KRUPPS and nobody else does. So why change anything? What comes out of me is what DIE KRUPPS have always been. It’s a very easy process for these songs to weave into the whole DIE KRUPPS sound and style, because everything is part of it. On Collision Course, for example, the title song was written in 2001, so it’s 25 years old. I played it to some people – Ralf really liked it, the record company thought it was a great song – so I decided to rework it. When I pick out stuff that was written a long time ago, I usually give it a more updated sound: I work on the production and change it up a bit. But in general the outcome is always clearly DIE KRUPPS. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel anymore. We did that with Stahlwerksymphonie back in the day and with the “Metal Machine Music” metal-and-electronics combination. Since then we clearly have our niche and a very unique style. That’s important.
Karo: Speaking of other songs – recently the DIE KRUPPS catalogue has been digitally re-released. What sparked the idea to revisit these DIE KRUPPS albums in this way?
Jürgen: There were many good reasons. The main one was that a large portion of the catalogue had never been released digitally. Our former record company missed out on that, and we decided we needed to finally get this material out. I’ve been getting lots of messages from people over the last ten years: “Why is Odyssey Of The Mind not online? Why is it not on Spotify? Why is Paradise Now not online?” And there were other releases, like the tribute to Metallica. I was asking myself: what the hell is going on, why have these important records never been released? So in the end I said: this has to finally be released. Since the back catalogue was available, we approached a new label and sold them the catalogue so they could finally put it out and give it to the fans. To be honest, that’s the most important part for me. I don’t want people to think we don’t care what we put out. It was always important to me to cater to the fans. It’s not like I do this for money. I do it for the fans, no matter how crazy that may sound. It’s very important that they get access to the music they like and love. It’s just as important as when we play shows: we want to make them happy and give them what they want so that everyone has a great experience. It’s the same with the records – I want people to be able to listen when they feel like it, not be wondering where they can get a record they loved and don’t have anymore. All those complaints I heard over the years – I’d had enough at some point. So that was definitely a big motivation.
Karo: It will definitely make a lot of people happy. Back to the DIE KRUPPS tour: on this upcoming run you’ll pass through Austin, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Montreal, Vancouver and many more. Are there any North American cities that have become “characters” in the DIE KRUPPS story for you – places where the crowd, the venue or the local history add a special charge and make you think: this is exactly why we’re still doing this?
Jürgen: There are the usual hot spots where you know you’re going to have a big, great audience -Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and so on. But what’s really surprising this time are the Canadian shows. The pre-sales for those shows are very strong, which is interesting. I did not expect that when we were presented with the dates. I wasn’t sure if all those cities in Canada, between the east and west coasts – Edmonton, Calgary, etc. – would really carry the weight of the costs. But they do. They have equal or even higher pre-sales than places like New York, which is leading in the U.S. That’s really interesting. For me it’s not that I care more for certain cities than others. Whenever the show is great, it’s great. I don’t care whether I play in Austin, where I live, or in Denver or Calgary. I personally enjoy playing live to our audience no matter where it is. Of course it’s more fun the bigger or more enthusiastic the crowd is – smaller crowds can be very enthusiastic and make up for not being huge – but the city doesn’t really matter to me. We have connections with certain cities, of course – good fan bases in the obvious centres like Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles – but in general I love playing all the places. There aren’t many I wouldn’t like to play. As long as the audience gives us a good vibe and good energy, I’m happy anywhere. I don’t want to cherry-pick cities.
Karo: One last question: once the anniversary dust settles and the last DIE KRUPPS U.S. show is done, where do you feel the creative compass pointing? Further into the metal-driven territory, more electronic experiments, more collaborations – or something completely different that fans may not expect? What’s the next move?
Jürgen: The next move is that the album is almost completed. The new album will be finished soon and then out a few months later. As I said before, the music is what it is: it’s DIE KRUPPS. It’s not more metal or more electro. We have our niche, we have our sound. It’s not going to be a “metal album” or an “EBM album” – it’s the combination of all elements that make DIE KRUPPS what we are. It has a very tight production, that’s what I can say. Besides that, we also have upcoming festivals in Europe, and then we have a European tour in the making. And then we have a European tour in the making – I’m not exactly sure when it will start, but the booking agency is working on it. Beyond DIE KRUPPS I do a lot of production work for Cleopatra Records. That’s my main job: production work. I’m working with a lot of big-name artists right now for a Deep Purple project, a Flamin’ Groovies project, and there’s an upcoming William Shatner project where he’s doing metal tracks. There’s lots and lots of stuff in the making. This machinery never stands still.
Karo: Thank you very much for finding the time. All the best!
Jürgen: Best to you. Bye.
Die Krupps 45th Anniversary North America Tour 2026
The Die Krupps run kicks off in Austin, Texas – Jürgen Engler’s adopted hometown – before rolling through major cities across the continent.
- 03/23/26 – USA – Austin, TX / Come and Take It Live
- 03/25/26 – USA – Houston, TX / Warehouse Live Midtown
- 03/27/26 – USA – Atlanta, GA / Garden Club
- 03/28/26 – USA – Greensboro, NC / Hangar 1819
- 03/29/26 – USA – Philadelphia, PA / Underground Arts
- 03/30/26 – USA – New York, NY / Gramercy
- 04/01/26 – USA – Cambridge, MA / The Middle East
- 04/02/26 – CAN – Montreal, QC / Theatre Fairmount
- 04/03/26 – USA – Detroit, MI / El Club
- 04/05/26 – USA – Chicago, IL / Reggies Rock Club
- 04/06/26 – USA – Minneapolis, MN / Fine Line
- 04/08/26 – CAN – Edmonton, AB / Starlite Room
- 04/09/26 – CAN – Calgary, AB / Dickens
- 04/10/26 – CAN – Vancouver, BC / Rickshaw Theater
- 04/12/26 – USA – Seattle, WA / El Corazon
- 04/14/26 – USA – Denver, CO / Bluebird Theater
- 04/15/26 – USA – Salt Lake City, UT / Metro Music Hall
- 04/16/26 – USA – San Francisco, CA / Great American Music Hall
- 04/17/26 – USA – Los Angeles, CA / Whisky A Go Go
- 04/18/26 – USA – San Diego, CA / Brick By Brick
- 04/20/26 – USA – Mesa, AZ / The Rosetta Room
Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.
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