Ralf Dörper interview on why Die Krupps still won’t behave
Die Krupps' Ralf Dorper (Photo by Karo Kratochwil)
(Interview by Karo Kratochwil) Forty-five years is usually when bands turn themselves into exhibits: tidy eras, polished anecdotes, the safe glow of “legacy.” Ralf Dörper has never cared for museum lighting. Die Krupps’ recent European run proved it as a stamina test: five weeks on the road, crowds in the hundreds, and fans still traveling serious distances to catch a single date.
Dörper calls anniversary touring what it really is: editing. With “too much history,” cuts are inevitable – but not opportunistic. The set isn’t a streaming-stat mirror; it’s a deliberate choice, kept steady, even when a German deep cut like “Industriemädchen” lands abroad without translation or cushioning.
Where Die Krupps always lives, this conversation follows: discipline and abrasion, precision with teeth. Dörper’s core obsession remains “the quest for the perfect hook” – the kind that turns critique into something people can still shout back. And when Propaganda enters the frame, he’s just as unsentimental: anniversaries become product in the pop machine, memory becomes negotiable, and expectations are the real trap. Propaganda stays fluid by design; Die Krupps stays functional by necessity. A new Die Krupps album is confirmed for 2026, with the full back catalogue now digitally available for the first time. A true workshop.
Ralf Dörper (Die Krupps) interview
S+ Forty-five years is long enough to become a museum exhibit – unless you keep sabotaging your own comfort. On Die Krupps European anniversary run, what surprised you most: the audience, the band’s own stamina, or the way old material behaves in 2025?
Ralf: 45 is just a number – and it is the number of years which have passed since Jürgen Engler finished his punk band(s) – i.e. Male resp. Vorsprung – which was in 1980. So for me it was a 44-year anniversary since joining and recording “Stahlwerksinfonie” back in 1981.
With regard to the recent DIE KRUPPS tour the big surprise was its length and the endurance which we had developed. Approx. 5 weeks – a duration like that we had last in the 90s. But why not … as long as the audience numbers in hundreds and not dozens. So the other big surprise is that people still travel to see us when we play in their country…and this sometimes means big distances esp. in Scandinavia but also in France or UK where we played just the capital.
S+ When you tour an anniversary, you’re touring a narrative. Did you find yourself “editing history” on stage — emphasizing certain eras, muting others — or did you let the chronology stay messy and human?
Ralf: Due to covid we could not celebrate the 40 year anniversary for which we had plans to appear in special locations outside of the standard club circuit. And this time the anniversary of 45 years since foundation has been an additional factor as originally the plan was to coincide with the release of a new album. It was nearly finished but we weren´t quite happy yet – thus just two new songs in the set.
Due to “too much history” we always have to edit but we are not a cynical legacy act that mirrors its Spotify regional top twenty, i.e. before tour starts we decide on the set and keep it largely unchanged. So people outside of Germany had to come to terms with “Industriemädchen” which is our interpretation of a song by German punk band S.Y.P.H. from 1979 (of which I have been a member…; ).). All eras were covered with emphasis on the 90s – and the “Machinists” decade.
S+ Die Krupps have always had that tension between discipline and abrasion: precision with teeth. For the next album, are you chasing sharper minimalism, bigger impact, or a new kind of discomfort that the old templates can’t contain?
Ralf: The best Krupps songs feel like they’re engineered, not simply written. What is your current obsession in the workshop: rhythm architecture, vocal phrasing, sound design, or the lyrical “hook” that turns critique into something you can still shout along to?
It is always the quest for the perfect hook which from time to time is successful. So people keep shouting “Lohn / Arbeit “ “To the Hilt” or “Rammt sie”… and hopefully soon “Will nicht, muss!” or “Tu es” as well.
S+ Anniversary tours can turn fans into archivists. Did you notice any specific “misreadings” of Die Krupps’ legacy lately — things people project onto Die Krupps that were never actually your agenda?
Ralf: The only misreadings we might get from uninformed people are political. This peaked in Germany after reunification but is now a thing from the past. Our audience understands irony it seems.
About the upcoming Die Krupps U.S. run: Europe and the U.S. often reward different kinds of intensity. Are you adapting the set and pacing for American rooms, or is it more interesting to bring the European “steel” as-is and let the friction happen?
As we recently supported MINISTRY on The Squirrel Years Tour all over USA/Canada we already noticed different kinds of receptions depending on state or city. But opportunistic set adjustments are not on the agenda. However we might replace some songs which are too much rooted in our European history. We might drop “Industriemädchen” and “Amboss” from the European “anniversary set”.
S+ The modern industrial landscape is crowded with polished aggression. Where do you still find something that feels dangerous in a productive way — and what do you think most newer acts misunderstand about that danger?
Ralf: I have absolutely no idea who those newer acts might be. The newest act which I discovered – in Germany – is GEWALT which is in no way industrial. I am not a follower of musical fashions.
Propaganda has a very different type of power: elegance, tension, intelligence that doesn’t need to shout. Without giving away plans you can’t share, what’s the most honest “state of the union” you can offer right now: quiet work, active writing, or simply keeping the door open?
Now as we talked about anniversaries there was a real one in 2025, i.e. 40 years since the release and the production of “A Secret Wish”. Being part of the Pop machinery means your work has acquired a certain worth for its owner who is not the band (different to Die Krupps where I own the master rights with Jurgen) but the licensee who changed over the years. It had been BMG for a while nowadays its Universal Records…and these labels use the anniversary dates to come up with a rerelease of a repackaged P-product. But what is very interesting is that due to the retro industry evolving over the years with own festivals and magazines we had a lot of promo activity, “we” means the Propaganda Abba-LineUp of the 80s doing separate interviews. And it is definitely very interesting to read how memories differ.
S+ You’ve spent decades moving between projects with radically different emotional temperatures. When you switch from Die Krupps to Propaganda mindset, what changes first: the rhythm, the language, or the way you allow vulnerability into the frame?
Ralf: Which is not true. But one might think so as due to the legacy of the PROPAGANDA recordings there might be constant reminders – by rereleases or compilations – that there is some activity (which is mostly passive). I started PROPAGANDA in 1982 after having vacated KRUPPS – and I left what was left of PROPAGANDA in 1990. Shortly after having done the “Machineries of Joy”.
The latest Propaganda release (2024) and its remix companion (2025) did not have a schedule. There might have been a beginning around 2015 and 2025 must not be the end.
Krupps is genre Propaganda is not. And Krupps is a band driven by commercial contracts which somehow defines the format and to a certain extent the content. I do not write steel workers love songs however there is the love for sweat muscles and bodies.
S+ If you could choose one sentence you’d like listeners to take into the next chapter — not as nostalgia, but as a forward-facing idea — what should it be, and why does it still matter now?
Ralf: Tempted to say: “Will nicht, muss!” But that is not even a proper sentence…
S+ Looking ahead to 2026: if Die Krupps is the engine and Propaganda is the ghost in the circuitry – what can people realistically expect from each camp this year (new music, releases, specific live plans, collaborations), and what do you want the year to represent for both projects?
I would like to make it clear: PROPAGANDA is and was a project with ever changing agenda. For a while a project within a pop context and for a short while even adapting a band image. And the long hiatus was a necessity. Maybe PROPAGANDA is a duo nowadays but not a soft sell. And definitely not willing to jump on the retro bandwagon. So its better to have no expectations – but depending on next encounters things might happen.
On the other hand, yes KRUPPS is as a band part of the machine. There are cyclical changes in personell which is a reflection of the “business”. And as part of the business machinery a lot of schedules have to be fixed way ahead. So I can confirm that finally there will be an album release in 2026 while the complete back catalogue has been made digitally available now for the first time ever (!). There will be some live activity as well.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
