Christian Flake Lorenz played in old
band, Feeling B (Keyboards). Divorced, but one daughter named Annie.
Very serious offstage, very funny onstage. Likes to conduct interviews in German. Didn’t like Rammstein at first (thought the band would be too boring…). Wanted to become a doctor.
Very serious offstage, very funny onstage. Likes to conduct interviews in German. Didn’t like Rammstein at first (thought the band would be too boring…). Wanted to become a doctor.
His family background is vague. It is
said Lorenz has a brother who is three years older. As well, there are some
rumours of him being adopted into the Lorenz family. He was brought up and
still lives in the former Prenzlauer Berg area of Berlin (now a part of the
borough of Pankow), where he still passes his old school building on the way to
band rehearsals.
Lorenz learned the piano after being
given one for his 15th birthday, and he is consequently a well-educated
pianist, though he doesn’t consider himself very good. Flake says he chose to
play the piano because a childhood friend of his did.
At the age of sixteen, he apprenticed
as a toolmaker, an apparently short-lived career.
In 1983, at age seventeen, he began to
play in the band Feeling B with Paul Landers and
Aljoscha Rompe, a Swiss living in East Berlin. He stayed with the band for
about ten years.
Feeling B started out firmly grounded
in the underground punk scene. Over time, Feeling B’s popularity grew greatly
and at the end of the German Democratic Republic, it was one of the most
respected and influencial Eastern German bands despite their underground
status.
Flake squatted/lived in an apartment
with Paul during their early years. When they weren’t playing gigs, Landers and
Flake would sell jackets made from cut-up bed sheets and dusters on the black
market. Two jackets a month meant as much money as an average salaried worker.
“It was quite easy to make a living; not to work and stay out of trouble,” says
Landers, “You only got problems if you were caught.”
The group disbanded in the mid-1990’s.
On special occasions, the band members would get together for individual
concerts at punk festivals, until Rompe died in November 2000.
There is a book available about Feeling B.
Flake is probably best known for his
part in the controversial live performance of the song Bück Dich (Bend Down),
where he and vocalist Till Lindemann would engage in simulated sodomy with a
water-squirting dildo. On 1999-06-05 in Worcester, Massachusetts (USA)
Lindemann and Flake Lorenz were arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious
behavior. A statement from Sergeant Thomas Radula of the Worcester Police
Department stated that Lindemann was simulating sex with Flake onstage “using a
phallic object that shot water over the crowd.” They were held and released the
following day on $25 bail. After months of legal debate, they were eventually
fined $100.
His role in Bück Dich is not the only
live act he is known for. Up until 2002, Flake would surf the audience in a
boat during the performance of Seemann (Seamen). Olli took his place in 2002.
The reason for the change is unknown. During a 2001 concert in St. Petersburg,
Flake was tipped out of the boat by the crowd and almost completely undressed.
When performing Mein Teil (My Part or My Penis), Flake is “cooked” with a
flamethrower by Till in a giant cauldron. Flake used to do a dance during
Weißes Fleisch (White Flesh). On the video for Keine Lust (No
Desire), Flake is seen in an electric wheelchair.
Desire), Flake is seen in an electric wheelchair.
During a concert in Gothenburg, Sweden
on July 30, 2005, Till Lindemann suffered
a knee injury when Flake accidentally ran into him with the Segway he rides
during the performance of Amerika. This caused concerts scheduled in Asia to be
canceled.
Flake has been divorced once and has
three children. One of these children is a girl named Annie. His current
marital state is unknown, since there is very little information available
about his personal life outside of his musical career.
Brown is his natural hair colour, but
he has dyed it various times. His eyes are blue.
Not much is known about Flake’s
personal life because he chooses to keep most of it private.
Flake, an atheist, is opposed to
religion. He is quoted to have said, “I disapprove of religions which are made
into rigid institutions. I also think that religious fanaticism and missionary
work are dangerous.”
Flake seems to dislike America and most
of American culture. He calls it a “sick nation with no culture.” He likes the
net (but is no longer able to access it from home), Poland, and Polish food. He
despises McDonalds.
He likes to listen to Einstürzende
Neubauten, Die ärzte, Element of Crime, Coldplay, Placebo, Johnny Cash, PJ
Harvey, System of a Down, Ministry, Prodigy and once remarked that he eould’ve
liked to have been the sixth Rolling Stone.
Flake is an amateur painter and likes
classic cars. He has a Mercedes and is involved in vintage car hire business.
Lorenz used to write frequently in the
Fanarea logbook on the official website fanclub, which closed September 2004.
On 5 October 2005, Flake appeared
briefly on Deutsche Welle. When asked how he felt about the reunification of
Germany, he said he prefers/misses the way things were then. “Even if the DDR
survived, I still would’ve stayed a musician. The increased size of the world
also brought the danger of being compared to all of the international acts. The
bands which were in the east were the only ones there, and if you were
successful there, you were successful. I miss the
simplicity. You went into a bar, ordered a beer, and you got a beer!…They didn’t ask if you wanted…with a head or without a head, foam top or bottom….It really gets on my nerves having all of these choices I really don’t want.
simplicity. You went into a bar, ordered a beer, and you got a beer!…They didn’t ask if you wanted…with a head or without a head, foam top or bottom….It really gets on my nerves having all of these choices I really don’t want.
Christian Lorenz commonly goes by the
nicknames “Flake” (pronounced as “Flock’-uh” in German) and “Doktor.” Doktor
came about because at one point he wanted to be a surgeon. As for Flake, the
reason he is called this is unknown. He says that people began calling him
Flake at a young age and it just stuck.
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