PCM's Kristyn's interview with rockers Tokio Hotel where we learn
some history behind the band, what the boys like to do in their spare time, and
how they feel about crossing over into the States!Kristyn: Please tell our readers a little history behind the
band. How did you get started in music? How did you meet each
other?Tom: Bill and I were involved in music since we
were kids. My step-dad, who plays in a rock band himself and owns a music
school, gave me a guitar and I started to try and play. (Laughs) I was pretty
sure that the hottest women go for the guitar player - so it was meant to be my
instrument!
Bill: I always wanted to sing and started when
I was 6. I wrote my first songs when I was about 9.
Gustav: Whenever I heard music I started drumming with my
fingers, I did that all the time. When I was 6 I started to take lessons and got
my first drum set.
Georg: I was about 12. Some of my
friends wanted to start a band and they were looking for a bass player. I
thought that was pretty cool and that's why I started to play the
bass.
Tom: Bill and I started playing live shows in clubs
from early on too. It was just the two of us - I played the guitar and Bill sang
and played the keyboard. One night we played in a club called Gröninger Bad
where Georg and Gustav, who knew each other from music school, watched from the
audience.
Georg (laughing): It was obvious that these two
guys needed some help, so we talked to them after their
gig.
Tom (laughing): Yeah, they actually begged us to join
the band - that's how we got together.
Kristyn: I read that "Scream"
is your first album recorded in English language. Was it hard to record a cross
over album? What difficulties did you face?Bill: Our
lyrics are really important to us and we want everybody to understand them. When
a lot of people from different countries started to pick up our music, we
thought we should do an English version of chosen songs from our two German
albums. We didn't expect people to start translating our lyrics, so we did it
for them. (Laughs) Actually it was only work for me since I was the only one who
went into the studio to record them while the others had time
off.
Everybody: Ooooooohhhh!
Bill:
Yes! I'm a real perfectionist. I wanted them to sound perfect, like a native
speaker. I didn't want to sound like someone trying to sing in English. So it
took me some time but in the end I was really happy with the finished
product.
Tom: We all were!
Kristyn: Who are some of your main influences
musically?Tom: We all listen to very different music.
I listen mostly to German Hip Hop. Bill likes a lot of stuff like Nena, Placebo,
Green Day and Coldplay. Georg likes Oasis and Fall Out Boy and Gustav is more
into hard stuff like Metallica. We always wanted to find our own style, an
original sound to represent Tokio Hotel; we never wanted to sound like another
band. And since our taste in music differs so much you could say that the Tokio
Hotel sound is our common ground when it comes to music.
Kristyn: Where do you see the future of music heading and
where do you see Tokio Hotel in that picture?Tom:
That's a hard question to answer and I can only speak for our band. We just want
to play shows, be on stage and play as long as we can, hopefully forever. This
has always been our dream and we are very determined to keep it alive.
Kristyn: Is there any significance behind your name? How did
you decide to choose the name Tokio Hotel?Tom: After
we signed our record deal we thought it was time for a new beginning - we were
called Devilish before that. All of us really like big and modern cities. We all
think Tokyo is one of the coolest places on earth - and we hope to get there
someday soon, hopefully to perform!
Bill: Yes, and we were
also looking for a symbol that would represent our lives from that point on. And
because we were living in hotels a lot of the time, the name really seemed to
fit.
Kristyn: Please tell our readers a bit about your writing
process. What comes first the hook, the melody, lyrics,
etc??Tom: There's no guideline or method we use. It
just depends on who comes up with a new idea first. We work with four producers,
Bill writes the lyrics and we do the music. It's all a big team effort.
Sometimes Bill comes up with lyrics first and then we add the music. Other times
our producers have an idea and we work on that together. It changes from song to
song.
Kristyn: What has been your favorite place to play
live?Georg: That's a hard one. We played in so many
great venues over the last two years, it's hard to pick
one.
Tom: At the moment we're getting ready to start our
third European Tour, which begins this March. Being able to tour Europe was
already amazing, doing it for the third time is just incredible. I'm sure there
are many amazing venues and places to come.
Kristyn: Do you have any crazy tour stories? How about crazy
fan experiences?Bill: We like to call our fans very,
very energetic. You should come to one of our shows. They are really incredible
and loud - we love it. They live this life with us. And they come up with really
cool stuff. They travel with us. Where ever we are, they are already there. They
send us incredible long letters and buy us gifts. One even named a star after
us, so in outer space there's a star called Tokio
Hotel.
Gustav: And remember that Tokio Hotel Mini Cooper?
One girl designed her Mini Cooper in a perfect Tokio Hotel style. But we don't
think it's crazy, we love it and it's really cool.
Tom:
Well, I could tell you stories about that, but we would need another interview
and a lot of time - it could take days.
Kristyn: How do you feel about MySpace as a way to connect with
fans?Tom: The Internet is really important and has
been great for us. It's actually where people from other countries discover us
and become fans. That's how we connected with fans all over the world. Then we
go to their countries, play shows there and meet them for the first time in
person.
Bill: And we want our fans to know we don't have
any private accounts at MySpace. You will only find us in official chats. So if
anyone pretends to be one of us, they're a fake!
Kristyn: How do you feel about music
downloading?Bill: That's a very emotional and tough
topic. I mean if downloads are legal and people pay for them, it's great. But
illegally downloading music is stealing. If people stop paying for music,
musicians won't be able to create music. I mean, imagine there wasn't any more
music? No music! That's terrible. We always, even before our career started,
bought our music. We never had any illegal copies or stuff like that. We always
wanted to have the originals, the real thing.
Kristyn: How is the chemistry within the band? What gets your
creative juices flowing?Tom: We've known each other
for nearly seven years. We are friends and we can read each other's moods pretty
well. We love to discuss things and we talk all the time. But we also know when
one of us needs their own space.
Bill: For the creative
part it can be anything. Something we just talked about, experienced, heard
about or just saw - whatever hits us gets us started.
Kristyn: What would you say is the main message behind your
music? What is one goal you wish to accomplish with
music?Bill: There is not really a main message - every
song has its own message. And we want our fans to identify with it, to find
themselves in our music. I write about our lives and things we experience or
things that happen to our friends and fans. They write us a lot and tell us
about their lives, that inspires us as well. For us one of the most important
things in life is to be free and to do what we want?.not getting caught up in
rules. We're trying to live our dreams and not to give up, expressing ourselves
no matter what people may say. You'll find that in our songs as well.
Kristyn: What do you guys enjoy doing in your spare time, if
any?All: Sleeping!
Tom: Except
Gustav. He is the only one in the band who gets up really early in the morning.
The rest of us like to sleep as long as possible.
Bill:
When I have a day off I sleep in 'till the afternoon and then I like to eat and
watch DVDs ?
Georg (laughs): ? and go back to
sleep.
Gustav: I like to ride my bike, meet friends and
stuff like that.
Bill: Yeah, meeting friends and families
is what we all love to do when we have spare time.
Tom: To
be honest, I spend all of my time in my bed, but unlike the others I share my
bed most of the time with a nice girl!
Kristyn: Can you tell our readers one thing about Tokio Hotel
that they may not already know?Tom (laughs): Well did
you know, that Georgs second name is Hagen and that his nick name is
Hobbit?!!
Kristyn: Please feel free to add any message or comment you
would like to share with our readers.Bill: We want to
thank all our fans for showing such great interest in our music and for
supporting us. That's really amazing and we can't wait to play live and see you
all.
Source http://www.popculturemadness.com/interview/Tokio-Hotel.html
(Interview de base sur groupe, leur début etc,
la traduction est en dessous)