Tokio Hotel WW151 (Popstar USA and MSN interview)

Popstar USA
Check in with Tokio Hotel!
They've taken over Germany with their catchy pop/rock tunes and Bill, Tom, Georg and Gustav are spreading their universal sound to America!

What to expect!
"In general, I would say (our sound) is rock," Tom describes. "We always tried to create our own style. It's hard to describe, but at the beginning of all our songs you can tell that it is a Tokio Hotel song. It's something you hear in the first chords!"

Hopes and dreams!
"We are not really about goals," Tom tells Popstar! "All we really want is to play live as much as possible."

German fans vs. American fans!
"Every fan is different, but what they all have in common is that they are very engaged, that they are very intense." Bill says. "They live this life with us." Tom has other things in mind, saying, "I personally was very happy to see all the pretty girls in the audience!"



Interview, MSN.

The importance of the internet.

Bill: I think its important for every band to be a part of the internet. For us it was always very important, all the internet stuff, and it was just always this way, First there were fan pages and then in all the countries, we went to all the countries, and so, um, yeah, The internet is very important. And we are very excited and I think we are very nervous (general murmur of agreement), yep, its our second show tonight, our second show in Los Angeles so we are very excited and very nervous.

On what to expect from tonight’s show.

Tom: They can expect a good guitar player ;]
Georg: And an amazing sound, an unbelievable sound.
Bill: (laughs) Well, let’s see. Well I think its a rock show, it’s a little bit smaller because it’s a club tonight, so it’s different from our other stuff. I think we have two DVDs pout in Europe and these were all big venues and twelve or thirteen thousand venues, I think it was twelve or thirteen thousand people, so it’s a bit different tonight. We have a small stage bit I think it’s cool to, you know, play in a little club and you get the atmosphere and the audience, and yeah, I think you can expect a rock show.
Tom: A good show
Bill: Yup ;]
Tom: A loud rock show.

Big vs. Small venues

Tom: We start playing in small venues, and I think three years ago we played in small clubs like, you know, five people, and um, yeah, I mean, we like both.
All: Yeah, both.
Tom: I mean, we played three European tours and it was great. Big venues, seventeen thousand people, your own production, your own stage. You have a big crew, and it was all so great, but we also like the small clubs.
Bill: I like to have my own stage, so you have your own crew and stuff, but I also like the clubs because the audience, the audience is so near to you and yeah. It’s cool.

Fans:

Bill: Our fans are so cool because we never expect so many people. I mean, that’s our second show and you know, we are in the beginning in the States so we just travel and say hi to everybody, and there will be two or three fans, and so we never expected there to be so many people, in front of the venues waiting for us, so it’s really cool. I think our Tokio Hotel fans are the best fans in the world because they are so energetic and they are always there…
Tom: And in the beginning there’s reporters everywhere and in every country, and its great to come in a new country and you already have fans there waiting for you at the airport. And last time we played we played a couple of shows and they also sang the German lyrics with us and that was awesome, that was great.

Musical influences

Bill: I think we had never one band because we are all so different and we listen to different styles of music. And so it was never just one band. We went in the rehearsal room and we um, wrote our own songs and from the beginning it was just Tokio Hotel, it just comes out of us, and we were fine and everybody was agreeing.
Tom: It is never just, um, just one band that we want to sound like that band. Tou know, it’s like, Gorg listens to David Hasslehoff (all laugh) and Gustav likes more the hard stuff, and Bill likes Nena and I listen to German hip hop in my free time, and its really different and as Bill said, we went into the rehearsal room and started to make music, and it just came out of us. I was always just like that.
Bill: Tokio Hotel.
Tom: Yeah….\Tokio hotel.

Forming Tokio Hotel

Bill: In the beginning it was just Tom and me, we were seven years old and we started to make music. I wrote my own songs, and of course in German, because I don’t speak English and my English is very bad (laugh) and so I wrote them in German. My first touch with music was I saw Nena, I saw her on the television and it was a live concert and I saw nena onstage and after that I said ‘Okay I want to do the same, I really want to be onstage‘. So, yeah, we started to make music and we played in little clubs and wedding and stuff, and yeah, then we met Georg and Gustav in a little live club in our hometown Magdeburg…
Tom: They saw us and they said…we have to
Georg: We said someone has to help them!
Tom: They said the performance was awesome and I want to play in your band.
Bill: Yeah, we searched for a drummer and a bass player because I had a keyboard…
Georg: But you were really good at the keyboard
Bill: No, I don’t play and instrument because I was always too lazy to learn, so yeah, we went with Georg and Gustav into the rehearsal room and that was eight years ago…
Tom and Georg: Yeah, eight years ago.
Interviewer: And now, seventeen thousand seats…
Bill: Yeah, at first there were just five people in the clubs and we played and played and played
Tom: In our hometown Magdeburg
Georg: every weekend at the same club because there is no other club
Tom: Just one live club, and after some time, we met a producer , yeah, we met a producer and he said ‘Lets go into my studio and record some stuff
Bill: And then we worked together for two years and our first single came out, we were fifteen.
Tom: August 25th our single came out
Bill: And the n the whole thing started…

On the creative process:

Bill: I think its always different because sometimes I have lyrics ad I go to Tom and sing him a melody or show him the lyrics and he will write the guitar and…yeah. But sometimes Tom has a guitar riff and he comes to me and I write the lyrics, so it’s always different.
Tim: And we work together with the four producers and it’s a good arrangement here.
Bill: And then we go in the rehearsal room and we arrange it all together
Tom: The studio time is great, and more relaxing and -
Bill: But I think its so exciting to show your music, one to one to the audience because you see the reaction and yeah. It’s great, it’s the best thing.

On the language barrier:

Yeah it was really a problem for me because I always sang in German and as I said my English is so band, and I’m a perfectionist…I wanted to sound like a native speaker and not a German who tried to speak English, and yeah. I went in the rehearsal room and in the studio and we translated the songs one to one, and um, we had some help with that, and yeah, it takes a long time. I think it takes a long time to sound natural and I hope It’s good, I mean…
Interviewer: it sounds good
Bill: Thank you, um yeah…it’s really our first English record, and we really want to do more stuff in the future.
Tom: in the future we definitely want to do more stuff in English…we do the song in German and then we do…we do the translation into English.

On ‘Scream’

Bill: Scream is one of our first songs, and you know, it’s about scream for everything you want, scream for your rights and yeah, scream for your life, and you know, there are situations in the school or in the job where you just want to scream, and the song is about…do it, scream! (laughs) Sometimes you have to.

On ‘Ready Set Go’

Bill: Ready Set Go is a bit of our history, a bit of our lives, because we started a new life in one to another day, and we were in a school like normal teenagers, and then our single was out and we started a new life in one to another day. We um, went on tour and stuff, and so it’s about…
Tom: Break your borders…
Bill: Break your borders and don’t be afraid to start a new life

On ‘Monsoon’

Bill: Monsoon is a love song, really, it’s a love song , it was our first single on Germany and it’s a really special song for us because it was always our huge hit in Europe and everybody can sing the song. The audience can sing the song in German and in English, so its really the fans song, it’s the song the fans song they pick -
Tom: It’s really Georg’s song, because he loves me so much, so you know, he wrote the song.
Georg: For you…?
Tom: Yeah, just for me ;]
Interviewer: How sweet.
Tom. (laughs) Yes ;]

Finding fame at a young age

Bill: I think we had a lot of luck, you know, there was a producer and…in Magdeburg it’s strange. I mean, something like that would never happen that there was a producer. And we just had so much luck and he said you know, come in the studio.
Tom: We got the record deal and then…it was just great, especially for a German band because you don’t so often have the chance to go into other countries as a German band and that’s also great. We had a lot of luck in our lives.

Plans for the rest of 2008

Bill: I think after America we’ll travel back to Europe and then um, we play some concerts and some festivals and them, um, we go back in the studio and we want to write more new songs and a new record and yup, that’s the rest of the year, Playing concerts and writing songs.


Little end message ;]
Hey, we are Tokio Hotel, an you are watching MSN in concert!