Tokio Hotel Interview

For those who don't know you yet, how did you four meet?

Tom: Bill and I started making music when we were 7. We always preferred that to video games! We dedicated all our free time, evenings, weekends to it. Bill played synthesized because there was no one else to play the drums and bass. I met Gustav while we were at the Academy (music academy?), and we became friends then.
Gustav: And then one day, I went along to one of their gigs. When I saw Bill on stage trying to play synthesized, I told myself that really had to change. (laughs) So we started discussing it and I proposed to play with them. It was then that we started the band.

What would you like to tell those who call you just a well-marketed product?

Bill: Oh my god! In order to say such silliness, those people must be really frustrated. But anyhow, that's the usual thing you hear in the music business. Especially in Germany. These last few years, like in England in the 90s, there were lots of boys and girl bands. There were even TV shows, which had the goal of finding THE next band. So that makes it really hard to make a real formation without making it seem like a TV reality show. Today, it's hard to convince people that we're a real band, that no one told us to be friends with Gustav and Georg. Anyhow, no one would believe us. Consequently, we do our own thing without worrying about those rumors. Music is emotion; if you are just a puppet how can you put your heart into what you do? On my part, I put my heart into it all, so it annoys me when people think what I do is plastic. But there are times when you need to distance yourself from those rumors, otherwise you'll get eaten alive.

What relationship do you have with your fans?

Tom: Whenever we can, we talk to them, sign autographs...that's the least we can do, because wherever we go, they're there! Sometimes they wait for hours or spend the night on the streets. Whether it's cold, raining, snowing, they're there. And they offer us gifts in which they put their hearts and souls. So giving them a bit of our time, it's the least we can do to show them how much they mean to us. We want to live up to their love for us.

What's the most unbelievable gift a fan has offered you?

Bill: That's a hard question because we receive tons and tons of gifts. We are very touched by our fans' letters. Some are very long. There was one who made a 14 kilometer letter! That's almost a book of 1000 A4 pages!

Georg: Otherwise we got a car, a Mini Cooper with picture of us and our name all over. But it's hard to chose one gift in particular, because they all mean something to us.

Do you take time to go on forums and your MySpace page?

Bill: We have to be careful, because on forums, there are lots of people who pretend to be us, who chat with our fans and don't give a damn about them. If we're ever on Internet, it's always a group thing and it's announced officially. Other than that, we spend lots of times on blogs dedicated to us or on our MySpace, because their opinions interest us a lot.

The girls are crazy over you, but what's your type of girl?

Tom: That's a hard question, because I don't have one precise type of girl in my head. There just has to be a good feeling present from the beginning, a connection which allows the relationship to start naturally. She can be blonde, or have brown or red hair...it doesn't matter. But with the lives we lead, we don't have the time for those love relationships. At the same time, being faithful and engaged doesn't interest me...I like to take advantage and have fun. I was crazy over tons of girls. Too many girls. (laughs) I really think that it's possible to fall in love a few times in your life, and thankfully several people are made for you.

Georg: Concerning me, I would like to meet a girl who looks like Angelina Jolie, the Olsen twins, and Eva Longoria.

Gustav: We'll fight over the same girl, then, Georg. (laughs)

Bill: I'd like the girl to have a cool look, that she has clean nails and nice skin. And she must be positive and funny. One-night-stands don't turn me on. I really believe in true love, love that you can only find once in your life...if you're lucky enough. Because I think that lots of people will never find it, which is rather sad...I've known girls, I've already fallen in love. I know what it's like to have a crush on someone, butterflies in the stomach, but I haven't found Love, with a big "L."

Bill, you have a particular look. Have you always liked to make yourself up and do your nails?

Bill: I've been doing that since a very long time. Gustav and Georg never knew me otherwise. I started to get a taste for makeup when I participated in a Halloween party, several years ago. I was disguised as a vampire. Since then, I've kept the look. It's part of my personality.

How long does it take you every morning to make yourself nice?

Bill: Not very long. 40 minutes in all.

Do you have a ritual before going up on stage?

Bill: Well it's not really a ritual. Gustav likes to be alone, he concentrates and listens to music. But Georg, Tom, and I, we like to hang out together before the show starts and be stressed out together. We lock ourselves in a room for half an hour and no one's allowed to come in. Not even our manager! We imagine the worst-case scenarios, we laugh and it relaxes us.

And when you're not on stage, what do you do with your time?

Georg: We play ping-pong and kicker!

Tom: And when we're not touring, we like to sleep very late! Except for Gustav, who's an early-riser. But Bill, Georg, and I like to sleep, eat, watch TV and sleep. And when we can really allow ourselves a break, we like to travel for the holidays.

And what's your ideal destination?

Tom: All we can tell you is that we like little isolated islands, very, very, very far from here. (laughs)

Because of the circumstances, you spend a lot time together. Do you have friendships outside the band?

Tom: Yes, of course! It's important for us to be able to talk about something other than Tokio Hotel. But seeing that we share the same friends, we are almost always together. (laughs) And then we go on holidays together. So, yes, Tokio Hotel is our most beautiful story of friendship!

And you never hit each other?

Tom: Sometimes we really feel like it. Especially when Georg decides to take off his shoes. (laughs) But our friendship is stronger than our disputes!

Even if you're adulated by your fans, is there something about yourselves that you don't like?

Bill: (laughs) We haven't changed, we stay the same. We have the same defaults as before. And we have the same relationship together as we had before meeting success. So although it's nuts that we're 18 and there's so many girls crazy over us, there are always things that I don't like about myself. I don't walk around on the streets telling myself that I'm the best guy on earth. Tom, yes, sometimes. (laughs)

Tom: There's always things about ourselves that displease us. But it's normal: when you're 18, you're searching yourself. And for our age, we have lots of confidence in ourselves. When I say I'm the best, I don't take myself seriously, I'm fooling around!

What souvenirs do you have of your childhood? How would you describe yourself in that period?

Bill: We've always had confidence in ourselves and our future. We have strong characters. We started making music really early, because we realized at an early age what was good for ourselves. It wasn't always easy to live. At school, we didn't want to be molded, and that caused clashes among us, our professors, and other students. But other than hating high school, we had a good laugh.

Tom: I'm still a kid. I still have the kid that I was, in me. (laughs) He guides me every day.

Bill: But contrary to what our fans may think, we're far from being perfect. We're very thankful for our success, but we don't want to be examples for others!


A bit about the twin's early history for those who don't know yet:
Born in Leipzig, Germany to Simone and Jörg Kaulitz, Tom was born 10 minutes before his brother Bill Kaulitz which makes Bill the younger brother. They were very hard to tell apart when they were younger so they had to wear t-shirts with their names written on it. Simone Kaulitz divorced Jörg when the twins were 7 seven years old and remarried Gordon Trümper which is where many think that the boys get his surname Trümper, but it is rumors. They are only called Kaulitz. Their stepfather, Gordon Trümper, had a major musical influence on the boys since he was in a band of his own at the time. This caused Bill to start writing his own songs and Tom to play an instrument of his choice. Over the years, the twins both dressed in skirt-suits until they reached their preteen years in which they started to develop their own sense of style and personality. During the years they were in school, they would always pull pranks on their teachers which led to their separation in the seventh grade.