Tokio Hotel makes a buzz in America.
Not too many music bands make the front pages of the New York Times; however, not every band is the Rock German quartet known as Tokio Hotel.
The Associated Press reports that the international famed boy band have started to create a frenzied teen buzz here in the States. Recently having completed a successful U.S. promotional tour in support of their first American CD release, Scream, the band hopes to replicate their worldwide popularity and music sales which currently totals over two million.
Being the first German band to enter the U.S. Billboard charts in over 20 years, the band’s public awareness can be mostly attributed to the Internet, where, for example, they are currently the top searched music band signed to a label on YouTube. Besides having over 100,000 videos on the Internet, the band also features weekly filmed updates on the Web, are visually diverse in appearance, and are all under the age of 20.
Having formed in 2001, with over seven years in the music business, Tokio Hotel have now set their sites and hopes on becoming successful in America.
By MELINDA NEWMAN
For The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) Move over Jonas Brothers, the Kaulitz twins are moving in.
The 18-year-old Kaulitz brothers comprise half of Tokio Hotel, a German glam-pop quartet that is creating Beatles-like hysteria among the teen set in their native land. They’ve sold close to 3 million CDs and DVDs in their native country, and are hoping to replicate that rabid fan base in the United States.
“They’re the stepping stone between the tween stuff and My Chemical Romance,” says Andrew Gyger, senior product manager for Virgin Entertainment Group, a few days after the foursome appeared at Virgin’s Times Square store in New York in May to promote its English-language album, “Scream.”
“The in-store was massive in terms of sales and the amount of girls that showed up,” Gyger says, relaying stories of at least one girl fainting and screaming teens lining up around the block for the event. “The band seems to have come out of nowhere.”
Actually, Tokio Hotel came out of the Internet. A YouTube search shows 123,000 video listings compared to 88,100 for the Jonas Bros. or 21,000 for a grizzled veteran like Bruce Springsteen. To further sate their young fans’ appetite, for the last six months the band has produced weekly episodes of Tokio Hotel TV for its U.S. Web site.
For Tokio Hotel, the visual is as vital as the vocals and is propelled by lead singer Bill Kaulitz’s anime look: straightened, teased black hair; heavy eye makeup that accentuates his delicate, androgynous, doll-like features; chain necklaces and vintage rock and roll T-shirts. He’s so thin he appears almost one dimensional on stage, adding to the cartoon-like appeal. But to hear him tell it, his look comes by way of Transylvania, not Japan.
When he was 10, Bill Kaulitz dressed as a vampire for Halloween and adopted the styling year-round.
“After that, I started to color my hair and polish my nails. I started to wear makeup and stuff. I’d never heard of (anime),” Bill Kaulitz said in an interview at the Avalon Hollywood before to the group’s sold-out show in Los Angeles. He, his brother, bassist Georg Listing, 20, and drummer Gustav Schafer, 19, are squashed together in a leather booth in the lounge one floor above the Avalon stage. Both he and Tom speak very good, albeit heavily accented, English, although an interpreter stands by in case any translation is needed.
Tom Kaulitz, the older brother by 10 minutes (”A lot of people think Bill is the boss, but I am the boss,” he laughs), developed his hip-hop/dreads look when he was seven or eight, in part as a way to differentiate himself from his identical twin. “When we were six, we looked the same,” Tom Kaulitz said. “We had sweat shirts with (the names) Bill and Tom so that teachers had a chance to know who’s who.”
The Kaulitz brothers began playing guitar when they were seven — the instruments were gifts from their musician stepfather. By the time they were in their mid-teens, they were playing in clubs, often to less than five people, and Listing and Schafer had joined the band.
Their mother’s backing was not only desired, but vital: “We needed the support of our parents because we had no car, no money,” Bill Kaulitz says.
Mom has long since stopped driving the band to gigs; they have people who do that for them now as they have accumulated a team during their meteoric rise. The group’s first single, “Through the Monsoon,” went to No. 1 in Germany in 2005, a pair of No. 1 albums and sold-out European tours followed.
The fan frenzy in Germany has reached epic proportions, such as when a group of teen girls delivered a fan letter that was more than seven miles long. After seeing a young fan repeatedly at shows in different cities, the band later learned that she was a runaway who had left home to follow the group. “It’s still crazy to us,” Bill Kaulitz says of the distaff attention.
After witnessing the spectacle at the band’s February appearance at New York’s Gramercy Theatre, Amy Doyle, MTV’s senior VP of music and talent, became a convert. “I could not believe the line outside of screaming teen girls,” she said. “It reminded me of the audience of the late ’90s and 2000 for Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync.”
Following that performance, MTV added the video for “Ready, Set, Go” into heavy rotation, as well as highlighted the band online, on mtv2 and on “TRL.” Tokio Hotel writes a tour diary for MTV.com, which, Doyle says, had elicited more reader comments than any previous tour diary.
But the band has a long way to go before they reach Backstreet or ‘N Sync like sales — since the group’s CD was released in April, it has sold just over 23,000 copies. Tokio Hotel’s U.S. label, Cherrytree/Interscope, has yet to take the first single, “Monsoon,” to radio, but Doyle says the whole package is the band’s selling point.
“Radio always helps, but there’s a connection that clearly is made when the audience sees them that you can’t connect with just a song; fans are making an emotional connection.”
Indeed, at the Avalon show that evening, teenage girls packed up against the stage so tightly that security guards started a regular procession of lifting them over the railing as several teen become overcome by the nearness of their heroes and the pressure of those pushing behind them.
“It’s so cool that we have fans already here. But we are at the beginning,” Bill Kaulitz. “We really want to be successful in America, we really want to try it. There are not so many German bands who get the chance to come to America to play.”
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Tokio Hotel WW141 (News!)
Tokio Hotel has something to worry about! The band Cinema Bizarre is progressively replacing Tokio Hotel in the hearts of the German youth, and more recently the French girls, thanks to the diffusion of their first clip, "Love Songs They Kill Me." An album will be coming out soon.
A serious competition for Tokio Hotel, lead by Tom and Bill Kaulitz, who see how their influence is turning.
Cinema Bizarre strangely resembles Tokio Hotel: a German group of 5 young people, from ages 17-33, with the androgynous look, with explosive bi-color hair. A Tokio Hotel remake, creating a BUZZ all over the net. Their song is in English, which makes the diffusion all over Europe easier, in America and Asia too.
The 4 Tokio Hotel boys have competition: Kiro, the bass player, Striffy the singer, Yu the guitarist, and Luminor, the eldest and the "poet" of the group, and finally Shin, the drummer.
We would like to see if the Cinema Bizarre wave will suppress the craze of the Tokio Hotel fans.
The of young European rock music is back again!
Tokio Hotel: sauerkraut reaches America (lol, don't blame me for this ridiculous title)
A big hysterical bazaar in the queue, shrill screams, and a girl faints while waiting for the Tokio Hotel's first show-case in New York; are these the first major signs of a massive success of Bill and Tom in the USA?
A somewhat overwhelmed service, the manager of some chain stores says "the group seems to have come from nowhere," a young girl faints...
The show-case held in New York by the Virgin Megastore in Times Square to promote "Scream", the English-language album Tokio Hotel, seems to have exceeded all expectations of the marketing department of their own record. Since Bill and Tom, and their accomplices, attacked the U.S. market, observers have noted that the two videos are currently very popular with pre-teens U.S.
They talk about 120 000 views on YouTube, while the Jonas Brothers, being a local phenomenon for teenagers, have been seen around 80 0000 times during the same period. What make us proud, is we French who have been the first (to be crazy over TH) - after the Germans of course! -- To think that Tokio Hotel was the future!
A serious competition for Tokio Hotel, lead by Tom and Bill Kaulitz, who see how their influence is turning.
Cinema Bizarre strangely resembles Tokio Hotel: a German group of 5 young people, from ages 17-33, with the androgynous look, with explosive bi-color hair. A Tokio Hotel remake, creating a BUZZ all over the net. Their song is in English, which makes the diffusion all over Europe easier, in America and Asia too.
The 4 Tokio Hotel boys have competition: Kiro, the bass player, Striffy the singer, Yu the guitarist, and Luminor, the eldest and the "poet" of the group, and finally Shin, the drummer.
We would like to see if the Cinema Bizarre wave will suppress the craze of the Tokio Hotel fans.
The of young European rock music is back again!
Tokio Hotel: sauerkraut reaches America (lol, don't blame me for this ridiculous title)
A big hysterical bazaar in the queue, shrill screams, and a girl faints while waiting for the Tokio Hotel's first show-case in New York; are these the first major signs of a massive success of Bill and Tom in the USA?
A somewhat overwhelmed service, the manager of some chain stores says "the group seems to have come from nowhere," a young girl faints...
The show-case held in New York by the Virgin Megastore in Times Square to promote "Scream", the English-language album Tokio Hotel, seems to have exceeded all expectations of the marketing department of their own record. Since Bill and Tom, and their accomplices, attacked the U.S. market, observers have noted that the two videos are currently very popular with pre-teens U.S.
They talk about 120 000 views on YouTube, while the Jonas Brothers, being a local phenomenon for teenagers, have been seen around 80 0000 times during the same period. What make us proud, is we French who have been the first (to be crazy over TH) - after the Germans of course! -- To think that Tokio Hotel was the future!
 | |||
| The Kaulitz Bus Stop will be rebuilt Magdeburg - The fans of the Magdeburger teenie band Tokio Hotel will get their destroyed pilgrimage place back! The wrecked cult bus-stop will be rebuilt according to the decision of the city council of Loitsche, writes newspaper “Magdeburger Volksstimme” The waiting-point near the house of the parents of bandmembers Bill and Tom Kaulitz has developed itself to a meeting point for fans. Youngsters had destroyed the little house with it’s love statements four weeks ago. Now a new one will be placed in the center of the city, sort of an official pilgrimage place for Tokio Hotel fans! Souvenir hunters, watch it: the old parts of the broken house, the city council is planning to sell on internet. ~Bill appeared in the Rolling Stone magazine, with his $3,150 jacket!~ Move over Jonas Brothers, the Kaulitz twins are moving in. The 18-year-old Kaulitz brothers comprise half of Tokio Hotel a German glam-pop quartet that is creating Beatles-like hysteria among the teen set in their native land. They’ve sold close to three million CDs and DVDs in their native country, and are hoping to replicate that rabid fan base in the United States. “They’re the stepping stone between the tween stuff and My Chemical Romance,” says Andrew Gyger, senior product manager for Virgin Entertainment Group, a few days after the foursome appeared at Virgin’s Times Square store in New York in May to promote its English-language album “Scream.” “The in-store was massive in terms of sales and the amount of girls that showed up,” Gyger says, relaying stories of at least one girl fainting and screaming teens lining up around the block for the event. “The band seems to have come out of nowhere.” Actually, Tokio Hotel came out of the Internet. A YouTube search shows 123,000 videos listings compared to 88,100 for the Jonas Bros or 21,000 for a grizzled veteran like Bruce Springsteen. (Totally contrary to what an article in yesterday’s blog said!!!) To further safe their young fans’ appetite, for the last six months the band has produced weekly episodes of Tokio Hotel TV for its US website. For Tokio Hotel, the visual is as vital as the vocals and is propelled by lead singer Bill Kaulitz’s anime look: straightened, teased black hair; heavy eye makeup that accentuates his delicate, androgynous, doll-like features; chain necklaces and vintage rock and roll T-shirts. He’s so thin he appears almost one-dimensional on stage, adding to the cartoon-like appeal. But to hear him tell it, his look comes by way of Transylvania, not Japan. He, his brother Tom, bassist Georg Listing, 20, and drummer Gustav Schaefer, 19, are squashed together in a leather booth in the lounge one floor above the Avalon stage. Both he and Tom speak very good, albeit heavily accented, English, although an interpreter stand by in case any translation is needed. The Kaulitz brothers began playing guitar when they were seven- the instruments were gifts from their musician stepfather. But the time they were in their mid-teens, they were playing in clubs, often to less than five people, and Listing and Schaefer had joined the band. The fan frenzy in Germany has reached epic proportions, such as when a group of teen girls delivered a fan letter that was more than 11km long. But the band has a long way to go before they reach Backstreet Boys- or ‘N Sync-like sales – since the group’s CD was released in April, it has sold just over 23,000 copies. –AP (From “The Star”, Malaysian newspaper!) Tokio Hotel's needs at Rock in Rio in Portugal! - Taking place TODAY, Sunday the 1st of June. As you know, artists often request special things. Here is what TH have asked for: -A dressing room near to the stage, but not near the public dressing room area. -A lot of sweets: Cakes, chocolates, sweets, and Gummibärchen (jelly babies/gummy bears). "They came directly from the USA and cleaned everything away...Tokio Hotel...at the Comet award for the TV channel VIVA, in Oberhausen, they were nominated 3 times...and right away took home 4 trophies...in the categories for best band, best live act and best video, the 4 guys also won the public prize...after the awards, BILD.DE met up with tom, georg, gustav and bill, who was shining with his new hair... Bill: "Everyone has one in their hands...and I think this is the 1st night that we ever won so many prizes...I mean 4 pieces...that has never happen...and from there this will most likely stay in our memory the most...I mean its really, really awesome..." Bild.de: "Totally honest now: did you really expect this?" Georg: "Well, first of all I am just happy to be here..." Then Bill interrupts as usual....lol Bill: "You can never expect it...we were 3 times nominated, and then 4 prizes...and from there on we are just insanely happy...we would have been happy as well just to be here...we wanted to be able to take part in this...and to be at home...and to come back...to be able to see the fans...the fans in Germany in the 1st hour that we came back...it was definitely beautiful..." Bild.de: " Is the jet-lag at the moment ok?...did you get over that?" Tom: "The jet-lag is good!...umm...well the jet-lag and pretty much everything is kinda over...but anyway Georg is a little bit drunk...so dont interview him that much...Gustav is almost getting there too...but from there on, we most definitely need to clink some glasses for the 4 Comets...those two are already there (talking about Georg and Gustav and that they had some alcohol already) and Bill and I need to go get our drink on at the after-show party and umm...yeah the jet-leg is for sure something we already got over..." (laughter) Bill on Alloy: Hi everyone, it’s Bill! We are back in Germany and what can I tell you? We really had an awesome time in North America! Our last show in Montreal was just incredible – such an energetic and excited audience! You guys were so loud during the whole show that we could barely hear ourselves on stage which is exactly how we love it! After coming back to Germany a really big surprise was waiting for us: on Friday night German music channel VIVA hosted their award show COMET! We were nominated for three awards and won four  !!! “Best Live Act”, “Best Band”, “Best Video”. Then at the end of the show we even received the so called “Super Comet”, which is basically given to the winner of the winners of this show…absolutely TERRIFIC that we got it!!! All the awards were determined by votings so once again you showed how incredible you are and how unbelievable your support is! You really complete us! Everyone must envy us because of you guys – I guess we really have the best fans EVER!!!Take care everybody! - Bill Comet Interview with subs (I can't remember if I already posted this link...) http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=zKNPTl... THE UK STREET TEAM: An older interview Now you know about ‘Caps off for Charity’, can we expect to see Tom's naked bonce anytime soon? Tom: I can’t answer that in general. It depends on the charity. But I guess I can say that if I would ever do it, it would create inner peace for most women (laughs). In Islington, Gustav kept his shirt on and Bill didn't flash the tattoo. Can we have some flesh next time? Pretty please? Tom (laughs): Bill and I told Gustav and Georg that it’s really better for them to keep their shirts on – especially when they want to get any chance with the ladies … Does anyone in the band snore? All: Gustav does. Bill, if you don't go anywhere without your laptop, what do you use it for the most? Bill: Most of all I need it to just check my e-mails all the time. Georg, how do you pull off being laid back in such a hectic lifestyle? Georg: I’m a very calm person. I like to kick back and watch things around me from a distance. That’s just how I am even when it becomes hectic. Gustav, how do you prepare for a performance? Those drums must take an incredible amount of energy. Gustav: Before a show I tape my fingers, then I play to warm up my muscles. Because you’re right, playing the drums is very energetic and you need to be in good condition. I always compare it with being an athlete in professional sports (laughs). You have to work your technique as well as take care of your body. | |||
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Tokio Hotel WW140 (Articles...)
Emo quartet Tokio Hotel emerged as one of the most successful new German acts of their generation, scoring three number one singles via 2005's debut LP, Schrei. Bill and Tom Kaulitz, 12-year-old twins, formed the group in their native Magdeburg in 2001, recruiting drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing to round out the lineup. Originally dubbed Devilish, the teen foursome toured aggressively before signing to Universal in 2003, adopting the moniker Tokio Hotel in tandem with the deal. Composed primarily by Bill Kaulitz in tandem with a series of high-profile songwriters, Schrei was preceded by the August 2005 release of Tokio Hotel's debut single, "Durch den Monsun." Teenage girls quickly embraced the band with puppy-love fervor, and by the end of the month the single topped the German pop chart and its Austrian counterpart. The follow-ups "Rette Mich" and "Der Letzte Tag" also hit number one, although the former appeared in a re-recorded version dramatically different from its LP version thanks to Kaulitz's post-pubescent vocal changes. After the singer wrapped his contributions to filmmaker Luc Besson's animated fantasy Arthur and the Minimoys, Tokio Hotel returned to the studio to complete work on their 2007 follow-up album, Zimmer 483. In June 2007, Scream, the band's first English language album, was released in Europe. The album's tracks were comprised of songs from Schrei and Zimmer 483 that had been translated and re-recorded. Scream was released in the United States on April 29, 2008
LA article:
Los Angeles, CA (CNS) - Boys bands have often created hysteria among young girl fans, and the group Tokio Hotel is no exception. Now the Kaulitz twins, the 18-year-old members of the German glam pop quartet Tokio Hotel, are causing quite a commotion among the ladies.
In addition to the twins, the band is also made up of bassist Georg Listing, 20, and drummer Gustav Schafer, 19. So far the group has sold close to three million CDs and DVDs in their country, and are hoping to replicate their rabid fan base in the United States.
According to the Associated Press, the look of the Kaulitz twins is just as important as the sound of the band. Bill Kaulitz has adopted an anime look: straightened, teased black hair; heavy eye makeup that accentuates his delicate, androgynous, doll-like features; chain necklaces and vintage rock and roll T-shirts. Bill is so thin that his on-stage appearance becomes almost one dimensional, adding to the cartoon-like appeal. Bill claims that his look is not anime from Japan, but more vampire from Transylvania.
Bill said he dressed as a vampire for Halloween when he was ten-years-old, and after that adopted the style year-round.
"After that, I started to color my hair and polish my nails. I started to wear makeup and stuff. I'd never heard of (anime)," Bill told the Associated Press in an interview at the Avalon Hollywood before going to the group's sold-out show in Los Angeles.
Tom Kaulitz, the older brother by ten minutes, developed his hip-hop/dreads look when he was seven or eight, in part as a way to differentiate himself from his identical twin. "When we were six, we looked the same," Tom said. "We had sweat shirts with (the names) Bill and Tom so that teachers had a chance to know who's who."
LA article:
Los Angeles, CA (CNS) - Boys bands have often created hysteria among young girl fans, and the group Tokio Hotel is no exception. Now the Kaulitz twins, the 18-year-old members of the German glam pop quartet Tokio Hotel, are causing quite a commotion among the ladies.
In addition to the twins, the band is also made up of bassist Georg Listing, 20, and drummer Gustav Schafer, 19. So far the group has sold close to three million CDs and DVDs in their country, and are hoping to replicate their rabid fan base in the United States.
According to the Associated Press, the look of the Kaulitz twins is just as important as the sound of the band. Bill Kaulitz has adopted an anime look: straightened, teased black hair; heavy eye makeup that accentuates his delicate, androgynous, doll-like features; chain necklaces and vintage rock and roll T-shirts. Bill is so thin that his on-stage appearance becomes almost one dimensional, adding to the cartoon-like appeal. Bill claims that his look is not anime from Japan, but more vampire from Transylvania.
Bill said he dressed as a vampire for Halloween when he was ten-years-old, and after that adopted the style year-round.
"After that, I started to color my hair and polish my nails. I started to wear makeup and stuff. I'd never heard of (anime)," Bill told the Associated Press in an interview at the Avalon Hollywood before going to the group's sold-out show in Los Angeles.
Tom Kaulitz, the older brother by ten minutes, developed his hip-hop/dreads look when he was seven or eight, in part as a way to differentiate himself from his identical twin. "When we were six, we looked the same," Tom said. "We had sweat shirts with (the names) Bill and Tom so that teachers had a chance to know who's who."
Tokio Hotel WW139 (Reviews)
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| These four young guys from Germany have taken two ridiculously successful German language albums and put together what is sure to be a hot-selling English debut. Right now Tokio Hotel is doing the rock/emo vibe better than anyone else, and they’ve become incredibly popular world-wide as a result, with legions of loyal fans attending every show or autograph signing. On Scream, Tokio Hotel shows how polished they are for being young musicians. They pump up the crowd with energetic, rhythm heavy songs like “Ready, Set, Go!”, get a little darker in Scream, and the rock ballads Monsoon and Rescue Me, and put the emo into emotion with “Sacred” and “Forgotten Children”. Cheers to the boys and especially Bill who worked very hard to pull off singing his strong vocals in English. Though they’ve received a lot of hype world-wide, the boys of Tokio Hotel proved that they rock, no matter what country you might live in. Fun Facts • Scream contains English versions of songs from previous albums Schrei and Zimmer 483 • The US version of Scream has two bonus tracks, “Black” and “Raise Your Hands”, plus the world premiere of “1000 Oceans”. • In Germany, Tokio Hotel have released four number one singles and two number one albums. • “By Your Side” appears in the 2008 thriller Prom Night Tokio Hotel @ MSN Concerts One of the most successful German acts of their generation, the emo quartet comes to MSN Music June 12, 2008, at 11 a.m. PT Channel 4 Music Blog. We went to Germany the other day. It was alright, but we couldn't help but notice the most popular band over there is a bunch of very pretty boys in makeup who make epic, sweeping pop music of the kind we tend to get quite excited about. We sent David Ryder Prangley to have a closer look. So there we were, moaning about how bland and dull our beloved pop music had become in the hands of Simon Cowell and TV talent shows. If we wanted the boy-next-door, we'd GO next door. We were longing for the days when pop stars looked like aliens and sang like angels and caused arguments in the playground about whether they were boys or girls, when suddenly a UFO landed and out came Tokio Hotel. As we stand in the middle of the Islington Academy for the German four-piece's first ever UK show, we cannot believe just how loud the screaming from the teenage girls (who make up 99 percent of the audience) is. The air is aflame with glo-sticks and mobiles. There are flowers and trinkets being hurled at the stage. There is a girl to the left of us with 'I Love TOM' painted on her face. The entire crowd are singing every single word to every single song. It's bona fide hysteria. Okay, let's just state what everyone in the room is thinking. Singer Bill Kaulitz is freaking beautiful. A full blown androgynous pop messiah. The bastard offspring of David Bowie's Goblin King and Cher , the 18-year-old frontman is a Manga cartoon come to life - jet-black hair spiked high and eyes kohled darker than sin. He leads the rest of the band (that's twin brother Tom on a different guitar for every song, Gustav Schafer on green glitter drum kit and Georg Listing on grunge hairdo and bass) through English language versions of songs from their massive selling German albums 'Schrei' and 'Zimmer 483'. The music is epic; the lyrics are pure teenage alienation poetry. Tonight's show is sold out, the audience having queued around the block for a whole day before the doors opened (and TH have barely released a note in this country). It's testament to the fact that people have been craving something better than the glorified karaoke and identikit-indie currently on offer. Tokio Hotel are the rebirth of POP. Vital, romantic and EXHILARATING. | |||
Tokio Hotel WW138 (Canadian review)
Glam-pop German quartet makes teens swoon, produces weekly web shows
2 hours ago
LOS ANGELES — Move over Jonas Brothers, the Kaulitz twins are moving in.
The 18-year-old Kaulitz brothers comprise half of Tokio Hotel, a German glam-pop quartet that is creating Beatles-like hysteria among the teen set in their native land. They've sold close to three million CDs and DVDs in their native country, and are hoping to replicate that rabid fan base in the United States.
"They're the stepping stone between the tween stuff and My Chemical Romance," says Andrew Gyger, senior product manager for Virgin Entertainment Group, a few days after the foursome appeared at Virgin's Times Square store in New York in May to promote its English-language album, "Scream."
"The in-store was massive in terms of sales and the amount of girls that showed up," Gyger says, relaying stories of at least one girl fainting and screaming teens lining up around the block for the event. "The band seems to have come out of nowhere."
Actually, Tokio Hotel came out of the Internet. A YouTube search shows 123,000 video listings compared to 88,100 for the Jonas Bros. or 21,000 for a grizzled veteran like Bruce Springsteen. To further sate their young fans' appetite, for the last six months the band has produced weekly episodes of Tokio Hotel TV for its U.S. website.
For Tokio Hotel, the visual is as vital as the vocals and is propelled by lead singer Bill Kaulitz's anime look: straightened, teased black hair; heavy eye makeup that accentuates his delicate, androgynous, doll-like features; chain necklaces and vintage rock and roll T-shirts. He's so thin he appears almost one dimensional on stage, adding to the cartoon-like appeal. But to hear him tell it, his look comes by way of Transylvania, not Japan.
When he was 10, Bill Kaulitz dressed as a vampire for Halloween and adopted the styling year-round.
"After that, I started to colour my hair and polish my nails. I started to wear makeup and stuff. I'd never heard of (anime)," Bill Kaulitz said in an interview at the Avalon Hollywood before to the group's sold-out show in Los Angeles. He, his brother, bassist Georg Listing, 20, and drummer Gustav Schafer, 19, are squashed together in a leather booth in the lounge one floor above the Avalon stage. Both he and Tom speak very good, albeit heavily accented, English, although an interpreter stands by in case any translation is needed.
Tom Kaulitz, the older brother by 10 minutes ("A lot of people think Bill is the boss, but I am the boss," he laughs), developed his hip-hop/dreads look when he was seven or eight, in part as a way to differentiate himself from his identical twin. "When we were six, we looked the same," Tom Kaulitz said. "We had sweat shirts with (the names) Bill and Tom so that teachers had a chance to know who's who."
The Kaulitz brothers began playing guitar when they were seven - the instruments were gifts from their musician stepfather. By the time they were in their mid-teens, they were playing in clubs, often to less than five people, and Listing and Schafer had joined the band.
Their mother's backing was not only desired, but vital: "We needed the support of our parents because we had no car, no money," Bill Kaulitz says.
Mom has long since stopped driving the band to gigs; they have people who do that for them now as they have accumulated a team during their meteoric rise. The group's first single, "Through the Monsoon," went to No. 1 in Germany in 2005, a pair of No. 1 albums and sold-out European tours followed.
The fan frenzy in Germany has reached epic proportions, such as when a group of teen girls delivered a fan letter that was more than 11 kilometres long. After seeing a young fan repeatedly at shows in different cities, the band later learned that she was a runaway who had left home to follow the group. "It's still crazy to us," Bill Kaulitz says of the distaff attention.
After witnessing the spectacle at the band's February appearance at New York's Gramercy Theatre, Amy Doyle, MTV's senior VP of music and talent, became a convert.
"I could not believe the line outside of screaming teen girls," she said. "It reminded me of the audience of the late '90s and 2000 for Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync."
Following that performance, MTV added the video for "Ready, Set, Go" into heavy rotation, as well as highlighted the band online, on MTV2 and on "TRL." Tokio Hotel writes a tour diary for MTV.com, which, Doyle says, had elicited more reader comments than any previous tour diary.
But the band has a long way to go before they reach Backstreet or 'N Sync like sales - since the group's CD was released in April, it has sold just over 23,000 copies. Tokio Hotel's U.S. label, Cherrytree/Interscope, has yet to take the first single, "Monsoon," to radio, but Doyle says the whole package is the band's selling point.
"Radio always helps, but there's a connection that clearly is made when the audience sees them that you can't connect with just a song; fans are making an emotional connection."
Indeed, at the Avalon show that evening, teenage girls packed up against the stage so tightly that security guards started a regular procession of lifting them over the railing as several teen become overcome by the nearness of their heroes and the pressure of those pushing behind them.
"It's so cool that we have fans already here. But we are at the beginning," Bill Kaulitz. "We really want to be successful in America, we really want to try it. There are not so many German bands who get the chance to come to America to play."
Tokio Hotel already has Madison Square Garden in its sights, but also knows it had to put in the footwork. On this trip, they went to the vaunted venue; not to perform, but to see Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige.
"It's a dream to play there," Tom Kaulitz says, shaking his head up and down. "Maybe in two years. You need goals in your life."
2 hours ago
LOS ANGELES — Move over Jonas Brothers, the Kaulitz twins are moving in.
The 18-year-old Kaulitz brothers comprise half of Tokio Hotel, a German glam-pop quartet that is creating Beatles-like hysteria among the teen set in their native land. They've sold close to three million CDs and DVDs in their native country, and are hoping to replicate that rabid fan base in the United States.
"They're the stepping stone between the tween stuff and My Chemical Romance," says Andrew Gyger, senior product manager for Virgin Entertainment Group, a few days after the foursome appeared at Virgin's Times Square store in New York in May to promote its English-language album, "Scream."
"The in-store was massive in terms of sales and the amount of girls that showed up," Gyger says, relaying stories of at least one girl fainting and screaming teens lining up around the block for the event. "The band seems to have come out of nowhere."
Actually, Tokio Hotel came out of the Internet. A YouTube search shows 123,000 video listings compared to 88,100 for the Jonas Bros. or 21,000 for a grizzled veteran like Bruce Springsteen. To further sate their young fans' appetite, for the last six months the band has produced weekly episodes of Tokio Hotel TV for its U.S. website.
For Tokio Hotel, the visual is as vital as the vocals and is propelled by lead singer Bill Kaulitz's anime look: straightened, teased black hair; heavy eye makeup that accentuates his delicate, androgynous, doll-like features; chain necklaces and vintage rock and roll T-shirts. He's so thin he appears almost one dimensional on stage, adding to the cartoon-like appeal. But to hear him tell it, his look comes by way of Transylvania, not Japan.
When he was 10, Bill Kaulitz dressed as a vampire for Halloween and adopted the styling year-round.
"After that, I started to colour my hair and polish my nails. I started to wear makeup and stuff. I'd never heard of (anime)," Bill Kaulitz said in an interview at the Avalon Hollywood before to the group's sold-out show in Los Angeles. He, his brother, bassist Georg Listing, 20, and drummer Gustav Schafer, 19, are squashed together in a leather booth in the lounge one floor above the Avalon stage. Both he and Tom speak very good, albeit heavily accented, English, although an interpreter stands by in case any translation is needed.
Tom Kaulitz, the older brother by 10 minutes ("A lot of people think Bill is the boss, but I am the boss," he laughs), developed his hip-hop/dreads look when he was seven or eight, in part as a way to differentiate himself from his identical twin. "When we were six, we looked the same," Tom Kaulitz said. "We had sweat shirts with (the names) Bill and Tom so that teachers had a chance to know who's who."
The Kaulitz brothers began playing guitar when they were seven - the instruments were gifts from their musician stepfather. By the time they were in their mid-teens, they were playing in clubs, often to less than five people, and Listing and Schafer had joined the band.
Their mother's backing was not only desired, but vital: "We needed the support of our parents because we had no car, no money," Bill Kaulitz says.
Mom has long since stopped driving the band to gigs; they have people who do that for them now as they have accumulated a team during their meteoric rise. The group's first single, "Through the Monsoon," went to No. 1 in Germany in 2005, a pair of No. 1 albums and sold-out European tours followed.
The fan frenzy in Germany has reached epic proportions, such as when a group of teen girls delivered a fan letter that was more than 11 kilometres long. After seeing a young fan repeatedly at shows in different cities, the band later learned that she was a runaway who had left home to follow the group. "It's still crazy to us," Bill Kaulitz says of the distaff attention.
After witnessing the spectacle at the band's February appearance at New York's Gramercy Theatre, Amy Doyle, MTV's senior VP of music and talent, became a convert.
"I could not believe the line outside of screaming teen girls," she said. "It reminded me of the audience of the late '90s and 2000 for Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync."
Following that performance, MTV added the video for "Ready, Set, Go" into heavy rotation, as well as highlighted the band online, on MTV2 and on "TRL." Tokio Hotel writes a tour diary for MTV.com, which, Doyle says, had elicited more reader comments than any previous tour diary.
But the band has a long way to go before they reach Backstreet or 'N Sync like sales - since the group's CD was released in April, it has sold just over 23,000 copies. Tokio Hotel's U.S. label, Cherrytree/Interscope, has yet to take the first single, "Monsoon," to radio, but Doyle says the whole package is the band's selling point.
"Radio always helps, but there's a connection that clearly is made when the audience sees them that you can't connect with just a song; fans are making an emotional connection."
Indeed, at the Avalon show that evening, teenage girls packed up against the stage so tightly that security guards started a regular procession of lifting them over the railing as several teen become overcome by the nearness of their heroes and the pressure of those pushing behind them.
"It's so cool that we have fans already here. But we are at the beginning," Bill Kaulitz. "We really want to be successful in America, we really want to try it. There are not so many German bands who get the chance to come to America to play."
Tokio Hotel already has Madison Square Garden in its sights, but also knows it had to put in the footwork. On this trip, they went to the vaunted venue; not to perform, but to see Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige.
"It's a dream to play there," Tom Kaulitz says, shaking his head up and down. "Maybe in two years. You need goals in your life."
Tokio Hotel WW137 (Win a Comet and more!)
Win a Tokio Hotel Comet!
Sensational - Tokio Hotel went home this year as the shining winner of this years Viva Comet. Bill, Tom, Gustav & Georg are beside themselves with happiness and didn’t count on this at all. All this is because of you - the fans of Tokio Hotel. That’s why the boys spontaneously have decided on the Viva Comet stage to give away the so much wanted Comet prize to the most important people in there career: To you, the fans!
You have here and now the chance to hold a Comet - that the boys have held for just a few hours - in your own hands. All you have to do is fill out the form at the official site (tokiohotel.de) and keep your fingers crossed.
Fans from all over the world are allowed to enter this contest and the closing date is 12 June!
For this point another big thank you from Bill, Tom, Gustav & Georg for your unbelievable voting support… the boys are now looking forward to rock the Dortmundter Wetsfalenhalle with you on 13 June!
source: tokiohotel.de
TH with security at toilet
They were the winner of the VIVA-Comet-evening; creamed off four of the much in demand music-awards.
It is clear, that the Tokio Hotel – boys really celebrated at the After-Show-Party.
Until six o’clock in the morning they celebrated their mega-triumph! “I’m so happy that I can talk finally with somebody in German,” Bill Kaulitz (18) said, “our English is so incredibly bad.”
Bill and his brother Tom (18) and the bandmembers Georg (21) and Gustav (19) have interrupted their celebrated tour in the US and Canada. Overseas they tried to talk with their school English , “but it wasn’t that fantastic.”
It was more fantastic, that even four bodyguards cleared the toilets for the Kaulitz-brothers from “foreign-pee-guys” and blocked the doors with their big shoulders.
Even “superstar” Mark Medlock (29) and singer Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht (16) had to wait well-behaved with peeing.
Bitter for Bill: He lost his diamond-ring at the party!
Sensational - Tokio Hotel went home this year as the shining winner of this years Viva Comet. Bill, Tom, Gustav & Georg are beside themselves with happiness and didn’t count on this at all. All this is because of you - the fans of Tokio Hotel. That’s why the boys spontaneously have decided on the Viva Comet stage to give away the so much wanted Comet prize to the most important people in there career: To you, the fans!
You have here and now the chance to hold a Comet - that the boys have held for just a few hours - in your own hands. All you have to do is fill out the form at the official site (tokiohotel.de) and keep your fingers crossed.
Fans from all over the world are allowed to enter this contest and the closing date is 12 June!
For this point another big thank you from Bill, Tom, Gustav & Georg for your unbelievable voting support… the boys are now looking forward to rock the Dortmundter Wetsfalenhalle with you on 13 June!
source: tokiohotel.de
TH with security at toilet
They were the winner of the VIVA-Comet-evening; creamed off four of the much in demand music-awards.
It is clear, that the Tokio Hotel – boys really celebrated at the After-Show-Party.
Until six o’clock in the morning they celebrated their mega-triumph! “I’m so happy that I can talk finally with somebody in German,” Bill Kaulitz (18) said, “our English is so incredibly bad.”
Bill and his brother Tom (18) and the bandmembers Georg (21) and Gustav (19) have interrupted their celebrated tour in the US and Canada. Overseas they tried to talk with their school English , “but it wasn’t that fantastic.”
It was more fantastic, that even four bodyguards cleared the toilets for the Kaulitz-brothers from “foreign-pee-guys” and blocked the doors with their big shoulders.
Even “superstar” Mark Medlock (29) and singer Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht (16) had to wait well-behaved with peeing.
Bitter for Bill: He lost his diamond-ring at the party!
Tokio Hotel WW136 (Bill smokes at afterparty)
Stars at the Comet Awards
OBERHAUSEN Bill Kaulitz must be a happy person. He’s as close to himself as thousands of teens would love to be. Being close to Bill Kaulitz really only means one thing to them: Pure luck. And only one single moment is needed to prove that all the torture was worth it. And that moment was given on Friday in Oberhausen before the handing out of the Comet Music Awards.
Hundreds of Kaulitz fans waited by the barriers. For the one man that embodies Tokio Hotel. Some for hours and some for days. “We’re here since Wednesday,” Kathrin und Lauren call out from the wall of waiting girls. The girls from Dortmund have made it. In front of them, on the other side of the fence, lies the red carpet. Behind them five rows are pushing forward. “I have blue marks everywhere.”, Kathrin tells. They’re not going to use the bathroom. “I’ve hardly slept. Because of excitement and coldness,” Kathrin continues. They spent the night in sleeping bags in front of the hall before they got sent away to the tram stop. “It has to be that way,” they’re convinced. Why? “Because that’s how it goes.”
The dams are breaking
Instead of black limousines rolling by, less glamorous ambulances drive down the drive through first. Strong men are carrying weak bodies. At last: All the dams break when the boys of Tokio Hotel step out of their car. Screams of pain. The pushing is now getting frightening. Amongst the screams of joy are also screams of pain. Bill and Tom Kaulitz and their band mates busy themselves by giving a few autographs.
Bill’s silver scarf glitters in the sun, his hair he wears straight. Something to talk about for the fans for the next few weeks. The faces of the girls looking upon there idols? Twisted in pain. Bill Kaulitz must be really happy to be Bill Kaulitz. He’s simply standing on the right side of the fence.
Translated by beertje_86 & Lenny
source: RN.de
After the vocal cord surgery
Is Tokio Bill smoking his broken voice?
His serious vocal cord surgery isn’t even two months back, but it seems as if “Tokio Hotel’s” singer Bill Kaulitz [18] didn’t learn from that shock. Now he was caught with a cigarette back in his mouth! Is the singer smoking his voice away?
At the Comet Awards, the Magdeburgers won 4 prizes, and celebrated till the early hours of the morning. Drinking and smoking too…
BILD am SONNTAG asked Bill yesterday afternoon if he knows that smoking can endanger his music career.
Bill Kaulitz answers: “The healing of the wounds on the vocal cords is completely over, but I still smoke very little. I totally take care of my voice, but after the whole stressful weeks, I just really wanted to let myself go and relax on that awesome evening.”
An attitude that medics see as risky and irresponsible. Professor Ralph Mösges, doctor of the ENT at the Uni-Clinic Cologne tells BamS: “After an operation, the vocal cords still react sensitive to the smallest irritations. Especially when a vocal cord cyst was taken away like by Bill. Even the littlest amount of toxins like nicotine can do a lot of damage during the recovery phase.”
source: bild.de
OBERHAUSEN Bill Kaulitz must be a happy person. He’s as close to himself as thousands of teens would love to be. Being close to Bill Kaulitz really only means one thing to them: Pure luck. And only one single moment is needed to prove that all the torture was worth it. And that moment was given on Friday in Oberhausen before the handing out of the Comet Music Awards.
Hundreds of Kaulitz fans waited by the barriers. For the one man that embodies Tokio Hotel. Some for hours and some for days. “We’re here since Wednesday,” Kathrin und Lauren call out from the wall of waiting girls. The girls from Dortmund have made it. In front of them, on the other side of the fence, lies the red carpet. Behind them five rows are pushing forward. “I have blue marks everywhere.”, Kathrin tells. They’re not going to use the bathroom. “I’ve hardly slept. Because of excitement and coldness,” Kathrin continues. They spent the night in sleeping bags in front of the hall before they got sent away to the tram stop. “It has to be that way,” they’re convinced. Why? “Because that’s how it goes.”
The dams are breaking
Instead of black limousines rolling by, less glamorous ambulances drive down the drive through first. Strong men are carrying weak bodies. At last: All the dams break when the boys of Tokio Hotel step out of their car. Screams of pain. The pushing is now getting frightening. Amongst the screams of joy are also screams of pain. Bill and Tom Kaulitz and their band mates busy themselves by giving a few autographs.
Bill’s silver scarf glitters in the sun, his hair he wears straight. Something to talk about for the fans for the next few weeks. The faces of the girls looking upon there idols? Twisted in pain. Bill Kaulitz must be really happy to be Bill Kaulitz. He’s simply standing on the right side of the fence.
Translated by beertje_86 & Lenny
source: RN.de
After the vocal cord surgery
Is Tokio Bill smoking his broken voice?
His serious vocal cord surgery isn’t even two months back, but it seems as if “Tokio Hotel’s” singer Bill Kaulitz [18] didn’t learn from that shock. Now he was caught with a cigarette back in his mouth! Is the singer smoking his voice away?
At the Comet Awards, the Magdeburgers won 4 prizes, and celebrated till the early hours of the morning. Drinking and smoking too…
BILD am SONNTAG asked Bill yesterday afternoon if he knows that smoking can endanger his music career.
Bill Kaulitz answers: “The healing of the wounds on the vocal cords is completely over, but I still smoke very little. I totally take care of my voice, but after the whole stressful weeks, I just really wanted to let myself go and relax on that awesome evening.”
An attitude that medics see as risky and irresponsible. Professor Ralph Mösges, doctor of the ENT at the Uni-Clinic Cologne tells BamS: “After an operation, the vocal cords still react sensitive to the smallest irritations. Especially when a vocal cord cyst was taken away like by Bill. Even the littlest amount of toxins like nicotine can do a lot of damage during the recovery phase.”
source: bild.de
Tokio Hotel WW135 (Comet awards! 4 go to TH!)
Comet Awards 2008
Tokio Bill, where art thou spikes?
Ooh, did someone leave their hairspray in the USA?
They’ve only just been on their triumphal journey through the States, now in Oberhausen - to the big “Comet” awards; Tokio Bill arrived with an unusually straight hairstyle. The excitement of his fans had no stop.
The four boys practically had a “Comet” shower over them: They took four of the eight prizes home. The Viva viewers chose them amongst other categories for “Best band” and “Best live act”. The ball for the “Best artist” went to scandal rapper Bushido. The nominated stars themselves awarded Herbert Grönemeyer as their “Star of stars”.
La Fee, Udo Lindenberg and Bushido - The who-is-who of the music scene mingled their way through on the red carpet in front of the arena in Oberhausen.
The “Comet 2008″ has been given out for the past 13 years.
“We received many letters in the past week to our record company in Berlin from fans that wished that we could be at the ‘Comet’ in Oberhausen. We’ll be there, promise.” Bill gave away to BILD.de prior to the awards.
And look: They kept their word!
source: bild.de
Up with the cups, over here with the smokes!
How Tokio Hotel celebrated at the “Comet”
The guys of Tokio hotel had a reason to celebrate yesterday: Tom [18], his brother Bill [18], Gustav [19] and Georg [21] cleared up with 4 of the most desired “Comet” trophies! After the ceremony the band really let it blast.
Their quadruple victory was celebrated with alcohol and cigarettes – even Bill grabbed a smoke and a long drink. An unusual sight, since his twin brother Tom was always known as the “Bad Boy”, as he said so himself after a drug search in New York. Tom assumes that especially his dreadlocks hairstyle gives him that image.
Admittedly, Bill looks more innocent than Tom – especially after smoothing his wild mane Appearances are often deceiving., as you see…
Bill: “So, we’re standing here right now after winning 4 Comets! It’s unbelievable that we nominated 3 times and won 4 times, the coolest evening ever! So thank you very, very much to all those that phoned in and voted like crazy and as always on the internet… but really, thank you very, very much to all the awesome fans for this great evening. And don’t forget, the best band award goes to you all this time; you can win it on our internet site, so just click in. I hope you guys are happy for this, and thank you very, very much for all and we’ll see you soon.”
All: “Thank you.”
Tokio Bill, where art thou spikes?
Ooh, did someone leave their hairspray in the USA?
They’ve only just been on their triumphal journey through the States, now in Oberhausen - to the big “Comet” awards; Tokio Bill arrived with an unusually straight hairstyle. The excitement of his fans had no stop.
The four boys practically had a “Comet” shower over them: They took four of the eight prizes home. The Viva viewers chose them amongst other categories for “Best band” and “Best live act”. The ball for the “Best artist” went to scandal rapper Bushido. The nominated stars themselves awarded Herbert Grönemeyer as their “Star of stars”.
La Fee, Udo Lindenberg and Bushido - The who-is-who of the music scene mingled their way through on the red carpet in front of the arena in Oberhausen.
The “Comet 2008″ has been given out for the past 13 years.
“We received many letters in the past week to our record company in Berlin from fans that wished that we could be at the ‘Comet’ in Oberhausen. We’ll be there, promise.” Bill gave away to BILD.de prior to the awards.
And look: They kept their word!
source: bild.de
Up with the cups, over here with the smokes!
How Tokio Hotel celebrated at the “Comet”
The guys of Tokio hotel had a reason to celebrate yesterday: Tom [18], his brother Bill [18], Gustav [19] and Georg [21] cleared up with 4 of the most desired “Comet” trophies! After the ceremony the band really let it blast.
Their quadruple victory was celebrated with alcohol and cigarettes – even Bill grabbed a smoke and a long drink. An unusual sight, since his twin brother Tom was always known as the “Bad Boy”, as he said so himself after a drug search in New York. Tom assumes that especially his dreadlocks hairstyle gives him that image.
Admittedly, Bill looks more innocent than Tom – especially after smoothing his wild mane Appearances are often deceiving., as you see…
Bill: “So, we’re standing here right now after winning 4 Comets! It’s unbelievable that we nominated 3 times and won 4 times, the coolest evening ever! So thank you very, very much to all those that phoned in and voted like crazy and as always on the internet… but really, thank you very, very much to all the awesome fans for this great evening. And don’t forget, the best band award goes to you all this time; you can win it on our internet site, so just click in. I hope you guys are happy for this, and thank you very, very much for all and we’ll see you soon.”
All: “Thank you.”
Tokio Hotel WW134 (Tom held back at airport)
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| Drug control! Tokio-Hotel- Tom held back at New York Airport His locks not only attract girls, but also the anti-drug brigade! Tom (18 years old, member of Tokio Hotel) was withheld for an hour at the New York airport, during the American Tour, and was searched for drugs. His brother Bill, and Gustav and Georg, passed without problem. Tom: "I think the reason is because of my dreadlocks, people seem to link it with drugs. Instead of finding illicit substances, the investigators found in his bag, one of many, 20 base-ball hats, and a certain quantity of condoms. Despite the stress and time lost caused by the search, their trip to the United States, was for Tokio Hotel, a mega-success. (Unlike what all those bad review say, LOL.) Their album, "Scream," is at 5th place in the charts!!! Today, the boys are going to the Comet Awards, in Oberhausen. Bill: "For this, we've come back early enough." Source: Bild.de Vanity Fair-The Ugly Truth About Tokio Hotel (blah blah blah, we've heard this kind of sh*t before...) From The Beatles to Jay-Z, pop-music sensations have always had a mystifying effect on adults. The sound, the look, the lyrics, the squealing, hair-pulling fan mania—it’s all entirely incomprehensible to anyone over, say, 21. For fresh proof, look no further than Germany’s Tokio Hotel. This glorified boy band’s U.S. debut, Scream, overrunneth with the sort of flowery, illogical language that gives adults the shivers. Dark clouds are coming up again. The world is crashing down. Fading half moons are lost without you. The only thing to do is run. Through towns. Through monsoons. Toward the edge of the world and beyond time, always but not necessarily forever. Amid this uncertain apocalypse stands Tokio Hotel’s lead singer, Bill Kaulitz, with his boyish looks, girlish hips, and streaked, gravity-defying mane (think Sonic the Hedgehog meets Nikki Sixx). Kaulitz is certain he can make it after all, which is exactly what his group has done. Teenage Americans are rabid for these Teutonic brats (what the fuck is wrong with these people? I can't understand why they call them brats; they don't know anything about them). And the media can’t get enough either. I’ll admit there’s something fascinating about the group, but the real reason I’m writing about them is simple: my boss told me too. He’s hoping to attract hordes of Googling teenage girls to the site. Don’t laugh: it’s happened before. “I was writing about them for the MTV News blog just sort of as an experiment,” Alex Mar, a producer at MTV news, said after Tokio Hotel’s recent visit to MTV studios in New York. “It was a slow day so I thought, Let’s just put something up about this band, to amuse ourselves. By the next morning, we were completely flooded with comments. This is the sort of reaction that’s reserved for, say, 50 Cent.” Musically speaking, Tokio Hotel is the fallout from Fall Out Boy. The sound is just as calculated, contrived, and unintentionally comical as the look, but the whole package works anyway. Just look at the press photo, a masterpiece of mixed messages that conveys seduction, androgyny, and the lead guitarist’s anachronistic allegiance to the St. Louis Cardinals in one shot. Now that Kaulitz’s flawless complexion and soft, anime smile has propelled Tokio Hotel to fame, it’s just a matter of time before the rest of us come around to the truth: these dudes are painfully likable. —Bill Bradley Today we have a look into Jasmin Kloppe's bedroom, 18 years old, lives in Offenburg. A room with the motto: Jasmin lives with the boys from Tokio Hotel. "I bring Tokio Hotel along with me in my work and in my sleep. I also have a motto of the band in my room. If my room ever burns down, I want to burn in it. I could not leave all my 500 posters, merchandise and everything else I've accumulated, behind. In my shelf you can see the rest of my collection of posters and newspaper articles: Because my room isn't very big, I can't hang up everything. I keep record in a book of what posters I've bought and where I've bought them. I still live with my parents - my mother doesn't disturb my passion, as long as it stays in my room. Three years ago, my room looked quite normal. At that time I mad about the No Angels. There weren't many posters on my wall, then." The fans will certainly scream upon reading this, but we must be objective, even if we love Tokio Hotel: the Normand newspaper, Paris-Normandie, wanted to please the fans by offering seats in category 2 at 30 € instead of 50.50 €. Surprise...the seats go slowly and the daily Norman newspaper cannot sell them! The consolation for Tokio Hotel fans, is that, for once, they will not remain at the door of the concert: the organizers saw it coming because of the baccalauréat (End of high-school French exams). The parents are reluctant in giving their agreement during a period of exams. Yet the concert had to be pushed back one day, in order to not coincide with the big day of exams. Some more consolation for the fans, is that they have been so successful in the USA, they sold more CDs than Amy Winehouse! Meanwhile, a debate goes on, on passionate fan sites, whether Tokio Hotel is a "Boys Band or better?" Source: starpotin.com Tokio Hotel: a worldwide destiny? We know Tokio Hotel, big in Europe, in terms of success, is poised to becoming internationally famous, following their success in the USA... After a lukewarm welcome in some of their first concerts, the press and the TV welcomed their second series of concerts: the big boss of Universal wants to continue the success in other places, such as Asia and South America. In addition, the recent release of the album, Scream US, in the United States, and their single "Heilig" in France, exceed all the expectations in terms of sales. | |||
Tokio Hotel WW133 (Interview with Popeater)
Two very bad and very confusing reviews about the American version of Scream. High School Journalism states " don’t think many Americans would appreciate Tokio Hotel as much as they are in the UK.". Mammoth Press said "1 out of 10 RIYL: The worst of the worst in music. ". However, they're responded to some of the fan's feedback and described Georg as cute.
Interview with Popeater
What inspired the songs on your record?
Bill: A lot of things: We found inspiration in situations or circumstances that happened in our lives over the past few years and also in the lives of our friends and family. We've also been moved by fans who have written us letters about their lives, and we've included some of that in our music and lyrics.
What's your favorite song on the record?
Tom: That's a tough one because it always changes and we also differentiate between "favorite song on the record" and "favorite live song". My favorite live song right now is 'Don't Jump.'
Gustav: For performing live, it's 'Raise Your Hands.'
Bill: For me, it's 'Break Away.'
Georg: Hey, same here. Right now, it's 'Break Away.'
Bill: But as Tom said, if you would ask us tomorrow we might name totally different songs -- it always changes.
What are the most-played songs on your iPod?
Tom: '99 Problems,' by Jay-Z.
Georg: 'Big Casino,' by Jimmy Eat World.
Gustav: 'Make It Whit Chu,' by Queens of the Stone Age.
Bill: 'It Means Nothing,' by Stereophonics.
Interview with Popeater
What inspired the songs on your record?
Bill: A lot of things: We found inspiration in situations or circumstances that happened in our lives over the past few years and also in the lives of our friends and family. We've also been moved by fans who have written us letters about their lives, and we've included some of that in our music and lyrics.
What's your favorite song on the record?
Tom: That's a tough one because it always changes and we also differentiate between "favorite song on the record" and "favorite live song". My favorite live song right now is 'Don't Jump.'
Gustav: For performing live, it's 'Raise Your Hands.'
Bill: For me, it's 'Break Away.'
Georg: Hey, same here. Right now, it's 'Break Away.'
Bill: But as Tom said, if you would ask us tomorrow we might name totally different songs -- it always changes.
What are the most-played songs on your iPod?
Tom: '99 Problems,' by Jay-Z.
Georg: 'Big Casino,' by Jimmy Eat World.
Gustav: 'Make It Whit Chu,' by Queens of the Stone Age.
Bill: 'It Means Nothing,' by Stereophonics.
Tokio Hotel WW132 (Review...news)
A BIT SHORT FOR AN ORDINARY SHOW. (Random review)
The young German sensation, Tokio Hotel, was back in Montreal yesterday evening, hardly three months after their first visit. The craze is far from crumbling.
After the National in February, it was Uniprix's (stadium/arena...whatever) turn to be Tokio Hotel's host.We must say that this time the Germans had an album, which wasn't the case three months ago. (Must be talking about the Scream version for the States.) Several hundreds of fans didn't hesitate to camp in front of the amphitheater for a whole day, under pouring rain, just to be able to be close to the stage. Some teens had even been camping since Friday. Ah! the youth! For their money? Now here's the question: were all those efforts worth 100$?
Let's say this through an objective view: this work of art has already been heard.
The performance was good, but the ballades, such as "Don't Jump" and "Monsoon," along with the dynamic "Ready, Set, Go" and "Scream," the latter being the title of their new album, are just colorless copies of emo predecessors. And on top of it, the show hardly lasted 60 minutes. That's quite expensive when you calculate how much they payed per minute; if you think about how their young admirers (about 6000) must have economized for months ahead of this big event.
But where does this madness come from? Is it the eccentric hairdo this rock star has, or the quality of this pop-rock emo band's compositions?
We must consider the first theory. And just to think that some even compared them to the Beatles!
Tokio Hotel can open the champagne and celebrate! Their new album, Scream, excelles in the USA. It will no doubt end at the top of the CD sales soon. The German group Bill and Tom Kaulitz made, has a resounding success in the ranks of the most selling CDs. The album is direcly at the 5th place only after a week since its release! It's becoming almost historical.
Tokio Hotel supersedes Amy Winehouse and her album "Back to Black" in 6th place, which has been out since 44 weeks. Amy Winehouse is now getting the results of her lack of communication, these last days. Her private affairs, drugs, alcohol, and heart problems, are considerably hampering her career. Amy Winehouse seems to have put aside her album, concerts, and the media.
That's a dark period that the young and vigorous band, Tokio Hotel hasn't experienced. Ah no, these rock stars aimed at teens - not meaning anything pejorative - is working terrifically. Everything Tokio Hotel does is loved by the public. Their music? Their looks? Fans must explain...
Tokio Hotel has been in the US, these last few weeks, for their triumphant tour in New York and Los Angeles; the band took advantage of that to release their English album: and BING! Bill and Tom Kaulitz, accompanied by their drummer
Gustav Schäfer and their bass player Georg Listing, can delight themselves in a success without borders: after Europe, the United States have discovered Tokio Hotel. When will it be Asia's turn?
No doubt you will see the video from Bild showing the crowd of fans waiting to see them in concert. It's crazy!
Tokio Hotel will be going back home Friday (tomorrow) to their native country. In a week they will be in Paris...
Pitiful sales figures for Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel is on a US conquest tour. And the country of endless opportunities lies at the feet of the teen-band. At least, that is what can be read everywhere. Far from it; hardly anyone wants to buy the CDs of Kaulitz & Co.
What to do, when the German market is conquered? Well, it’s clear; on to America. Tokio Hotel is on a US tour. And with “unbelievable success,” as the PR strategists
behind Kaulitz & Co. continually report to the homeland. New York, Los Angeles, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers must receive them warmly. Here comes Tokio Hotel!
Or maybe not? In reality, the facts look gloomier than Bill Kaulitz’s eyeliner: According to current Billboard figures which measure record sales in the USA, 16,000 Tokio Hotel CDs went across the counter straight at once. In spite of this, the band is under costly PR-attacks like similarly unknown artists such as Rick
Ross and Michael Bubble. In any case, the aim of the Tokio Hotel management team for one million sold CDs lies far in the distance.
“America is so big”
Time for a reality check: Success in the USA certainly doesn’t come overnight. Stars like Miley Cyrus or Rihanna also know this. And somehow frontman Bill Kaulitz also seems to have suspicions that the American adventure is no walk in the park: “It is very difficult to win fans in other countries,” he says with a strong German accent in English interviews. “America is so big, so it’s really hard to get known.”
German staying power
Nevertheless, Tokio Hotel has brought a good German virtue across the Atlantic with them: staying power. A concert at a parking lot in New Jersey? Been done!
Entrance into the (today rather unimportant) “Avalon” in Los Angeles? Certainly! 1,500 fans fit in there – over 900 people weren’t allowed in. This is still a long way away from the success of Miley Cyrus, who sold out a concert hall with 10,000 seats in less than 10 minutes.
In reality, German-speaking bands – and also actors – traditionally have a hard time in the USA. Nena and Rammstein are still the only German singing exports who are acknowledged by a fan base today. German stars like Til Schweiger or Franka Potente fail miserably in Hollywood, and at long last pull out grumbling from there.
Following this, the fact that Tokio Hotel – or rather; their management – has the goal to conquer the financially lucrative US market is stopping nothing. It is also a daring manoeuvre for Kaulitz & Co. to even travel there. America is the largest music market in the world. World-famous bands play good locations in LA every day. They come, and they go. Often almost unnoticed. A band like Tokio Hotel could quickly disappear into no man’s land before they’ve properly got going at all. And then “Scream” – the English title of the current album – would remain proverbially lodged in the throat for them…
Tokio Hotel and Money:
From Bild, translations from Narin @ tokiohotel.org.uk:
Who earns off Tokio Hotel? The fans scream wherever Tokio Hotel appears. And the cash is really rolling in because CD and merchandise sales bring in a pile of money. But who actually earns off the commotion? BILD.de explains.
The Magdeburg band earns more than the usual amount in the industry. Other artists receive on average 17% of their CD sale prices, whereas ‘Tokio Hotel’ and their team of producers pocket between 20 – 25%.However, the German high-flyers also lower the costs for the record companies. The band takes over the recording of the CD themselves – and hand over finished songs, as the “Welt am Sonntag” reported. In three years ‘Tokio Hotel’ has gained up to 40 million Euros through CD sales. Furthermore, the merchandise sales bring in sums of over 10 million.
In addition, the boys have helped their record company, Universal Music Deutschland, to "Priority Status." This means that all Universal branch companies must market Tokio Hotel in their country. This special status also allows the German record branch to earn over 10% of total US sales.Since this has never happened before, the band is also allowed to scream in joy.
The young German sensation, Tokio Hotel, was back in Montreal yesterday evening, hardly three months after their first visit. The craze is far from crumbling.
After the National in February, it was Uniprix's (stadium/arena...whatever) turn to be Tokio Hotel's host.We must say that this time the Germans had an album, which wasn't the case three months ago. (Must be talking about the Scream version for the States.) Several hundreds of fans didn't hesitate to camp in front of the amphitheater for a whole day, under pouring rain, just to be able to be close to the stage. Some teens had even been camping since Friday. Ah! the youth! For their money? Now here's the question: were all those efforts worth 100$?
Let's say this through an objective view: this work of art has already been heard.
The performance was good, but the ballades, such as "Don't Jump" and "Monsoon," along with the dynamic "Ready, Set, Go" and "Scream," the latter being the title of their new album, are just colorless copies of emo predecessors. And on top of it, the show hardly lasted 60 minutes. That's quite expensive when you calculate how much they payed per minute; if you think about how their young admirers (about 6000) must have economized for months ahead of this big event.
But where does this madness come from? Is it the eccentric hairdo this rock star has, or the quality of this pop-rock emo band's compositions?
We must consider the first theory. And just to think that some even compared them to the Beatles!
Tokio Hotel can open the champagne and celebrate! Their new album, Scream, excelles in the USA. It will no doubt end at the top of the CD sales soon. The German group Bill and Tom Kaulitz made, has a resounding success in the ranks of the most selling CDs. The album is direcly at the 5th place only after a week since its release! It's becoming almost historical.
Tokio Hotel supersedes Amy Winehouse and her album "Back to Black" in 6th place, which has been out since 44 weeks. Amy Winehouse is now getting the results of her lack of communication, these last days. Her private affairs, drugs, alcohol, and heart problems, are considerably hampering her career. Amy Winehouse seems to have put aside her album, concerts, and the media.
That's a dark period that the young and vigorous band, Tokio Hotel hasn't experienced. Ah no, these rock stars aimed at teens - not meaning anything pejorative - is working terrifically. Everything Tokio Hotel does is loved by the public. Their music? Their looks? Fans must explain...
Tokio Hotel has been in the US, these last few weeks, for their triumphant tour in New York and Los Angeles; the band took advantage of that to release their English album: and BING! Bill and Tom Kaulitz, accompanied by their drummer
Gustav Schäfer and their bass player Georg Listing, can delight themselves in a success without borders: after Europe, the United States have discovered Tokio Hotel. When will it be Asia's turn?
No doubt you will see the video from Bild showing the crowd of fans waiting to see them in concert. It's crazy!
Tokio Hotel will be going back home Friday (tomorrow) to their native country. In a week they will be in Paris...
Pitiful sales figures for Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel is on a US conquest tour. And the country of endless opportunities lies at the feet of the teen-band. At least, that is what can be read everywhere. Far from it; hardly anyone wants to buy the CDs of Kaulitz & Co.
What to do, when the German market is conquered? Well, it’s clear; on to America. Tokio Hotel is on a US tour. And with “unbelievable success,” as the PR strategists
behind Kaulitz & Co. continually report to the homeland. New York, Los Angeles, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers must receive them warmly. Here comes Tokio Hotel!
Or maybe not? In reality, the facts look gloomier than Bill Kaulitz’s eyeliner: According to current Billboard figures which measure record sales in the USA, 16,000 Tokio Hotel CDs went across the counter straight at once. In spite of this, the band is under costly PR-attacks like similarly unknown artists such as Rick
Ross and Michael Bubble. In any case, the aim of the Tokio Hotel management team for one million sold CDs lies far in the distance.
“America is so big”
Time for a reality check: Success in the USA certainly doesn’t come overnight. Stars like Miley Cyrus or Rihanna also know this. And somehow frontman Bill Kaulitz also seems to have suspicions that the American adventure is no walk in the park: “It is very difficult to win fans in other countries,” he says with a strong German accent in English interviews. “America is so big, so it’s really hard to get known.”
German staying power
Nevertheless, Tokio Hotel has brought a good German virtue across the Atlantic with them: staying power. A concert at a parking lot in New Jersey? Been done!
Entrance into the (today rather unimportant) “Avalon” in Los Angeles? Certainly! 1,500 fans fit in there – over 900 people weren’t allowed in. This is still a long way away from the success of Miley Cyrus, who sold out a concert hall with 10,000 seats in less than 10 minutes.
In reality, German-speaking bands – and also actors – traditionally have a hard time in the USA. Nena and Rammstein are still the only German singing exports who are acknowledged by a fan base today. German stars like Til Schweiger or Franka Potente fail miserably in Hollywood, and at long last pull out grumbling from there.
Following this, the fact that Tokio Hotel – or rather; their management – has the goal to conquer the financially lucrative US market is stopping nothing. It is also a daring manoeuvre for Kaulitz & Co. to even travel there. America is the largest music market in the world. World-famous bands play good locations in LA every day. They come, and they go. Often almost unnoticed. A band like Tokio Hotel could quickly disappear into no man’s land before they’ve properly got going at all. And then “Scream” – the English title of the current album – would remain proverbially lodged in the throat for them…
Tokio Hotel and Money:
From Bild, translations from Narin @ tokiohotel.org.uk:
Who earns off Tokio Hotel? The fans scream wherever Tokio Hotel appears. And the cash is really rolling in because CD and merchandise sales bring in a pile of money. But who actually earns off the commotion? BILD.de explains.
The Magdeburg band earns more than the usual amount in the industry. Other artists receive on average 17% of their CD sale prices, whereas ‘Tokio Hotel’ and their team of producers pocket between 20 – 25%.However, the German high-flyers also lower the costs for the record companies. The band takes over the recording of the CD themselves – and hand over finished songs, as the “Welt am Sonntag” reported. In three years ‘Tokio Hotel’ has gained up to 40 million Euros through CD sales. Furthermore, the merchandise sales bring in sums of over 10 million.
In addition, the boys have helped their record company, Universal Music Deutschland, to "Priority Status." This means that all Universal branch companies must market Tokio Hotel in their country. This special status also allows the German record branch to earn over 10% of total US sales.Since this has never happened before, the band is also allowed to scream in joy.
Tokio Hotel WW131 (Jealous person's review)
Reviewed by: John-Michael Bond [Tue, May 20, 2008 @ 12:59:18 AM]
Due to a large amount of fan response to this review. White boy dreads. Massive hair sprayed hair. Jnco style jeans. Crappy 80’s hair metal with emo choruses. Much like Germany’s decision to invade Russia during the second world war, this export is a mistake in every way. If you like this band you make music worse, and should probably consider stabbing yourself in the ears with a screwdriver.
1 out of 10
RIYL: The worst of the worst in music. I have decided to directly address the complaints of the fans as well as further explaining why I dislike this band, using one of the many pieces of angry mail I received as a reference point. Let’s begin.
Hello, John.
I read your review of Tokio Hotel's English album on MammothPress. You are mistaken. It's not your fault - you made the mistake many critics make, out of lack of time to do proper research. But really - listening to the first English record, a translation, of a German band that sounds best live - not a good way to get a feel for their musical caliber.
You are totally right. It would be wrong for a reviewer to not check out a band’s past before they write a review. However this wasn’t the case with Tokio Hotel I’ve heard some of the band’s German language material and felt the same about it as I do this American release. I also listened to Scream a remarkable three times before I wrote my review. Repeated listening only brought out the weaknesses of the music.
To really understand the power of this band, check out the live DVD from their Zimmer 483 tour in Europe.
Then you will understand how good they really are in their element - rocking a sold-out arena, in Europe, singing in their native language.
When I watch these guys sing in their native language I have no choice but to pay attention to the music, and I still feel the same way. These guys are able to play their instruments well. Big deal, so could the members of Limp Bizkit and they were still awful. Musically these songs, noted as the band’s best, sound like Hannah Montana covers with a nu-metal backing band and a dude singing.
This is something you just can't begin to get off of some recording, much less one that's not in their native tongue.
Their live show is the same live show as a million other big bands from Paramore to Jay Z, lots of lights and sing-a-longs. A thousand fans screaming doesn’t mean something is great. Again remember that Limp Bizkit used to sell out arenas. Also if a band from another country releases a version of their album in a language other than their own it is totally fair to judge them on that product. After all they are asking fans in the new country to buy this product, and since this band isn’t some DIY German underground act but a million plus selling act with lots of money behind this release they should be held to a higher standard. If this is the best they could do, they have no excuses.
Give them another chance!
And don't judge them on their looks, please. Your review was so acid, it sounded bitter - lots of guys don't understand why other guys would want to look the way the Tokio Hotel guys do, or why girls like it, so they turn into rabid haters. Don't do that. They can look how they want, and music listeners can decide for themselves how they feel about the guys' look. And how can the guys be posers, when they've styled themselves this way since the beginning of time? The twins have been pierced, tattooed, dyed and dreadlocked since the days they were 9, 11 and whatnot. The studios didn't "make" them look this way - they're authentic, it's just how they like to look.
If the fans can judge the band on their looks (see the million Myspace comments on their different international street team pages talking about which member is the cutest), I feel like it is fair for a review to do it. They dress the way they do because it
is their image. As the band’s career has grown their look has gotten bigger as well, because it looks better when you’re playing on a massive stage. Also I don’t know the tattooing laws in Germany, but I’m pretty sure they don’t allow 9 or 11 year olds to get tattooed.
Image is an important part of this band; they’ve got
the tough one, the cute one, the edgy kind of androgynous one and the normal looking guy. It’s the exact same formula used by boy bands in the 90’s, and
it’s worth addressing. I’ve included a picture for a better example.
Anyway I think you had some kind of gut/knee-jerk reaction against some element in Tokio Hotel, and missed a lot of the enormous gifts, talent, charisma, and likeability that this band has to offer.
Reconsider?
I have, and sadly my second look has left with the exact same feelings I had before. Tokio Hotel is Poison with emo choruses, nothing more and nothing less. It’s fine that they’re popular, but it doesn’t make them good. Remember Nick Drake died almost unknown and there are thousands of bands slugging it out in basements
across the world who will never make it to arenas who write songs Tokio Hotel never could. Maybe if they had a multi-million dollar marketing budget they too could be your favorite band. But chances are until they’re on the radio or MTV they won’t.
Thanks for reading,
Kay
Thanks for writing.
John
Due to a large amount of fan response to this review. White boy dreads. Massive hair sprayed hair. Jnco style jeans. Crappy 80’s hair metal with emo choruses. Much like Germany’s decision to invade Russia during the second world war, this export is a mistake in every way. If you like this band you make music worse, and should probably consider stabbing yourself in the ears with a screwdriver.
1 out of 10
RIYL: The worst of the worst in music. I have decided to directly address the complaints of the fans as well as further explaining why I dislike this band, using one of the many pieces of angry mail I received as a reference point. Let’s begin.
Hello, John.
I read your review of Tokio Hotel's English album on MammothPress. You are mistaken. It's not your fault - you made the mistake many critics make, out of lack of time to do proper research. But really - listening to the first English record, a translation, of a German band that sounds best live - not a good way to get a feel for their musical caliber.
You are totally right. It would be wrong for a reviewer to not check out a band’s past before they write a review. However this wasn’t the case with Tokio Hotel I’ve heard some of the band’s German language material and felt the same about it as I do this American release. I also listened to Scream a remarkable three times before I wrote my review. Repeated listening only brought out the weaknesses of the music.
To really understand the power of this band, check out the live DVD from their Zimmer 483 tour in Europe.
Then you will understand how good they really are in their element - rocking a sold-out arena, in Europe, singing in their native language.
When I watch these guys sing in their native language I have no choice but to pay attention to the music, and I still feel the same way. These guys are able to play their instruments well. Big deal, so could the members of Limp Bizkit and they were still awful. Musically these songs, noted as the band’s best, sound like Hannah Montana covers with a nu-metal backing band and a dude singing.
This is something you just can't begin to get off of some recording, much less one that's not in their native tongue.
Their live show is the same live show as a million other big bands from Paramore to Jay Z, lots of lights and sing-a-longs. A thousand fans screaming doesn’t mean something is great. Again remember that Limp Bizkit used to sell out arenas. Also if a band from another country releases a version of their album in a language other than their own it is totally fair to judge them on that product. After all they are asking fans in the new country to buy this product, and since this band isn’t some DIY German underground act but a million plus selling act with lots of money behind this release they should be held to a higher standard. If this is the best they could do, they have no excuses.
Give them another chance!
And don't judge them on their looks, please. Your review was so acid, it sounded bitter - lots of guys don't understand why other guys would want to look the way the Tokio Hotel guys do, or why girls like it, so they turn into rabid haters. Don't do that. They can look how they want, and music listeners can decide for themselves how they feel about the guys' look. And how can the guys be posers, when they've styled themselves this way since the beginning of time? The twins have been pierced, tattooed, dyed and dreadlocked since the days they were 9, 11 and whatnot. The studios didn't "make" them look this way - they're authentic, it's just how they like to look.
If the fans can judge the band on their looks (see the million Myspace comments on their different international street team pages talking about which member is the cutest), I feel like it is fair for a review to do it. They dress the way they do because it
is their image. As the band’s career has grown their look has gotten bigger as well, because it looks better when you’re playing on a massive stage. Also I don’t know the tattooing laws in Germany, but I’m pretty sure they don’t allow 9 or 11 year olds to get tattooed.
Image is an important part of this band; they’ve got
the tough one, the cute one, the edgy kind of androgynous one and the normal looking guy. It’s the exact same formula used by boy bands in the 90’s, and
it’s worth addressing. I’ve included a picture for a better example.
Anyway I think you had some kind of gut/knee-jerk reaction against some element in Tokio Hotel, and missed a lot of the enormous gifts, talent, charisma, and likeability that this band has to offer.
Reconsider?
I have, and sadly my second look has left with the exact same feelings I had before. Tokio Hotel is Poison with emo choruses, nothing more and nothing less. It’s fine that they’re popular, but it doesn’t make them good. Remember Nick Drake died almost unknown and there are thousands of bands slugging it out in basements
across the world who will never make it to arenas who write songs Tokio Hotel never could. Maybe if they had a multi-million dollar marketing budget they too could be your favorite band. But chances are until they’re on the radio or MTV they won’t.
Thanks for reading,
Kay
Thanks for writing.
John
Tokio Hotel WW130 (Tom blogs and rumors)
Tom's blogging:
Hi guys, it’s Tom again!
We’re in Canada at the moment. It’s the first time we’ve seen Canada without
snow and the sun shining - it’s great! We left Toronto yesterday and are in Montreal now where we’ll play our last show of our North America trip....it’s been an amazing trip so far. In Toronto we went to "Much On Demand" at Much Music and that really blew us away. You guys were so excited and cheered so loud that Bill and I couldn’t understand our own words - but we loved it. You guys rock and that really gives us energy. We were very excited about the show in Toronto at Sound Academy last
Friday! I have to say, we had an awesome time on stage and with you guys - thanks for coming out! On Saturday we had a day off and we took some time to run around Toronto and got to see more of the city. We even went to an amusement park and went on some different roller coaster rides - soooo much fun! Now we’re getting prepared for tonight’s show in Montreal. I hope to see you all there - let’s have a
great night together! Well, talk to you soon - take care for now.
Tom...
"WE DON'T HAVE ANY SECRET FIANCEES!"
"The metropolitan legends are big and false rumors which appear in the press and on the web, concerning celebrities. So many rumors circulate, and there's even some on the German band. Here are the 10 strangest: guess which ones are true!"
Tokio Hotel doesn't support crazy/frenzied fans.
FALSE:
That's the stupidest rumor ever! It is the consequence of some preconceived ideas, saying that the German boys are in general, cold, distant, and not very passionate. All that doesn't fit our four boys, who don't ever miss an occasion to show their fans all their gratitude and affection.
Georg has two animals.
TRUE: Moritz and Garon are Georg's best friends. The first is a big cat, wonderful and affectionate, the second is a dog, soft and faithful. "Every time I come back home, they come and cuddle me, and treat me as if I'd always been there. They're fantastic and I love them!" said Georg.
Bill is on a diet.
FALSE:
His willowy physique spreads rumors that the young boys were going on diets, composed of salads, diets under which the mysterious and fascinating Bill was subject to. Nothing further from the truth! The leader of Tokio Hotel is crazy over pizzas, frites, and hamburgers. And he has an exaggerated passion for soft drinks!
Several old friends sold pictures of Blil and Tom in bathing suits to the press.
TRUE:
While in Germany, the group released their first CD, some old friends of the twins sold several private photos to the press, taken on vacations at the sea, to make a profit. Friends?!? Tom and Bill, have ever since, crossed them out of their list of friends to visit.
The four boys have girlfriends in secret.
FALSE:
Bill denied the news from foreign press, saying that he was happy with his fascinating blonde girlfriend. The leader of Tokio Hotel stressed that his heart was
absolutely not taken, same for the other four boys in the band.
Bill and Tom are monozygotic (identical twins, that is from a single egg) twins. (Like we didn't know! lol)
TRUE:
But if you judge by their appearance, you might not realize, because the twins have totally different styles and looks, that they seem to not resemble each other.
Gustav does boxing:
FALSE:
Who said that? To unwind, the drummer doesn't box in a fighting ring, he goes biking.
Bill was once expelled from school.
TRUE:
He didn't have many friends, and he and his teachers had an adversarial relationship. They criticized him for his infringing and dark look, and for his very direct and non-diplomatic reactions/replies.
The band is very successful in England.
FALSE:
They are adored in America and in Europe, with the exception across the English Channel, who welcomed them coldly (keep in mind, they're most likely talking about the press). Actually, some of their dates were canceled, because some tickets weren't sold (in the UK).
The four boys often argue.
TRUE:
They argue for the silliest reasons, such as someone running late, and for the most important ones too. Accusations and unpleasant disputes aren't inexistent.
To avoid continual disputes during the 1000 Hotels Tour, which was adjourned due to Bill's OP, the four boys will travel with 2 tour buses.(I wonder if that's really the reason.)
Some news:
It is a sensation! Tokio Hotel have gone in the American Billboard Rock Charts from zero to number five with their English album Scream. Now it’s official: The four boys from Magdeburg have made it in the country of the unlimited possibilities.
“We didn’t expect such a fan response in the USA and are very grateful for it,” tells frontman Bill to Bild.de. In Germany and France Tokio Hotel have already been
superstars for a long time, now also in the USA there is a screaming alert and massive hysteria, when Bill & Co. show up.
With that they have conquered the toughest music market in the world. The live performances in New York, L.A. and at the talkshow Conan O’Brien have payed off - now also the USA has caught the Tokio Hotel virus!
On Friday Germany will have Tokio Hotel again. For the Comet Awards the band will travel back from the USA!
Hi guys, it’s Tom again!
We’re in Canada at the moment. It’s the first time we’ve seen Canada without
snow and the sun shining - it’s great! We left Toronto yesterday and are in Montreal now where we’ll play our last show of our North America trip....it’s been an amazing trip so far. In Toronto we went to "Much On Demand" at Much Music and that really blew us away. You guys were so excited and cheered so loud that Bill and I couldn’t understand our own words - but we loved it. You guys rock and that really gives us energy. We were very excited about the show in Toronto at Sound Academy last
Friday! I have to say, we had an awesome time on stage and with you guys - thanks for coming out! On Saturday we had a day off and we took some time to run around Toronto and got to see more of the city. We even went to an amusement park and went on some different roller coaster rides - soooo much fun! Now we’re getting prepared for tonight’s show in Montreal. I hope to see you all there - let’s have a
great night together! Well, talk to you soon - take care for now.
Tom...
"WE DON'T HAVE ANY SECRET FIANCEES!"
"The metropolitan legends are big and false rumors which appear in the press and on the web, concerning celebrities. So many rumors circulate, and there's even some on the German band. Here are the 10 strangest: guess which ones are true!"
Tokio Hotel doesn't support crazy/frenzied fans.
FALSE:
That's the stupidest rumor ever! It is the consequence of some preconceived ideas, saying that the German boys are in general, cold, distant, and not very passionate. All that doesn't fit our four boys, who don't ever miss an occasion to show their fans all their gratitude and affection.
Georg has two animals.
TRUE: Moritz and Garon are Georg's best friends. The first is a big cat, wonderful and affectionate, the second is a dog, soft and faithful. "Every time I come back home, they come and cuddle me, and treat me as if I'd always been there. They're fantastic and I love them!" said Georg.
Bill is on a diet.
FALSE:
His willowy physique spreads rumors that the young boys were going on diets, composed of salads, diets under which the mysterious and fascinating Bill was subject to. Nothing further from the truth! The leader of Tokio Hotel is crazy over pizzas, frites, and hamburgers. And he has an exaggerated passion for soft drinks!
Several old friends sold pictures of Blil and Tom in bathing suits to the press.
TRUE:
While in Germany, the group released their first CD, some old friends of the twins sold several private photos to the press, taken on vacations at the sea, to make a profit. Friends?!? Tom and Bill, have ever since, crossed them out of their list of friends to visit.
The four boys have girlfriends in secret.
FALSE:
Bill denied the news from foreign press, saying that he was happy with his fascinating blonde girlfriend. The leader of Tokio Hotel stressed that his heart was
absolutely not taken, same for the other four boys in the band.
Bill and Tom are monozygotic (identical twins, that is from a single egg) twins. (Like we didn't know! lol)
TRUE:
But if you judge by their appearance, you might not realize, because the twins have totally different styles and looks, that they seem to not resemble each other.
Gustav does boxing:
FALSE:
Who said that? To unwind, the drummer doesn't box in a fighting ring, he goes biking.
Bill was once expelled from school.
TRUE:
He didn't have many friends, and he and his teachers had an adversarial relationship. They criticized him for his infringing and dark look, and for his very direct and non-diplomatic reactions/replies.
The band is very successful in England.
FALSE:
They are adored in America and in Europe, with the exception across the English Channel, who welcomed them coldly (keep in mind, they're most likely talking about the press). Actually, some of their dates were canceled, because some tickets weren't sold (in the UK).
The four boys often argue.
TRUE:
They argue for the silliest reasons, such as someone running late, and for the most important ones too. Accusations and unpleasant disputes aren't inexistent.
To avoid continual disputes during the 1000 Hotels Tour, which was adjourned due to Bill's OP, the four boys will travel with 2 tour buses.(I wonder if that's really the reason.)
Some news:
It is a sensation! Tokio Hotel have gone in the American Billboard Rock Charts from zero to number five with their English album Scream. Now it’s official: The four boys from Magdeburg have made it in the country of the unlimited possibilities.
“We didn’t expect such a fan response in the USA and are very grateful for it,” tells frontman Bill to Bild.de. In Germany and France Tokio Hotel have already been
superstars for a long time, now also in the USA there is a screaming alert and massive hysteria, when Bill & Co. show up.
With that they have conquered the toughest music market in the world. The live performances in New York, L.A. and at the talkshow Conan O’Brien have payed off - now also the USA has caught the Tokio Hotel virus!
On Friday Germany will have Tokio Hotel again. For the Comet Awards the band will travel back from the USA!
Tokio Hotel WW129 (MuchMusic interview and Alloy)
Bill, Tom, Gustav & Georg of TOKIO HOTEL were back in the MuchMusic building today, and so naturally, since it worked so well last time, I had to pull them aside for a couple of minutes to ask them a few of your fan questions. The guys were in good spirits and once again I was amazed at how relaxed, grounded and fun they were. Here's how it all went down with the German rockers...
First off, welcome back to Canada! You just performed at the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. How was it?
Bill: It was really, really cool. It was the first time really performing after my surgery. We played three songs and there were a lot of fans and then after that we traveled to LA and in LA we had one concert and now we are here in Toronto.
So what do you prefer? Playing in festivals or your own concerts?
Bill: I prefer doing our own concerts.
Tom: Yeah, doing your own concerts are great. You have your own production team and your own crew and your own stage and stuff. It's great.
Bill: You know, festivals are always hard because there are so many bands and then it's just crazy backstage. Everyone is talking and there are so many people.
Georg: And you don't really get a sound check.
Tom: You always have sound problems in festivals, but I think at Bamboozle it was cool.
Bill: Yeah, it was good.
Did you get a chance to see any of the other bands perform?
Bill: Unfortunately, no. We had a really, really tight schedule.
Tom: Yeah, we had a lot of interviews to do and stuff like that and yeah, not much time.
What are some of your most embarrassing 'guilty pleasures'?
Tom: [laughs] I wouldn't admit to them. But Georg, he's a David Hasselhoff fan.
How "German" of you...
Georg: Oh, come on - not again. He's told this joke, like, 10 times now.
Tom: It's not a joke. It's the truth, but it's embarrassing.
Georg: [rolls eyes]
Bill: I love dogs, but that's not embarrassing. I just really love dogs. You know, if I see a dog I just go crazy.
Any kind in particular?
Bill: No, any dog. When I see a dog, it's like, "Oh my God, come here, come here!"
Tom: And Georg really likes to surf videos on YouPorn, and that's also embarassing. [Laughs] I'm joking.
Georg, is it true that you like Nickelback?
Georg: Yeah, I love Nickelback.
Tom: I really like the video for Rockstar because there's Kendra and, uh, from the Playboy Mansion - the three Bunnies. So that's a great video.
Are there any other Canadian bands that you know of and like?
Gustav: Is King's X from Canada?
No, don't think so.
Bill: Billy Talent are cool.
Nice. Hey Georg, does it bother you when people call you "George"?
Georg: Um, people can call me whatever they want - Georg or George.
Tom: Or you know, on his case where he stores his bass, he wrote "David Listing." [laughs] He likes the name David because of Hasselhoff. George Hasslehoff!
Georg: [groans]
[all laugh]
So last time you were in Toronto, you went up the CN Tower and went shopping at the Eaton Centre and went a bit unnoticed. Do you like that? Was it refreshing not to be attacked by throngs of fans for once?
Bill: That's always the goal, to go into a city and at first no one recognizes you, but we really want people to see us and to have fans. And now it's really cool that we have Canadian fans and that we're playing a concert tomorrow night. So I think it's better when people recognize you. That's good for a band.
Tom: It's always the goal that people recognize you on the street.
Bill: But of course, sometimes when you have free time, it's nice when no one recognizes you and you can just chill.
Tom: But that's boring.
Well, your fanbase is growing in Canada and now people know you are here for the night - they'll be looking for you.
Bill: Yeah, I think there will be some fans at the hotel tonight, but our schedule is so tight so that we are doing a lot of photoshoots and interviews during the day, so we don't have as much time this time to go out and check out things in the city.
Well, is there anything about fame that you find annoying?
Bill: I hate paparazzi, I really hate paparazzi.
Tom: Especially when we're on holidays.
Bill: Yeah, especially on holidays, it's just terrible. I hate them in Europe. In America there are also paparazzi, but not as as bad as in Europe. It's very terrible, I hate it.
So are you constantly on edge when you're walking around? Do you always notice them? Are they hiding behind corners or in bushes...?
Tom: Well, yeah, it depends. Sometimes on holidays, they hide. But, you know, on the street they just attack us.
Bill: Yeah, you know, it's OK to, I dunno, when it's at a concert or whatever, but in free time or when you're in private, I think it's just annoying.
So we all know how you got your name, but how did you come up with your band's symbol/logo?
Tom: You know, the idea was that in this logo we had a lot of T's and a lot of H's. And, yeah, that's what it is - it wasn't meant to be a big deal.
Bill: We just wanted something that was very simple. And, like, everyone can draw it and that was the idea so you can paint it on walls --
Tom: -- or windows --
Bill: -- or my neck. [laughs]
Who designed it?
Bill: We did it together with a guy --
Tom: I think it was my idea.
[all groan]
Have you ever actually worn traditional German clothing like lederhosen for Oktoberfest?
Tom: No, never. Sometimes Georg does, when he's dancing to David Hasselhoff. (LOOOOL)
Bill: We've never even been to Oktoberfest so far.
Tom: No, I hate Oktoberfest.
Do you drink beer?
Tom: Yeah, we drink a lot of beer, but not at Oktoberfest.
Well, I read this study that states the average German drinks 120 liters of beer per year.
Tom: We drink that in one month.
[all laugh]
Bill: No, we drink a lot of beer, but in America it's really hard because you have to be 21 to drink alcohol.
Tom: But not in Canada, right?
No, here in Ontario it's 19.
Tom: 19?
Gustav: [throws hands up into the air] YES!
[all laugh]
But in Montreal, it's 18.
Georg: We LOVE Montreal!
Bill: It's hard, because in Germany you have to be 18 and we were always, like, "Oh, c'mon - 18, 18, 18..." and now we are 18 and we come to America.
Tom: And you have to be 21.
Do you have any favorite kinds of beer?
Bill: Um, Heineken. Heineken is a nice beer.
Tom: I don't care.
Georg: I prefer German beer.
Gustav: I like the Czech Budweiser.
Nice, I'll have to try it. Enough about beer - back to the music. Do you have any plans to do any future collaborations with any other bands?
Tom: There's nothing planned yet, but we would love to do some collaborations.
Is there anyone in particular you'd love to work with?
Bill: Yeah, I dunno - I think there are some dreams for every band to do something with, like, the Rolling Stones or whatever, but I think, yeah, let's see.
Tom: In the summer we go back into the studio to record some songs, and I say, let's see what happens.
Bill: And then we can talk to other people, but I'm not sure, I don't have anyone in mind yet.
David Hasselhoff?
Tom: Yeah, David Hasselhoff! That would be great for Georg. Maybe a dancing project with Georg and David Hasselhoff. [laughs]
Speaking of dancing, a fan wanted to know if you, Tom, knew the Soulja Boy dance.
Tom: Yeah, I know the Soulja Boy dance, but I'm not a good dancer. No, Georg can do it, he's a very good dancer.
Can we video you doing it and put it up on YouTube?
Tom: Yeah, Georg can. He was doing the dance in the hotel room [laughs]. Yeah, Georg can do it. [laughs] No, I'm not a dancer. I'm a shy guy.
Georg: Oh, c'mon. You showed it to me this morning!
Tom: No, that was you!
Bill: I don't know this dance.
Tom: I've seen the video and the personal videos that people have uploaded to YouTube who do the dance, but you know, I'm not a dancer - I'm more a sexy guitar player [laughs].
Tomorrow night at the concert, we want to see the dance.
Tom: Yeah, maybe at the show. Together with David Hasselhoff and Georg.
NEWS FROM ALLOY - WHAT THEY LIKE & THEY DON'T
How awesome was it to have Tokio Hotel blog on Alloy?! They may not be giving us weekly updates, but we haven't lost touch with our fave German boys, Bill, Tom, Georg, and Gustav! Wanna know what these hotties look for in a girl? Read on!
-What's the difference between your US and European fans?
Bill: Every fan is really different and individual. But what they all have in common is the energy they show. I like to call our fans very energetic, engaged and intense. We always say our nightmare would be an audience that applauses politely. Fortunately, our fans are completely the opposite - they are everywhere we go and welcome us loudly and very powerfully. They scream and sing along with us all the time. We love, love that. And we were really glad to find out that the American fans share that energy!
-How does it feel to have such a fan base in the US before your album was even released?
Tom: We were absolutely blown away! It was incredible. When we got the chance to go to Canada and America, we were flattered, but we didn't expect such a reaction at all. We just thought, "Great! Let's go over there and see what happens." Then we found out that our shows were all sold out even though we've never been to the States. Remember when we were walking on Sunset Boulevard and a car drove by and the people rolled down the window and screamed, "Welcome to America, guys!"?
Georg: Yes, that was incredible.
Bill: We couldn't wish for anything more!
First off, welcome back to Canada! You just performed at the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. How was it?
Bill: It was really, really cool. It was the first time really performing after my surgery. We played three songs and there were a lot of fans and then after that we traveled to LA and in LA we had one concert and now we are here in Toronto.
So what do you prefer? Playing in festivals or your own concerts?
Bill: I prefer doing our own concerts.
Tom: Yeah, doing your own concerts are great. You have your own production team and your own crew and your own stage and stuff. It's great.
Bill: You know, festivals are always hard because there are so many bands and then it's just crazy backstage. Everyone is talking and there are so many people.
Georg: And you don't really get a sound check.
Tom: You always have sound problems in festivals, but I think at Bamboozle it was cool.
Bill: Yeah, it was good.
Did you get a chance to see any of the other bands perform?
Bill: Unfortunately, no. We had a really, really tight schedule.
Tom: Yeah, we had a lot of interviews to do and stuff like that and yeah, not much time.
What are some of your most embarrassing 'guilty pleasures'?
Tom: [laughs] I wouldn't admit to them. But Georg, he's a David Hasselhoff fan.
How "German" of you...
Georg: Oh, come on - not again. He's told this joke, like, 10 times now.
Tom: It's not a joke. It's the truth, but it's embarrassing.
Georg: [rolls eyes]
Bill: I love dogs, but that's not embarrassing. I just really love dogs. You know, if I see a dog I just go crazy.
Any kind in particular?
Bill: No, any dog. When I see a dog, it's like, "Oh my God, come here, come here!"
Tom: And Georg really likes to surf videos on YouPorn, and that's also embarassing. [Laughs] I'm joking.
Georg, is it true that you like Nickelback?
Georg: Yeah, I love Nickelback.
Tom: I really like the video for Rockstar because there's Kendra and, uh, from the Playboy Mansion - the three Bunnies. So that's a great video.
Are there any other Canadian bands that you know of and like?
Gustav: Is King's X from Canada?
No, don't think so.
Bill: Billy Talent are cool.
Nice. Hey Georg, does it bother you when people call you "George"?
Georg: Um, people can call me whatever they want - Georg or George.
Tom: Or you know, on his case where he stores his bass, he wrote "David Listing." [laughs] He likes the name David because of Hasselhoff. George Hasslehoff!
Georg: [groans]
[all laugh]
So last time you were in Toronto, you went up the CN Tower and went shopping at the Eaton Centre and went a bit unnoticed. Do you like that? Was it refreshing not to be attacked by throngs of fans for once?
Bill: That's always the goal, to go into a city and at first no one recognizes you, but we really want people to see us and to have fans. And now it's really cool that we have Canadian fans and that we're playing a concert tomorrow night. So I think it's better when people recognize you. That's good for a band.
Tom: It's always the goal that people recognize you on the street.
Bill: But of course, sometimes when you have free time, it's nice when no one recognizes you and you can just chill.
Tom: But that's boring.
Well, your fanbase is growing in Canada and now people know you are here for the night - they'll be looking for you.
Bill: Yeah, I think there will be some fans at the hotel tonight, but our schedule is so tight so that we are doing a lot of photoshoots and interviews during the day, so we don't have as much time this time to go out and check out things in the city.
Well, is there anything about fame that you find annoying?
Bill: I hate paparazzi, I really hate paparazzi.
Tom: Especially when we're on holidays.
Bill: Yeah, especially on holidays, it's just terrible. I hate them in Europe. In America there are also paparazzi, but not as as bad as in Europe. It's very terrible, I hate it.
So are you constantly on edge when you're walking around? Do you always notice them? Are they hiding behind corners or in bushes...?
Tom: Well, yeah, it depends. Sometimes on holidays, they hide. But, you know, on the street they just attack us.
Bill: Yeah, you know, it's OK to, I dunno, when it's at a concert or whatever, but in free time or when you're in private, I think it's just annoying.
So we all know how you got your name, but how did you come up with your band's symbol/logo?
Tom: You know, the idea was that in this logo we had a lot of T's and a lot of H's. And, yeah, that's what it is - it wasn't meant to be a big deal.
Bill: We just wanted something that was very simple. And, like, everyone can draw it and that was the idea so you can paint it on walls --
Tom: -- or windows --
Bill: -- or my neck. [laughs]
Who designed it?
Bill: We did it together with a guy --
Tom: I think it was my idea.
[all groan]
Have you ever actually worn traditional German clothing like lederhosen for Oktoberfest?
Tom: No, never. Sometimes Georg does, when he's dancing to David Hasselhoff. (LOOOOL)
Bill: We've never even been to Oktoberfest so far.
Tom: No, I hate Oktoberfest.
Do you drink beer?
Tom: Yeah, we drink a lot of beer, but not at Oktoberfest.
Well, I read this study that states the average German drinks 120 liters of beer per year.
Tom: We drink that in one month.
[all laugh]
Bill: No, we drink a lot of beer, but in America it's really hard because you have to be 21 to drink alcohol.
Tom: But not in Canada, right?
No, here in Ontario it's 19.
Tom: 19?
Gustav: [throws hands up into the air] YES!
[all laugh]
But in Montreal, it's 18.
Georg: We LOVE Montreal!
Bill: It's hard, because in Germany you have to be 18 and we were always, like, "Oh, c'mon - 18, 18, 18..." and now we are 18 and we come to America.
Tom: And you have to be 21.
Do you have any favorite kinds of beer?
Bill: Um, Heineken. Heineken is a nice beer.
Tom: I don't care.
Georg: I prefer German beer.
Gustav: I like the Czech Budweiser.
Nice, I'll have to try it. Enough about beer - back to the music. Do you have any plans to do any future collaborations with any other bands?
Tom: There's nothing planned yet, but we would love to do some collaborations.
Is there anyone in particular you'd love to work with?
Bill: Yeah, I dunno - I think there are some dreams for every band to do something with, like, the Rolling Stones or whatever, but I think, yeah, let's see.
Tom: In the summer we go back into the studio to record some songs, and I say, let's see what happens.
Bill: And then we can talk to other people, but I'm not sure, I don't have anyone in mind yet.
David Hasselhoff?
Tom: Yeah, David Hasselhoff! That would be great for Georg. Maybe a dancing project with Georg and David Hasselhoff. [laughs]
Speaking of dancing, a fan wanted to know if you, Tom, knew the Soulja Boy dance.
Tom: Yeah, I know the Soulja Boy dance, but I'm not a good dancer. No, Georg can do it, he's a very good dancer.
Can we video you doing it and put it up on YouTube?
Tom: Yeah, Georg can. He was doing the dance in the hotel room [laughs]. Yeah, Georg can do it. [laughs] No, I'm not a dancer. I'm a shy guy.
Georg: Oh, c'mon. You showed it to me this morning!
Tom: No, that was you!
Bill: I don't know this dance.
Tom: I've seen the video and the personal videos that people have uploaded to YouTube who do the dance, but you know, I'm not a dancer - I'm more a sexy guitar player [laughs].
Tomorrow night at the concert, we want to see the dance.
Tom: Yeah, maybe at the show. Together with David Hasselhoff and Georg.
NEWS FROM ALLOY - WHAT THEY LIKE & THEY DON'T
How awesome was it to have Tokio Hotel blog on Alloy?! They may not be giving us weekly updates, but we haven't lost touch with our fave German boys, Bill, Tom, Georg, and Gustav! Wanna know what these hotties look for in a girl? Read on!
-What's the difference between your US and European fans?
Bill: Every fan is really different and individual. But what they all have in common is the energy they show. I like to call our fans very energetic, engaged and intense. We always say our nightmare would be an audience that applauses politely. Fortunately, our fans are completely the opposite - they are everywhere we go and welcome us loudly and very powerfully. They scream and sing along with us all the time. We love, love that. And we were really glad to find out that the American fans share that energy!
-How does it feel to have such a fan base in the US before your album was even released?
Tom: We were absolutely blown away! It was incredible. When we got the chance to go to Canada and America, we were flattered, but we didn't expect such a reaction at all. We just thought, "Great! Let's go over there and see what happens." Then we found out that our shows were all sold out even though we've never been to the States. Remember when we were walking on Sunset Boulevard and a car drove by and the people rolled down the window and screamed, "Welcome to America, guys!"?
Georg: Yes, that was incredible.
Bill: We couldn't wish for anything more!
Tokio Hotel WW128 (Events and review)
Confirmed! For the awardshow from music channel VIVA the succesful four will be flown in straight from America.
At the moment Tokio Hotel are on tour in the US, on 23 May they will be on stage at the König-Pilsener-Arena in Oberhausen. In three categories (Best Band, Best Video, and Best Live Act) nominated, the boys are the top favourites of the Comet night.
source: bild.de
VIVA gets Tokio Hotel from overseas to the COMET 2008 in Oberhausen
The big surprise is perfect: Tokio Hotel will be coming from the United States directly to the COMET 2008. VIVA will be getting our on US tour highly vowed rockband back to where their impressing musical triumph in 2005 began: the VIVA COMET in Oberhausen. The award winning and internationally successful German superstars are on the COMET 2008 nomination list with a total of three nominations in the categories ” Best Band“, “Best Video” and “Best Live Act“, and are amongst the top favorites of the evening. Just a few days ago, they’ve played in sold out concerts in the US, and filled the Times Square in New York with fans, and now they’re returning to German TV for their fans for the first time after Bill’s vocal cord operation!
Settle down, this is going to be a LONG REVIEW, but totally worth it. I first encountered Tokio Hotel last year as a kind of musical holiday romance, when the song 'Durch Den Monsun' ('Under The Monsoon') came on MTV Europe while I was waiting to lech over Alexz Johnson. I must admit, my original thoughts were "my God that lesbian singer is beautiful, I wish I could carry off that haircut" and thinking the song was pretty.
Obviously, since then I've discovered that that lesbian is equipped with the wrong genitalia for the job and that she is really a teenage boy called Bill. It bears saying that Bill Kaulitz is very, incredibly, freakishly beautiful. He has the kind of elegant face that most girls would cut off several of their own limbs for and he also moves with a kind of dainty ease and shy-confidence which give him a sort of glowing, charismatic aura. He's basically totally mesmerising.
If you watch the original video to 'Durch Den Monsun' (they've made a new video for the English language version, which is just called 'Monsoon' and delights me for reasons too geeky to go into here) then you can see what Bill (and the rest of the band) looked like just as they exploded to fame...
Cute, aren't they? The song is, too. And this is where, for the second time in recent weeks, Chartblog is probably being stalked by vigilante tabloid readers, because right there none of those boys is over seventeen and err, oh dear.
Here lie the problems for Tokio Hotel.
Problem One: they're outrageously pretty. I've mentioned Bill, right? Well Tom (dreadlocks, Bill's twin) looks like the face of the Attitude clothing catalogue (girl's section) and Gustav (masculinity) and Georg (long hair, no make up,) would hit you as hotties from two hundred feet away in any other band.
Now, I'm not shocked by Bill wearing make up; I grew up gothy and I know lots of boys who wear eyeliner and are a bit feminine. I'm not shocked that they're sexualised; they're seventeen, I spent all damn day thinking about sex when I was seventeen and so did everyone else. I'm kind of shocked, however, by the extreme reactions the band create in everyone else.
Tokio Hotel's detractors are loud and mostly complain about how young, how pretty and how ridiculous looking they are. And actually, they ARE all of these things and they say stupid stuff that doesn't help the situation because they're popstars and that's what popstars do when they're given a microphone to talk into.
Despite this, a lot of the problems that people claim they have with the band are actually with themselves because it IS weird how attractive they are. It even makes ME feel uncomfortable at twenty, let alone anyone older than me, and so we're happier to write them off as a teengirl fantasy rock band. Never mind that most pubescent girls probably wouldn't fancy Bill if he wasn't making the music he does. The issue here, I suspect, is that Tokio Hotel make us all feel pretty old, (and consequently fairly perverted).
Problem Two: their music is actually good. No, seriously, this is a problem. I haven't found a single song of theirs that couldn't blow a lot of UK and US rock out of the water and then proceed to stamp on it for a while. They do deserve respect as musicians and songwriters and it's difficult to get that when you're young, pretty, androgynous boys.
Despite this, their music isn't, as some fans would adoringly announce, the best thing in the world ever. They sound like Lostprophets (which, God knows, is difficult enough for Lostprophets themselves without anyone else joining in) in the sense that they have a powerful rock dynamic and also good enough songwriting ability to create poppy tunes.
'Schrei,' for instance, is pretty heavy (and also almost certainly their 'youngest' song; it's all about not wanting to grow up, if my C at German GCSE serves me correctly) but simultaneously catchy and has a shout-along "nein, nein, nein, nein, nein" bit in the chorus.
'Ready Set Go' combines the two problems of Tokio Hotel in exemplary fashion. It could be off 'Liberation Transmission' sonically, although it's by no means plagiaristic. Bill carries through on his promise to perfect an English accent, his singing is excellent and the whole song hangs together nicely.
The message is fairly basic - 'come with me and it's us against the world', essentially - and the lyrics may be rather simplistic, but if I was asked to translate a song into German, I can guarantee the results would be far uglier, so it's still pretty impressive. Plus this is a good statement of intent in a market where they've been talked about a lot and yet not really heard except by minorities, often through a language barrier.
See what I mean? It's not the most savage attack on society ever but there's something about the band that makes them threatening anyway. Remember, kids, adults always say the cool stuff is rubbish and not as good as what they had back in their day and oh my God, look how they're dressed, THINK OF THE CHILDREN! On the other hand, it is still nothing to get totally fired up about. Which leaves me with...
Problem Three: I don't want to throw my support behind them and swear to defend them to the death, cus they're not THAT amazing or unusual, and there's definitely something creepy about the way their management market them. But equally I can't jump on the hate bandwagon because I think they're quite good, to be honest.
This song is quite good. It's catchy and I've played it more than is necessary to just review it. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground to stand in on Tokio Hotel, though and I think that's the root of all their other issues so no matter what rating the song gets, people will form their own opinions and that's good and right but I've tried to give them a fair hearing so, uh, let's all be nice, right?
At the moment Tokio Hotel are on tour in the US, on 23 May they will be on stage at the König-Pilsener-Arena in Oberhausen. In three categories (Best Band, Best Video, and Best Live Act) nominated, the boys are the top favourites of the Comet night.
source: bild.de
VIVA gets Tokio Hotel from overseas to the COMET 2008 in Oberhausen
The big surprise is perfect: Tokio Hotel will be coming from the United States directly to the COMET 2008. VIVA will be getting our on US tour highly vowed rockband back to where their impressing musical triumph in 2005 began: the VIVA COMET in Oberhausen. The award winning and internationally successful German superstars are on the COMET 2008 nomination list with a total of three nominations in the categories ” Best Band“, “Best Video” and “Best Live Act“, and are amongst the top favorites of the evening. Just a few days ago, they’ve played in sold out concerts in the US, and filled the Times Square in New York with fans, and now they’re returning to German TV for their fans for the first time after Bill’s vocal cord operation!
Settle down, this is going to be a LONG REVIEW, but totally worth it. I first encountered Tokio Hotel last year as a kind of musical holiday romance, when the song 'Durch Den Monsun' ('Under The Monsoon') came on MTV Europe while I was waiting to lech over Alexz Johnson. I must admit, my original thoughts were "my God that lesbian singer is beautiful, I wish I could carry off that haircut" and thinking the song was pretty.
Obviously, since then I've discovered that that lesbian is equipped with the wrong genitalia for the job and that she is really a teenage boy called Bill. It bears saying that Bill Kaulitz is very, incredibly, freakishly beautiful. He has the kind of elegant face that most girls would cut off several of their own limbs for and he also moves with a kind of dainty ease and shy-confidence which give him a sort of glowing, charismatic aura. He's basically totally mesmerising.
If you watch the original video to 'Durch Den Monsun' (they've made a new video for the English language version, which is just called 'Monsoon' and delights me for reasons too geeky to go into here) then you can see what Bill (and the rest of the band) looked like just as they exploded to fame...
Cute, aren't they? The song is, too. And this is where, for the second time in recent weeks, Chartblog is probably being stalked by vigilante tabloid readers, because right there none of those boys is over seventeen and err, oh dear.
Here lie the problems for Tokio Hotel.
Problem One: they're outrageously pretty. I've mentioned Bill, right? Well Tom (dreadlocks, Bill's twin) looks like the face of the Attitude clothing catalogue (girl's section) and Gustav (masculinity) and Georg (long hair, no make up,) would hit you as hotties from two hundred feet away in any other band.
Now, I'm not shocked by Bill wearing make up; I grew up gothy and I know lots of boys who wear eyeliner and are a bit feminine. I'm not shocked that they're sexualised; they're seventeen, I spent all damn day thinking about sex when I was seventeen and so did everyone else. I'm kind of shocked, however, by the extreme reactions the band create in everyone else.
Tokio Hotel's detractors are loud and mostly complain about how young, how pretty and how ridiculous looking they are. And actually, they ARE all of these things and they say stupid stuff that doesn't help the situation because they're popstars and that's what popstars do when they're given a microphone to talk into.
Despite this, a lot of the problems that people claim they have with the band are actually with themselves because it IS weird how attractive they are. It even makes ME feel uncomfortable at twenty, let alone anyone older than me, and so we're happier to write them off as a teengirl fantasy rock band. Never mind that most pubescent girls probably wouldn't fancy Bill if he wasn't making the music he does. The issue here, I suspect, is that Tokio Hotel make us all feel pretty old, (and consequently fairly perverted).
Problem Two: their music is actually good. No, seriously, this is a problem. I haven't found a single song of theirs that couldn't blow a lot of UK and US rock out of the water and then proceed to stamp on it for a while. They do deserve respect as musicians and songwriters and it's difficult to get that when you're young, pretty, androgynous boys.
Despite this, their music isn't, as some fans would adoringly announce, the best thing in the world ever. They sound like Lostprophets (which, God knows, is difficult enough for Lostprophets themselves without anyone else joining in) in the sense that they have a powerful rock dynamic and also good enough songwriting ability to create poppy tunes.
'Schrei,' for instance, is pretty heavy (and also almost certainly their 'youngest' song; it's all about not wanting to grow up, if my C at German GCSE serves me correctly) but simultaneously catchy and has a shout-along "nein, nein, nein, nein, nein" bit in the chorus.
'Ready Set Go' combines the two problems of Tokio Hotel in exemplary fashion. It could be off 'Liberation Transmission' sonically, although it's by no means plagiaristic. Bill carries through on his promise to perfect an English accent, his singing is excellent and the whole song hangs together nicely.
The message is fairly basic - 'come with me and it's us against the world', essentially - and the lyrics may be rather simplistic, but if I was asked to translate a song into German, I can guarantee the results would be far uglier, so it's still pretty impressive. Plus this is a good statement of intent in a market where they've been talked about a lot and yet not really heard except by minorities, often through a language barrier.
See what I mean? It's not the most savage attack on society ever but there's something about the band that makes them threatening anyway. Remember, kids, adults always say the cool stuff is rubbish and not as good as what they had back in their day and oh my God, look how they're dressed, THINK OF THE CHILDREN! On the other hand, it is still nothing to get totally fired up about. Which leaves me with...
Problem Three: I don't want to throw my support behind them and swear to defend them to the death, cus they're not THAT amazing or unusual, and there's definitely something creepy about the way their management market them. But equally I can't jump on the hate bandwagon because I think they're quite good, to be honest.
This song is quite good. It's catchy and I've played it more than is necessary to just review it. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground to stand in on Tokio Hotel, though and I think that's the root of all their other issues so no matter what rating the song gets, people will form their own opinions and that's good and right but I've tried to give them a fair hearing so, uh, let's all be nice, right?
Tokio Hotel WW127 (America, TRL awards, Bill's voice...etc)
Bill has his voice back - And all of America loves Tokio Hotel
The band is back again, after Bill's vocal cord operation, and Tokio Hotel is continuing on their road of success in the States, after four weeks of rest. And today, teens are going to the "Magdeburgien's" concerts. At the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey, the boys played three songs, and 4000 fans sang along with them. Even the rapper Snoop Dogg, 36, admitted he was impressed. Apparently Tokio Hotel isn't a one-day thing in the States. That's why the New York Times had already put the quartet on their front page, sometime in February. And the Americans celebrate their success with Tokio Hotel. Their last concert in the USA, for now, took place on the 13th of May, and they are currently leaving for Canada.
In the newspaper "Hey!" there was an interview with Jimi Blue, concerning secret plans with Bill from TH.
So where is all at now?
Jimi Blue: I met Bill and the boys in 2007 at the aftershow party at Echo in Berlin. He's a cool guy, and we understand each other well. When we meet each other at a party, we stay around each other. When he had his OP this year in April, I sent him an SMS.
Is it true you want to record a song with Bill from TH?
Jimi Blue: I can't say. But in any case, it would be very cool! Even if our music is different; I like Hip Hop and Bill likes Rock, but Linkin Park and Jay-Z have already done songs together.
Translation from Croatian article
After 16 canceled concerts all over Europe because of Bill's vocal cord problems and about a month of rest, the biggest stars from Germany are back and are in the States, where since the 6th of May, their first album in North America has been released, under the title "Scream."
The members of the rock band, Tokio Hotel, the eldest being 21, have already taken possession of Europe, but now they want to win "the world of opportunites." They already have millions of fans, and female groupies, ready to fall unconscious at any of the band's moves.
The singer Bill Kaulitz, and his twin, tom who plays guitar, Georg Listing the bass player, and the drummer, Gustav were aired on TV for the first time in the States on Wednesday, May 7. Hysteria caused by their performance is best described by a comment on the web page: buzzworthy.mtv.com (where you can also watch the boys' show) "the hysteria caused by Tokio Hotel can't be compared, even to Elvis and John Lennon put together, if they both came out of their graves and did an acoustic performance with Jesus."
Lots of fans all over the world have had tears and worried, are now celebrating the good news concerning the Tokio Hotel's singer, who had no voice after a concert in Marseille on the 14th of March. The cyst in his throat is gone now, and Bill was not allowed to say a word for ten days. But as soon as his voice was back to normal, the boys decided to compensate for all the canceled concerts and after four appearances in the United States and Canada, we will once again be able to see them during the many fesitvals all over Europe in June and July.
Tokio Hotel's message about the TRL awards:
"Hey we are Tokio Hotel! We want to thank you for the Best Band award. Thanks so much! We are very honored, because it's one of our first appearances in Italy. I remember when we were last here, and I never thought we would become famous here, and we thank all our Italian fans for that. You are the best and we will see you soon. Thank you!"
The band is back again, after Bill's vocal cord operation, and Tokio Hotel is continuing on their road of success in the States, after four weeks of rest. And today, teens are going to the "Magdeburgien's" concerts. At the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey, the boys played three songs, and 4000 fans sang along with them. Even the rapper Snoop Dogg, 36, admitted he was impressed. Apparently Tokio Hotel isn't a one-day thing in the States. That's why the New York Times had already put the quartet on their front page, sometime in February. And the Americans celebrate their success with Tokio Hotel. Their last concert in the USA, for now, took place on the 13th of May, and they are currently leaving for Canada.
In the newspaper "Hey!" there was an interview with Jimi Blue, concerning secret plans with Bill from TH.
So where is all at now?
Jimi Blue: I met Bill and the boys in 2007 at the aftershow party at Echo in Berlin. He's a cool guy, and we understand each other well. When we meet each other at a party, we stay around each other. When he had his OP this year in April, I sent him an SMS.
Is it true you want to record a song with Bill from TH?
Jimi Blue: I can't say. But in any case, it would be very cool! Even if our music is different; I like Hip Hop and Bill likes Rock, but Linkin Park and Jay-Z have already done songs together.
Translation from Croatian article
After 16 canceled concerts all over Europe because of Bill's vocal cord problems and about a month of rest, the biggest stars from Germany are back and are in the States, where since the 6th of May, their first album in North America has been released, under the title "Scream."
The members of the rock band, Tokio Hotel, the eldest being 21, have already taken possession of Europe, but now they want to win "the world of opportunites." They already have millions of fans, and female groupies, ready to fall unconscious at any of the band's moves.
The singer Bill Kaulitz, and his twin, tom who plays guitar, Georg Listing the bass player, and the drummer, Gustav were aired on TV for the first time in the States on Wednesday, May 7. Hysteria caused by their performance is best described by a comment on the web page: buzzworthy.mtv.com (where you can also watch the boys' show) "the hysteria caused by Tokio Hotel can't be compared, even to Elvis and John Lennon put together, if they both came out of their graves and did an acoustic performance with Jesus."
Lots of fans all over the world have had tears and worried, are now celebrating the good news concerning the Tokio Hotel's singer, who had no voice after a concert in Marseille on the 14th of March. The cyst in his throat is gone now, and Bill was not allowed to say a word for ten days. But as soon as his voice was back to normal, the boys decided to compensate for all the canceled concerts and after four appearances in the United States and Canada, we will once again be able to see them during the many fesitvals all over Europe in June and July.
Tokio Hotel's message about the TRL awards:
"Hey we are Tokio Hotel! We want to thank you for the Best Band award. Thanks so much! We are very honored, because it's one of our first appearances in Italy. I remember when we were last here, and I never thought we would become famous here, and we thank all our Italian fans for that. You are the best and we will see you soon. Thank you!"
Tokio Hotel WW126 (Articles about TH)
There are many similarities between the “king of pop” and Bill Kaulitz (18) from Tokio Hotel: big succes in the young years, a very outgoing style, long black hair, make-up….
Michael Jackson (49) got his first record deal when he was eleven, was really succesful with his brothers as the “Jackson 5″ around the world. Bill experienced the talent show “Star Search” at 13 year old in 2003, got a record deal together with his twin brother Tom and band members Gustav and Georg in the same year. Since 2005 the tokio Hotel madness in Germany and Europe is unstoppable.
Jackson has been operated countless of times, bleached his skin, changed his nose, uses lots of make-up and always wears his hair dark black and long. Also Bill uses make-up, always has darkened eyes, his black hair he lately wears straight down instead of up high.
The succesful tour in the USA is going well for Bill - since a few weeks Tokio Hotel are succesfully touring throught the USA.
bild.de
An East German export hit conquers the USA!
Michael Jackson (49) got his first record deal when he was eleven, was really succesful with his brothers as the “Jackson 5″ around the world. Bill experienced the talent show “Star Search” at 13 year old in 2003, got a record deal together with his twin brother Tom and band members Gustav and Georg in the same year. Since 2005 the tokio Hotel madness in Germany and Europe is unstoppable.
Jackson has been operated countless of times, bleached his skin, changed his nose, uses lots of make-up and always wears his hair dark black and long. Also Bill uses make-up, always has darkened eyes, his black hair he lately wears straight down instead of up high.
The succesful tour in the USA is going well for Bill - since a few weeks Tokio Hotel are succesfully touring throught the USA.
bild.de
An East German export hit conquers the USA!
| |||
| In their home village the four boys were outsiders, now they drive millions of European girls into hysteria and also record stores. Now Germany’s most successful popband is trying to make it in the most difficult music market in the world. It could really work. The night was short for Magna and Marsha. Since early in the morning the 17 year old twins are standing in front of the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. “Twelve hours in the rain,” they are screaming happily, as if they had spent all day in an amusement park. The both coloured Americans are shaking a little cause they are only wearing short tops. What they want to see are four strong boys from Loitsche next to Magdeburg. They are performing in a TV show tonight. “T-O-K-I-O-H-O-T-E-L,” Marsha screams. From excitement her handbag is falling on the floor. Make-up, eye pencil and lip gloss are rolling over the floor towards the studio. “Getting up and moving on,” is told to the girls. The show is about to start, host Conan O’Brien announces the German band. “Tokio what?” an older audience member is whispering to his wife. She just raises her shoulders. In Europe Tokio Hotel fill up the largest stadiums, now Germany’s most successful popband wants to conquer the most important music market, the USA. A bold move, since most European acts don’t make it on the US market. Even superstar Robbie Williams or Ronan Keating were ignored in the USA, the German Nena, Milli Vanilli, Scorpions and Rammstein made a few little successes in America. But that’s about it. The manager from Universal, worlds largest record company, of course also knows this too well. They however want to try to expand Tokio Hotel worldwide. And how it is going now, it’s going well. Two weeks ago their first album in the USA “Scream” (Schrei) was released. This week it entered the Billboard Charts at number 39. Such an opening success has no German band ever had. “The boys are awesome,” tells Frank Briegmann, who runs Universal Germany. “With them we can write pop history.” Nothing less as the conquering of the entire world is on his mind. If the move to America really works out, next year also Asia and South America will follow. Tokio Hotel is at the moment the record company’s biggest insurance of success. In a time where you only hear about record company’s because they are making losses on record sales, this is worth gold. Originally the boys had a contract at SonyBMG. Cause the record label shorted the budget for new talent, the responsible manager let it go. Universal chief Briegmann insured himself of a band, the SonyBMG manager was fired. Foolish managing should also be punished. The musicians between 18 and 21 years earn according to calculations around 3% from the 300 million euro year earning from Universal Germany. Since their discovery three years ago Tokio Hotel has sold more than five million records – which is good for about 30 to 40 million euro. On top of that comes a two digit million amount for fan merchandise such as sheets, shoes or doormats. No other German band sells so many articles of fan devotion. Every eight weeks Briegmann meets up with all the other chiefs of Universal. Normally the 40 year old brings back a list with new international stars to Berlin, that will be sold in Germany. Though, in the winter of 2006 he had something amazing in his suitcase. His collegues were just as enthusiastic about Tokio Hotel as the German girls. Tokio Hotel became the first German band with a “Priority status”; meaning, every Universal country has to sell the record of the Magdeburgers and market it. “That”, tells Briegmann, “was such a punch.” A punch, that especially was profitable for Universal Germany. Without doing anything or financing anything, the record company got month after month a two percent piece of the US-sales earnings sent to their bank account. That kind of thing normally only happens the other way around. Even in countries where Universal isn’t doing any marketing for Tokio Hotel, thanks to the internet fan communities are building. In Israel, teens collected last year 5000 autographs to get the band to play a concert in Tel Aviv. Tokio Hotel opened a window that was being kept close by the industry for so long. The starting age for fans lies around nine years of age, there isn’t much competition in this ago group. A financial good side effect, because most of the music is being bought by the parents. And those don’t quickly go on the internet to download the songs illegally. They buy real CD’s in the store, it still does exist. After the Teen band has caused thousands of girls to faint and millions have been driven into hysteria, now it’s the Americans turn. Since the beginning of May the Teen heroes are on promo tour through the USA and are giving interviews like crazy. The first time in English, to be said “we only speak school English,” tells singer Bill. He tells it a little painful but event that is fallen into good place. The music magazine “Rolling Stone” praised Bill’s “Extraordinary pronunciation,” because it is kind of charming. When Bill started singing the first note of the single “Ready, Set, Go!” in a New York TV studio, the twins Marshe and Magda are screaming, falling into each others’ arms. Around the girls the little more older studio guests are just taking the way to load Rock sounds. Some of them are holding their hands over their ears. The twins however look with tears in their eyes, just like in love teens. Nevertheless, Bill rocks the kind of small audience as if he were standing in front of thousands of fans. Record boss Breigmann knew how to recognise this talent, and in 2005 it was already there. Before the first CD was released the boys had to play in front of 300 Universal managers in Berlin: “That is the most unheard of audience that you can imagine, but the boys went for it like real pros.” There are two things that make the pop miracle Tokio Hotel: The lyrics and the personalities. In their songs they tell about every teen trouble like love, suicide or divorce of the parents. Just as extraordinary are the band members themselves, starting with the androgynous singer Bill with his hedgehog hair and black eye pencil around the eyes. His hair tip: “a lot of hairspray and no brushing.” Even though he looks kind of made, he is not a fabrication of the record company. At nine he already started to colour his hair. It’s no wonder that Bill and his twin brother Tom (with dreadlocks) felt like “Aliens” in their 700 inhabitant village. Together with their noticeable quieter friends Georg and Gustav one of the best pop exports of the country has grown. Something that Bill from the start was convinced that would happen. He has gotten the Tokio Hotel symbol tattooed on his neck, even before the first record was sold in Germany. It was also Bill’s idea to give interview from his sick bed after his vocal cord surgery in March: “It was just boring to me without anything to do.” Even during the first test performances in February the clubs of Los Angeles and New York were sold out within hours. Up to 2000 dollars were paid by fans on eBay for tickets, while the original price was $18.50 dollars. The “New York Times” made history for the boys with putting them on the cover. It even moved the old rock star with a woman’s history, Tom: “I think I bought about 100 copies of the paper and brought them back home.” During a signing session at Times Square a few stores had to close because of the turn out of more than 500 girls. Magna and Marsha were also there – they camped outside for two days. The two girls discovered the boys on the internet about four months ago. To also understand the lyrics they are learning themselves German with a dictionary. “They are so cute,” they are screaming after the TV performance and burst into singing “Durch den Monsun”. While their parents were driving the girls home again, record boss Briegmann and his guest are a few blocks away. To celebrate this “historical moment”, he has invited a group of German TV managers to the USA. In a hotel the record company has set up a meeting to see the band. Like polite little boys the boys shake the old mans’ hands and thank them for coming. Also here they are doing splendid: “Yes, we were really tired,” “We are happy about how it all went,” “No, no party for us, when we are on tour we go to bed early,” “Of course we can sign an autograph for your niece,” one of the managers is very happy that he finally has a picture of him and the boys. “Now my ex-wife has no more chance with my son.” Then the band meeting is coming to an end; the guests are leaving again. Only thing what they have remembered this night is that the boys aren’t 21 yet. source: welt.de | |||
Tokio Hotel WW125 (Interview with TH about the States)
German band Tokio Hotel a hit in two languages
Growing in popularity, German rock band Tokio Hotel is new to North American fans but all the rage back home.
So when the foursome decided to break into the difficult North American market with its English debut album Scream, the group translated and then performed all of its German songs in English, something that took some time but was worth the work.
“The biggest challenge was to sing for the first time in English because as you can tell my English is not so good,” singer Bill Kaulitz says inside a Toronto restaurant. “This is really the first trip that we’ve spoken English in interviews because we just know some words.”
Tokio Hotel, playing the Sound Academy tonight, says translating each song “word by word” was trying.
“I’m a perfectionist, I really wanted to sound natural like I was a native speaker,” he says. “That was really, really hard but I hope the fans like it.”
“And then they (the words) have to rhyme and still have the same meaning,” twin brother and guitarist Tom Kaulitz adds. “We wanted everyone to have a chance to understand what we are saying which was really important.”
The band, rounded out by drummer Gustav Schafer and bassist Georg Listing, has made a lot of inroads in a short period of time with singles such as Monsoon and Don’t Jump, which deals with suicide, a topic mentioned in some of the fan letters the band received from teens.
But both brothers say the single Ready Set Go! describes how the band members, who got together in 2001, found success at the mere age of 15.
“It was our first single in Germany and it was during our vacation in the summer holidays,” Bill says. “It went directly to Number One and after that our whole life changed completely. It was a new life and that was our dream, our dream come true.”
The resulting success caused a frenzy that some concert promoters in Germany weren’t quite prepared for.
“We were playing a village party, a small festival and there were only 100 or 200 people expected,” Tom Kaulitz says. “It was booked six months in advance and we released our first single Monsoon in Germany and we came to that festival.”
“There were so many fans and thousands of people, the security was absolutely not ready for that,” Bill says. “It was then we knew we had fans. Before it was always five or 10 people in a club just drinking beer and not looking at us.”
The toughest thing a new band often has to do is learn how to say no to growing demands. A grueling touring schedule earlier this year left Bill Kaulitz unable to speak for 10 days following surgery to remove a cyst from a vocal chord.
“I was really afraid,” he says. “We only played 10 concerts and had to cancel 16 (including a Toronto gig). I was in my hotel room and I looked (at the clock) and I was thinking at this time normally I’m on stage so it was really, really hard.”
However, like so many identical twins, Bill had Tom nearby to act as his almost telepathic speaker.
“It’s a very cool connection and a very special connection,” Bill says of being a twin. “I think nobody else has a connection like that. I had a book and wrote things down (after surgery) but there were some things where I just looked at Tom.”
“I always know what Bill is thinking in different situations because I think the same,” Tom says without missing a beat. “I had to speak for him for 10 days, it wasn’t a great time.”
source: torontosun.com
Growing in popularity, German rock band Tokio Hotel is new to North American fans but all the rage back home.
So when the foursome decided to break into the difficult North American market with its English debut album Scream, the group translated and then performed all of its German songs in English, something that took some time but was worth the work.
“The biggest challenge was to sing for the first time in English because as you can tell my English is not so good,” singer Bill Kaulitz says inside a Toronto restaurant. “This is really the first trip that we’ve spoken English in interviews because we just know some words.”
Tokio Hotel, playing the Sound Academy tonight, says translating each song “word by word” was trying.
“I’m a perfectionist, I really wanted to sound natural like I was a native speaker,” he says. “That was really, really hard but I hope the fans like it.”
“And then they (the words) have to rhyme and still have the same meaning,” twin brother and guitarist Tom Kaulitz adds. “We wanted everyone to have a chance to understand what we are saying which was really important.”
The band, rounded out by drummer Gustav Schafer and bassist Georg Listing, has made a lot of inroads in a short period of time with singles such as Monsoon and Don’t Jump, which deals with suicide, a topic mentioned in some of the fan letters the band received from teens.
But both brothers say the single Ready Set Go! describes how the band members, who got together in 2001, found success at the mere age of 15.
“It was our first single in Germany and it was during our vacation in the summer holidays,” Bill says. “It went directly to Number One and after that our whole life changed completely. It was a new life and that was our dream, our dream come true.”
The resulting success caused a frenzy that some concert promoters in Germany weren’t quite prepared for.
“We were playing a village party, a small festival and there were only 100 or 200 people expected,” Tom Kaulitz says. “It was booked six months in advance and we released our first single Monsoon in Germany and we came to that festival.”
“There were so many fans and thousands of people, the security was absolutely not ready for that,” Bill says. “It was then we knew we had fans. Before it was always five or 10 people in a club just drinking beer and not looking at us.”
The toughest thing a new band often has to do is learn how to say no to growing demands. A grueling touring schedule earlier this year left Bill Kaulitz unable to speak for 10 days following surgery to remove a cyst from a vocal chord.
“I was really afraid,” he says. “We only played 10 concerts and had to cancel 16 (including a Toronto gig). I was in my hotel room and I looked (at the clock) and I was thinking at this time normally I’m on stage so it was really, really hard.”
However, like so many identical twins, Bill had Tom nearby to act as his almost telepathic speaker.
“It’s a very cool connection and a very special connection,” Bill says of being a twin. “I think nobody else has a connection like that. I had a book and wrote things down (after surgery) but there were some things where I just looked at Tom.”
“I always know what Bill is thinking in different situations because I think the same,” Tom says without missing a beat. “I had to speak for him for 10 days, it wasn’t a great time.”
source: torontosun.com
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