(21-04-2017)
To see photo sets, click an image
Tokio Hotel: “There are things that you would like that have never happened”
If to you’re from 20 to 30, you of course remember them very lively. But if you are a girl, teenage recollections your are very tightly connected with them, with first love, walls in posters and total hysteria. Tokio Hotel still have magic authority above an audience. Even if you once forgot about them, they made it necessary to recall.
Before the concert in Ekaterinburg, We sat down with German kings of hearts to talk about getting old, reading fan-fiction, bucket lists and how it is easier for boys out there..
They turned out to be very pleasant and funny men. And yes, we do not recommend to look them directly in the eyes
— I was thinking what to ask, because you have been asked questions over and over again for like what? 15 years, 12 years, I don’t even know at this point anymore. So I wanted to do something like Google autocomplete interview, I started to Google you and that turned out quite boring, because, apparently, everybody wants to know the same thing about you — what is you height. Which is, by the way, as far as I see not as big as I thought. (Georg is laughing)
Tom: What?! (everybody is laughing)
— Actually, I thought you two (the twins) are taller.
Twins: Really? Hmm…
Bill: I feel like we’re shrinking already…
— Getting old?
Bill: Yeah, because we’re getting older. I feel like I was a little taller before. (laughing)
Tom: We’re 27, it’s not a joke!
Bill: It’s over already. (laughing)
— Anyway, I decided to ask just anything I want. That all made me think: have you ever Googled yourself?
Bill: Yeah. I mean I try not to. Nowadays I don’t really do it anymore, but yeah… If something, that you hate, coming out, or if there’s a new album, you do that and you look, what people say and what people think, you read reviews. I mean, yeah, you do it every once in a while. If it gets too negative or there’s some stupid tabloid thing out there, I try not to read it, I want to stay away from it. Some really stupid stuff came up recently, that people were telling us about, so we tried not to read any articles. Because we don’t want to get distracted by that.
— Does it make you sad?
Bill: Yeah, sometimes it makes you sad. Or I would rather say angry…
— I mean, you probably would have a really thick skin…
Bill: We have THE thickest skin in the music industry!
Tom: To be honest, I can’t think of a single headline that we didn’t have in our career. It’s 15 years, or what is it? 12 years of stories, we had everything. It’s only bad, if it’s true (laughing). It’s a funny thing — 95% of it is just bullshit, but if it’s true, it kinda hurts.
— Have you ever read any fan-made stuff? Fan-fiction?
Twins: Nooo.
— Have you even seen it? Because it’s creepy sometimes…
Bill: That’s why we don’t read it! Ha! I have been tagged in some weird things, you know. Like, some stories about our dogs. I know there’s a huge vibe about gay sexual stuff between the band members. Which is understandable! But it is not something I would… I mean, I would read it and laugh about it (laughing). But I wouldn’t waste my spare time on it.
I would rather watch “Bates Motel”, which I was doing this morning and this is sooo good, you should check it out.
— Do you all watch it?
Tom: No. By the way, did you, guys, watch “Ray Donovan”?
Bill: No…
Tom: You would enjoy it. And Gustav as well.
Bill: I will put it in the list.
— By the way, about lists. We all have seen, that you have a bucket list. Is that it or there’s more?
Tom: It was a mix of mine and his wishes.
Bill: Yeah, I took ideas from everyone.
— Do you, guys, have bucket lists?
Georg: Of course! We have goals in our lives.
— Is it written down like his?
Georg: No, it’s just in my head.
Tom: It helps if you write it down, by the way.
— Gustav, and you?
Gustav: I have it somewhere at home.
— Written on a paper? A real thing?
Gustav: Yep!
Georg: Yeaah, probably, it helps, when it’s written down, but…
— But don’t you get frustrated, if you haven’t achieve some things?
Georg and Tom: Noo.
— Because I do…
Tom: Oh, really? You do? Hm… No, I don’t because it’s not… It’s something like going to India, it is not something, that I am afraid not to achieve, it is just a question if I find time to do it or not.
— You recently turned 30… (to Georg)
Tom: So you kinda want to say we’re getting old and running out of time. (laughing)
— No, no, no, wait…
Everybody’s laughing and interrupting each other.
— Wait, boys. Oh, god. I really don’t think 30 is old. I mean, in Russia it kind of is…
Bill: Oh, really?! It is?!
Georg: So in Russia I am officially old! (laughing)
— Well, society puts quite a pressure…
Bill: On young people?
— They put a pressure on you, you’d better have a family, babies, carrier. Like, you, Gustav, are done, you have a family, a baby. But these three — not so much…
Gustav (proudly): Yep.
Tom: We’re done too, in another way. (laughing)
Gustav (to boys): Might want to go kill yourselves! (laughing)
— No, what I meant is that 30 years is a huge point. Have you achieved everything you wanted to achieve by this time?
Georg: Hopefully not, because otherwise my life would be pointless…
— I mean…
Tom: No, but she is talking about, like, if you have achieved what you wanted to achieve till you turn 30. Like, as a kid you imagine «when I’m 30, I want to have this and that…
— Exactly!
Georg: Ah, yeah, ok. Then, yeah, I think I achieved more, than I ever thought of. We toured the world, we turned our hobby into our job, this is the best thing that could happened to all of us. I am pretty happy now, when I turned 30, I’m not afraid of getting old.
— What it was like to grow up on public eye? Because you know what, when we were getting in here today, there were girls waiting for you in front of the hotel, and it’s very cold out there. And I thought, what it feels like? I mean, it’s probably kind of 50/50, when people want a piece of you. And sometimes some of them look at you and just drooling.
Gustav is laughing.
— They do!
Bill: I don’t know, I mean… hmm… We have always known it that way, you know. Because we were so young, when it started, we were 15. So you get used to it, that’s all we know as adults. You don’t think about it every day, it’s kind of normal, just a part of our lives, we don’t know anything, other than that. So we don’t really think what would normal life be like. It’s our reality, it is our normal life. And it’s a great life. Of course, there are things, you wish never happened, but I feel it’s the same for everyone. It is what it is. Yeah, there are some things, that growing up you wish you could keep to yourself and don’t have to share with the world.
— Well, yeah, 15 is quite a hard age…
Bill: It is!
— Teenagehood is painful…
Tom: Yes, but we are boys.
— So you are saying it is easier for boys?
Tom: Of course!
— Why?
Tom: I don’t know, I feel that for girls teenagehood is a lot rougher…
— Teenage boys are awkward…
Gustav: No, they are not!
Bill (to Tom): I don’t know about that…
Tom: No? Of course, it is! Like, you make a decision to have sex at 15 and for a boy its fine.
Bill: Well, the sex thing may be, but you can’t generalize it (twins are laughing, looking at my photographer)
— Look at her rolling her eyes!
Tom: Why? We made a wrong choice or what? (laughing loudly)
— Obviously, you are fine.
Tom: Yeah, we good.
— Is there anything, that people don’t know about you, but you wish they would know?
Bill: No.
Georg: We wish they would know?
— Yeah.
Bill: To be honest, no. There are things that people don’t know, of course. But I don’t want them to know.
— Maybe they think about you in a certain way, they have a certain image in their heads and you want to say, no, I’m different.
Tom: Yeah, I’m sure, they do, but, to be honest, I don’t even know what people think about me…
— Nah, they think pretty much the same about you…
Tom (smirking): Really? What is it?
— Ah, you know!
Everybody is shouting with laughter.
Bill: That’s the thing. We never tried to create an image, it was always about being ourselves and we always were very honest about who we are and how we live our lives. We don’t hide much, you know. I feel like we are very much… out there. With our personalities. It is really honest. I am very happy.
— What’s next?
Bill: What’s next? I think we are going to tour an entire year. We will shoot two more videos, when we go back…
— For “Dream Machine”?
Tom: Aha. We are going to work with «Dream Machine» a little longer. We are going to work with the album an entire year. We are constantly making music, but we didn’t really think about another album yet.
Georg: This year is all about “Dream Machine”.
Tom: All about “Dream Machine”.
Gustav: “All about Dream Machine” .
— Well, thank you very-very much, it was a pleasure…
Gustav: Spasiba!
— Do you, guys, speak Russian?
Bill: Nooo…
Tom: Spasiba.
Georg: Niet.
Tom: He does a little bit. (pointing on Gustav)
— There’s a rumor, that you do speak Russian.
Gustav (all shy about it): Moja po-russki ne horosho (“My in Russian not good”)
— Awee!
Tom: Awee!
— Thank you very much, boys. Can we take a picture?
— Gustav, did you just oink?
Tom (to Gustav): The same joke again and again…