(26.22.2009)
It is extremely difficult for a band, any band, to bridge the gap between international markets and the lucrative United States landscape. Tokio Hotel, who hail from Magdeburg, Germany, have been one of the few hugely successful rock acts to make the leap with an increasing amount of success. The Tokio foursome of Bill Kaulitz, Tom Kaulitz, Gustav Schafer, and Georg Listing recently released their third studio album, Humanoid on October 2, and have seen their star rise in the U.S. due to the popularity of singles, “Automatic” and “World Behind My Wall”.
Tokio Hotel began their ascent to the top of the music industry when they were signed to Sony BMG earlier in the decade but were dropped in 2005 prior to the release of their first album. Universal Music saw the potential in the German teen rockers and quickly picked up the contract from Sony. Tokio Hotel released “Durch den Monsun” (Through the Monsoon) as their first single but the second single, “Schrei” (Scream) became an even bigger follow-up, which led to English translations and Tokio Hotel’s first full-length English album, Scream in 2005.
Aside from critical acclaim, various nominations and accolades at international awards shows, plus thousands of screaming fans worldwide, Tokio Hotel soon tapped into the music DVD market for even greater success while also balancing the conflict between pirated downloads, sales, and legal digital downloads. Connecting with the fans, Tokio Hotel released their behind-the-scenes DVD Tokio Hotel TV- Caught on Camera last December, which included backstage footage of Tokio Hotel with fan access plus featurettes on the journey of Tokio Hotel. A special deluxe edition was later released with a second Tokio disc, Future – The Road to the New Album.
As proof of international popularity of Tokio Hotel, front man, Bill Kaulitz was immortalized in wax at the famous Madame Tussauds Museum in Berlin in September 2008. Kaulitz is the youngest person to have been given the honor and his trademark look has since become one of music industry’s most recognizable alternative images.
October was a busy month for Tokio Hotel after a whirlwind of press and media dates that spanned Europe and North America. On November 5 in Berlin, Tokio Hotel beat out a slew of music heavyweights like the Black Eyed Peas, Jonas Brothers, and Green Day when they won the MTV Europe Music Award for best Group.
In an interview with Myspace Music Feed, Tokio Hotel spoke about the difference between playing arenas in Europe as compared to the smaller clubs and venues in the United States. Bill called it intimate in relation to the larger, more crowded stage of the U.S. However, at the pace Tokio Hotel is taking over the world, it won’t be long before Tokio Hotel sells out venues all over the U.S.
With a lengthy tour schedule in support of Humanoid, the guys of Tokio Hotel have encountered their fair share of setbacks, including a tour hiatus after Bill went into surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal chords during the band’s 1000 Hotels Tour. Bill and Tokio Hotel have since recovered and continue their push into the mainstream American market. Humanoid has a futuristic, alt-electro-based atmosphere that gives Tokio Hotel a unique sense of individuality in a market with so many mainstream copycats. Interestingly, with Humanoid, Tokio Hotel has evolved without completely alienating their original style of music, and more importantly, their loyal fan base.
Now that Tokio Hotel has brokered a distinctive sound to go with their dark but explosive alt-image, there’s no slowing down for Germany’s biggest band on the scene today. Although Tokio Hotel has conquered nearly every continent and have been certified 10x platinum, the German rockers have quickly invaded North America on their way to becoming the new generation’s supergroup. With all eyes and ears trained on Tokio Hotel, the German foursome has become one of the most buzzworthy bands on the internet. Most recently, Tokio Hotel officially confirmed “World Behind My Wall” as the second single from Humanoid while their song “Human Connect to Human” became the background track for the highly touted Verizon Droid phone. With North America as the only territory left to fully conquer, the guys of Tokio Hotel are only beginning to realize their as a band after a six year journey to the top of the global music scene. It’s an amazing Tokio feat when you think that Bill and twin brother, Tom, were only 13 years old in 2003.
