(27.05.2008)
German rock band Tokio Hotel have had their share of crazy fans, and they’re only getting more with the release of their first English-language album, Scream.
If you think you know all about crazed, obsessive fans, clearly you’ve never spoken to German band Tokio Hotel. Sure, like any other alternative rock group, they have to dodge legions of screaming girls wherever they go, but Tokio Hotel’s fans like to go that extra devoted mile.
“If they write a letter – I think the longest now is 12 kilometres long, the fan letter,” lead singer Bill Kaulitz says through an interpreter. “Or they buy us a star – you know, there is a star out in the universe being called Tokio Hotel. And then we had a redesigned car, one girl redesigned her car in the whole Tokio Hotel look and kept driving next to our tour bus.”
With his long, spiky hair, heavy eye makeup, skinny jeans and tight t-shirts, 18-year-old Bill has cultivated his lean, look to perfection. He appeals to the kinds of girls.
His twin brother, Tom, seems to make a conscious effort to counteract Bill by dressing in baggy clothing, covering his dreadlocks with a baseball cap and constantly carrying himself with an overconfident swagger. While Bill does most of the talking, Tom does pipe up every once in a while to tease his band mates and reassert his masculinity.
“I could add a couple of [crazy fan] stories from my hotel room,” he interrupts. “But it would take ages and we would probably need another interview for that.”
The brothers teamed up with bassist Georg Listing and drummer Gustav Schafer to form Tokio Hotel in 2001. Although it took the band four years to hit it big in Germany, they were still only in their mid-teens when their debut album, Schrei, went platinum, turning Tokio Hotel into rock stars at a young age. After conquering European music charts many times over, Tokio Hotel released Scream, their first English album, in Canada on March 25.
“Tom and me, we were 15 when we broke in Germany and since then we are constantly on the road,” says Bill. “It was what we always wanted to do and it was a clearly-made decision. Experiencing all of this, sitting here today in Toronto, giving interviews, playing shows over here in Canada, that was nothing we ever expected, all that we thought would happen.”
Translating their songs into English was one of Tokio Hotel’s biggest hurdles with Scream because, while they can understand English surprisingly well, speaking it is another matter. Bill spent many hours in the studio going over lyrics to make sure none of the songs’ meanings got lost in translation.
“It wasn’t easy because if you compare the languages to each other, obviously in German you work with different pictures, different sentences. Not every word is found in the English language,” he explains. “We really wanted to go for a one-to-one translation, so that really took some time. Then I went into the studio and that took some time as well because I really wanted to sound native. I really wanted to sound as perfect as possible.”
“Yeah, but things take a long time for Bill anyway,” adds Tom, having gone more than five minutes without teasing his brother. “If he sings in German or if he sings in English, he always needs time. And he’s not good at hitting the right tone; that takes time as well.”
Bill is clearly used to his brother’s haughty posturing. “Yeah, whatever,” is all he mutters as he rolls his eyes.
Staying together for seven years is a remarkable feat for any band, but especially for a group who were going through puberty at the same time. But even though the members of Tokio Hotel obviously get on each others’ nerves occasionally, Bill admits that they’re better off together than apart.
“There are times when we annoy each other and get on each others’ nerves and everybody needs to get out, have his own space, time for himself and stuff like this,” he says. “But the good thing is that we know each other very well. We’ve been together for seven years. We know each as well as you actually could; everything. That really helps us. I think, actually, it brings us closer together. It just makes us stronger going through [this] with each other and it’s actually that we can’t live without each other anymore.”
Unsurprisingly, Tom is unwilling to let the interview end on such a sentimental note.
“Actually, Bill especially can’t live without me,” he says with his trademark mischievous grin. “And the others as well, they can’t live without me. Talking about me, I’m more, like, in the father role of this whole family trip, you know. They really all depend on me.”
Bill rolls his eyes again, but he can’t stop himself from smiling back at Tom. The Gallagher brothers should take lessons from these two.
– Tokio Hotel’s latest album, Scream, hit shelves in Canada on March 25.
