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(30.04.2008)

You the Habbos sent in your questions…

It was so fun to have Tokio Hotel hang out in Habbo and then answer some questions from you the Habbo’s. Be sure to check out the their group page Tokio Hotel Fan Group!

Burning Questions for Tokio Hotel…

souljaboy88: Are you guys from Germany?
Tom: Yes, of course. We are all from a little place called Magdeburg.

The-Forgotten.: Where You Been Friends Before You Formed The Band?
Georg: Gustav and I met at music school and we became friends before we met Tom and Bill after one of their performances. That’s seven years ago and we all became really close friends.

lollipopthe: How did you guys get discovered?
Bill: We really put all our time and energy in our music. We sent tapes to record labels and Mtv, we made our own CD and sold it, we played as often and as much as we could. And then, finally one night, a producer saw us performing in a club!

:Michael,: What inspired you to choose the name: “TokioHotel”?
Tom: We used to have another band name. But after we met our producer and we started working in the studio we wanted another name – one that fit us better. We all like big cities, plus it really sounds cool. Also we were looking for a symbol that would represent our live as musicians – we pictured us staying most of the time in hotels, which became true. Here you go: Tokio Hotel.

.:Dragon16:.: How old are you?
Bill: Tom and I will turn 19 in September, Gustav will turn 20 and Georg just turned 21 in March.

btm=12: Who is your idol?
Tom: We never really had idols. We always wanted to do our own stuff, create our own style. Also we never could agree on ONE band or artist cause we have such a different taste in music.

Foxigirl: Do you have any pets?
Gustav: We all have a dog and a cat.

:CutiePatutie:: Why is your new album called Scream?
Bill: Well, it’s the title of our first German album. The English version is a mix of our favorite songs from the first and second album. Scream is def. one of them. And we love it’s message. The song is about standing up for yourself, speaking your mind and express yourself no matter what other people might say!

Elmo!,: I love the song Ready Set Go. But What Is It Really About?
Bill: It’s about going for you dreams, leaving everything behind you to start something new. It’s about tearing down walls and not being caught in life and rules.

Sxiandbad!: Do you prefer singing and recording songs in English or German?
Bill: By now the English songs feel like the German ones. But when it comes to writing I will always write in German and the songs will be then translated into English. German is my native language and it helps me express myself the best.

MattInc: What’s it like being on the road 24/7?
Tom: We love if. Of course you don’t get to see your friends and family very often but you get to see so much. It’s über-exciting and what we always wanted.

!.NeWYorK122.!: Do you all get along or do you get in fights sometimes?
Tom: We are friends but of course we do fight as well. Even me and Bill.
Georg (laughing): Yeah, and you don’t want to be involved…

uloveme731: Did you always want to be rockstars?
Bill: I always wanted become a singer and the others wanted to become musicians. That’s why we started so early.

EasyFries: How do you get your hair so cool :D?
Bill: With a lot of hairspray 😉

luv.tOkiOhOtel: Hey Bill !! How’s your throat ?! Got any cool scars ??
Bill: I’m totally fine thank you! No scars! I feel great and can’t wait to go back on stage!

Stonewolf:Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
All: ON STAGE!

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(09.05.2008)

Tokio Hotel hope to expand thier already rapidly growing fanbase
to make it big in the U.S.

By James Montgomery, with reporting by Kim Stolz

We are so excited we have fans here at all,’ says Bill Kaulitz, frontman for the German pop-rockers. According to their (rather rabid) fanbase, Tokio Hotel are:

A) “Certainly the most interesting up-and-coming music act in recent years”
B) “The cutest Germans I’ve ever seen”
C) “F—ing amazing. … They showed me that music doesn’t have to be complex and full of technicalities for it to eat my f—ing heart alive”
D) “An amazingly talented group of young guys. And the twins are amazingly hot!”
E) “sooooooooo HOTT!”

But, there lies a problem or, more specifically, the challenge that faces Germany’s hottest pop-rockers: They are massively popular in their homeland (not to mention pretty much everywhere else in Europe), having sold more than 5 million albums, singles and DVDs in just more than three years, and they lord over a dedicated online army. Yet here in the States, they probably couldn’t get arrested, unless frontman Bill Kaulitz’s epically spiked mane violates some sort of zoning laws or something.

In short, Tokio Hotel  have a legitimate shot at being the biggest rock act on the planet. All that’s standing in their way are the amber waves of grain and purple mountains majesty of the United States.

It’s really hard to get fans in another country, especially here, because America is so, so big, so it’s really hard to get known in this country,” Kaulitz said in a heavy accent. “We are so excited we have fans here at all. In America, we see a fan and it is like, ‘Oh, we are proud! We have a fan in America!’

So with the hopes of increasing that fanbase here in the States, Tokio Hotel — including Kaulitz and his brother Tom on guitars, bassist Georg Listing and drummer Gustav Schäfer, have just released their first English-language album, Scream, which features re-recorded versions of tracks from their first-two German efforts, Schrei and Zimmer 483. Distributed here by Cherrytree (an Interscope imprint), the album is chuck-full of crunchy riffs and lyrics, a cash cow clearly aimed at the Hot Topic set and their chain wallets.

And if it manages to score big, well, then the guys in Tokio Hotel will know that their hard work has paid off. After all, getting to be the biggest band on the planet isn’t easy.

We had some help with this album, because our English is not so good. For me, it was pretty hard to go into the studio and sing English for the first time, because I always sang in German, and we’ve been making music for seven years and it’s always been in German,” Kaulitz laughed. “So that took some time, and hopefully the fans will like it. It’s really important to us that everyone can understand our lyrics, so we said we’d try it. But also, the fans in America want to hear German songs … and last time we played here, we did two German songs and they sang the songs with us.”

Ah, yes, their fans here in America. They’re a small — but loyal (and vocal) — bunch, turning Times Square into a squealing mess Tuesday when the band appeared on “TRL” and packing Hollywood’s vaunted Roxy earlier this year for Tokio Hotel’s first U.S. show. Clearly, the seeds have been planted. And now, everyone involved with the band is hoping they’ll come into bloom.

We expect great live shows here. We’ve played a few times here, and it was great. So now we want to play a tour,” Kaulitz said. “So we might come back and play a tour. I don’t know. We are going back to Europe to start writing a new record, and then we’ll do it in English. And then we want to come back.”

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(15.05.2008)

Bill, Tom, Gustav & Georg  of  TOKIO HOTEL  were back in the MuchMusic building today, and so naturally, since it worked out 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 likethe 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.
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 favourite 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.

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Filed Under: TH-Interesting Interviews

(19.07.2008)

Message from Tokio Hotel

re: The Belgium Festival

Hi everyone! We really had tons of fun performing on Sunday at the Werchter Boutique Festival in Belgium. It was terrific to see how many of you Tokio Hotel fans came out to watch us LIVE! nfortunately there was an incident that soured the whole experience – at the end of our performance we were not allowed to play an encore and we were forced by the officials to leave the stage! You can´t imagine how sad and angry it made us not being able to say a proper goodbye to you guys.We are very much looking forward to return to Belgium and to do a much longer show.

See you guys soon and all the best to you! Bill, Tom, Gustav & Georg