(13.11.2020)
Tokio Hotel Revisit “Monsoon” 15 Years Later
When Tokio Hotel debuted with Schrei in 2005, singer Bill Kaulitz and twin brother, guitarist Tom were 15, while bassist Georg Listing and drummer Gustav Schäfer barely hit the 18 mark. It seems like a lifetime ago since those early teen years, and a non-stop ride of touring and concocting their own blend of alt-rock turned more sonic-pop as the years moved on. When the German rockers had to cut their Latin American tour short earlier this year due to the pandemic, they started reflecting on the past 15 years, revisiting old videos, photos, tour schedules, and memories, and decided to commemorate their history by reimagining the song that started it all for them, “Monsoon.”
Marking a new era of Tokio Hotel, “Monsoon 2020,” and an updated German version, “Durch den Monsun 2020,” is just the beginning of a new chapter, and the flood of reflections, for the band. Currently writing his autobiography, Bill has been digging even deeper back into the band’s nearly 20-year career.
“You start looking back and remembering things and revisiting parts of your life you thought you’d never visit again,” says Bill. “It’s also going back in time with the band and going through old photo albums and old hard drives. It feels like a different life sometimes, because when you’re 15 years old, you’re a different person, and it’s like you’re looking back on someone else’s life.”
What feels like a lifetime ago, also felt like yesterday as the brothers started listening back to their earliest version of “Monsoon.”
“When I hear the very first version of ‘Monsoon,’ I recorded it when I was 12 or 13, and I just loved how innocent we were,” shares Bill. “We had no idea about song writing and never thought that it would become such a big hit. It was just another song we were working on in the studio, but looking back on that it’s a bit nostalgic and gets you sentimental. We were such babies.”
Typically, the Kaulitz brothers don’t get lost in nostalgia or look back when it comes to Tokio Hotel. It’s always about the next song and the next move, but there was something about “Monsoon” that made everything more intentional when marking the band’s 15-year milestone.
“This time it was special, because we planned this,” says Tom. “We were like, ‘okay, it’s been 15 years. We have to look back, look at old photos, maybe put out a new documentary or do something with the old footage we have,’ and that’s what we did.”
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