Scans by MaNuy/Translation by Tokio Hotel Wonderland
Mystery about their future
TOKIO HOTEL: it became silent around the world famous teen band, since the Kaulitz twins returned to America. Does the band still exist? Following traces…
Until four years the German teen band Tokio Hotel knew only one way: the way – upwards and steeply. They could always rely on their “Aliens” – how the fans call themselves.
TOKIO HOTEL: it became silent around the world famous teen band, since the Kaulitz twins returned to America. Does the band still exist? Following traces…
Until four years the German teen band Tokio Hotel knew only one way: the way – upwards and steeply. They could always rely on their “Aliens” – how the fans call themselves.
They sold more than six million records, fans even catapulted them into the US Billboard charts (#39), they celebrated their band with hysterical love and some even learned German because of them. 400 000 Aliens celebrated the performance in front of the Eiffel tower, where Tokio Hotel got invited by ex-president Nicholas Sarkozy in 2007. And Tokio Hotel thanked their fans: “Wir sterben niemals aus. Ihr tragt uns bis in alle Zeit. Sowas wie wir geht nie vorbei.“
Back in November the Aliens presented their band with a new European Music Awards for „Biggest Fans“. Now, 4 years since the last record, the fans seem to lose their patience: “Ehere is your new single? Are you kidding me? I love you, but I can´t take your lies anymore!”, grumbles Daria Jaxn from Poland. “We can´t wait forever, our patience is at its maximum!” threats Paula Justine Jaworska from Poland. And Nacy Gotbow from Mexico claims: “We don´t need Twitter – we need a new album.”
It became silent around the band – except their intermezzo as judges at DSDS last year - since the Kaulitz twins moved to Los Angeles to avoid the excitement around them. Bill Kaulitz (24), Tom Kaulitz (24), Georg Listing (26) and Gustav Schäfer (25) promised new music multiple times: “We have now more freedom than ever before. We enjoy the time and the work on our new album. We´re working daily on it.” said Bill Kaulitz to BUNTE in December 2012.
After all we still haven´t heard anything from their new album. The official Tokio Hotel website is maintained since several months. The band doesn´t want to comment their current situation, neither their record label Universal – which wasn´t even willing to confirm that Tokio Hotel still exists. Fans are annoyed of the delaying tactics on Twitter and Facebook: “Exciting News coming up really soon.” or “Tokio Hotel collaborated again. Stay tuned“. Next to this you find melancholically black and white pictures of the nightlife of Los Angeles (“LA nights. who are you, who am I?”) and a photo of Bills new heart tattoo including a cryptic message (“Give back my heart that your body rejected”).
Did Tokio Hotel get lost in the music-nirvana of Los Angeles?
BUNTE found out that Bill and Tom still live together with their mother in the hollywood hills – and that they´re still working intensively on their new album. Even Gustav and Georg are still part of the band, they keep recording their parts in Germany and everything gets mixed together later. “The band is doing well. They´ll release their new album this year and there´ll also be for sure live concerts after.”, says producer Peter Hoffmann (60) towards BUNTE. “The band already recorded the songs. They´re currently working on the post processing and choosing the right songs”. Are there any differences between them and their record label? “No, we agree with Universal about the songs. But an international release date should be well chosen”.
Why did this take so much time then? “If you work hard, you also need to hold your breath for a longer time.” says Hoffmann. “The boys had an unbelievable pensum, but nothing has been lost.”
A friend of the band reports other things: “They do have enough songs, but their record label does not agree to all songs. It´s a huge risk to release something after such a long time. Universal and the management are scared, that the new album could be a flop, because their former fans grow older.”
The successful producer Thomas Anders also sees the comeback as a hard challenge: “Four years are like eternity for a teen band. Their former fans grow up. Tokio Hotel need to reach the adult pop market now. Miley Cyrus did it – but she did it without a break and with the help of excellent American adviser.”
For now they´re working on their European comeback, later they´ll maybe work on a return for the American music market.
A hard aim: “There are hundreds of bands like Tokio Hotel in the USA”, says music manager Thomas Stein (64), who worked for Falco and La Bouche in America. “It´s hard to establish yourself there. It´s like navigating a huge truck through a slalom. Without the right adviser you´ll set it against a wall.”
Even Thomas Anders warns the band of settling too high aims: “It´s hard to get into the American music market. When I tried to work on a new album in America in 1990, my record label told me: we can´t afford this. The producer Lionel Richie asked 100 000$ for one song. In the end the whole production would have cost around a million dollar.” Right after he added: “Even Robbie Williams wasn´t able to reach the American music market. Even though he has millions of dollar and good adviser.”
No comments:
Post a Comment