Interview with Tokio Hotel
I want to try something new except music with Tom.This month, Adimission free (page 84-85) published the articles written by readers who were interviewed with Tokio Hotel, coz it's initial to look into from fans' view. Overwhelmed by Bill, among those German all the people were so high. Beyond that, Bill and Tom kept talking. It was very cheerful.
Everyone was looking forward to your arrival.
Tokio Hotel: So were we.
Bill: The trip to Japan has been our dream for a long time. We are really grateful for coming to Japan finally and extremely excited. It was quite good to come here.
I guess you guys had the same answers when you were asked by South American reporters. (Laugh)
Bill: Yeah! We have told people that some day we would go to Japan for many times. What is more, our band name is "Tokio Hotel", so we want to go to Japan as soon as possible.
Tom: But when the day came, it was beyond imagines, because Tokyo was certainly too far away.
Georg: When we gave a name to our band, we wanted to figure something spectacular out. It seems that it should be a place that we can not even see and reach in the dream. And finally we decided to name it "Tokio Hotel". But we finally got to Tokyo. (Laugh)
Well, all the fans want to know more about you guys in limited times. Firstly, Tom, you said making an album was a time-consuming job when you received our interviews last time. So the next album in 2011 must be not easy. Do you think the same way right now?
Tom: Sure.
Why is it?
Tom: Actually we should have made the new song in the recoding studio at this moment, but we decided to come to Japan, actually it is not in our plan. Next time we hope we can prepare well.
Seriously? We can believe you, can't we? (Laugh)
Tom: Of course! But we have other plans in 2011 to look forward to. After all these, we can finally come back to the studio to continue writing songs. So we don’t know when the next album will be released, either. It's not that we don't like traveling, but it seems that we don't have enough time to compose in 2011.
Bill: That's because we want to make some albums of high quality. We really want to show everyone the best part of what we create in daily time, so it is necessary to stay at the studio for a long time. As we compose, we have to discuss which way is better, which sound is better and so on.
Tom: Yeah, we have been on tours this year. Once we get back to the studio, we will think about what to do next, accumulating our thoughts and collecting all kinds of inspiration. All of these are very time-consuming.
Bill: So we are not sure when we can release the next album. May be next year or the year after next. But we will immediately inform you if there is any sign. (Laugh)
How long do you spend in making a new album usually?
Tom: It all depends. It always depends on how many songs we record. It's not the problem we need to think about. Sometimes we thing it's okay after we record 18 songs, while we may not be satisfied and add something else even after we record 50 songs. Therefore it lies on our mood of that moment. If we gave you a deadline, it would be an assumption.
Oh, I see. I went to Germany and Paris the other day. I know how popular you are in Europe. You are definitely most popular.
Tokio Hotel: Yeah, it is the same in Paris.
In the first time when we interviewed Bill and Tom by phone, both of them were very friendly and easy to talk. I was so shocked. So no matter how popular you are, you are still natural and low profile. Is it your principle?
Bill: Yes, it's most important for us. We founded this band naturally and we are also good friends. We have been together for almost 10 years. During this period of time, we have performed in front of only 5 audiences. Initially we never thought about success when we sung in a small club. But now our dreams came true and I was so proud.
Tom: So we know the two sides of the business work, because we know not only the success but the feeling when we stood in front of 5 people as well. In that small club, no one listened to us, not mentioning an interview. We also know how hard to be the top one. And it is hard to perform facing 500,000 people under the Eiffel Tower, too. Because we have experienced success and failure, we are so grateful today. Maybe we are blessed.
Is it because you are Christian?
Bill: It could be one reason.
We are going to change the topic. After you came here, what do you think of Tokyo? Is it the same as what you imagined or not?
Bill: I can't imagine there are so many fans here waiting for us.
Tokio Hotel: Yeah, yeah!
Bill: I thought no one would be there and no one knew us. But after we got off the plane, many fans were waiting and sent us lots of presents. I was so happy. Everyone welcomed us friendly and zealously.
You have been used to this scene, right?
Tom: Other countries are the same, but it was the first time in Japan. So I thought maybe no one knew us at all and we had to introduce ourselves as first. I was very glad to see so many fans in Japan.
Fan in Europe must be much more than Japanese fans, but everyone here is passionate to you guys. Oh, by the way, Bill and Tom, you said you are both perfectionist. Then you cause troubles to others sometime, right? (Laugh) when did you start to pursue for perfection?
Bill: I guess it started long time ago.
Tom: Something in my body began to control me long time ago, I think.
Bill: I say to myself: "relax, relax the shoulders." But I can not. No matter what I do, I want it to be perfect. I want to make everything perfect. If there was something imperfect, it would hang around me. It's like a disease. I know sometime I cause some troubles to someone else, but I just think of it. I guess others can not be happy. (Laugh)
See? Gustav and Georg are sneering. (Laugh)
Bill: Yes, Tom and I are exactly the same on this point. So when we are together, it's too troublesome for others. I don't even know when it began. Anyway I have been like this long before.
Do you inherit this from your parents?
Bill: Maybe. We are close to our mother and never get any pressure from her. We have grown up freely since childhood. Mum relies on us very much. She does everything according to our likes and dislikes, so we talk closely and she has supported us all the time. Mum has never forced us to do anything including study. She trusts us and says to us: "you do things according to your own ideas. I believe you." Our relationship is very good, so it's hard to say if it is genetic.
I hear of that you don't hire any stylist because of perfectionism. Is that true?
Tom and Bill: Yes.
Bill: I cannot believe him. The stylist may ask us to wear some clotheses we don't like. I always feel uneasy. I prefer to choose and buy clotheses by myself.
Tom: I don't believe others, either. I want to control everything including PV, CD, total effect, stages, shows and of course music. It can be regarded as freak. But about all of this, we have own thoughts and we believe that we can do much better that anyone else.
Tokio Hotel: (laugh)
Tom: I think we will cause troubles to others. In a word, we hope to handle this by ourselves. I want to be engaged in CD with the text of lyrics or the "Darkside of the Sun" Japanese edition.
And what do you do indeed? Do you guys go shopping?
Bill: It's hard. Especially in Europe it's not okay. But there are several stores that we are familiar with. And in some particular time they are open for us specially. At that time, we can go there and take our time. Besides this, we always buy things online.
(Tom told us that Bill often went to a store called Melrose Avenue in LA.)
Shopping online? Did you buy all of these accessories you wear today online?
Bill: Sure! There are some websites where you can buy such kind of things. Sometimes in certain countries we can go out for shopping with caps and sun glasses without worrying. And sometimes designers give me some clotheses.
It sounds good. In our previous interviews, you said your apartment was not like a retail shop but a clothing shop.
Georg: They have more various clotheses than stores. It's more like a warehouse.
Tom: I have lots of clotheses, but Bill has more than mine. The amount of our clotheses is big.
Bill: I'm used to put all my clotheses away instead of throwing them. Talking about clotheses, I am...
Georg: Sluttery.
Bill: Yes, I'm like this for clotheses. I like every one very much, even though the old clotheses are still one part of my history and they have different kinds of memories. This coat is about this and that jacket is about that, something like this.
Tom: The clotheses we wore when we were in the first PV shooting are still in the cabinet.
Isn't good to donate them to charity organization?
Tom: We have done this before. But just like what we said, every one has its meaning and memory. We don't want to give them up.
I heard of that you dragged 10 or 12 suitcases on tours. Is it true? (7 suitcases for Japan)
Bill: Yeah, it seems like we carried more. (Laugh) Tours are so long time ago that I can not remember clearly.
Tom: The people who are responsible for carrying the luggage are very tired, I think. It's really good to let others help. (Laugh)
Bill: We took everything we need, because we went on a 3-month tour.
Your band was founded 10 years ago. It has been 10 years. Comparing to the very beginning, did you change your attitude to music?
Bill: I think we grew up actually. All of us grew up and became adults gradually. Surely everyone changed. We got to adapt ourselves on long time tours, so as a musician we grew up as well, which has been natural. We don’t have any thought that we begin to do like this from now on! Just let it be.
How about the subject you composed? Do you change the subject as you grow up?
Bill: The subjects are changed. I get inspiration from many materials such as fashion, people around, movies and so on. Especially my favorite movies, so the last album was inspired by a science fiction movie.
Specifically speaking, which movie is it?
Tom & Bill: It's hard to say.
Tom: Because there are so many movies.
Bill: We like too many good movies.
Please pick some among these movies.
Bill: For example, "2012" is good. And another one, what is the name? Sorry, I forget.
Tokio Hotel: "District 9".
Bill: Yeah, that one is very good. And the new one named "Tron:Legacy" is very commercial. I really want to watch. And there are some other movies that we just know the German name, but English name. I like "The Notebook" and "Labyrinth" acted by David Bowie. They are old movies, but I like them very much. "Inception" is really wonderful.
That one is hard to understand, right? By the way, the show held several weeks ago in South America was full of future sense, especially the clotheses. When you set the stage, was the idea based on your own thoughts?
Tom: Yeah! For the 3-month tour in Europe, we prepared for half a year. All the members thought over together in the rehearsal room, like the stage, the clotheses and the whole stage. It took us lots of time and energy for the preparation. We preformed a part of the whole. After all it's impossible to finish all. On the European tour, we used 15 trucks to carry all the stuff, but only plane was available in South America. And the plane had its weight limit. So we couldn't take all the stuff. Although it couldn't be the exactly same, we tried our best.
I see. The last question is sort of a joke. Tom and Bill, do you sleep in one bed?
Tom: Nope.
In the previous interview, you said you two did everything together and sometimes you sleep together.
Bill: We were seeing a movie together,but tired at the same time, so...
Tom: It's true. We are together everyday, almost 365 days and 24 hours. We may separate from each other only when we sleep in own beds. (Laugh) Except sleep, we are together.
Oh, I know. (Laugh) well, what is your goal for 2011?
Bill: Go back to our studio and create new songs.
Are you going back to Hamburg or LA?
Bill: We should go back to both of them. Sometimes we want to stay in US, and sometimes we want to stay in Germany. There are many specific plans that are proceeding secretly. But we can not tell you. Tom and I also want to try something else but music. We have not decided, but we will tell you if we decide. The next year should be mainly based on composition.
Did Bill do something relating to fashion? I heard of that you voiced a character in a movie.
Bill: Yeah, I voiced the character of Arthur on "Arthur et les Minimoys" German version.
How about others? What do you do except music?
Bill: They don't have this talent. (Laugh)
Oh! Bill! Come on!
Gustav: I might be the next Stallone in 10 years. And I might voice a character on "Arthur rimbaud 20". (Laugh)
Tom: Although I have never done this before, it's a hard job. (Laugh) Not easy, right?
Bill: It took a long time. That is the achievement I got after I had stayed in studio for several hours.
Tom: Bill is also painstaking as a singer. We are not good at voiceing and making music at the same time, because I think we are not suitable.
How about Georg?
Georg: I haven't got any good proposal. I don't know what is it going to be?
OK! Thank you very much!
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