"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.
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.”
Translation by: Tokio Hotel Wonderland
Scan by: MaNu via lizzibk0630 (Tumblr)