Interview with Popeater!

Subject: Interview with Popeater! Thu May 22, 2008 12:55 am

Interview with Popeater!!

What inspired the songs on your record?

Bill: A lot of things: We found inspiration in situations or circumstances that happened in our lives over the past few years and also in the lives of our friends and family. We've also been moved by fans who have written us letters about their lives, and we've included some of that in our music and lyrics.

What's your favorite song on the record?

Tom: That's a tough one because it always changes and we also differentiate between "favorite song on the record" and "favorite live song". My favorite live song right now is 'Don't Jump.'

Gustav: For performing live, it's 'Raise Your Hands.'

Bill: For me, it's 'Break Away.'

Georg: Hey, same here. Right now, it's 'Break Away.'

Bill: But as Tom said, if you would ask us tomorrow we might name totally different songs -- it always changes.

What are the most-played songs on your iPod?

Tom: '99 Problems,' by Jay-Z.

Georg: 'Big Casino,' by Jimmy Eat World.

Gustav: 'Make It Whit Chu,' by Queens of the Stone Age.

Bill: 'It Means Nothing,' by Stereophonics.

Stern in Germany have picked up on Tokio Hotel and their "pitiful sales". Translations credit to Narin @ tokiohotel.org.uk:

Pitiful sales figures for Tokio Hotel

Tokio Hotel is on a US conquest tour. And the country of endless opportunities lies at the feet of the teen-band. At least, that is what can be read everywhere. Far from it; hardly anyone wants to buy the CDs of Kaulitz & Co.

What to do, when the German market is conquered? Well, it’s clear; on to America. Tokio Hotel is on a US tour. And with “unbelievable success,” as the PR strategists behind Kaulitz & Co. continually report to the homeland. New York, Los Angeles, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers must receive them warmly. Here comes Tokio Hotel!

Or maybe not? In reality, the facts look gloomier than Bill Kaulitz’s eyeliner: According to current Billboard figures which measure record sales in the USA, 16,000 Tokio Hotel CDs went across the counter straight at once. In spite of this, the band is under costly PR-attacks like similarly unknown artists such as Rick Ross and Michael Bubble. In any case, the aim of the Tokio Hotel management team for one million sold CDs lies far in the distance.

“America is so big”

Time for a reality check: Success in the USA certainly doesn’t come overnight. Stars like Miley Cyrus or Rihanna also know this. And somehow frontman Bill Kaulitz also seems to have suspicions that the American adventure is no walk in the park: “It is very difficult to win fans in other countries,” he says with a strong German accent in English interviews. “America is so big, so it’s really hard to get known.”

German staying power

Nevertheless, Tokio Hotel has brought a good German virtue across the Atlantic with them: staying power. A concert at a parking lot in New Jersey? Been done! Entrance into the (today rather unimportant) “Avalon” in Los Angeles? Certainly! 1,500 fans fit in there – over 900 people weren’t allowed in. This is still a long way away from the success of Miley Cyrus, who sold out a concert hall with 10,000 seats in less than 10 minutes.

In reality, German-speaking bands – and also actors – traditionally have a hard time in the USA. Nena and Rammstein are still the only German singing exports who are acknowledged by a fan base today. German stars like Til Schweiger or Franka Potente fail miserably in Hollywood, and at long last pull out grumbling from there.

Following this, the fact that Tokio Hotel – or rather; their management – has the goal to conquer the financially lucrative US market is stopping nothing. It is also a daring manoeuvre for Kaulitz & Co. to even travel there. America is the largest music market in the world. World-famous bands play good locations in LA every day. They come, and they go. Often almost unnoticed. A band like Tokio Hotel could quickly disappear into no man’s land before they’ve properly got going at all. And then “Scream” – the English title of the current album – would remain proverbially lodged in the throat for them…

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