Bill and Tom on robotic companions and their hatred of high school.It’s hard to imagine that the boys in Tokio Hotel, whose style sets the standard for trend-setting teens everywhere, were once ridiculed in high school for the way they dressed. It’s pretty obvious who’s having the last laugh, and the band channels those past emotions in their latest album, Humanoid (out now). myMag had a chat with the Kaulitz brothers about their experience growing up in a small German village, their South African video shoot and their favorite things about the U.S.
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Your video for “Automatic” has a sci-fi/post-apocalyptic thing going on. Are you fans of that genre?
Bill: A lot of people ask that after listening to the record and seeing the video. I thought sci-fi was not that cool, but after talking about it I realized I really liked those types of movies. So yeah, we are really into that stuff now.
Do you have a favorite sci-fi movie?
Bill: We just saw District 9, which was a great movie.
Do you have a hectic schedule when it comes to making music videos?
Bill: Most of the time it’s really, really hard. We’ve had videos we shot for 36 hours without any break. But “Automatic” was cool, we shot that video in South Africa and we were there for five days. It was a huge production.
Tom: It was really different; it was in the middle of the desert without any hotels, internet connection or cell phones. We just focused on that video. It was really nice.
Bill: Actually, it was really cold. We weren’t expecting that. We were like, OK, it’s Africa, we expected there to be lions and sunshine but they had winter at that time.
Could you explain the title of your new album, Humanoid?
Bill: Humanoid was always a feeling we had growing up in a small village. We always felt humanoid with the way other people saw us. It also applies to our lives right now because we don’t live normal, human lives. It’s really crazy sometimes. It fit the whole sound of the new album so that’s why we chose it.
If you had the chance, would you buy a robot personal assistant?
Bill: That would be so cool! I really want to have a robot so-
Tom: If there’s a robot out, I think we’ll be the first ones to buy it.
Bill: I really liked I, Robot with Will Smith. The robots in that are so cool; I really hope they make robots like that.
Were you trying to go in a different direction from Scream?
Bill: I think it was just time for us to do something new. We were on tour with the last record for such a long time; we played concerts in the U.S. until December of last year. So we really wanted to try something new. We listened to our inner voice and that’s just what came out. We’ll see what it is for the next record.
How do you guys get into the mood to write songs?
Tom: I think the most important thing is that you have enough time. We took nearly one year and took the opportunity to hang out together in the studio. We had almost one year to produce all the songs and write.
Bill: I think the record company hates us now. They wanted the record a half a year ago and we took our time. But that was really important for us. I think there will be leftovers for the next album.
Are there any German bands you’ve been listening to that influenced Humanoid?
Tom: In our private time we listen to really different music, so it’s kind of impossible for us to have one band. We don’t listen to other music in the studio. There’s no one influence. From Germany, there’s only one good band and that’s Tokio Hotel. [Laughs]
Who is crazier: your German fans or your U.S. fans?
Bill: I think they are crazy everywhere. They’re so energetic and they’re so powerful and that’s what we like. They’re loud and they’re screaming and I love them. I can’t imagine being on stage in front of people who just listen to the music and are quiet all the time. I think that’s boring. It’s really cool to get all the energy back from the audience.
Is it weird for you to think of yourselves as worldwide heartthrobs?
Bill: Yeah, that is something I can’t imagine, girls having posters of Tokio Hotel in their room. That’s really, really crazy. It’s just a dream coming true.
Do you tend to get recognized a lot in public?
Bill: Yeah, people recognize you everywhere. Most of the time, it’s great when we’re on the road and see fans everywhere. You see that people like it and it’s a really great welcome. But there’s the other side- you don’t have a private life anymore. You don’t see your family that often and sometimes you just miss your own bed. But you get so much back so it’s definitely worth it.
What’s your favorite thing about touring in the U.S.?
Tom: We really like the food in America.
Bill: We just love the weather, especially in L.A. It’s great. In Germany it’s freezing cold at the moment. And there are some parts where it always snows.
Do you guys always get along on the road?
Bill: No, sometimes we fight. I think that’s important. We know each other very well, we’ve been a band for like 10 years now, but we have fights sometimes.
Tom: You can fight but the most important thing is you forget about it.
Did you dress up for Halloween this year?
Bill: No, but we heard it’s huge in America. In Europe, it’s not that big. You know about it, but you don’t celebrate Halloween. We heard it’s huge here and we got so many Halloween presents.
I bet a lot of fans dress up as Tokio Hotel for Halloween.
Tom: That’s great because then we can go out and everyone thinks it’s just Halloween and we’re not Tokio Hotel.
What were you like back in high school?
Bill: That was a really bad experience. I’m happy that time is over. We looked the same in school. It was a small village and everyone would just freak out at us for how we looked. We had a really bad time with our teachers and with other people. It was good that we had each other. Tom and I were always together which was really important, but the whole school time was just terrible. We’re really happy it’s over.
When you guys got popular, did you have a lot of people coming out of the woodwork that you knew from school?
Bill: Oh, everybody did that. And I didn’t know the people! It was really strange.
Do you have a tour planned in support of Humanoid?
Bill: We just planned our European tour, so in the beginning of 2010 we play a huge tour in Europe. We just planned our stage and it’s gonna be amazing. We hope after the European tour we can come back to the U.S. and play some concerts over here.
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