When Monsoon hit the charts across Europe like a tsunami in 2007, Bill and Tom Kaulitz had not yet turned 18. Twins made different by their respective looks: long black hair and dark eyeshadow around Bill’s eyes, in full emo style, blonde rasta dreadlocks and Tom baseball cap. The two musicians from Magdeburg, Tokio Hotel’s voice and guitarist / keyboardist, have grown up, now they are 32 years old and have sold 10 million copies behind them. And their music has also changed, taking on softer, less aggressive tones, more electronic sounds that sway between pop and dance. Two years ago they were on tour, then Covid stopped everything. Now they are ready to return, next spring, with the Beyond the World Tour, which will stop in April at the Fabrique in Milan.
Soon you will be back to playing live. How do you feel?
Bill: We can’t wait. We worked a lot in the studio but we haven’t been on tour for a while, we’re a little anxious to be honest, it’s a state of excitement that has built up and fueled over the years.
Tom: And we have to take back our hand, get used to it, because we haven’t done it for a long time.
What do you expect from your Italian show at Fabrique?
Bill: We have always been very good in Italy, our Italian fans have always been loyal, we have played there many times and we will have the opportunity to do it in a big club. We expect a great show
Tom: It will be fun!
How has your music changed since Monsoon till today?
Bill: I think it has changed just as much as we have changed as people. It is a period that covers almost half of our life, when you are in your 30s your music is different than when you are a teenager. We have more faith in our style, we use more electronic sounds, more instruments that we didn’t play at the time. Maybe it got more indie pop.
Tom: It’s hard to put a label on it, it’s different every time we go to the studio. Bill and I are producers and writers and that’s how it works for us. The next two singles will tend more towards origins, with a greater use of heavy guitars. But our music changes all the time, with us, and now we are more in control of our music.
What about your fans? Are they still the same or have they changed?
Bill: I think they have changed. Someone today didn’t even know Monsoon, they discovered us with the new songs, with Love who Loves you Back or White Lies. But there are also fans who grew up with us and who now maybe bring their kids to our shows. It is funny.
Let’s talk about Covid. What impact has it had on your lives and your creative process?
Bill: To be honest, the last year was the best for us creatively. We opened up to new ideas, we went to the studio a lot, we had time to fully concentrate on the music. But I also wrote a book, I took the time to explore my other passions more deeply. We were lucky because we have a studio at home, for others it wasn’t as easy, the only thing is that we couldn’t do the tours, but we did TV shows and a podcast.
Tom: But we miss the stage, so we’re back on tour in April. Especially because we have had so many creative outputs and we want to show them to the public.
Quoting a verse from your latest single Here Comes the Night, is it all a dream or is it reality?
Bill: A little bit of both. I wake up everyday so grateful for the life we can live, yesterday our song went platinum, it’s great to have so many people supporting our music. 2021 has been one of the busiest years for us, we have achieved so many goals. We are happy to be able to do what we want. But there are also days when you don’t want to get out of bed.
Tom: It depends on the day of the week, Monday is reality, Friday is a dream.
Another recent piece of yours is White Lies. What are white lies to you?
Bill: A white lie is when you say something so as not to hurt someone.
Tom: Yes, I would say it’s a perfect description but that doesn’t include when you’re in a relationship, you cheat on someone and you don’t tell them, that’s not a white lie.
Bill: The other day I said one. I was invited to an event, they were so happy to have me there, but I was hangovered. I didn’t feel like telling them the truth and so as not to hurt them I said I had had a family emergency. I think it was a white lie, I didn’t hurt their feelings, they had their party and had a blast, thinking my absence was motivated by something serious.
Tom: Ok, here we are on the edge, I’d say it’s a pretty good lie …
Your tour is called Beyond the World. What does it mean for you to go beyond the world?
Bill: I think it’s like a fantasy, trying to push reality a little further, what you try to do with live shows, when you get goosebumps and you travel to other places with your mind, you forget about space and weather. What music does to you.
Your latest album, Dream Machine, was released in 2017. You have already announced the next one, the question is: how long will we have to wait to hear it?
Tom: We are ready, the album is ready, if we wanted we could pull it out at any time
Bill: We could send it to you now if we wanted to, but we won’t.
Tom: We want to create more anticipation, we have more new singles planned: Bad Love, the next one, will be out in January, then we have a featuring with another artist in February, a new song in March, one in April. The album will be out after the tour, certainly in 2022, and we will play a lot of that during the tour.
Source-tg24.sky.it