INTERVIEW - TerraTV - Lima, Peru - 25/11/10

The question is [about] what you feel like when you’ve got to play so far away from your [home] country. Well, like... so far away from Germany.
Bill: Erm, I would say that it’s always a bit mixed. Meaning, for most parts we are, we are of course proud and are happy that we’re travelling so far away and that the people still know our music and erm, come to our concerts. And especially for a German band that’s of course some kind of a dream that came true [when] one is able to play concerts on different continents. And at the same time we’re a bit homesick. Meaning, when we’re flying for such a long time now and also are away for such a long time, then one also misses their home a bit. Erm, but of course for the most part it’s actually happiness about us somehow having the opportunity to perform.

Do you think that you may also be able to sing in another language other than English or German or that it might happen some day? Well, that...
Tom: Well, we’ve once [recorded] a song in, erm, Japanese… Well, Bill recorded the vocals in Japanese for a song, erm, and he had a bit of help with it and I think, it didn’t turn out too well for him. *Tom, the Japanese expert making Bill smile* Meaning, I’d just be interested [to know] whether they actually really understand what Bill is singing on it. Erm, but, erm, apart from that we’re pretty much occupied with English and German, I think. Well, one has got to say that especially the production of an album takes a really long time with us, erm, when we’re recording the songs in German and English. We’ve really taken ages for our last album doing it that way. Erm, so therefore I think two languages are quite enough for us.

Do you somehow feel responsible, that you’ve got some influence on your generation? Meaning, that you’ve got influence on your generation?
Bill: Erm well, actually I’ve got to say that one doesn’t think about it much because most of the time... Well, in the end we’re just making music, right? And erm, after all that’s also the thing we know how to do. That means we, we’re not thinking about influencing people somehow but we just do what we enjoy doing and erm, erm... Yes, also what we think is right somehow. Meaning, we never really think about, erm, that somebody is taking a leaf out of our book or something like that. One really just does something the way they can do it best and erm, doesn’t really think about it a lot and erm... After all we also started out very early, right? Our first single was released when we were 15 and erm, therefore we’ve always been doing it the way we somehow thought was best and what we just thought was right.

Have you known anything about Peru and about Latin America before you showed up here? *giggling*
Tom: *slightly laughing* Well, not much really. Meaning, actually we let ourselves... we always let ourselves be surprised a bit. So far we’ve always only been to Mexico. That means this is really the first time, erm, that we’re playing concerts here and erm, also see our fans and therefore... We’ve been planning this for quite a long time already and were extremely looking forward to it. Actually we’ve wanted to come much sooner, erm, but it only just worked out now and, and erm... Actually we wanted to let ourselves be surprised. Meaning, we didn’t really know a lot to be honest. However, so far we’ve got a very, very good impression. Meaning, we’ve had a really good concert in Brazil and erm, are hoping that we can repeat this today and have a good concert here. Yes! And we’re definitely pleasantly surprised.

Can you name five bands that somehow influenced you? Meaning, that somehow influenced your music.
Bill: Well, we… I can’t really, erm… *deep breath* … speak for all of us because we’re all pretty different when it comes to that. Meaning, all of us have actually got a very different taste in music.
Tom: Actually there aren’t even five bands that have influenced us.
Bill: Exactly. There aren’t actually five bands that have influenced us. We’ve also never covered songs. Meaning, we’ve always been making our own music and erm, therefore it’s very difficult. Well, now if I’m just talking for myself [and] what music I personally like to listen to, erm, then, erm, it’s definitely, like, Stereophonics and Aerosmith. But also, like, things from the Eighties. I like Depeche Mode very much and erm, a few things by David Bowie. Well, it’s very, very diverse. However, now that wasn’t... Those are not our, erm, people that we based ourselves on or something like that.

He’s asking about tonight’s programme. What will you... What will you be singing and playing tonight?
Tom: Erm well, pretty much exactly what we’ve been doing on our European tour. Meaning, we’ve tried to bring along as much of our production as possible. The set list will be the same. So that means, of course we’ve got many, many songs from our current album, Humanoid, with us and erm, will also be playing a few old songs and erm, as I’ve said before, [we] have also tried to bring along a little of the production. Erm, and I think it’ll be very good. Well, it’ll be a good show. We’ve already had the sound check earlier and everything looks very, very good.

Thank you very much.
Bill & Georg: Thank you.
Tom: Muchas gracias.
Say hello to Terra please.
Tokio Hotel: Hi Terra, we are Tokio Hotel.

Translation by THUKST