About TH

Tokio Hotel, the teen band from Magdeburg, are wrapping up their first American tour, leaving behind a country willing to embrace the newest German export just as warmly as Heidi Klum and Hugo Boss. Only the band’s name is still causing puzzled frowns in the land of unlimited musical scales.


The line in front of the respectable Fillmore Theater in San Francisco stretched around three blocks. Screaming teens had lined up at six o’clock in the morning to see the new ‘German Pop Sensation’ play live in the evening. “I think Bill is so cute,” says 14-year-old Jemma from Palo Alto. And her best friend, 13-year-old Stephanie, starts squealing uninhibitedly that “Tokio Hotel is the German answer to the Jonas Brothers.”


Here, too: long lines and teens in hysterics

The same thing as in San Francisco happened to the Magdeburg boys of Tokio Hotel almost everywhere they went over the last couple of weeks. Denver, Dallas, Las Vegas or Houston: teens in hysterics, long lines, sold-out venues. No question, Germany finally has an export hit that’s not Heidi Klum, BMW or Mercedes.


Even if the US press didn’t know at first whether ‘Tokio Hotel’ was a Japanese holiday resort or a new style of Art Nouveau architecture, the critics had to realize fast that the world does not only look at Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers or Chris Brown.


The beginning was rather slow

“I was really surprised how many fans gathered at MTV in New York to get a glimpse at Tokio Hotel,” says ABC entertainment reporter Monica De La Rosa. And even Bill Kaulitz (18), Tokio Hotel’s frontman, has to admit that “we really didn’t expect such a reaction”, because the adventure of ‘Tokio Hotel in America’ didn’t actually start off that well. The US figures looked darker than ‘metro-human’ Kaulitz’s eyeliner. In May, the billboard numbers, which measure sold records in the US, remained far below expectations. The management’s desired number of 1 million sold records seemed far away.


Only 16000 CDs were sold in the US in May, even after a very elaborate marketing attack on New York and LA. Number 39 in the charts, behind unknown artists like Rick Ross and Michael Bublé. Spring’s awakening and time for a reality check.


Hard Work

However, success in the US doesn’t come overnight. Even stars like Miley Cyrus and Rihanna know this. And frontman Kaulitz, too, seemed to have expected somehow that the American adventure wouldn’t be as easy as originally planned: “It’s hard to win over fans in other countries,” he said in a heavy German accent during an English interview. And: “America is so large, it’s difficult to become well-known.” But Tokio Hotel brought German perseverance with them across the Atlantic. A concert in a parking lot in New Jersey? Done. A performance in the nowadays unimportant Avalon in Los Angeles, why not?


And now the first tour. Twelve concerts in three weeks. A marathon schedule, accompanied by a daily update on the band’s website. Actually, Tokio Hotel seem to have found much of their global audience quickly through such viral marketing. Says Kaulitz: “It’s important to gain new fans through the internet.”


Few Germans succeed across the pond

And what do Americans like about the pop musicians from Magdeburg? “They are the antidote to the Jonas Brothers,” entertainment critic Bob Strauss from the LA Daily News sums up. Black eyeliner, black painted nails – “there’s something revolutionary, rebellious about that”, Beatrice (14) from Los Angeles says. “Finally, something different than those streamlined stars out of the Disney factory,” adds Tom (15) from Santa Rosa.


So far, German bands as well as actors have traditionally had a hard time of it in the US. Nena, The Scorpions and Rammstein are still the only acts accepted by the fanbase. German movie stars like Til Schweiger and Franka Potente have tried their luck in Hollywood, failed and retreated, whining.


MTV nomination

There have been first signs of appreciation. Tokio Hotel have been nominated for a ‘Best Pop Video’ award at the MTV video music awards (September 9th, LA) with their song ‘Ready, Set, Go’ (‘Übers Ende der Welt’). “A great honor for us,” singer Bill Kaulitz said after the nominees had been announced by MTV.


No matter how things continue for Tokio Hotel, all four will take the impressions of a spectacular tour through the US home with them. “It was like a dream,” says Tom Kaulitz. And his twin brother adds quietly, “America is incredible. I’ll never forget this adventure.”