Answers from Tokio Hotel!

As we reported in September, Tokio Hotel asked for fan questions on their Facebook! Have you friended them there yet? And now the answers are here!

You can enjoy the video they made for us right here! It looks like they are in a small airplane!

I also transcribed it as best as I could.
What’s the reason that you picked Automatic as the first single from your album?

I think it was one of the last songs we wrote for the record and I think it was just the right feeling and the right energy and everything felt just good about the song, so we went into the studio and everyone said Okay, that could be our first single and that’s it.

Do you have a favorite scene in the Automatic video?
Tom: Favorite scene?
Georg: I love all the car scenes. I love those cars.
Tom: We had some scenes where Georg was on the toilet and did some big business
Bill: No for serious, I really like the scenes where I am standing somewhere, nowhere, and the cars are moving around me and I am standing there. I think the light and everything is really beautiful. And that was, I think, one of the first shots that we did for this video and it’s really great.

This is already your second video that you shot in South Africa – what’s so special about this country?

Tom: I think in South Africa, you have the really good and really special locations. The good thing about that shoot was we had a great safari hotel and we had breakfast with Gephardts.

How long did it take you to shoot the video?

Tom: It wasn’t (something) shoot. Just five days in the middle of nowhere in the desert and you just have really great location in South Africa.

Why has your sound become so electronic in this song?
Tom: It was just Automatic.
Bill: Yeah, It just happened in the studio. We didn’t plan it in advance or something, it was just we went into the studio and I think the goal was to try new things out and try new things with the voice and with some new instruments and we created like a new sound world for Tokio Hotel.

Did you leave the Tokio Hotel sound from your previous albums behind?

Bill: I think it’s still the old sound but some new parts in it.
Tom: Yeah.
Bill: And it just happened, it was not planned. Yeah, But I think it is just fresh and something new and that’s what we wanted for this record.

Where did the idea for this song come from? Do these ideas just pop up in your head or it is personal experience? How does it work?
Tom: I think inspiration is just everywhere. You have, like the last records we wrote sometimes on tour and for this one it was (something) that we have enough time and just go into the studio and do nothing, just focus on your own stuff and on your own music. That was a (point?) for us and we have nearly one year to produce the record
Bill: I think you collect your ideas on the road, so I always have something…
Tom: But we wrote them down in the studio, so it was more a real studio album and studio work.

In the Automatic video, you’re driving some awesome care. What’s your favorite care in real life?
Tom: I also like muscle cars, I like American cars. I have a Cadillac. I also love Audi.
Bill: For me, I also love Audi. I have an Audi Q7, a new one. I think it’s cool to have a nice car, but it’s not the most important thing for me, but I really love this one, it’s a great car.
Georg: I really love those old American muscle cars. For example (?), the Mustangs a really great one.
Gustav: I drove the Pontiac GTO and I definitely know I will have this car in my life, but I don’t know when
Tom: I think it’s just as important for Georg and Gustav that they have a speed limiter in their cars for maybe…
Georg: Twenty miles per hour
Tom: 20 miles per hour
Gustav: No, no, NO! That’s too fast for me. That’s too fast.
Tom: No, I think that’s okay, Gustav
Gustav: No, it’s too fast.

Do you guys feel that you are behaving automatically a lot?
Bill: I think there are some parts in your life you do automatic, like brushing teeth in the morning
Tom: That’s not automatic for Georg, but you know…
Georg: Ohhhhhhhhh
Bill: I think in general you try to be just yourself and natural and you just do your thing
Tom: You always try to be honest and you’re not that automatic thing.
Bill: Because I hate automatic people, so I try to be, well, we all try to be, just ourselves.

The Automatic video features two robots – will robots also be part of your stage during the next tour?

Bill: I think the robots are really great and I like the whole Tokio Hotel design with their faces and everything, so maybe it’s part of the show, but it’s not fixed.
Tom: I mean, we have a brand new stage design and we are still in the creative process about the stage, but…
Bill: But we saw just the first paintings from the stage. It’s really a Humanoid City so we will bring the new city to the town where we go, so there is a lot of things going on.