"WE DIDN'T HAVE A PLACE TO CALL 'HOME' ANYMORE."
Through the monsoon and around the world: At the peak of their success the "Tokio Hotel"-Twins Bill and Tom (23) left Germany – and moved to Los Angeles. Two years of silence followed. Now they’re back home – as jurors on "Deutschland sucht den Superstar"! BILD was the first one to interview Tom and Bill on the set of the casting show.
BILD: Already discovered some new talents today?
Bill: "Yes, there were quite a few good people there..."
Tom: "But no one that really blew us away. At least not today."
BILD: How do you get along with Dieter Bohlen?
Bill: "We didn't know Dieter personally before DSDS, but we've been looking forward to work on the jubilee season of DSDS with him. We got along really well right away and have a lot of fun on set."
BILD: You're also acquainted with the dark side of show business, which for sure helps you at castings, right?
Bill: "I already saw some candidates where I thought to myself: "Nope, that's just not for you..."
Tom: "Those, that only want to get famous for the sake of being famous, really annoy me. Being famous is just a side-effect, if someone is really good at something. If you can't do anything, you shouldn't even be famous."
BILD: Two years ago, you left Germany. How is your life in Los Angeles?
Bill: "We consistently tried to hide the past two years. We wanted a place where we could withdraw and where we could have some privacy. We feel comfortable in L.A. and live there with our four dogs."
BILD: Why did you – quite literally – flee?
Tom: "We'd been on the road for five years, nonstop and we just didn't have a kind of 'safe haven' anymore. We really felt like we didn't have a place to call home anymore and after some time on the road it just felt like it doesn't really matter where you sleep anymore."
BILD: A terrible feeling...
Tom: "Yes. After some time it got to the point where we felt overwhelmed and thought: Where can we go? And above all we wanted a place where we could be creative again."
BILD: ...and record a new Album?
Tom: "L.A. made it possible for us to record and work on new music in a more relaxed manner, which has definitely brought us further artistically. People are probably never going to hear a lot of the stuff, but they will definitely hear some of it."
BILD: Do you already have a release date for the new Album?
Tom: "We're still working on the new Album, but we won't rush ourselves."
BILD: Where do you feel 'at home' today?
Bill: "Actually, always where our family is. Of course our roots are in Germany, and Germany will always be our home, but Tom and I settle in fast – it doesn't matter where it is."
BILD: Bill, your appearance also changed quite drastically – the skeleton-tattoo on your hand is quite crass...
Bill: "I started pretty early! I got my first piercing at the age of 13, my first tattoo at the age of 15. I always liked tattoos and in the past few years I didn't have much time to get new ones. Now I design them with my tattoo artist in L.A."
BILD: You also built up quite a lot of muscles...
Bill (laughs): "You do what you can..."