PHOTOS: Flight From Frankfurt To LA (29.03.2015)

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ARTICLE: JustJared - Exclusive Interview (09.02.2015)

Just Jared: LA nightlife inspired your new album, Kings of Suburbia. Are there certain places in LA that you love and go to often?

Bill Kaulitz: I feel like we have phases, where we go somewhere a lot, and then we don’t go there anymore. The only place we always go, like Tom, you are just not that into nightclubs...

Tom Kaulitz: I am, I’m just not so much into dancing.

Bill: Yeah, but we kind of always like to drink a lot and talk afterwards, and listen to some music. Soho House is just a classic where we always go. And then it changes. I liked Sound for awhile. 

Tom: And Hyde, once a week, at least.

Bill: I love Warwick. And nightclubs, I don’t know. There were those pop up parties downtown, they were cool. We went out so much, I don’t remember!

JJ: What are your favorite lyrics from your single, “Love Who Loves You Back”?

Bill: “Love who loves you back,” probably. (laughs) Because that is what it really is. I feel like we all shouldn’t think about who we love, because we can’t control it anyway. And I feel like so many people try that, but I feel like it’s beautiful that we can’t control it. We all tend to try to have control of our heart but I feel like in the end, we really can’t. And that’s for me, what the song is about also. Just love who loves you back, just enjoy love.

JJ: Do you guys feel like you fall in and out of love lots of times? Can you love multiple people at the same time?

Bill: I mean, yeah. Tom loved a lot of girls every other night when he was younger. (laughs) He was, you were pretty wild. Now he kind of settled. I feel like that was when he was 16, 17.

Tom: Everybody does at that age.

Bill: I didn’t.

Tom: Yeah you did.

Bill: I didn’t. I feel like I’m the opposite. When I fall in love, I fall hard. And then I’m sure about that. But it takes a while ’til that happens. So yeah, I’m not like that, I’m not the one night stand kind of guy.

JJ: Do you think there’s one person in the world that you’re meant to be with? Or do you think there’s multiple people in the world you could be happy with?

Tom: Oh yeah, I think there’s multiple people. That’s what I think.

Bill: I don’t know. I feel like it’s very hard to find someone you love in and out, your soul mate, and someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. I feel like you should be, you have to be very heavy because there are billions of people out there and I just feel like, to find that person, that’s super hard. And I feel like you have to be lucky. I feel like people think they might find the right person, and then they think they are so in love, until they really meet their love. So, I feel like you’re not.

Tom: I feel like it could happen to you a bunch of times. So many people are in serious relationships and are really in love...

Bill: But I’m saying you’re one person.

Tom: Yeah, I don’t know. This is just a dream scenario...

Bill: That’s not a dream scenario, it exists. I feel like it exists. I believe in that.

Tom: Well, no. Of course it’s possible to find the person you love and you may spend the rest of your life together, but you never know.

JJ: Do you know what your next single is going to be?

Bill: Yeah, in Europe it’s going to be “Feel It All”, and in America, we are still undecided, because we are still working with “Love Who Loves You Back.” But in Europe and the rest of the world, it’s going to be “Feel It All”.

JJ: Outside of music, would you guys ever act? Have you ever been offered any acting projects?

Bill: Yes, actually Tom and I were offered a movie awhile ago. But then the whole movie industry was so slow.

Tom: I thought music is slow, but movies, that’s crazy. No, but we got an offer for a movie...

Bill: To play brothers.

Tom: To play brothers. And I liked the concept.

Bill: We’re still trying to make that work.

Tom: It’s just so weird because I hate when musicians try to act, and when actors try to do music. Most of the time it’s just stupid.

Bill: But we want to try that. (both laugh)

Tom: But maybe we can make an exception. Maybe it’s good when we do it. I don’t know. I’m still not sure about it. We had a lot of test shoots already.

Bill: Yeah, we had that a while ago.

Tom: That was awkward.

Bill: They said I am a natural talent. (laughs)

JJ: Is there a scripted American television show that you guys would want to guest star on?

Bill: Breaking Bad, but that’s not on anymore. House of Cards!

Tom: House of Cards would be amazing.

Bill: I love House of Cards. I would do anything to be on that show. I love that show.

JJ: You guys are obviously very into fashion. Are there any new designers on the scene that you have been wearing?

Bill: Not new. I’m totally into Givenchy. I love everything they do. I think everything is amazing.

Tom: We really like KTZ.

Bill: I really like KTZ, yeah they are kind of big now. Yeah, these are my favorites at the moment.

JJ: What is your favorite place to shop in LA?

Bill: All the stores on Fairfax now. They are all the new stores I like.

Tom: Church is cool.

Bill: Church I like. I like Oak. I like all these small little stores. And then of course, I always love Barney’s.

Tom: Barney’s yeah! I love Barney’s. (both laugh)

JJ: Would you guys ever start your own clothing line?

Bill: Oh yeah! It’s my dream. I want to do that so bad. Ever since, like I started when I was super young too, like make my own t-shirts and stuff. Because I had no money, so I just bought like cheap stuff and then made like a new piece out of it. My mom was into that too, so she kind of always helped me out. And I started to sketch when I was young, it was always my dream to do that. I have, I already have everything ready. I have a concept and almost like a first collection. I’m just kind of waiting for the right moment. I feel like when I do it, I want to do it properly, and not being a celebrity that just puts their name on something. I want to do the real thing.

Tom: You can do it when I do my DJ project.

JJ: What kind of aesthetic do you think that clothing line would have?

Bill: I like all the old stuff. Like, baroque, combined with modern, new fabrics and styles.

JJ: What songs are you guys singing in the shower?

Tom: Believe it or not, I don’t sing at all. I don’t sing at all.

Bill: It’s so hard for me to believe that. You sing with me in the car sometimes, when I sing.

Tom: Yeah because, when he sings...

Bill: But he always only sings when I’m singing.

Tom: Yeah. And the funny thing is, I can really hit the right notes when I just sing with Bill. If I would sing by myself, it would sound horrible. Because I never sing, so I think I have an amazing voice, (Bill laughs), I’m just not practicing.

JJ: You have a good singing voice, everything looks perfect on you...

Tom: I’m just a perfect human being. (laughs)

JJ: Do you have any celebrity crushes?

Bill: Okay, there is one, everyone else thinks it’s awkward, but I love Kate Winslet a lot. She’s kind of old for me, but there’s something about her, I just think she’s sexy. And she’s an amazing actress.

Tom: And then you got Rachel McAdams.

Bill: Rachel McAdams. Rachel McAdams is always going to be my favorite.

Tom: She’s great.

JJ: What is your ethnic background?

Bill: Uh, we don’t have one. (laughs)

Tom: We actually don’t know.

Bill: I have no idea, actually!

Tom: I would like to find out.

Bill: I would like to find out because people always tell us, like there needs to be something. Something needs to be in there.

Tom: I think Bill looks a little Turkish.

Bill: But I don’t think so! A lot of people say that sometimes, but I don’t think so. I don’t know. I only know that we, like the whole family is German, so I don’t know. But maybe way back somewhere there’s something, I have no idea.

JJ: Do you have any favorite books? Or books you’re reading right now?

Tom: No.

Bill: I never had a favorite book.

Tom: I always want to convince myself to read. I have so many books because people keep giving me so many books, like, “Oh you have to read that.” And I don’t have the time for it. Like when I have a free minute, I always go to the studio. I wish, I always want to read something good, but I just can’t convince myself.

Bill: I like “Kill Your Friends”, I like it a lot, but I wouldn’t consider it my favorite. But I wouldn’t say that’s my favorite book, I would just say it’s a good book.

Tom: It’s a great book.

JJ: Would you ever write your own book?

Bill: Yeah! I mean, we’re going to do that this year. So maybe that’s going to be our favorite book then. It’s going to be a biography, just like our first 25 years. We are going to write it together. I hope we have the time for it, because we really want to write it.

Tom: We want to try to bring it up obviously.

JJ: Do you think you would have your own individual voices in the book or would you write it together to create one voice?

Tom: I think individual.

Bill: Yeah, individual. I think there are some stories you can tell better than me, and the other way around.

JJ: Part one of your world tour, what can people expect?

Bill: So this is going to be way different than anything we’ve ever done so far. It’s going to be like super small, special, nightclubs or clubs, like life clubs. But sometimes we play in like a church, so it’s either in a special location or a legendary club. And we actually want to put on, like not a normal live show. We want to try turn this into a nightclub. We really want to take our fans to a party. So I think it’s going to be great.

Tom: We’re in the middle of putting everything down right now. There’s going to be a crazy light show.

Bill: It’s going to be a good light show, and it’s going to be small, just up to like two thousand people, I think. And then we’re going to continue, like later on this year, we’re going to do the arena shows, the bigger shows. But we’re going to start with that, it’s exciting. We announced the first fifteen dates, I think? And then we are just going to continue.

Tom: It’s going to be really intimate, and super hot. It’s little venues, and sweating people.

JJ: Do you style yourselves, or do you work with costumers? How does the look come together for all your concerts?

Bill: I always try to work with someone on tour. For the last two, I worked with Dan and Dean from DSquared. And we made the costumes together, they turned out amazing. I love to work with them, they’re so much fun. So I always like to work with someone for tour. This time, I, it looks like we’re going to work with Marco Marco. He’s going to do the costumes. I just had my first meeting, so it’s still very fresh, but I think we’re going to work together.

JJ: Do you have any rituals before you go out on stage?

Bill: Yeah, we activate our (together) Power Ranger power. (laughs) It’s a stupid thing, we all stand together and activate our powers. It’s super cheesy but we do that every time.

[Editor's note: we asked Bill and Tom the below questions at separate times, so one couldn't hear the other's answers.]

JJ: Quick: Vanilla or chocolate?

Bill: Vanilla.

Tom: Vanilla.

JJ: Hugs or kisses?

Bill: Kisses.

Tom: Hugs.

JJ: Silver or gold?

Bill: Gold.

Tom: Gold.

JJ: Lights on or lights off?

Bill: Lights off.

Tom: Off.

JJ: Truth or dare?

Bill: Um, truth.

Tom: Truth.

JJ: Facial hair or clean shaven?

Bill: Facial hair.

Tom: Facial Hair.

JJ: Sunrise or sunset?

Bill: Sunset.

Tom: Sunrise.

JJ: Shower or bath?

Bill: Shower.

Tom: Shower.

JJ: Boxers or briefs?

Bill: Boxers.

Tom: Briefs.

JJ: Jay Z or Kanye?

Bill: Jay Z.

Tom: Jay Z.

JJ: Tattoos or piercings?

Bill: Tattoos.

Tom: Tattoos.

JJ: Los Angeles or Hamburg?

Bill: Los Angeles.

Tom: Los Angeles.

JJ: Karl Lagerfeld or Hedi Slimane?

Bill: Oh my God. These questions are hard. Hedi Slimane.

Tom: Uhh... It’s tough. Karl Lagerfeld.

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HQ PHOTOS: JustJared - Exclusive Portrait Session (09.02.2015)

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HQ PHOTOS: "L'Officiel Hommes" Photoshoot by Christian Anwander

PHOTOS: Rockpalast Backstage Spezial (24.11.2014)

Rockpalast Backstage Spezial was filmed on the 24th of November with Bill and Tom, and it will be aired on January 14th, 2015 at 11:35 PM CET on MDR.

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ARTICLE: GuitarWorld - Interview With Tom Kaulitz

Following the success of Tokio Hotel’s 2005 debut album, Schrei, twins Bill and Tom Kaulitz—along with bassist Georg Listing and drummer Gustav Schafer—became the most successful German rock band of the last 20 years.

Tokio Hotel have built a huge fan base and sold more than 7 million albums worldwide.

But in 2009, after years of relentless recording and touring, the band decided to take a break and relocated to Los Angeles to find new inspiration. The result is the band’s third album, Kings of Suburbia.

From the propulsive and sensual “Love Who Loves You Back” to the catchy, guitar-driven “Girl Got a Gun," Kings Of Suburbia combines songwriting maturity with polished production.

I recently spoke with guitarist Tom Kaulitz about Kings of Suburbia, his musical upbringing and more.

GUITAR WORLD: A few years ago, the band made the move to Los Angeles. What was the reason behind it?

We recorded our last record in 2009 and afterwards decided we needed to take a little bit of a break. We wanted to go to a different city to find inspiration and also start a little bit of a private life. We had been on the road since we were 15, putting out records constantly and being out on the road touring. So we decided to go to LA and produce the new record there.

How would you describe Kings of Suburbia?

It's a little more electronic than the albums before. We played a lot with new sounds and programming, which was something we had never done.

Our whole songwriting process changed a little bit when we started to write for this record. For the first time in our career, we really had the time to do things the way we wanted. It was a development for us. We built a home studio and I started to program and lay down some riffs. Then we met up with a few producers and songwriters and said, "OK, let's see where this goes." It turned out amazing. We're really proud of this record.

You mentioned the songwriting process. Can you tell me a little bit more about it?

It changes all the time. In In the past we would usually take our acoustic guitars, sit together and jam and then take it from there. For this record, we really wrote on track. Most of the time I would have a demo that was pretty far along and the others would then come up with melodies.

Do you have plans to tour in support of the new album?

Yes. We're already planning on touring most of next year. We'll start out in Europe and then we're going to play the U.S. We already have a few dates set for early next year and the summer. We'll be playing all over the Asia, South America and Europe.

What can you tell me about your musical upbringing?

We grew up in a small town in East Germany and always had music around us. From the time I was able to play three chords on guitar, we went on stage right away to present it. We've always knew that we wanted to do it professionally but grew up in an area where there was no real music scene. So we went to school with the idea of possibly taking on a different job, but things just took off. We've been doing this now for 14 years, and it’s been amazing.

Who were some of your musical influences?

I was always a huge fan of Joe Perry and Steven Tyler. The first record I got from Aerosmith was Big Ones, and I remember listening to it all day, every day! [laughs]. My stepfather was also into music and played guitar and introduced us to AC/DC. AC/DC and Aerosmith were the bands we grew up with and loved. We recently met them [Tyler and Perry] at a concert, and it was a dream come true.

What excites you the most about this next stage of your career?

I'm most excited about touring next year. Music has changed so much over the years. Today, it's all about touring. We love being up on stage and are looking forward to playing. We've been pretty much everywhere in the world except Australia. So we're hoping to get chance to play there as well. Touring is the thing that keeps us going!

For more about Tokio Hotel, visit tokiohotel.com.

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HQ PHOTOS: Playboy Radio Interview - Los Angeles, California (20.11.2014)

SCANS: L'Officiel Hommes Magazine (Germany) #12/2014

PHOTOS: Bill & Tom For Jolie Magazine By Jens Koch