Welt.de : "Being an adult is relativ"
Children, time flies by: The Teen Stars from Tokio Hotel are almost twenty. Bill and Tom Kaulitz talk of crashes, with 15, their luck, to go shopping theirselves, and why they prefer to talk to Grandma’s.
“Bill Kaulitz never leaves the house unvarnished,” says the woman from the record company. The time in the mask must therefore always be calculated at appointments. And when the petite young man stands in front of you, you get a slight idea of how much time he needs for his appearance.
Among the perfectly coiffed black and blond dreadlocks, a composition of a black and white line graces his eyelids, and his suitably painted nails. The hands in leather gloves have difficulty to arrange the mass of chains that are attached to his black shirt.
His twin Tom is sitting next to him, on a couch in a hotel room with pink painted walls. He fancies himself as a street rocker with a leather jacket and braided hair. Not less expensive, but not as striking. Two ordinary guys in pop-star attire.
WamS: Bill, Tom, both your birthdays are on September 1st, what do you desire?
Bill: I want to be together with my family, see my friends and drink coffee. I love coffee, I drink gallons of it. And I’d like a round of coffee with cream pies. And it would be great if everyone would be older than 60. Thus, a real coffee party.
Tom: Coversations with old people result in coversations that are completely off the beaten track. They have quite different thoughts. This would be great, every Sunday a coffee-party
WamS: Do you have any material desires?
Bill Kaulitz: I don’t.
WamS: A new car, maybe?
Tom Kaulitz: I think, that there’s no one who would give me something physical as a present. But sure, I would be happy about a new car.
WamS: You’re turning 20. Are you an adult?
Bill Kaulitz: I think I’ll never grow up. But growing up is relative. I already thought when I was 13 that I can do whatever I want. Go into Clubs and drink alcohol – I always felt older than I really am.
WamS: Via distance learning you finished secondary school and got awarded for a particularly good performance.
Bill: This is almost embarrassing, right?
WamS: A little bit.
Bill: Tom and I hated going to school. That was the worst time in our lives. I feel sorry for everyone who goes to school.
WamS: What was so bad about it?
Tom: Most of all we were scandalized because of our appearance in the school. But I think that the worst of all is, that the personality of each individual get’s totally suppressed in school.
Bill: Tom and I got transferred into two different classes for disciplinary reasons in 7th Grade. We were really rebellious children, and almost got expelled from school. But not because of drugs or fights. But because of discussions, which the teachers simply weren’t up to. And then you realize that pedagogy comes much too short in teacher education. A lot of people simply slip into the study because they see no other way. But if you want to be a teacher, you really have to want it and you have to have the passion for this job.
WamS: A lot of your fans take you as their role model. Are there any values that you want to convey?
Tom: We really don’t think of ourselves as role models.
WamS: But you exemplify it a little bit. Are you aware of this?
Tom: No, very often not. You have to free yourself of this. We have very limited free space anyway. I don’t want to suddenly pay attention to not use swear words in interviews.
WamS: But you, for example, supported an Anti-AIDS campaign.
Tom: Of course, sometimes we try to stand up for things which we think are important. But in the end: I hate this “Role-Model-Position” (Cmmt: Like, people always taking them as an example, pointing the fingers at them etc.). I don’t want to turn into something like this.
WamS: Will you vote?
Tom: Uhm, yes. Let’s see.
Bill: Then, in any case, the first time.
WamS: What’s the percentage of normalcy in your life?
Bill: 1%.
WamS: Is it the same as with the international stars, that you can’t even go shopping?
Tom: Yes, absolutely. When we started making music, we were at an age where our parents bought everything for us – now we’re at an age where we need to do this by ourselves but we can’t.
Bill: It sounds kind of cool to have a personal assistant, who get’s you everything you want. But I would also like to choose my yogurt by myself.
Tom: In the U.S., there are also supermarkets, which are open 24 hours a day. You can go down there at four in the night, when nobody else is there. We once walked into the toy department, and bought everything. Guns with arrows or remote-controlled cars.
Bill: And then we shot off the cars with the arrows. Totally ridiculous.
WamS: And how do you buy your clothes?
Bill: Usually trough the Internet or from catalogs. Totally Boring. But sometimes you have to jump over your own shadow. Fuck it, if photographers and fans are outside the door. Sometimes you have to go out, you need this little piece of normalcy to live.
WamS: What’s on your catering wish list?
Bill: Actually, every year there’s a new one. And I must admit that it’s pretty long. But we are at home so seldom, that we always try to make it as comfy as possible. The most important things are coffee and real blankets in the hotels. These wool-blankets are the worst. Because they make you feel like you’re at a camp. That is what is most important to me, a real blanket and pillow.
WamS: Do you still have normal friendships from the past?
Bill: Only (from the past). In the Tokio Hotel time we didn’t get to know any new friends because we can’t even really get to know each other. Everyone who meets us, already has an opinion about us.
WamS: Are you extra-cautious with getting in touch with new people because you have often been deceived?
Tom: Yes, most of the times from hidden-editors. We had had extreme experiences at the beginning of our career. At 15 we were at every after-show party and we have, of course, been drinking alcohol. Back then, it was like this: You drank a sip of alcohol, and then the next day the editors called the Youth Welfare Office who wanted to call off the project (Cmmt: With the Project they mean their career as Tokio Hotel) completely.
WamS: But you probably get coached in how to deal with such situations.
Tom: No, we never did. And I do not even want someone who tells me how I should respond to the questions.
Bill: You have to learn this by yourself, by bolting into such a situation and then living with the fact that sometimes also bad things are written about you in the newspapers.
WamS: Do you get psychological support for such cases?
Tom: Our family and friends are our psychological support. I could imagine getting professional help, but there’s the problem with the time again.
Bill: I can understand, when people do that. The problem is, I don’t believe in it.
Tom: I also always think I’m smarter than the psychologist himself.
Bill: Exactly. Everything I tell you, I tell you deliberately, because it’s my problem. And then the psychologist would say: Yes, you need to take some time to think about it. And then I think to myself: Great, I also knew this before.
I need you like a heart needs a beat
