Euro Music Talk

Usually music festivals happen during summer but not so often. If you happen to be somewhere between Vienna, Austria and Reykjavík, Iceland, starting from this month till the middle of October you might want to check out Kulttour Rocks Vienna and Iceland Airwaves 2007.

Kulttour features Austria’s shooting pop/rock star Christina Stürmer, who is the current darling of Austropop, will be there along with Germany’s Nevada Pop and Sorgente. Sugababes from United Kingdom is the highlight tonight at 5:30 p.m.

While Iceland Airwaves 2007 takes place starting October 17 every year till the 21st. GusGus will be one of the featured bands.

Kulttour, Iceland Airwaves, Sugababes, Christina Stürmer, Sorgente, Nevada Pop, GusGus

Ahhh, to be young and to have lots of fans.

For more than two years, the kids of Tokio Hotel are driving every female teenager and prepubescent girls in Europe on fire. I cannot say I don’t like them. But I admire their ability to to play music and their determination to reach the zenith of fame.

Luck? Talent? The band, which comprises of identical twins Bill (vocals) and Tom Kaulitz (lead guitars), George Listing (bass) and Gustav Shäfer (drums), is steadily climbing on top of the charts and garnering more fan base.

So far, they released three albums in German and one album in English (”Scream”) and has won several awards notably in Germany. Everyone expects them to get awards in the upcoming MTV Europe Awards.

The German rock boy band is from the urban city of Magdeburg, somewhere on the eastern part of the country. They were initially named Devilish in 2001 but changed it to Tokio Hotel their new manager. The boys said to have loved Tokio, the German version of the Japanese capital, and have stayed for several times in a hotel during touring. Hence, Tokio Hotel.

The first time I saw a clip of their first single, “Durch den Monsun” (Monsoon), I was pretty sure that the vocalist was a female. I learned later that the androgynous Gothic-looking singer was a boy. Bill is the most popular member of the group. And lately, he was the subject of a, shall we say, nasty rumour.

There’s nothing wrong with being a homosexual. But if many female adoring fans are ready to give their body to Bill, it would be a mistake to come out of the closet at this stage. Supposedly that was the thought of his band’s record label. The French gossip magazine, Voici, the equivalent of Star, reported that on September 1 Bill wrote a blog entry after a series of heavy partying on the night of his 18th birthday that he likes boys and he would be in league of the Greek philosophers Aristotle, Plato and Socrates.

Fans in every corner of Europe regarded this as trash and so speculations easily vanish. Still, in a world of black and white, it would be nice if Bill is straight and his appearance is to taunt the establishment, which by the way likes him very much.

The band launched its first English album in United Kingdom titled “Scream” in June. And if it would be successful, get ready United States for Tokio Hotel.

Tokio Hotel, Bill Kaulitz, gay, schwul

I salute you for coming here and taking a look at my new venture to discuss about what’s happening in the other side of Atlantic. This is where you get your other Old Europe’s fix and the New Europe as well.

That means you will find me mentioning some German bands, blabbering about a French lyric or two or even ranting some fresh new band from the east. Europe is not only haven for classical music, but a host of new ideas.

You hear the trendy bands from the United Kingdom that shaping the map of music scene. But it is seldom you find an exotic band from Europe break through in the Billboard’s Top 40.

So prepare yourself. This will take a long bumpy yet (hopefully) informative and entertaining ride. For you and for me…