We hope to sell 100 Million Albums!

French interview from ozap.com
Translation by bertrann92 from THA
Tokio Hotel: "We hope to sell 100 million albums!"
How many times have you come to France before this visit?
Bill: Uh ... twenty times at least!
And how many French artists you know?
Georg: Is it necessary to name them ? (laughter)

Maybe one or two ...
Georg: Well ... Gérard Depardieu ... Carla Bruni ... Justice!

OK ... then three! You may know that Carla Bruni is very sought after right now, would you consider a duet with her?
Bill: To be very honest ... we never heard her music! We only found out that she sang yesterday!

How many French fans have shouted your name?
Georg: It's gonna be a lot!
Tom: How many people live in France? (laughter)

Approximately 60 million ...
Georg: Well at least 60 million! (laughter)
Tom: No, to be honest, I doubt there has been !

It's been several years now that those millions of fans scream when they see you. Do you sometines think that these reactions are a little hysterical?
Tom: So far, zero times.
Bill: Not at all, rather the opposite!
Tom: From time to time, rumors say we are irritated because people scream incessantly. But I think that the screams are what's best for a group, and for us it is never too much.
It is we who have paid the video for "Automatic"
How many songs have you recorded this new album?
Bill: On the normal version of the album there are twelve songs, and there are sixteen of the collector version, but there has been much, much more!

And how these song represent an evolution from your previous albums
Bill: Actually, it's hard to truely describe this evolution. For us, it was a normal evolution, not something planned ... One does not say "bah right now, we will change things." In fact,since we had not not written in a long ago, we first asked what we wanted to write, so we tried many things with instruments, and that's how the new album was born.
How was the process of translating songs in to English?
Bill: We worked with four producers in the new album, because even if one speaks English well enough, we still need a little help. They, of course, speak fluent English.
Tom: And it's easier for us to write English than to speak it - in an interview for example (laughs).

Do you know how much it cost your clip for new single "Automatic"?
Tom: Yes (laughs). We were the ones who payed for it !

You pay your clips?
Bill: Yes, we invest in ourselves. Record companies have almost no money, and if you really want to have a nice clip, I think it is essential to invest.
Tom: I think it cost so much that we will not get a penny after working for six months.
Bill: I think we could easily buy two beautiful Ferrari with the price of this clip!

[we hate the paparazzi ]<-- random

Exactly, if there is less money in the safes of the labels is partly because of illegal downloading. You have young fans, and a certain number of them probably practice piracy. How do you react to that?
Bill: I hope they do no pirate our work!
Tom: Anyway, no one can escape the illegal downloading. It concerns the world of music entirely, and I think not one artist is immune to it. On the other hand, I think our fans love having the real CD, and when they find us they show us that they have bought our CD's.

How many times have you been asked if you were single?
Tom: In total? Not so often ...
Bill: If we weren't it would make world news { not sure if thisis right)
Gustav: Almost as many times as we asked where our name come from
Georg: At least a five-digit number, I think!

Do you feel the pressure from the press, with all these questions about your private life?
Bill: Yes! It hate the paparazzi! There are not any tricks in where on can loose a habit and truly there are times when one feels one's going to snap ... If we do whatever we want, but they can always find us.

Why not take our audience seriously?!
How many people attended your concerts in total?
Tom: Are you also counting the concert in Paris under the Eiffel Tower?
No, it's cheating that there were many other artists!
Gustav: 10 000 per concert venue in tours ...
Tom: So 400 000 per tour, and other concerts ...
Bill: There were three tours, so it must be total ... in 1.5 million?

And among these 1.5 million viewers, how many were girls?
Tom: I would say ... between 60 and 70%.

Do you not get the impression that this public very young and filled of very young women has prevent you from being taken seriously as a musician?
Bill: But why one does not take young girls seriously?

It is often said, for good or for bad, that young girls are more susceptible to trends ...
Tom: He must still say that our fans are very loyal, so I do not know if we can talk about trends. And then I think that we should not generalize. The image people have of our fans is a bit distorted, they think that they go for boy bands and that they range in the ages of 10-15, these fans are actually a little less faithful.

How many albums have you sold ?
Bill: Five million media, but I do not know how many CDs from this figure.

Some artists know what kind of numbers by heart: the number of sales positions in the charts ... Are these things that do not interest you?
Tom: No, actually, it does not really interest us ...

So if I ask how many CD's you hope to sell for your new album, then you say ...
Tom: 100 million! (laughter)

We will not cancel the concert due to swine flu!

A final question that has nothing to do with numbers ... Are you scared of swine flu?
Tom: (laughs) Georg scares us every day with that
Gustav: Now I'm more afraid of Georg than of swine flu! (laughter)
Bill: Georg told us not to be vaccinated because the vaccine has not been tested ... It's just the vaccine from a pharmaceutical company!

A great French artist, that you may know, Johnny Hallyday, recently had to cancel a concert in the meeting due to swine flu. ..
Tom: Yes, we know him, he was in Star Academy with us.

Are you afraid of finding yourself in his situation and having to cancel some concerts?
Bill: Canceling a concert? No! We take planes every day, we are with fans all day, so I do not see why we would cancel a concert ... It is difficult to be protected, so if one is going to be sick it is inevitable.
Georg: Yes, but in large spaces such as a concert hall, the risk of contamination is higher ... So it's more dangerous for the fans!
Tom: Very good point, George