TOCOTRONIC (ger) *OPEN AIR*

What's it about?

presented by ARCADIA LIVE Tocotronic are one of the most successful and influential German-speaking rock bands of the last decades. They were founded in Hamburg in 1993 by Dirk von Lowtzow (guitar and vocals), Jan Müller (bass) and Arne Zank (drums). Their debut album "Digital ist besser" was released in 1995 and combines powerful yet simple guitar rock with lyrics full of slogans that immediately became catchphrases, such as "Ich möchte Teil einer Jugendbewegung sein" (I want to be part of a youth movement). Like no other German band, they have created a body of work over decades – a work in the full and good sense of the word: a work shaped by artistic development and a lived life. A work of music and songs that emerge from each other, respond to each other, and question each other. A work in which leitmotifs remain recognizable, constantly varied and renewed, and repeatedly re-examined as to how they fit into the changing present. But a work is not only measured by itself – but by what it triggers: In the past, young people started playing guitar by learning the riff from Smoke On The Water and the chords for the traditional House Of The Rising Sun. Today, when they start with instruments, they are happy to be inspired by songs by Tocotronic. This rebellious and joyfully creative band exerts a noticeable influence everywhere in this country. Musically and fashionably, it provides boys and men with the self-confidence that Madonna still passes on to girls and women. The guitarist Rick McPhail easily finds concisely narrative tones. He places them like periods and commas on and between verses and choruses. This is how he transforms a draft into a song. The bassist Jan Müller has a romantic relationship with music that is charmingly out of time. He is the most open-minded rock fan in the band. His bass sounds like the eye of the storm in Tocotronic's songs. Drummer Arne Zank sometimes travels to the other side of the globe to discover sounds like rare butterflies. Afterwards, he returns as a musical antipode to present interesting, strange soundscapes in pleasant bars in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Singer Dirk von Lowtzow gets up in the morning and has a song ready. He has breakfast and has a second song ready. Then he walks around the block and maybe makes a quick phone call. When he comes home at noon, the demo version of a third song is as good as recorded.