Beatsteaks
Biography
The Beatsteaks formed in 1995 in Berlin, Alte Schönhauser Str. 48/49, playing local shows at food festivals, and by the end of that summer the punk-popsters were recording a demo Beatsteaks - die Erste which went on to sell more than 1,000 copies and now has enormous collector's value.
Still only in high school during this time, the Beatsteaks steared straight towards their musical dreams, constantly participating in area competitions and talent shows.
In 1996, the band won a competition that led them to open for the Sex Pistols in Berlin , marking the band's tenth show. The later '90s were also spent recording and touring; in 1997 48/49 was released and a spring tour followed as well as support dates with Lagwagon , the Bloodhound Gang , Dog Eag Dog , and Faith No More . By 1999, the band inked a deal with Epitaph and recorded their major-label debut Launch with Uwe Sabirowski ( Mad Sin , Thumb ). The following year found them on the road, but by the end of 2001 they had settled down and went to support Die Ärzte. After that they were ready to step back into the studio. The results, 2002's Living Targets , more melodic and aggressive than previous releases.
In 2004 they released their latest album called Smack Smash , which sold over 100,000 copies.
On the 29.09.04, in their first press conference, they invited fans to ask them questions, as they didn't like the idea of a traditional press conference. Everyone met at 14:45 at the Haus des Rundfunks. After a large finger buffet in the foyer, everybody was guided into another room. On one side was a stage on which the Beatsteaks were already sat. The fans could sit down on some white quadratic cushions in front of the stage. At the beginning everybody was a little shy, but later on everybody felt more comfortable.
Some obvious questions were asked, for example which member of the band has not got a girlfriend at the moment. Torsten is the only one who's single, so he immediately jumped up out of his chair and offered his telephone number, but unfortunately no hands were raised.
The fans got further information about their idols:
• Only Thomas has a high school diploma while the other four boys only attended school until the 10th grade
• The favourite animal of four of them is the Berlin bear while the other liked the honey badger because of its qualities, namely all-day-eating, sleeping and resistance to everything
• Their favourite bands are Sublime, Depeche Mode, Pur and Beginner. They often listen to something other than rock but they don't have any special artist/band they want to work with
• They got to know their best friends Die Ärzte at an after-show party
• Their favourite spots are Berlin , especially F´hain, and the Bodensee
• The Beatsteaks are also interested in politics and think the result of the Landtagswahlen in Brandenburg is alarming.
After the press conference the Beatsteaks had to sign notebooks as well as CDs, t-shirts, backpacks and shoes.
To sum it all up, it was a very nice afternoon and everybody learned quite a lot about their idols, and had fun.
Alessa Hansen, 2. Semester