Tokio Hotel are less confident on their music, the leader Bill Kaulitz said that the band is not expecting to be awarded at the Sunday’s Cerimony, in Hollywood.

At the category of “Best New Artist”, the band of the brothers Kaulitz, is the only masculine and foreign band on the competition, which made the band really happy, confess the vocalist: “It is really special for us - is America and is our first american award, is a big thing for us”.

“It’s really hard to make some fans in other countries, and here is hardest - America is really big and is really hard beign famous here (…) We are very happy with our fans here. In America, we see a fan and we say, ‘Oh, how proud! We have a american fan’”, says so.

About the nomeation to “Best Pop Video” with the videoclip “Ready, Set, Go!”, Kaulitz said: “We have no change”, says also that one of the highlights of the night will be meet Rihanna, who him considers very sexy.

The 14-year-old Viktoria Dräger is a Tokio Hotel fan like millions of other teenagers. But she’s already played with the two figures of the successful band from when they still used to go the kindergarten in Krähenwinkel.

From 1993 until shortly before the start of 1996, the identical twin brothers Bill [now vocals] and Tom [guitar] celebrated with the neighborhood’s children birthday parties when they were still in Birkenweg 66b at home.

Viktoria still lives opposite. “We had a large tub in which the twins liked to bathe in,” says Viktoria’s mother Sabine Dräger. “Then they quickly ran home across the street dressed in a bathrobe.”

When Viktoria was still small, Simone Kaulitz, the mother of two brothers, used to take care of her when the parents had to leave for a bit. Kaulitz worked as a day mother, her husband as a truck driver for a Langenhagener DIY store. For the parents, this job was the reason for their move from East Germany to here.

“The truck was always parked in front of the front door in the evenings,” recalls Sabine Dräger. Even a few doors down, the boys went in and out from the Weigert family. Daughter Melanie visited with them kindergarten.

“Bill has always been the feminine one of the two,” says mother Petra Weigert. Bill, with his now androgynous image and flamboyant make-up style, has always liked to dress up; not like the other boys as a cowboy or knight - a carnival photo shows him as the fortune teller Esmeralda.

“He’s always had the imaginative costumes,” raves Petra Weigert. His mother sewed them for him, seeing as she was famous in the neighborhood for her artistic skills and craft. Her services were gladly taken in any case, such as if a fantastic wedding dress was needed.

On the wall of the children’s room from the twins was a Mickey Mouse painted from their mother - with an electric guitar in his hand.

“The two were always very fussy with their stuff,” the Dräger and Weigerts agree. Bill never allowed anyone to touch his Barbie with the mermaid look. “Above all, no one should get to her hair,” says Petra Weigert. “But because of his fondness for dolls, Bill was already very popular by the girls.”

Already back then the two weren’t afraid of being the center of attention. Often have they been down the runway as child models for a childrens boutique in Langenhagner. And many Krähenwinkeler sat in front of TV as the two made their first appearance in an NDR series. “Always neat, but also a little bit extravagant,” describes the Krähenwinkeler Bill and his ten minutes younger brother Tom. Their trademark was pirate headscarves.

There is a black hole in their biographies: Born in Leipzig, grew up in Magdeburg as it’s often told. Even the record company blocks off on that.

On request from the Nordhannoverschen, they informed that the musicians did not wish to have any reports about their childhood in Krähenwinkel, thus leading to why there are no photos, material and definitely no interviews. Only after Bill’s performance in the casting show Starsearch did the Krähenwinkler take note of their former neighbour.

They heard about the band’s success in newspapers. All contact attempts to the twins through the internet and youth magazine have failed. But even so, ex-neighbour Petra and daughter Melanie Weigert still went to their first big gig in Magdeburg. Like many thousands of other fans, they weren’t able to get near the band.

“Three months after they had moved due to the separation from her husband, Simone Kaulitz called me and said she doesn’t want to have anymore contact. She wanted to close off with her past.”, explains Petra Weigert. “I got the impression that she stamped off that time as bad.”, says neighbour Sabine Dräger regretfully.” Although, we did experience so many nice things together.”

Viktoria Dräger is an open fan of her past play mates. She’s long had up a star cut in her room before it started to tear and curl on the edges. Last weekend she was allowed to take part in a big fan meeting in Cologne, where at least there were doubles of her old friends. “The band is simply amazing.” she says. She especially likes the German lyrics: “Not all tralala unlike the most.”
Translated by Lenny

In the United States, the Jonas Brothers are all scream and money, nonetheless, in Germany, another group of adolescents have also emerged with surprising success. We’re talking about Tokio Hotel, four boys who are sweeping across Europe and now in our continent.

The soul of the group are the twins, Bill and Tom Kaulitz, who, since they were young kids, began to become interested in music, the result being that at the age of thirteen they had already recorded their first CD.

Tokio Hotel is one of the young bands of the moments and their innovative style is what has gained the most attention in the music world. “We like many different styles of music and when we get together and play, our Tokio Hotel style emerges. It has been a mix of all of the things we feel about music,” said one of the band members.

The quartet edited their CD Scream which is a compilation of their two past albums, but with songs sung in English, now that their objective is to conquer this part of the world, which appears to be already happening as they are nominated in category of best music video at the MTV VMAs, competing against the Jonas Brothers and Panic! At the disco.

As if it were nothing, they continue to accumulate specialized magazine covers throughout the entire world, including Chile, where Wow hosted an exclusive interview.
Translated by closetthfan

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“We don’t expect it, so for us, it’s so cool to be nominated,” frontman Bill Kaulitz told MTV News. “I think it’s really, really special for us — it’s America and it’s our first American award, and that’s so huge.”

The German pop-rockers are up against American pop stars like Jordin Sparks and Miley Cyrus, but back in Germany, the guys are the megastars. They’ve sold millions of records in their home country and scored several #1 hits since they got together in 2001. Being crowned Best New Artist in front of an American audience would only solidify their fame here in the United States.

Just because they’re rock stars back home doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate being nominated for a VMA. “I mean, I still can’t believe it,” Bill said. “Last year we were nominated at the [MTV Europe Music Awards; they won one] and it was the biggest thing we had, and now it is the Video Music Awards.

“It’s really hard to get fans in another country, especially here — America is so, so big, so it’s really hard to get known in this country,” Bill told MTV News back in May. “We are so excited we have fans here at all. In America, we see a fan and it is like, ‘Oh, we are proud! We have a fan in America!’ ”

But with a couple of VMA nominations on their side, it seems that now they have more than just one fan in the States. Guitarist Tom Kaulitz added, “To be nominated at the VMAs, for a German band, I think it’s crazy.”

The guys also have a chance to pick up the Best Pop Video trophy for “Ready, Set, Go!” Of going up against the likes of the Jonas Brothers, Bill modestly said, “We have no chance.” But one thing he does hope he has a chance of doing is meeting Rihanna at the big show on Sunday. “I think it would be so cool to meet Rihanna, ’cause she’s so sexy.”

Now that you’ve helped us pick the nominees for this year’s Video Music Awards, head to VMA.MTV.com to vote for your favorite in the Best New Artist category, check out the latest additions to the performer and presenter lineups, see the best (and worst) of VMA fashion and much more. Then tune in this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET for MTV News’ “Opening Act” on the red carpet, followed by the big show, live from Hollywood at 9 p.m. ET.

Also, another little tidbit McNugget for you: Tokio Hotel is going to be pulling up to the VMA red carpet in a most outlandish set of wheels. No, not a Maybach. Think American… Very American… And it’s not the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, though that could be the greatest image ever.

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