I want to thank Niko & Sascha from Madsen for taking the time to do this interview - they were very tolerant & very fun & friendly!! You guys were brilliant - thank you!!! :) As this was a live interview, some parts aren't transcribed, such as most of the laughter (of which there was much!) & interjections & things I just couldn't hear on the audio after the fact... I might try to get the video edited so it can actually be heard (it's veery quiet) but for now.. I transcribed it as best as I could... -Mikki 11/11

Sascha: Definitely, yeah, definitely. Today was little more different that it wasn't sold out, all the other cities were sold out. But I think Tucson is a really small town so...

Niko: But that doesnt matter because we always it's better that about 200 people or 100 or 200 people coming to the shows and how it's so big, ok, todays was maybe 300 people but we had shows that were nearly 1000 people.

Sascha: Over 1000 people..

DML: Wow!

Niko: Yes, so we never expected that.

Sascha: No, no, of course not.

DML: So you were really surprised?

Niko and Sascha: Yeah!!!

Sascha: It was fun and the first time we played a concert there were 150 people and it's really grown & grown & grown and it was oh my god, we have to plan all this!

DML: That's cool. Have you had any fun while you were here? Did you do anything touristy or.. buy souvenirs?

Sascha: Oh, yeah, yeah, alot of souvenirs - the whole back of the bus! We were not so long in Tucson, just 2 days or something, 2 nights. We arrived the day before yesterday in the evening and yesterday we had a little trip in the desert and we were sightseeing in the city by 4th Street.

DML: Oh, 4th Avenue?

Sascha: 4th Avenue, yes, that was nice.

Niko: It's always with in cities like, on the trip in New York and Boston and Washington, we had time to do more sightseeing and go within the city. So now, in these days, we don't have so much time to view the city.

Sascha: It was really a long drive from Dallas to Tucson.

Niko: And all the time changes and so we were like "ugh" *makes a sleepy exhausted face*. Sleeping a bit more.

DML: How did you get on this tour? You applied or somebody suggested you to the Goethe Institut?

Sascha: The Goethe Institut itself choosed us and invited us and that's great.

DML: Oh, so you didn't have to apply or have other people..

Sascha: No.

DML: Oh, that's cool.

Sascha: The Goethe Institut planned to bring a German band to the USA and they thought about, they had a few bands, and it was us and we are so happy about it.

DML: You guys have never been here before?

Niko: No, no..

DML: So you got a free trip!! *lots of laughter*

Niko: It's really like a holiday, like vacation.

DML: Except you have to play.

Sascha: Yeah, yeah, yeah! *laughs*

Niko: In Germany, when we have a tour, we play 3 concerts then have a day off and here it's like exactly the other thing, it's like 1 day concert and 3 or 4 days off.

DML: So it's more relaxing?

Niko: It's the best thing you can do.

Sascha: And we see so much, there's so much.. impressions

Niko: And we feel we are only here since 3 weeks but we feel like we are here since about 2 or 3 months.

Sascha: Yeah, exactly.

DML: I was curious about how you guys decided upon the style of music that you play now.. you guys used to be in 2 other bands, right? A metal band and a hip hop band? *laughs*

Sascha: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we never decided which music we'd make, no one decided we now make *this* music.. it was a.. entwickeln?

DML: Change? (yes, my German is that bad!)

Sascha: No, no, it grew over years. These metal and hip hop things, we just played around. It was to find our style of music and with Madsen we definitely, no, we haven't found it, since now we are looking for our sound, our style of music. We are on a good way *laughs*

Niko: Imagine 2 steps and you make one step forward.

DML: Progresses

Sascha: Yeah, yeah

Niko: You should never do the same as before.

Sascha: Yeah, we're not finished yet. We are searching.

Niko: It's an evolution.

DML: So, when Madsen started, you got signed really fast to Universal, the same year?

Sascha: Yeah

DML: And so you guys got pretty popular pretty fast..

Sascha: Yeah, yeah, that's right but it grew slow. Our first single was not a big hit. But there are many people that listened to it and it grew in a slow and good way.

DML: Because you guys got better or people just...

Sascha: Um.. I think both. It's very important for us and for the band in Germany to play concerts and the concerts grew and got bigger and bigger & bigger.

DML: Go to festivals where lots of people can see you?

sascha: Yeah.

Niko: No one buys records anymore so..

DML: But they still hear the music..

Niko: So the best thing is you see that the people come to the concerts. That becomes more and more so we can't do everything wrong *laughs*

Sascha: Sometimes the best thing is asking the people in Germany at concerts, "Who owns our last record?" and the whole people, "YEAH!!!" "And who buyed it?" - a few hands *laughs* but it's this time. It's... yeah...

DML: So, does that make it hard? I mean, because you have to spend so much money to get into the studio and everything and people aren't buying your music so much even though you're spending so much money to create it.

Sascha: It's, in our case, the record company that spaces the studio.

DML: Oh, ok, so you don't have to...

Sascha: But the only thing in this point is that we don't earn money with CD's.

DML: So you sell like t-shirts and stuff?

Sascha: We get the money from concerts and t-shirts.

DML: We bought a t-shirt! We're supporting you!

Sascha: *laughs* Yeah! Now we can buy gasoline!

DML: Was there one specific moment or event that made you realize that you're actually getting big?

Niko: I think we never realized that because we are not so big. *laughs*

DML: Well, I know, but you're pretty big though!

Niko: It was exactly that what Sascha already said that the whole band grew slowly and so.. there were some moments when we played at festivals like Rock am Ring or some things like that where there were standing 40-50 thousand people in front of us and that's the point when you say, "Uh! We're just some guys from some small village" *laughs*

DML: You feel like Metallica or something! That's cool! Who writes the music in the band? Everybody or do you all work together?

Sascha: In the most time, it's mostly Sebastian.

DML: Sebastian..

Sascha: Yeah.

DML: He writes all of it?

Sascha: Yeah, he has the idea and he has the lyrics and he has the idea for the songs and we go in the rehearsal room and play it and record it. It's his idea but everybody is getting on his instrument and playing the songs and then record it.

DML: I was curious, who are all those people in your video for "Goodbye Logik"? Were they really playing your song or they were just like...?

Niko & Sascha: *laugh* No, they are fans!

DML: But they're all playing drums & guitars &...

Niko: Yeah, it was very popular that we make it do in the video and they could write the... director and he was inviting the people and they had fun!

Sascha: With facebook and our homepage.

DML: I thought maybe it was a school or something..

Sascha: No, no, they came from... the shoot was in Hamburg and they came from all over Germany. It was amazing!

Niko: There were 1 or 2 people from Austria. They came all this way for this video shoot.

DML: That's dedication! So, doing this tour, you're kind of ambassadors for German music..

Sascha: More for German language..

DML:Yeah, German language but you're bringing German music..

Sascha: Yeah, yeah!

DML: I'm just obsessed with German music *all laugh*, So, do you think it's helping? Like, do you think that other bands could follow in your footsteps possibly or do you think it'd take more events like this to get Americans more interested?

Sascha: We are hoping other bands will follow.

Niko: To show the reactions of the kids is always very cool! They are like in Germany, the fans. They really like that and they begin to talk German to us. "Hey what's happening, he's talking good German!" and it seems like they are interested in the language and perhaps they begin to listen to other German bands.

Sascha: There was one guy in Washington. He watched the sound check and he came to us and said, "Guys, it's very important to me to listen to your music and to listen to your concerts since weeks and we listen to your music and I translate the lyrics and it's very important for me and it's so important to see this live on stage" and he was really... it was cool. It was so, so impressive to see.

DML: Cool! As a band, what have been some of your best and worst experiences?

Sascha: There are a lot of best experiences I think. The great festivals with thousands of people but then also great moments when we play in really small clubs with 100 people. It can be great as well. And the worst moment, I just remembered today. We were on tour in Germany and Sebastian got sick and we hoped we can play the concert but, in the last second, we had to cancel it. The problem was, the people were already inside the club.

DML: So everyone was really angry?

Sascha: Yeah, yeah and the support band already played the concert and I had to go on the stage and I had to tell to the people that the concert is cancelled. Everybody said, I make a joke but I almost cried. It was the worst. I hated it. I hated it so much because we hoped to play the concert and we really wanted to play the concert but we weren't able and that really sucked. It was, I think, not just for me and the the band the worst experience but the worst experience in my whole life, for me. It was really, really, really hard.

DML: Wow, that is bad, a really bad experience. So, is it hard to play in a band with your brothers all the time? Don't you get sick of each other? *lots of laughter*

Niko: The only one for whom it's hard is ME! I'm no brother.

DML: But you can walk away!

Niko: So I get all the shit on me! *laughs*

Sascha: No, I think it's good, it's good for us. Because we know each other so well. Of course there are problems. Of course we are angry at each other but it belongs to brothers and belongs to other bands too and we know a lot of bands and in every band there are big problems. This is the point and in Madsen there are problems too but they're not so big and we all are really friends and we can talk to each other and we love to talk to one another and we celebrate in the bus and celebrate in the hotel. We, everybody, decide for himself but, in the meantime, we party together.

DML: That's cool. So, what kind of music did you guys listen to growing up? What influenced your tastes?

Sascha: Our parents listened to a lot of music and we loved a lot of the music. Not all *laughs* but we listened to the Kinks, the Beatles, Cat Stevens... Pink Floyd. These are the main ones. Some important German bands for us, German punk bands like Slime.

*My husband chuckled*

Niko: You know Slime?

*Husband points at me*

DML: I love Slime! I went to see them at the Rodeo in 2010 with Wizo

Niko and Sascha: Yeah, yeah! Great, cool!

DML: That was fun!

Sascha: The band was very important for us.

DML: Yeah, your other guitarist, he reminded me of Alex Schwers! *laughs*

Sascha: Yeah, *laughs*, you should have told him that! But also the English and American punk bands are pretty important, Sex Pistols & the Clash.

DML: So, pretty much, it's all over the place?

Sascha: Yeah, yeah.

DML: That's good though. Makes it more well rounded.

Sascha: Yeah, yeah! and every one of us has his own music that he listens to. That's really important too because all the influences come together in the music.

DML: Right. Well, is there anything you want to do that you haven't done yet with the band?

Niko: I think we want to do really a club show and do a tour through America and we can play in evening at 9:00 so that would be really great! Club shows maybe next year or 2013. It would be really cool.

DML: I'll be there! I guess that's pretty much it but I want to thank you very much for taking the time! :) (I then proceeded to ask them for a favor being if they could say hi to a friend on the phone but she didn't answer but they left her an awesome message on her machine - thank you guys!! You're so nice & brilliant! Hope to see you in the US again soon!!!!)

More at:

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