London - German pop doesn't sell abroad?

As if, says the Berlin band Wir Sind Helden, as they give 2 sold out concerts in the capital city of music, London.
 
 Admittedly, the club "Garage" in North London is one of the smaller concert halls of the city, but when 500 fans in the mother country of pop call "encore, encore" and can sing the German songs word for word, "that's a really great thing," says keyboarder Jean-Michel Tourette after the first concert. "The whole thing was a risk, we didn'tknow if we would manage to fill the hall."
 
 They managed it and had to book an extra concert because of the  huge demand. Of course, many German-Londoners were in the Garage, ranging from an18 year-old student to the 33 year-old banker who said, "It's cool that a good German band is appearing here, that doesn't happen so often." But also a few English people-- brought along by German friends-- tapped their feet to the beat of hits like "Guten Tag" and "Gekommen um zu bleiben."
 
During their current single, "Von hier and blind", the singer, Judith Holofernes, also sang a few stanzas in english. Preparation for an international career? "No, there isn't any big goal behind it all," says Keyboarder Jean. "It was just an idea we had, to play abroad-- we aren't looking for any kind of a worldwide career or anything", he adds, laughing.
 
 The Helden, the precursor to the German pop-revival of the last 2 years, recorded the song a while ago in various languages, including English, French, and Japanese--"just for fun." There won't be an English-language album, says singer Judith. "We sing in German, and it will stay that way."
 
After small concerts in Luxembourg and Amsterdam, London was naturally the peak. "We were travelling the whole time, in Notting Hill and other places, that was really impressive." The small, intimate concerts are also a nice contrast to the tour which is coming up in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, during which the Helden will play in front of between 3000 and 5000 people. "It was a little bit like it was when we were beginning," says Judith. "Little clubs are just more intimate, the contact to the fans is more intense," adds Jean, while he signs autographs on posters which are torn out his hands by the Tour Manager.
 

Original article can be found here

Translated by Kaleen.

© wirsindheldenuk.com 2005