Tocotronic
Biography Tocotronic
TOCOTRONIC
are one of the most successful and influential German-language rock bands of the last few 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 "I want to be part of a youth movement". With the following albums "Nach der verlorenen Zeit" (1995) and "Wir kommen um uns zu beschweren" (1996), Tocotronic managed to make the leap from small clubs to large venues; on the fourth album "Es ist egal, aber" (1997), they enriched their impetuous guitar rock with harmonica and strings for the first time. In the following years, their music became more and more opulent. On "K.O.O.K." (1999) they play a dark, metal-influenced rock; the "white album" from 2002 is a richly orchestrated, colorfully enigmatic record in which realism and fantasy are reconciled. Since "Pure Vernunft darf niemals siegen" (2005), Rick McPhail has been a permanent member of the band as the second guitarist; his playing, permeated with flowery feedback, has shaped the sound of Tocotronic in the future. The next phase of work, in an increasingly musically and lyrically refined way, deals with the self-contradictions of our existence, the insoluble dialectic of musts and desires, but also with aging, the happiness of maturity and the fear of death. This phase, also known as the Berlin Trilogy, includes the albums "Kapitulation" (2007), "Schall und Wahn" (2010) and "Wie wir leben wollen" (2013). With the "red album" (2015), the band goes through a new transformation, their music becomes simpler and more direct again, and autofictional motifs are added to "Die Unendlichkeit" (2018). In April 2020, the piece "Hoffnung" is released, it is about the experiences of loneliness and isolation that we have all had during the Corona crisis - and about the hope that "a little piece of lyrics and music / against isolation" will help. "Hoffnung" can also be found on Tocotronic's thirteenth album, "Nie Wieder Krieg", which will be released in September 2021, and it sets the tone for this entire work. "Nie Wieder Krieg" is about the longing for hope and healing; about the desire to no longer be hurt and misunderstood and isolated. It tells little stories of small and large wounds, intimate and universal at the same time. The autofictional element that defined “Die Unendlichkeit” is combined here again with the Tocotronic-typical art of elevating everyday life to the transcendental. The “I” becomes the “we”: the band also seems to be returning to their catchy slogans that invite you to sing along and learn them by heart – “Never Again War”, “Youth Without God Against Fascism” – but beneath these slogans lies a hurt that is more touching than ever before in Tocotronic’s work. “Ich Tauche Auf” is the most beautiful and painful love song they have ever written; “Ein Monster Kam Am Morgen” tells of the existential uncertainty from which we are all currently trying to escape, in vain. “Nie Wieder Krieg” is a great album that lends us strength and comfort without downplaying the adversities of the present in which we need this strength and comfort. In their latest, most beautiful and mature incarnation, Tocotronic are able to show us that true consolation can only be given if one simultaneously grasps the world in all its desolation.
