Biography

[asked what he remembers about Beatsteaks' first gig which was at a graduation party in Lichtenberg] Quite a lot, to be honest. Only positive things. This gig was the best drug I ever took or could have taken, totally incredible. I instantly wanted more, instantly wanted to be on stage again. Back then we played Beastie Boys covers, songs by the Ramones and NOFX, but also some of our own songs. This was great. Afterwards I smoked a cigarette with our keyboardist Bernd and our guitarist Peter and we talked about how we have to do this more often from now on.

[I only went to circus performance school for a year] But that was because the [Berlin] Wall fell and from that moment on the public schools were like, "Oh no, you lot go back to your regular schools!" I initially regarded this as a slap in my face.

[his memories of when the Berlin Wall fell] Mom wakes me up in the middle of the night and says, "Something really major happened. The Wall came down and the borders are open!" I was like, "That's just great! I'm going back to sleep now!"

[asked whether Beatsteaks would play at a graduation party again, perhaps that of their own kids] Uh, no, I don't know. That would be rather uncool for the kids. But generally: Why not? If the right opportunity would arise.

[reading from his application for a circus performance school he wrote at age 14] "Special goals: It is my goal to become a good circus performer one day." I didn't even know yet what that means. In many applications you would read, "I want to become a trapeze performer" or "I want to be this or that." But "to be a circus performer"? That really could mean anything. I was just like, "Dad is a circus performer, I don't know anything else, I imagine myself as a good circus performer."