‎

FORMATION

It all started with two twins, Tom and Bill, who were musically encouraged by their stepfather Gordon Trümper, an amateur guitarist. At a gig in 1995 in their hometown Magdeburg, Gustav Schäfer and Georg Listing saw them playing keyboards instead of bass and drums, and decided to join them. The result was the founding of the band, which they called “Devilish”. They started playing in small urban clubs and even rented a studio, although they did not produce any albums in it.

After Bill Kaulitz participated in 2003, at the age of thirteen, in a children's star search contest (which he lost in the quarter finals), he caught the attention of some of Europe's best known producers: Peter Hoffmann, David Jost, Dave Roth and Pat Benzner. In 2003, the group signed with Sony BMG. Devilish changed its name to the one we all know now: Tokio Hotel. However, shortly before the release of their first album, Sony BMG terminated their contract. Not long after, in 2005, they signed with Universal, Schrei's publisher.

SCHREI: DEBUT ALBUM (2005-2006)

The first single from the album Schrei was Durch den Monsun (“Through the Monsoon”) and reached number one in Germany on August 20, 2005, where it remained for seven consecutive weeks, topping the Austrian charts as well. The album Schrei was released shortly thereafter and has achieved sales of almost three million records in Germany alone to date.

Their debut album, Schrei, was released on September 19, 2005, and was certified triple gold by BVMI in 2006 for selling over 300,000 copies in Germany. In 2006, a third and fourth single, “Rette mich” and “Der letzte Tag” were released; both also reached No. 1. Der letzte Tag” contained a B-side entitled ‘Wir schließen uns ein’, which was also accompanied by a music video.

The album Schrei was re-released in 2006 under the name Schrei: so laut du kannst ('Shout: as loud as you can') due to the singer's change of register, as well as the new aesthetics adopted by the band.

ZIMMER 483 (2007-2008)

The first single of their second album Zimmer 483 (Room 483), called "Übers Ende der Welt", was released on 26 January 2007 and quickly reached No. 1 in Germany and Austria, and No. 2 in France. Zimmer 483 was released in Germany on 23 February 2007, along with a deluxe edition of the album containing a DVD. The album's second single, "Spring nicht" was released on 7 April. A third single, "An deiner Seite (Ich bin da)", was released on 16 November. The single contains the B-side "1000 Meere", for which a music video was also produced. On 28 April 2008 Tokio Hotel released their single "Heilig" but no music video for the single was released, because of the tight schedule they had.

Like wildfire, the band gained the attention of an entire generation. In France, the group’s popularity exploded. They went from playing small club gigs for 500 to performing at the foot of the Eiffel Tower for a crowd of 500,000 screaming fans phonetically belting out the words to Tokio Hotel’s German hits. Soon after they made a history by becoming the first German band to score a #1 hit on the Israeli radio charts.

SCREAM (2007-2008)

Tokio Hotel's first English-language album, Scream, was released on 4 June 2007 throughout Europe. In Germany, the album was released as Room 483 in order to emphasize the continuity with their last German album Zimmer 483. Scream contains English versions of a selection of songs from Tokio Hotel's German-language albums Schrei and Zimmer 483.

The "1000 Hotels" European Tour began on 3 March 2008 in Brussels and continued through locations including the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Serbia and Scandinavia. It was scheduled to finish on 9 April; during the concert in Marseille, France, on 14 March, Bill started to experience vocal problems. The rest of the "1000 Hotels" Tour and a scheduled North American Tour were cancelled after the band's manager announced in Bild that Bill Kaulitz had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords. Bill Kaulitz had been putting strain on his voice after playing 43 concerts in the 1000 Hotels tour without a break.[18] He had to undergo larynx surgery on 30 March to remove a cyst that had formed on his vocal cords. The cyst resulted from a throat infection that had gone untreated. Following his surgery Bill could not speak for ten days and had four weeks of vocal rehabilitation.

Tokio Hotel started performing again in May 2008 and after that they embarked on a second part of their 1000 Hotels European Tour, adding many open-air concerts and wrapping up the tour on 13 July in Werchter in Belgium.

HUMANOID (2009-2012)

In early September 2009, Tokio Hotel announces the release of their new album (third studio album) Humanoid, spelled the same way in English and German, the title of their new album is all science fiction, and inspired by futurism, with new songs and new electronic sounds, the band takes a step forward in their career by evolving the way they make music and composing new songs.

The German version of the album was released on October 2, 2009 in Germany and other European countries, while the English version was released in the United States on October 6, 2009. Unlike their previous English-language album, Scream, Humanoid had no UK release. In mid-September, the single Automatic (English version) and Automatisch (German version), which will be part of the album, are released. In 2010, they toured all throughout Europe for the album Humanoid, titling the tour Welcome to Humanoid City. Shortly after the end of the tour, they released Humanoid City Live, a live DVD and CD released on July 20, 2010. It was recorded on April 12, 2010 at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan, Italy during their Welcome to Humanoid City Tour. The DVD bonus material includes a new “backstage” episode of Tokio Hotel TV, and a photo gallery.

In December of 2010, Tokio Hotel released Best Of, a compliation of their best and most successful songs. Both English and German albums were released December 14, 2010. The limited edition deluxe CD/DVD was released on January 18, 2011. On December 18, 2010, Tokio Hotel made the long-awaited arrival to Tokyo, Japan, for a showcase. In February 2011, the returned to Japan for a longer period of time to bask in the glory of their success.

KINGS OF SUBURBIA (2014-2015)

It is their fifth studio album and third that is only in English version but not in German version, the same was announced at the end of 2013 and was released on October 3, 2014, has a more pop and electronic sound with respect to their previous album. The release of the album was surrounded by controversy among their fans for the new style that the band was adopting, with a combined sound between rock-electro, and a renewed image away from the classic dark style, the band returned to musical activity after almost 5 years of absence releasing the singles Girl Got A Gun released on September 23, Run Run Run released on October 8 and Love Who Loves You Back released on October 6, 2014. The reception from fans had mixed reviews between those who qualify it as an adaptation of the band to modern times and those who see it as up-tempo or different from the original essence of the band.

Tokio Hotel announced a new world tour for the year 2015 that would take place in Europe, North America and Latin America, this would be named after the first single from the album “Feel It All World Tour”, the tour kicked off in London on March 6 and ending on November 14, 2015 in Novosibirsk; reason why on April 14 of the same year the video clip “Feel It All” was released.

In addition to the return to the stage, the band returned to record their activities on their social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, being in the latter through which they share activities of the band, or the production of the album, such as the “makin off” of the video clips, the “tour rewind” and excerpts of each M&G with the fans.

DREAM MACHINE (2016-2018)

The band first announced that they were beginning work on a new album back in 2015 while filming for one of the episodes of their web series "Tokio Hotel TV". Since then, Bill posted some lyrics and sneak peeks on his Instagram account.

On December 23, 2016, Tokio Hotel released the first singles titled *Something New* and *What If*, from their new album called Dream Machine, an album that unlike the previous ones was produced entirely by the band, after the band decided not to renew their contract with Universal Music Group (since the contract signed in 2005 would have expired in 2015) the band decided to sign with the German label Starwatch Music. The official release date of *Dream Machine* was March 3, 2017 and the album tour ran from March 13, 2017 to the beginning of 2018.

The third single, "Boy Don't Cry" was released on 20 October 2017 along with its accompanying music video, with also three remixes; "Regi Remix", "Tiefschwarz Remix" and "Drangsal Edit". The fourth single, "Easy", was released on 22 December 2017 along with its accompanying music video.

Melancholic Paradise, Durch den Monsun 2020 and Monsoon 2020 (2018-2020)

On 29 October 2018, the band announced via their official Facebook page that they would be embarking on a new tour in 2019 named "Melancholic Paradise" wherein they would perform both familiar songs and new ones from their then-upcoming album. Only Europe dates were announced at that time. The singles "Melancholic Paradise", "When It Rains It Pours" and "Chateau" were respectively released on 1 February 2019, 5 April 2019, and 17 November 2019.

In October 2019, Bill Kaulitz announced through his Instagram account that Tokio Hotel's next album has finished with recording sessions and would be released in 2020. In addition, the next day, he announced through his Instagram account that the band has a brand new tour in North America and Latin America called “Melancholic Paradise Tour” for the same year with the release of the band's sixth studio album. The band had only completed three venues on their North and Latin American tour and the rest of the tour was cancelled at the last minute before their show in Ecuador due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting closures around the world.

All photos, videos and content were removed from Tokio Hotel's official Instagram account in early August 2020, and older photos of the band were posted in their place. It was later revealed that this was due to the 15th anniversary of the release of the band's most important single “Durch den Monsun” released on August 15, 2005 and titled “Monsoon” in the English version released in the following year. During a live chat on Spotify, the band confirmed that new versions of “Durch den Monsun” and “Monsoon” will be released sometime in the fall of 2020 as a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the single, which was then revealed via Instagram as October 2, 2020. Then on January 15, 2021, the band released their next single titled “White Lies”, followed by the other singles “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Sorry not Sorry”, released on August 27, 2021.

2001 (2022-Present)

According to the band, in this new album they wanted to compile songs that brought back memories of their golden years. As they always do, they decided to experiment and give us an album in which together with them, we can remember those eras; not with the pain and remorse of knowing all the things they went through, but rather with melancholy, nostalgia and obviously enjoyment.

On 16 March 2022 the band announced a new single called "HIM", which was released on 8 April 2022 along with its official music video. On 28 April 2022 the band uploaded a "spoiler alert" snippet on their official TikTok account showing the vocals for their new single "When We Were Younger", which was released on 27 May 2022. An official snippet of the song was also posted on their official Discord server, and its official lyric video was uploaded onto their official YouTube account. The band recorded a new single with German indie rock band Kraftklub called "Fahr mit mir (4x4)". This was released on 8 July 2022. On 24 August 2022 the band uploaded a snippet of their new single "Happy People", featuring a guest appearance from Icelandic musician Daði Freyr, to their official YouTube channel. This was released on 21 October 2022.

On 18 November 2022 the band released the new album called 2001