At Highfield Festival 2022, we grabbed Nico and Kevin from the German party band Electric Callboy to ask them a few questions of a slightly different kind. Think you know these guys well enough to guess their daily playlist? Here's where you find out!
In our interview format "NEXT" the two musicians are confronted with some questions that can sometimes go in the unpleasant direction. All the more interesting are the answers that Nico and Kevin gave us! We have linked the video of the interview below, but you can also read the translated version below.
NEXT - A Conversation With Nico And Kevin
Kevin: Yeah, let's go, we are looking forward to it!
It's nice to see you playing at festivals again. Do you also visit festivals in your private life?
Nico: Not really anymore, no. So if it's a one-day festival where I don't have to camp, yeah - if it goes in the direction of camping, I'm out, I think. Yes.
Kevin: [imitates Nico] Oho, I need a stationary toilet. [laughter]
Yeah, but it's the same with me. I have to be honest, I've never been a guest at a festival. My first festival experience was with the band back then and that's a bit of a shame because I didn't go through that whole flow.
Which artists do you always like to meet at festivals?
Nico: There's a lot, there's really a lot. Any Given Day is always nice to see, they are good friends.
Kevin: 257ers; that's rare, because we don't belong to the same genre, but every now and then it happens.
Nico: I always like to see the guys from 8kids.
Who do you not like to meet that much?
Kevin: Uh, NEXT!
Nico: NEXT!
Who is your favorite band member?
Kevin: It's kind of everybody. So I would say NEXT right now, but kind of everybody. Really, we are always together and always doing something ...
Nico: I'm not going to choose either.
Kevin: No, I really couldn't say.
Do you still have contact with ex-band members?
Both: NEXT!
What do you like most and least about the life as a musician?
Nico: I actually like the waiting the least. It feels like somehow the life of a musician, at least when you're on tour or at festivals, is 90 percent waiting and then 10 percent show. So the least waiting, the most being on stage doing what we love.
What was your most embarrassing situation?
Nico: Oho. Yeah, yeah. So with my old band we had two or three blunders in the past, where we somehow got carried away and drank a lot before a show. I'll put it this way: If you look at those shows afterwards, it was really the most embarrassing thing I think I've ever done.
Kevin: For me it's zeitgeist, the word, somehow. There have been many things in past moments that I would now think about differently, like, "Woah, how embarrassing" - I really mean embarrassing, not something unjustifiable, I'm talking about embarrassing situations - where I think, woah, nowadays I wouldn't do that anymore. But I'm also ten years older now, and at that time it felt right, so I did it like that. And it was also kind of cool and probably helped us get to where we are now. But again, I don't mean things that are not acceptable to me now. I'm distinguishing between those in my answer.
And otherwise, yes, we had another conversation yesterday about some moments. Actually, we're pretty much easy-care, although we've been said to be so destructive backstage. But we did have one big date where we escalated a little bit. For whatever reason. It was one of those typical things where someone knocks over a glass and then there's just a chain reaction. And we're really sorry about that - it sounds stupid now, I'm not proud of it either. But that was really one of those evenings where I think: That was really embarrassing. So immature and stupid and - never mind. We also paid for it afterwards, but that was then and that's something I would like to undo.
Will you reveal and show us your current phone background?
Nico: [To Kevin] I think I know yours.
Mine actually is the deceased family dog.
Kevin: Mine is my son. I would show you, but I can't. He is private. NEXT!
Do you read the comments below your posts and videos?
Nico: Uh, yes. Sometimes it's just not possible to read all of them. When you have, like, hundreds of comments, it's not that easy to go through all of them, especially on YouTube where there can be a lot of comments. But, of course, you still try to go through them, especially when there's a new release, to see how people are reacting. And you also try to respond to messages and questions. It's definitely part of the process, yeah.
What was the most negative comment you have ever read?
Nico: NEXT!
Kevin: Yeah… yeah… well, not explicitly! For me, the answer is - I wouldn't say NEXT right away if I came up with one, but there are so many mean ones. Some are constructive, so we can explain, and some are just straight-up harsh.
Nico: Exactly, and I don't really want to give too much attention to the really nasty comments. That's why it's definitely NEXT for me.
What's the worst rumor you've heard about yourselves?
Kevin: That we're supposed to be arrogant.
Nico: Yes!
Kevin: I hate it - and I mean this seriously now - the more encouragement we get, the stronger these voices become. And mostly from people who haven't exchanged a word with us. And that's a bit of a double-edged sword: Of course, we can be accused of being arrogant if we can't just hold a conversation with every person like we used to be able to. I used to love having a beer and talking to people in a youth center after the show and just exchanging ideas. That was just the scene, too.
Nico: But it was also much, much smaller and more intimate, right? You have to keep that in mind.
Kevin: Exactly. And now it's all like this: It's become much, much more professional and it had to, because of the scale. And so I have to stick to rules that my production "saddles" me with, I would say, in order to keep the whole thing going. And if I can't stay somewhere or have to leave or whatever, then there may be voices that say, "Wow, he was arrogant." I know that myself, in the past - my favorite bands would just walk by and stuff. And I think that's so bad, because I want to give everything I can so that I don't come across as arrogant or detached. We always try to ground ourselves.
Nico: Exactly, exactly. But that's the difficult thing. [To Kevin:] While you were on the subject of Zeitgeist - especially in this day and age, where information really has ultra short ways, everyone has an opinion. So especially now in our Internet bubble, on social media: Information is simply dropped, regardless of whether people know us or not. But we have to say, the voices are not particularly loud. We read it here and there or hear it every once in a while, but I think if you get to know us and maybe spend an evening or a day with us, I don't think you'll say that anymore.
Kevin: Hopefully, yes.
What kind of music can't you stop listening to at the moment?
Nico: I listen to too much music at the moment.
Kevin: In the car with me again and again - I can say it - a band that I think has broken up because of some s***, no idea why: They're called Dealer. It's pretty forward and they have a song, "Grotesque" or so. And I don't remember the other one. I listen to the album, this album in particular, again and again. That is exactly my style for my daily life.
Nico: At the moment I'm on a little bit of a melancholy trip. So I listen to a lot of The Fray and stuff like that.
Will you sing some of it to us, please?
Nico: Absolutely not.
Kevin: [laughs]
Nico: So nope, not after last night.
Both: [Short vocal performance]
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