DIE ROTEN PUNKTE: EUROSMASH!
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DIE ROTEN PUNKTE: EUROSMASH!

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“We can sign anything really, if you have a t-shirt or body part or something,” he says down the phone in his thick German accent. “Astrid, one time in Scotland, this guy he pulled down his pants and she signed his ass,” he says, referring to his older sister and bandmate. “Actually, that also happened at the Woodford Folk Festival, too, she signed an ass there as well. But I encourage people to not show their nipples, that’s kind of getting to a point where maybe, that’s a private space that maybe you shouldn’t use a sharpie on,” he says earnestly. “Like, if you want to do that at home, that’s ok, but I think if we’re doing that, it’s not a good example for the kids”.

Being a good example to their fans is something very dear to Otto’s heart.

“I think more than a musician and more than a rockstar and more than being a guy in a band, I am a role model. That is actually my number one job. So, like, it doesn’t matter what I do for now until the rest of my life, that is my number one job,” says Otto, who was orphaned at nine, when Astrid was 12, and together they lived in a squat in Berlin, discovering music that way.

Since then, they have travelled the world as Die Roten Punke (The Red Dots), selling out venues in New York, Edinburgh, Montreal and Dublin. Most recently, they have been touring Australia and Europe with Amanda Palmer, after being nominated for a Time Out and Soho Theatre (TOST) Cabaret Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

“Which is cool. It’s a little bit weird for us because people say, ‘Oh, you are best cabaret show’ and it’s like, ‘But yeah, we are serious rock’n’roll band’, so I don’t understand,” he says.

While others may think Otto and Astrid are merely joking, Otto takes his life as a role model and rock star seriously. Their new album, which follows on from Kunstrock, contains songs with positive messages in them for their fans.

“With the last album it was amazing, like, because we could express ourselves and we didn’t have any limits, but Astrid said, ‘I want on the new album, I just want hits. I want pop hits and rock hits’,” says Otto, who also reveals that during recording of the album Astrid was lying on the studio floor, smelling of sick, unable to be woken.

“So there’s a lot more dancing and electronic music and lots of hook on this, and for me, I really want to spread the message of using music so that people can do things like recycling and like, one idea I had, just let homeless people sleep in your house,” says Otto, who sleeps with his guitar and computer, all plugged in, just in case inspiration should strike as he sleeps.

One of his favourite songs on Eurosmash is Good Choices, which contains ideas like teaching orphans how to play guitar. “Just things that are helpful but she doesn’t like the song at all, and she said that. We have to have two minutes of silence at the end of the album and then I can have my song,” he says of Astrid, who because she is the older sister, has her vote worth more in their voting system.

The squabbling siblings may not agree on what order to play songs on their new record, but they’ll be playing all their new tracks when they launch Eurosmash at The Forum, but with three shows only you’ll have to book quick.

BY JOANNE BROOKFIELD