Internet effect pays off as top German rock stars target US

By Melinda Newman  |   2008-6-15  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

MOVE over Jonas Brothers, the Kaulitz twins are moving in.

The 18-year-old Kaulitz brothers are half of Tokio Hotel, a German glam-pop quartet that is creating Beatles-like hysteria among the teen set in their native land. They've sold close to 3 million CDs and DVDs in their native country, and are hoping to replicate that fan base in the United States.

"They're the stepping stone between the tween stuff and My Chemical Romance," says Andrew Gyger, senior product manager for Virgin Entertainment Group, a few days after the band members appeared at Virgin's Times Square store in New York in May to promote their English-language album, "Scream."

"The in-store was massive in terms of sales and the amount of girls that showed up," Gyger says, relaying stories of at least one girl fainting and screaming teens lining up around the block for the event. "The band seems to have come out of nowhere."

Actually, Tokio Hotel came out of the Internet. A YouTube search shows 123,000 video listings compared to 88,100 for the Jonas Brothers or 21,000 for veteran Bruce Springsteen. To further sate their young fans' appetite, for the past six months the band has produced weekly episodes of "Tokio Hotel TV" for its US Website.

For Tokio Hotel, the visual is as vital as the vocals and is propelled by lead singer Bill Kaulitz's anime look: straightened, teased black hair; heavy eye makeup that accentuates his delicate, androgynous, doll-like features; chain necklaces and vintage rock and roll T-shirts. He's so thin he appears almost one dimensional on stage, adding to the cartoon-like appeal. But he says the look comes by way of Transylvania, not Japan.

When he was 10, Bill Kaulitz dressed as a vampire for Halloween and adopted the styling year-round.