Thomas D and Michi Beck: Small gigs: “You can see how much fun everyone is having”

The Fantastischen Vier (since 1989) have a new single, “Wie weit”, their new studio album “Long Player” will be released on October 4th and their big tour will start in Würzburg on December 1st. As part of the Digital X trade fair, Telekom brought the hip-hop icons on stage. The performance, which included “classic Fanta party material” and “a little excursion into the new album”, was also broadcast live and via video on demand on MagentaMusik and MagentaTV. Thomas D (55) and Michi Beck (56), who have fully recovered from their sepsis drama, talk in an interview about the difference it makes to play in a smaller hall for a large imaginary audience. With a view to the upcoming tour, the two also chatted about their starry airs.

Die Fantastischen Vier were the main act at Digital X, a trade fair that is also known as the “world exhibition of digitalization.” A great honor for a band that has been around since the late 1980s. Why are you still a perfect fit?

Michi Beck: We have always been very interested in innovation. We invented German-language hip hop in 1989 – or at least made it public very early on. Over the course of our career we have tried out a lot of new things. I am thinking of the first 3D concert, which was broadcast live in a hundred cinemas. Or that we released the first augmented reality video. We are curious and always want to try out exciting things, otherwise we get bored quickly. That’s why we always have to do something new. And that’s why we produced our eleventh studio album. “Long Player” will be released on October 4th.

As a little foretaste, you released the single “Wie weit” in mid-August. What has the feedback been like?

Thomas D: The new single has been very well received and has been in the top 40 of the radio charts since its release. Ultimately, however, it is there to generate attention for the new album. We are an album band and with “Long Player” we are once again describing a musical journey. From more classic old school 90s Fanta4 songs to contemporary styles and psychedelic tracks that we produced together with the Berlin psychedelic rock band Kadavar. In terms of content, there is a lot of reflection on the last few years and our updated view of the world and life.

There’s also a video clip for the new single in which you undergo various cosmetic surgeries in a very self-ironic way – with gruesome results. Can fans take this as a clear statement against such procedures?

Thomas D and Michi Beck: No, of course for such interventions! (both laugh)

Thomas D: Did you see my hair in this clip? I was so jealous. And Michi had a kind of transparent latex condom on his face that pulls the skin back. That automatically tightens everything and you just put makeup on over it.

Michi Beck: In “Wie weit” our director Lars Timmermann wanted to portray our long band history in a funny, even ironic way through this plastic surgery story. But the song is actually about love.

Thomas D: But we took the whole thing out of the normal video clip frame and made a kind of mini short film. Michi’s acting performance in the cut scenes is great. He really showed talent. The film is about cosmetic surgery, …

Michi Beck: … but in the end also about our love for each other.

Thomas D: Yes, that is actually the message of the Fantas: Being together and having something in common takes you much further than any ego films.

As part of the trade fair, you performed a concert in Cologne. What band or fan experience do you associate with the city?

Michi Beck: I can’t tell you that. (laughs)

Thomas D: We have been to Cologne very often and are very closely connected to this city. And at some point a hotel employee who we knew very well gave me a Ferrari or Lambo key and said: Here, if you want to drive, go for it. And then I drove around the block in a hotel guest’s Ferrari. (laughs)

Your performance in Cologne was also broadcast live and via video on demand on MagentaMusik and MagentaTV, where it is still available. How does it feel to play not only in front of a few thousand people on the concert grounds, but also in front of several hundred thousand on the stream?

Michi Beck: A live broadcast makes a big difference simply because everything has to work technically. But luckily Telekom is an expert in this area. Apart from that, it’s a bit too abstract to be nervous about it. You perform a bit more for the camera. But basically the people on site are tangible – but it’s nice to know that billions are watching at home. (grins)

How much stage fright do you get before a show like this?

Thomas D: I have respect and I want to give a great concert. We all want that and that’s what we do. But because we’ve been doing it for a long time, we’re relatively relaxed. When you’re on stage, you’re more filled with joy and euphoria than excitement. We’re happy to play the old and new songs. We’re happy about the people who are there. When it’s a smaller setting like in Cologne, you can see how much fun everyone is having. That makes it even more personal. We decided a long time ago that every Fanta concert has to be a special concert.

Many of your songs are part of the soundtrack of fans’ lives. Which one Fanta4 song has a very special place in your own heart?

Michi Beck: For us, the greatest compliment is that we manage to create timeless songs in a genre like rap that are still sung along to two decades later and that represent certain moments not only in our lives but also in those of our listeners. That touches us deeply. It’s a kind of accolade. Because there are so many songs now and because they’re all our babies, it’s really hard to pick out a single one. At concerts, we only play a few songs compared to all the ones we’ve written. Sometimes I listen to one of our albums, for example now before a new tour, to see what we could play again. And sometimes I rediscover songs myself.

Thomas D: But there is one song that we all like best and it is called: “MfGTroyWhat’s going onDay at the seaTogetherHow far”. (laughs)

And your first big chart success “Die da” (1992)?

Michi Beck: We have a bit of an ambivalent relationship with “Die da”. Especially the two rappers at the front – I can relax a bit with “Die da”. But you can tell that Thomas and Smudo are always a bit of a battle against themselves. On the other hand, even the under-20s sing and rap along at festivals. That’s not the only reason we have to play the song, of course… (grins)

The new album will be released in October and the tour will start in December. Has touring life changed over the past 35 years?

Michi Beck: This is actually the second tour where nobody really likes driving a tour bus anymore. We’ve been doing that for decades. Sleeping in the nightliner – that’s just not possible anymore. The snoring of the others or the different ideas of hygiene that everyone has. But even in the hotel it always has to be really quiet. I can be a bit fussy about that: does the window face the front or the back? Can you really darken it?

Thomas D: When we’re still checking in, Michi is usually already downstairs and wants to change rooms because it’s near the elevator and the air conditioning doesn’t turn on or off. Recently he changed three rooms and ended up back in the first one. But that doesn’t happen to the rest of us. For example, I don’t really care where I sleep.

Michi Beck: And so on, and so on… But it’s not just me – let’s not even start with the airs and graces. (laughs)