The WAIT IS OVER. Electric Callboy’s long-awaited new album TANZNEID is out now and a tour of Australia is coming in September.
After giving fans a taste with a series of singles over the past months, TANZNEID is finally here. The album brings everything Electric Callboy love about making music into one place – without overthinking the rules or limiting themselves to a single sound.
Electric Callboy are a difficult band to describe because they are almost impossible to categorize. Since forming in Germany in 2010, the act have become an international sensation: Their hit songs like “Hypa Hypa” and “We Got The Moves” introduced the band’s eclectic sound to fans all over the world and their 2022 album TEKKNO has almost a billion streams worldwide. However instead of sticking to the safe path when it comes to their music, the band—which features vocalists Kevin Ratajczak and Nico Sallach, bassist Daniel Klossek, guitarists Pascal Schillo and Daniel Haniß and drummer Frank Zummo (formerly of Sum 41)—have once again redefined their sound on TANZNEID, bringing their mix of pop hooks, techno beats and hardcore influences to dizzying new sonic heights.
Due to their international touring schedule, these songs were written in backstage areas and hotel rooms when the band got the rare spare moment to explore their creative ideas. “We’ve had more time to write in the past, but for this album we would get back from tour and be in the studio the next day,” Ratajczak explains of the album that was conceptualized and produced by the band. That urgency around creating TANZNEID forced the band to push beyond their perfectionist tendencies to commit to the process of making their most powerful album to date. From the electronic pop elements and headbanging heaven of the title track to the viral success of the single the band’s EDM-influenced collaboration with BABYMETAL, “RATATATA,” there was no limit to the band’s ambitions when it came to creating TANZNEID.
While Electric Callboy’s signature has always been juxtaposing different styles of music into one unique amalgam of sounds, TANZNEID sees them adding a level of adeptness that is easy to overlook because it’s so nuanced. “Combining genres is quite difficult because you want it to sound organic,” Ratajczak explains, “this is our challenge every day when we write songs.” On paper a song like “Elevator Operator” doesn’t make sense, however when you hear the way the song seamlessly alternates between brutal breakdowns and saccharine melodies, somehow it all works. “We really love the freedom we have in this band in the sense that people are actually expecting us to do something they don’t expect,” Sallach adds. “We just do what we are feeling in the moment and put it into the music.”
Electric Callboy were also able to pay homage to some of their biggest influences on TANZNEID by collaborating with them for some of the album’s biggest surprises. “We played a festival and Dexter [Holland] was standing on the side of the stage and he told us he was a fan of the band,” Sallach explains. “A few weeks later we were working on the album and we had a song that sounded like an old Offspring riff and we asked him if they would want to be a part of it.” Electric Callboy’s pop-punk influences are also showcased on the band’s cover of Sum 41’s “Still Waiting,” which features Zummo behind the kit. “It’s still crazy to say the ex-drummer of Sum 41 is playing in our band,” Sallach admits.
“When we first started writing this record I thought he would never finish it because we were doing it in between tours and on the road,” Ratajczak admits. “Something I took away from this writing process is that when your day is full and you feel like you can’t do anything more, it’s possible.” Sallach concurs, adding, “You only live once and if you are passionate about anything, just give it a shot; it’s not a bad thing to believe in your own dreams.” Ultimately, that instinct to push limits in the face of adversity is what makes the TANZNEID feel so crucial in a musical landscape that can often feel stale or uninspired.
“Scream it out from the top of your lungs, it’s the end of days but we’re singing along,” Ratajczak screams at one point on the album. Now it’s time to see how loud our collective voices can carry.
Posted by Janine Marcos –Dallas Does PR
Photo Credit — Christian Ripkens