“Fraud can be very positive”
Random casting at the university: During an entrance exam, punk rocker Ben Hartmann heard for the first time how bomb Johannes Aue could play the piano. Since then, the two have become “billionaires” and have become one of the most exciting young rock bands in Germany with appearances at “Rock am Ring” and “Circus HalliGalli”.
Your band name “Billions” reminds you of wealth and unlimited possibilities on the one hand, and of excess and shady deals on the other. What were you thinking?
Ben: You say it pretty well: we also think that “billions” is a pretty contradictory, contradictory word. On the one hand, the term contains something of decay, something shady: billions are something that gods deal with, large corporations. At the same time, the word also contains structure. Because where billions appear, something is always broken, then the billions are invested and then things start again. But we only gradually realized how well this name fits our times. The reason we chose him was different: at some point we saw a theater wall on which someone had spray-painted the word “billions”. Back then, people complained about how they could spray paint a cultural center, but they simply didn't realize that giving the most absurd parameter of time a place in art is the most loving gesture of all.
What do you mean by that?
Ben: I mean that billions is a concept that can only be discussed in art. It cannot be discussed anywhere else because it is not really tangible. If you think about money, for example, billions are never in one place, but rather they move around the earth in milliseconds and can never be pinned down anywhere. That's why billion is such an absurd word.
Johannes: At the same time it is also a beautiful word. Just seeing it written has a certain appeal.
Your first album, which has just been released, is called “Fraudster”. What type of fraud is this?
Ben: There's a song on the album called "Fraud", but it's less about this negative connotation of betrayal. We think that cheating can have something very positive: We all have dreams and visions, ideas of who we would like to be. And ultimately, it's quite possible to exist in these little dreams. I mean, look at both of us: We both have no money and yet we're sitting here today giving an interview instead of working somewhere. We are certainly deceiving ourselves in a certain way, but it is a form of positive deceit. We believe that these dreams and visions have just as much right to exist as reality.
Johannes: I believe that no one can free themselves from self-deception. This constant sugarcoating of things is part of life - and is not necessarily something negative.
In many of your songs you sing about contradictions. In “Blitzkrieg Ballkleid” for example it says “Lampedusa, Beach Party”, “Popstar, Holocaust” and then in the chorus “Yes, that’s me”. Are contradictions characteristic of our time?
Ben: I'm not a historian, so I can't say whether things were different in the past, but I think that contradictions are definitely a feature of our time. These opposites that collide in “Blitzkrieg Balldress” actually happen at the same time. And we cannot free ourselves from it, because we all know this in our globalized world.
Are your relationships also characterized by opposites?
Johannes: Yes, there are certainly differences between us. Ben is more of an eccentric. I often make compromises. If I have doubts about something, but Ben says, "No, we have to do it this way," I usually agree because I figure that if it's that important to him, it must be really good. I would buy just about any junk from Ben. (laughs)
Ben: But I think we are very similar in many ways.
Johannes: I think so too. Especially in the simplicity of making music. We are not cerebral musicians and we don't necessarily play our instruments perfectly, we do everything from our gut.
You originally come from two different musical directions.
Johannes: Exactly, I play the piano and was previously involved in pop music, Ben comes from a more punk style. We both played in bands before we met. At first I was in a classic school band, which later developed into a real band, then of course everyone split up again and we both found each other.
How did that happen?
Ben: It was at a university entrance exam, we were both studying acting. By chance it happened that Johannes was there before me. And what he played sounded great and I just talked to him afterwards and asked if we wanted to play two or three songs together because I've always liked the piano too. And it was a great fit straight away and it's a good thing that we come from different musical directions. Billions wouldn't sound like billions if one of us did the songs alone.
Did you think back then that you would get this far?
Ben: No. So of course you're always dreaming. I still remember how we once drove past the building of our current label while we were studying and jokingly said: “Look, this is our future employer!” (laughs) And now we're really sitting here.
Johannes: Well, I always had the feeling that we would record an album together. But if you had asked me earlier, “Do you think you will play at “Rock am Ring” in 2016?” I would of course have said “No”. And that's the crazy thing that we're suddenly being booked even though nobody really knows us yet and word is slowly getting around that we're playing one or two good songs. (laughs) Well, the way this has all come to pass, I'm thinking to myself, "Awesome, what a pig we had!"
We are giving away 3 x 1 copies of the new billion-dollar album “Fraud”. Simply send an email with the keyword “billions” to gewinnspiel@uniglobale.com by September 16, 2016.
Ben and Johannes are "billions". In an interview with Uniglobale they talk about fraud and contradictions.
