Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the release of Milky Chance‘s debut single, „Stolen Dance”, a song that took the whole world by storm. The German band has released 3 studio albums since then, toured the world many times, and performed in Hungary a few times, as well. They performed at this years’ Sziget festival, and they’ll be back to Budapest on December 3 with a club concert at Akvárium Klub.
A few weeks before the start of their European tour, we sat down to talk to the band’s singer, Clemens via Zoom, who told us about the challenges they had to face in the past 10 years, their performance at Sziget, their recent tour, their upcoming new album, he shared a message with their Hungarian fans, and we even taught him a little bit of Hungarian, as well – exclusive interview with Milky Chance.
It’s so nice to see you! How are you today?
I’m good, thank you! It’s a rainy and grey morning in Berlin, summer is over.
Yeah, it is.
But I’m good, I’m good. This week, we’re gonna start preparing for our European tour, which starts at the beginning of October. So yeah, I’m looking forward to that, you know.
Okay, so we will get to that tour later, but first of all, you played at Sziget festival this summer. How did you like the show and could you pick your most memorable moment from it?
The show was amazing! First of all, we were just like, we felt very honoured to be back at Sziget. I think it was our third time playing that festival now. That’s always nice if you have the chance to play at such a big and important festival more than just one time. It was very exciting sharing that stage with all the other artists that night. The crowd was amazing and one of my favourite moments was… I mean, I just realised when we were on stage, I saw all these flags from all these different nations all around the world, and I just realised how international it is. Like, crazy international. That was a moment that really touched me in a certain way. I was telling the people, it’s so great and so important also to see that, realise that and acknowledge that there are so many people from so many different countries, not only Europe, you know, being in one place, peaceful. There’s also been people from Israel, people from everywhere, and especially nowadays, in these times, I feel like it’s very important to remind ourselves that we’re able to do that, you know? We can live in harmony, side by side, together. That was, for me, personally, a very rich moment, and I’m very grateful for that.
As you mentioned, you’ve been to Budapest a couple of times before. Did you get the chance to explore the city a bit?
Yes, yeah! We did that, all the times, actually. Every time we’ve been to Sziget, we went out afterwards. This time, even the next day, we had an off day, so we spent the whole day in the city. We’ve been walking around during the day, and then also, we went out in the night, and had some good fun. I love this city. It’s very vibrant, there are a lot of young people, lots of cool clubs and bars and areas. Yeah, pretty wild but in a very good way.
As you said before, you’re going on tour again soon, and you’ll be back to our city with a club concert. So, which one do you prefer, huge festival shows, or these smaller, more intimate concerts?
I mean, it’s hard to compare these. During the summer, there’s nothing better than playing a festival show, but now it’s getting cold, so it’s better being inside. No, but I mean the biggest difference probably is that on our own show, on our headline show, there are only fans, real fans coming to the show, so that probably makes the difference. That there are people who probably know all of the songs, or most of the songs. We love both, but we’re really looking forward to it. It’s a big European tour, it’s lots of show. We’re gonna play new songs, as well, it’ll be a new set, we’re gonna have new lights, as well, on stage, so that’s exciting. So yeah, lots to come.
Alright, so let’s stay on the topic of touring a bit. What’s one thing that you just can’t leave at home when you’re travelling on tour?
Umm, I’m not that ritual kind of type. Well, enough clothes, that’s important, so you can choose, also. But besides that, just basic stuff. I feel like, yeah, I don’t have any things that I need.
And do you have any pre-show rituals that you always do before every concert of yours?
Yeah, well we do warm-up, you know, singing and all that. Then we form a circle like a team and someone is saying a few words, yeah. Spending some time together, just the four of us, before we go on stage. Dressing ourselves, making some music, playing guitar, singing, all that, just to get in the mood. To get in the mood that we’re a team, that we’re a band, that we need to be on the same frequency kind of vibe. Yeah, that’s what we’re trying to do.
Alright, and do you remember the very first concert that you played as the band Milky Chance?
Yes! It was very different from what we’re doing now. It was only the two of us, only Philipp and me. Very-very different set up. It was in Munich, rather than our hometown. It was a poetry slam, and we played songs in between the poetries, so it wasn’t even like, a real concert. I think the first proper show, real concert was in our hometown, in Kassel, where we were born and raised. Yeah, that was fun. It was pretty fun. Also, like pretty drunk. Very messy back then.
Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of your debut single „Stolen Dance”, as well as your first album „Sadnecessary”. Ten years is such a long time, so what is your proudest achievement so far?
I feel like just being a band, still. As you said, ten years is a very long time and a lot happened. We really experienced a lot. We also went though ups and downs and I’m very happy and proud that we’re still friends, we’re still here, we’re still a band. The whole team’s like a family and we all really care about each other. I feel like that’s the most important thing. We still have a lot of fun doing it, and that’s great. I’m very grateful for that and also a bit proud.
And what was the biggest challenge that you had to face during these ten years?
The biggest challenge… Let me think. That’s hard to answer. I feel like right now, what’s a challenge for us is that the industry is changing a lot all the time. Also, very fast. Like, two years ago, TikTok all of a sudden came up and now everybody’s so much focused on that. I remember back when we loaded up „Stolen Dance” on YouTube, YouTube was the thing, and then we had Instagram back then, Facebook, you know, all these platforms. Now, it’s way easier for artists to release their music independently, you don’t need big labels. But, on the other hand, you’re very dependent on all these platforms, on social media. Everybody’s really kind of forced to be driven by creating content for all these platforms, for these algorithms. I feel like, I don’t know, sometimes, that doesn’t feel very healthy, especially when you talk about art and music, and if you wanna create something that has value and personality, it sometimes needs some time to develop. I feel like everybody’s forced to put out stuff every day, all the time. It’s all about quantity talking about these platforms, but less about quality. That’s the challenge to find a way to do what you love and not being stressed out about all these platforms that you have to feed with content every day. I feel like that’s really tricky. And it’s funny because every time we meet other artists and we talk about that, everybody’s so annoyed by it. Also, when I talk to just people, it’s so funny, because our generation and the younger generation, they spend so much time either consuming it or producing, creating content for it, but also a lot of people are stressed out from it. I feel like, sometimes, why are we even doing that? I feel like that is something that is very tricky right now, talking about being in the music industry.
And what is one thing that you learned from your fans?
From our fans? From our fans, we learned to keep going, and without them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. That’s pretty clear and we’re very grateful for that. That’s basically it, I feel like. What else have we learned? Yeah, stuff like that, I would say. It’s kind of odd because we don’t know each other, you know. We’re very happy that they listen to our music and that there’s so many people still following us. Of course, sometimes, especially on tour, after the show or before, we meet people and we can talk to them. It’s always really nice to see that they’re lovely people and also so many different people. With different backgrounds, from different countries, that’s always very inspiring to see that music is a universal language. It unites people and that’s pretty cool. That is what we can see by looking at our fans, so that’s what they taught us, or teach us.
I feel like everyone knows your song „Stolen Dance”, but other than that, which song of yours would you show to a person that doesn’t know you yet?
Hmm. Right now, probably, maybe one of our recent songs, because that’s just the stuff that we do right now. You know, „Synchronize” or „Colorado”, one of the recent singles. If the person likes that, he or she can dig deeper and check out the old stuff, as well. But yeah, I think there’s no song that is more likely than the others to show what we do. We have our certain sound and certain style, but they’re all also different, but also similar in a way. But yeah, one of these.
You released a couple of songs this year. How is the new album shaping up and when can we expect to hear more from it?
We just finished it, actually! We wanna release it next year, but before that, we’re gonna release new music, as well. Yeah, lots of music to come, so be ready. We’re gonna release new music before the tour starts, as well, and then next year, the album. We don’t have an exact date yet, but it will be the first half of the year, for sure.
So you’re an extremely talented musician, obviously, but do you have any hidden talents what we don’t know about?
Maybe dancing? I love dancing. I always wanted to be a dancer when I was a child, when I was younger. I was always practicing in front of the mirror.
What kind of dancing?
Oh, like, all kinds of dancing. I mean, back then, I wanted to be like Justin Timberlake with all these crazy moves. He was definitely very inspiring to me when we talk about dancing. Also, in school, we had salsa and all that kind of stuff, I was pretty good at doing that, as well. I just love dancing in general and I feel like I have good body control.
If you had a time machine and you could go back in time to when you were starting out to give your younger self just one piece of advice, what would it be?
Don’t be… Don’t worry too much, maybe? Something like that. Take it easy. It’ll all be good at the end.
And where do you see yourself in ten years?
Ten years? Phew. Hopefully still making music. I don’t know, I hope we’re gonna try out new things, as well. Some musically, maybe we do some special projects, or something. So there’s that. Hopefully, I’m gonna make some trips by myself. I’ve never been travelling by myself so I wanna do that. I hope I can do that in the next ten years.
Where do you wanna travel the most?
Umm, by myself, probably Scandinavia, or something like that. Not too far. I always wanted to do that. But yeah, we’ll see where it takes me. It’s hard to tell. Hopefully, I’m still making music, but I can see that.
And finally, is there a message that you would like to share with your Hungarian fans?
Sure! First of all, thank you for listening to our music and for following us. If it’s fans that have been following us for quite a while, thank you so much for being loyal. If there’s people out there who discovered us maybe this year or the last year, hi! Very happy that you’re here. We’re really looking forward to coming back to your country. We’re gonna rehearse a lot. We’re gonna start tomorrow. No, the day after tomorrow. So we’re gonna prepare for the tour and we’re really looking forward to be focusing on bringing some good music and a lot of joy and some good energy on stage. So yeah, hopefully, see you there, and until then, be safe, be kind and be peaceful and be easy, take it easy.
Alright, now that’s all we planned for you today, but, before you go, we would like to teach you something, so you can take away something from this interview, as well. So, do you know any Hungarian words?
No. Probably someone told me one someday, but I’ve forgotten, I don’t know any.
Okay, so is it okay for you if we teach you how to say I love you in Hungarian?
I love you? Okay.
Okay, so it goes like this: szeretlek.
Szeretlek?
Yep, that’s it.
Szeretlek. Alright! I’m gonna keep that. Szeretlek. Cool, that’s good. I can say that on stage.
Yeah, you can say that on stage.
Thank you for teaching me.
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us, and can’t wait to see you in December? Yeah, it’s December 3.
Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
