Taylor Swift had Eras. Otto & Astrid go through Stages.
Fresh from Glastonbury Festival, Berlin’s Prince and Princess of Art Rock and Europop—Otto & Astrid of Die Roten Punkte—blast through a blisteringly hilarious set of songs from (almost) all of their albums.
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| Otto & Astrid. Photo by Aaron Walker |
The utterly dysfunctional siblings are a lipstick-smeared sonic collision of The B-52s, The Pixies, Kraftwerk, and early Ramones.
This multi-award-winning duo has taken the stage everywhere from Soho Theatre in London to Joe’s Pub in New York and The Roxy in Los Angeles.
One of the most irreverently side-splitting gigs you’ll ever see, packed with ridiculously infectious songs.
We caught up with the duo ahead of a show at Jacksons Lane.
The Stages Tour has taken you from Glastonbury to Jacksons Lane - how does your show evolve when you're playing festivals versus theatres?
At Glastonbury we’re playing outside so many folks discover us randomly. They might be walking past on their way to seeing Wet Leg with a burrito in their hand and suddenly find themselves in a pop punk mosh pit dancing like a robot. Whilst at Jacksons Lane these folks coming to our show have made a DECISION to spend the night with us and we don’t take that lightly! We aim to put on a rock n roll party extravaganza that will have them leaping from their seats to dance!
How would you describe the show?
It’s like having the best party in your pants but you’re in a theatre with lots of other people also having their own pants party.
Your dynamic on stage is chaotic, loud, and very funny - how much of that sibling rivalry is real, and how much is performance?
Oh it’s all extremely rea. We are very serious about our musicand this can lead to some onstage arguments but we nearly always make it to the end of the show.
The show blends glam-rock, Europop, and physical comedy - what does your creative process look like when you're building a new tour?
Otto starts making set lists weeks beforehand, he writes charts, graphs and colour wheels and has a white board with pictures of our faces and instruments with string and arrows linking everything together. Then I walk in with a scribbled set list and say this is what we’re doing. And that’s what we do.
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| Otto & Astrid. Photo by Peter Enwight |
You’ve built a cult following around the world - what’s been a highlight of your career?
I’m hoping it will be performing at Jackson’s Lane on Wednesday 2nd July, but I also have the memory of playing our song Ich Bin Nicht Ein Roboter – I am A Lion for over 5,000 people at the Myer Music Bowl for an Australian event called Rockwiz, it was epic and awesome!
What's coming up for you next?
We are going to France to some arts festivals in Avignon and Chalon to soak ourselves in arty culture, theatre, music and circus, then in September we are filming a pilot episode for a rock n roll travel show (starring Otto and I) in Burlington, Vermont!
Otto & Astrid are bringing The Stages Tour to Jackson’s Lane Theatre on the 2nd July at 7:30pm as part of London Clown Festival. Tickets are available HERE
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