Always burned for this band

Mr. Krumbiegel, is there a special connection between the prince or you and Augsburg?
Sebastian Krumbiegel: I have been there often and now know the city well. Often it is rather difficult that you look at the city when you are on tour because it is always a strictly tackled daily routine and we have little time. But lately I’ve been forcing myself to leave the hotel again and again. Augsburg is beautiful, especially The old town. Of course I like the cathedral and I like the onion towers and the old Fuggerhäuser. It was wise to lovingly rebuild all of these things after the destruction in World War II.

Let us talk about the prince. When did you notice that this can work in the long run?
Crumble: We have known each other since childhood and have been making music together for more than 30 years. I founded the first volume with Wolfgang in 1981, we were 15. Then there were the heart boys and, when Tobias came to add, the prince in 1991. We didn’t know how big it would be, but we were always convinced of our cause. The chance of becoming a pop star is low, you need good luck and the right people at the right time. I always believed that it will be a permanent thing. For me it was never a project, but from the start a life content, a never ending story. We always burned for this band and there was never a plan B.

They had the big hits in the 1990s. The big hit was in the new millennium.
Crumble: But that is also normal in a certain way. We never had a number 1. But I prefer to be the eternal number 2 rather than longing for a number 1 hit Lechze. We just met the zeitgeist at the time. Our songs know so many people and that’s awesome.

You sang in the Thoman choir in Leipzig. Was it a contradiction for you to sing comparatively simple pop songs with such a way?
Crumble: I see no contradiction. A certain simplicity in pop music is a weapon. For me, music was never an Olympic discipline. Our producer Annette Humpe said to us at the time: « Try to just keep it ». We studied music at the music academy in Leipzig. At that time we performed songs with really demanding arrangements on small stages. When we later came together with Annette, she drove it out in a smart and charming way. She asked us: « Do you want to continue to make a cabaret or do you want to become pop stars? » Pop stars, Yeah, we found that a cool idea.

Do you feel like a pop star?
Crumble: It seems to be that way. But for me, pop star is not the category that is primarily important to me. People often tell me: « Hey, you are so normal. » Should I understand that as a compliment or not? I always wanted to make music, that was and is my thing. If you go on stage and the spectators do what you say when you realize that you are a so -called celebrity, that you are no matter where you call, or that people address you positively, then such a role is already cool. As soon as you are somewhere on TV or wear the Federal Cross of Merit, all of this is not primarily due to the fact that you are such a great, attractive, hyperintelligent, brilliant type. No, it is because you were really lucky.

Was there a phase in which the end of the band was to be feared?
Crumble: It was always there. There was once the phase after the fall of the Berlin Wall when we had nothing to do for a year and didn’t make any money. Then there were always situations in which you doubt and there were tensions within the band. Also the corona-Phase was not good for us. We suddenly had nothing to do and could not celebrate our 30th anniversary with a tour and a record. You already think « what are you doing now »? For me personally, however, there was never a doubt that I continue what I can do and also want to do.

Was Corona a risk of the band structure?
Crumble: Oh yes. Straight In the pandemic phase It can happen that friendships live apart that even cracks go through families. You have to try to deal with it, approach each other and, above all, talk to each other. That was very difficult during Corona because you didn’t meet anymore. You couldn’t go away and you were no longer on tour or in the studio. I recently wrote in our WhatsApp group after some dispute: « The older we get, the more wonder the others ». And the others understood that as I meant.

How did you change over time within the band?
Crumble: Everyone in their own way, not always positive when it comes to community feeling or the band cosmos. This fire that you have, if you are 15, 16 or 20, will not be there at some point. Priorities shift, it starts to start a family or that you develop politically differently. For me, the important thing is always to look for similarities in this thought, to search for what we have together, and that’s a lot.

Was there the classic ‘sex, drugs & rock’n’roll’ spirit with the prince-formerly yes brave choir boy?
Crumble: We were With Lindenberg on tourthat alone speaks volumes. (laughs) Sure, that was also weird for us at the beginning, although of course you have to know that Tobias and I were never brave choir boys. We have always tried to break out, do something else, to do other things.

Have there never been any problems with drugs?
Crumble: Of course I tried a lot of things. You should know what you get involved with. It would certainly be pedagogically valuable if I would say « Don’t do Drugs ». I smoke also grass And don’t think that’s bad at all. I find it better tolerated than drinking and extremely greet the considerations to loosen it, although of course I know that it is not good for children. There are so many clever people who are familiar with it and say that if you have not yet had the teenage phase behind you, you can carry evil psychoses if you exaggerate it.

Sebastian Krumbiegel, born in Leipzig in 1966, is the singer of the band the prince who was successful with songs such as « kissing », « millionaire » and « You have to be a pig ».