Paul Kalkbrenner

In order to get this far, Paul had to free himself from the patronage of his techno socialization. Or as he puts it: he had to get out of the “coolness-trap.” Kalkbrenner has left these matters far behind and “7” is there to prove it with love-story-tracks like “Cloud Rider” (originally by D-Train from 1981 titled “You Are The One For Me”), “Feed Your Head” (originally by Jefferson Airplane from 1967 titled “White Rabbit”) and “A Million Years” (originally by Luther Vandross from 1981 titled “Never Too Much”) – according to him, the latter in particular is “almost too corny to handle.”

“My concerts are filled with fathers, mothers and teenagers standing side by side. That is so great, it’s crazy.” Kalkbrenner just prefers to create techno for people from 8 to 88. Everyone is welcome to him.

What does success even mean to such an accomplished musician like Paul Kalkbrenner? Are numbers still important, if you have already sold hundreds of thousands of albums and have played in front of crowds of audiences? When millions of fans follow your social media and your salary for one night is as high as another person’s annual income? “At some point it doesn’t mean much anymore,” he answers. “It is not that you have double as much fun with 5 million instead of 2.5 million fans.”