If you've heard one of The Baseballs' cover versions of a host of pop songs on the radio then chances are you can't get their take on the track out of your head afterwards. Putting a 1950s rock 'n' roll spin on some recent chart-toppers, the trio, who formed in Berlin in 2007, have been gaining a huge following online.
Linda McGee chatted to Sam, Digger and Basti about their new-found fame, those hairstyles and mingling with celebrities, well... nearly!
Linda McGee: How did the idea for doing covers in this style come about?
Digger: You know, it all started many years ago... well, it started four years ago actually when we met each other in Berlin. It was some kind of rehearsal building, a big building where many rehearsal rooms are, bands doing their practising for their programmes and we were there with different bands but met each in a kitchen, a kind of a community room where everybody meets when they have breaks from their rehearsals and actually there were many, many heavy metal bands in this room, and we didn't look like heavy metal musicians! We had quiffs on our heads. And the reason that we talked to each other was...'Oh you seem to play in a rock 'n' roll band'... 'Yeah, you too' so then we realised that we are all addicted to the 50s and that was the reason why we talked to each other and why we jammed the first night together when we finished with our bands.
LM: So you're saying that you all just picked each other out in a crowded room because you had similar looks, style-wise?
Sam: That was the only reason why we talked to each other! (laughs) That night, like Digger mentioned, we jammed a little bit together and we were talking about the 50s and about rock 'n' roll music. And we also talked about girls! (laughs) Yeah, our first song we jammed together was 'Blue Suede Shoes'. The good thing about that was that we tried to sing the song in a harmony style, but without talking to each other. I started to sing the lead vocals and Digger took the lower part and Basti took the higher parts and it was like a magic moment. It sounds a little bit cheesy but it was like that.
LM: So it just worked straight away? You guys had an instant connection that made it easy for you to work together...
Basti: Yeah, but it wasn't that night when we started The Baseballs. It took about four months. Then we recorded again and said 'Hey, that was so cool in that rehearsal room' and said 'OK, maybe we should start a band and find a way to make younger people listen to rock 'n' roll again' and then we came up with the idea to take the current chart songs and put them into the rock 'n' roll style.
LM: Once you decided what your aim was with the music, how did you guys go about choosing the songs? Were they just tracks that you liked yourselves or felt that a younger audience identified with?
Digger: Yeah, first of all when we started arranging a pop song into a rock 'n' roll style it was 'Umbrella'. 'Umbrella' was really well-known all over the world at that time, and it was our good luck that we tried this song first because it was kind of perfect for a rock 'n' roll version, and that's the way it goes for the other songs too. For example, when we listen to the radio or watch music television or are in the club and listen to current songs, you know, we always have in mind 'Is it possible to make a rock 'n' roll version out of that original song. We are not able to listen to music in a normal way right now because there's always this idea in our minds that we have to put this original into a rock 'n' roll version. But that isn't always possible. Sometimes it's really hard. For example, if you listen to house music or techno music...
Sam: Yeah, we tried a techno song, from a German techno band, and it was really hard. There's only the beat in a techno song and no lyric, so that didn't work really.
LM: Have you had any reaction at all from any of the artists' whose songs you have covered?
Basti: Yeah, some weeks ago Usher was on a British radio show and he heard our version of 'Love In The Club' and he said that his grandmother would really like it. We're not sure if it's a compliment!... But maybe, because she wants us to play on her birthday.
Sam: We had, a few months ago, an awards show in Germany and Rihanna was there too. And we sang a song, we had a performance there, but I don't know really if she recognised that we were singing her song there... she looked kind of bored... for the whole thing, not only our performance!
Basti: And especially of our performance!
Sam: You know, we couldn't talk to Rihanna because she was there with 4,000 bodyguards!
LM: So how are you guys finding the whole fame thing?
Basti: It's not like we have 4,000 bodyguards! The good thing is that we have seven in the group, who act like bodyguards, so we don't have to be afraid when we're on the street... When people see us on the street and realise that we are The Baseballs it's not the case that they run to us and want to kill us or something like that.
Digger: In my case they do!
Sam: When we are on the street, it's always nice. People are always nice to us. They come and just want to have a picture or an autograph and then we talk to them a little bit and it's all nice.
LM: I have to ask you about your hairstyles, are they Elvis-inspired or is it just a look that you all like?
Digger: Sure, you can say, for example, if you look at Sam's quiff, it is Elvis-inspired and Elvis was one of the idols for many rock 'n' roll musicians, that did their hair in that style from the 50s and even later. So there are different kinds and ways of making the quiff. For example, Sam uses the pomade that Elvis used, not the original one but the thing that they produce nowadays. For example, me, I'm using a lot of hairspray and my hairdryer. They are my two really important tools. Basti uses everything!
LM: Have you heard of Jedward? They have similar hairstyles to yours...
Sam: They were in some kind of talent show?
LM: Yeah, 'The X Factor'...
Sam: Yeah, we heard about that but we just saw one audition...
LM: They may have copied your hairstyles...
Digger: That's good! And if you look at Robbie Williams, the video he had for his last single 'You Know Me', it was some kind of 50s ballad and also, in the music video he dressed as a bunny, but on stage when he did the promotion in Germany he had a quiff on his head.
LM: I know you're busy promoting your album 'Strike!' now but are you already thinking about what new songs you'd like to cover in the future?
Basti: Listening with us to the radio is like going to a movie with a movie student. It's always that case that we listen to songs on the radio and think that maybe we can do it as a rock 'n' roll version. So there are always songs coming out that we are going to put into the rock 'n' roll style.
LM: When you're on the road together, how do you all get along? Is it fun or hard work? It sounds like you're all pretty good friends at this stage...
Digger: It's like a class trip, you know, like when you're in school and you go on vacation with the whole class. It's not only the three singers, we also have a really fantastic band, four musicians. They are always with us on tour, and we have a really, cool, cool crew, our sound engineer and our light engineer... And, you know, if there is the danger of arguing with each other you can just go to other mates in the band.
Basti: Or battle each other, you know, fight a little bit... maybe a punch in the face!!
Digger: Yeah, but in the end you can say, we are really mates, not just co-workers that are on the bus. For example, if we have free time, there's not that much free time moment, but if we have free time we play soccer or go to the gym... Have we been to the cinema? No? We have to go to the cinema. Next night we're going to the cinema!
The Baseballs' album 'Strike!' is out now.
