German Music:

Wir sind Helden

Music style: Self-described as "Synthie-Punk-Pop": "28 % Synthie, 34 % Punk und 38 % Pop"
Band members: Judith Holofernes (singer/guitar), Jean-Michel Tourette (keyboard/guitar), Pola Roy (percussion), Mark Tavassol (bass).
Name means: "We are Heroes"

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Wir sind Helden came about when Holofernes, Tourett, and Roy met at a pop music workshop in Hamburg in 2001. Holofernes had already been working as a musician for some time, had often performed in clubs in Berlin with her voice and her guitar, and had published her own solo CDs. After their meeting, they decided to begin performing together in Berlin. Mark Tavassol joined in on bass.

Within months, the newly formed band made the single charts with their song "Guten Tag". When their album Die Reklamation was released in 2003, it immediately climbed to number 5 on the German album charts and it later reached number 1. Holofernes' penchant for intelligent and honest lyrics, sometimes with ironically delivered social criticism, shine through on this album. Such song texts have been named by music critics as the band's unique trademark.

Boosted by their early success, Nena invited the band to accompany her on tour. Not long thereafter, the band began performing its own sold-out concerts throughout Germany and bordering countries. In 2004, the band was recognized as worthy newcomers in the business with 3 Echo awards. Frankfurt's premier newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has called them the founders of a second New German Wave movement.

The band's 2005 album Von Hier an Blind surprised fans. Far from a copy of the first LP, Von Hier an Blind is more melancholy in tone. Guitars play a larger role, and though critical themes are not wholly absent -- "Zieh dir was an", for example, takes on the use of women as sex objects -- they are not as central as in the debut album. Despite the unexpected differences, the band's second LP went platinum only a few weeks after its release and the tour was already sold out before it even began. The album reached Number 1 on the German Top Ten album charts, and remained in the Top Ten for 20 weeks. In 2006, the band played two sold-out concerts in London, which is never a small feat for a band whose lyrics are not in English.

Their 2007 LP Soundso debuted on the German album charts at Number 2 and has been a critical and commerical success.

Wir sind Helden CDs
	Soundso (2007) \| LISTEN Buy CD at AMAZON
	Von hier an blind (2005) \| LISTEN Buy CD at AMAZON
	Die Reklamation (2003) \|\| LISTEN Buy CD at AMAZON SINGLE: Guten Tag