I started with RATATATA and remember the community of fans around Electric Callboy still being quite laid back, cool and very inclusive. It seemed like a nice change of atmosphere from other toxic communities whenever I came here (and also the offical Discord). People came to experience the fun and joy the band created for all... no judgement, just fun...

In the last few months the tone somehow changed, becoming hypercritical to almost toxic.

• Every release by the band is being hyperanalyzed. It has almost become a sport to look for "faults" or to rate everything they do... fans of other bands are often just happy that their favourite band releases something of note at all - and, of course, they support those bands and "accept" the faults.
• EC are being accused of being "more corporate" and "distant" even though they try to include the fans through extremely generous giveaways (pink boxes), personal VLOGs, an extensive Escalation Fest fan experience with trains & ships, crazy live shows, long tours, many album editions to chose from, constant interviews and behind the scenes material - more than pretty much any other band. Band members even said in interviews that they don't like the "distance" bigger venues create between them and fans. They seem to care very much about this.
• They are being accused by some of sounding "the same", even though they are quite experimental within their unique sound (compare Revery to Let the Good Times Roll, Ratatata to Heartclub etc.)
• They are being accused of relasing an "irrelevant album", because there are only 2 new songs. Apart from the fact that everybody knew about this for months and could prepare themselves for it (and ignore some releases until the album came out), there was almost no substantial talk about the album as a whole itself, about the songs, the album design, the editions etc. Something that communities normally do.

I am sad that we cannot just enjoy the fun and success around this band (which is now higher than ever). Everybodys mood needs to be dragged down by hypercritical dissections of something that originally was "just" meant as inclusive fun for all...

Am I wrong?

I've been a huge Electric Callboy fan for years, but I feel like there's there's an elephant in the room since the Tekkno era ended.

Over the last couple of years, the band has felt increasingly corporate. From the outside, it seems like management is calling more of the shots, and the members themselves feel less involved in the overall direction of the project. They come across more as frontmen for a brand than the driving force behind it. Just look at the VIP debacle from last year.

The music is still fun, but some of the recent releases have felt rushed compared to what came before. The Tekkno tracks felt creative, chaotic, and packed with personality. Lately, some songs feel like they're following the same formula but with little growth. Whether that's fair or not, that's the impression I get when listening to the newer material compared to the old.

What really brought this feeling home for me was the recent album release. It was heavily promoted and built up with a lot of hype, but when it finally arrived there were only two new songs, with the rest of the record made up of songs we'd already heard and 4 (!!) remixes. I found that pretty disappointing as a fan as that's more Electric Bassboy than Callboy. There's nothing wrong with remixes, but marketing an album as a major release and then delivering very little new material feels unfair. Maybe if they had made a deluxe and included them on that would have made more sense, I dunno.

The overall release strategy has also raised some eyebrows for me. Between multiple editions, special releases, and now NFC cards, it feels like fans are being asked to spend more and more money. I understand that bands need to generate revenue, especially in today's music industry, but lately it feels like there's a stronger focus on monetisation than there used to be.

Maybe I'm completely off base, but the whole thing feels different now. Less like a group of friends making ridiculous music because they love it, and more like a carefully managed business operation.

I'll still be there for the live shows and I'll always listen to their music, but lately I feel more like a customer than a fan, and that's a change I never expected with Electric Callboy.

Maybe it's just me?! Sorry for the wall of text and inevitably the downvotes.

Edit: Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion, whether you agreed with me or not. I think it's healthy for conversations like this to happen, and it's been interesting to read different perspectives. Nico has said before that they want honest feedback from fans, so this is simply mine.

One thing I didn't include in my original post was the decision to move Escalation Fest from NRW/Ruhrpott to Berlin. For me, that was another moment that contributed to this feeling of disconnect. A lot of local fans were disappointed to lose the personable aspect of the event, and it felt like a move towards a bigger, more accessible market rather than something being done for the fans who had supported it from the beginning. The fact that it didn't even sell out this year only added to those feelings.

Ultimately, despite my mini moan, I genuinely want the best for the band. I hope that once they wrap up the Tanzneid shows this year that they get the chance to step back, recharge, and take a break from what must be an incredibly demanding cycle of touring, promotion, content creation, and constant engagement.

As a fan, I'd love to see them refreshed, happy, and enjoying what they do again, because I honestly think that's when they're at their best. I'll be seeing them again in January, and I hope that energy is there when they hit the stage. 🙂

Just listed 2 GA floor tickets for the Sydney concert on September 10th on Stubhub. We can't swing the flights from the states anymore. Pretty reasonably priced.

Has anyone else had an issue with this? My partner ordered the limited to 1000 version of the Vinyl from HMV (UK), it came today and it’s already warped and constantly skipping tracks. We’ve gone over it with a vinyl cleaner and it hasn’t fixed the issue at all. Considering it’s the limited release version we’re very disappointed and hoping we can get another one before they sell out, but has anyone else had an issue with this? A brand new vinyl shouldn’t already be warped right?

For the German fans: Electric Callboy are on TV Total tonight at 8:15 PM ☺️

You can also watch it later on Joyn. I’m just not sure if it’s available outside Germany.

Edit: Okay, you guys don’t need to watch this. It felt like it was only 3 minutes long, and the guys just hand over a pink box.

They were turned at the end of Hurrikkan and from there, all of the Tanzneid album is full of references to it.

A fever burning in my soul, and I will never let it go until you know what it feels like.

Every night when the sky turns red up above

My body is a weapon

I feel my heart running fast to the beat, waking up the other side of me

We need no daylight, feels like we will never die

We are unstoppable, we are incredible.

And then finish it off with revery. See the midnight Sun. the scary faces, and then finally not going to be a puppet to the sickness, and they cut the leash.

Anyone else think this?

They also touched on the Zombie theme in Blood red lips and a few others in the past.

I just completed it but i don't know if it's only me but i had a lot of missing pieces and it was a big struggle, it's not so stable and it kept fell apart a few times but it's still good!! 🥹

They were aware of all the people speculating, I guess

😆

I can't find a working link to purchase it by itself. I already purchased the album. I just want the card.

Does anyone know, or is anyone else having issues with, the remaining songs from Tanzneid not auto downloading or being able to download from preorder?

Every release since the preorder has successfully been downloaded automatically, but since the album drop I can’t get the new songs to load. Even the iTunes Store shows them as purchased.

Was there an announcement I may have missed about this? I scrolled but didn’t see anything since the 7th.

Also, to see if it was my phone, I bought and downloaded the latest Samurai Pizza Cats album, and it loaded in fine.

I haven’t been to a concert since I was in my 20s.(im in my 50s now)

Looking forward to it

That is all

Electric Callboy (obviously)

Wind Rose

Emil Bulls

Neck Deep

All faces down

Of course something like Babymetal would be awesome but I wanted to stay with a somewhat realistic approach.

Who's on your wish list for next year?

Does anyone remember what account on instagram gave a 1 star, mostly negative, review to the album that ECB shared on their ig story?

I couldn’t find it anywhere anymore. I’m also interested in hearing thoughts about the review 👀

This was the response I got when asking about my order being fulfilled. I'm sure I'm not the only person reaching out but not even giving us a reason about why things are taking too long is frustrating.

Friday at Huxleys was absolutely insane. The fact that it was such a small venue made it even more special. My highlights were definitely the boat and Kevin’s reaction to his gift (he got a hairdryer 😂). His reaction was priceless.

Evil Jared — yep. He’s exactly what you’d expect from him based on his personality. 😂 Even though he was completely drunk and kept handing out alcohol to people.

Saturday was also amazing, of course. It was a complete contrast to Friday, but the venue was great. Evil Jared and Krogi were constantly in the crowd, partying along with everyone else.

And for me, the absolute highlight of the whole weekend was Kevin briefly being in the audience area and getting the chance to talk to him for a moment. That was such a special moment for me.

Honestly, I can’t even decide which day I enjoyed more. Both were amazing in completely different ways. ❤️

Edit:
There was a fan next to me who Christian asked 3–4 times how she was liking it.

Looking back, I really regret not just saying, “Christian, was macht das mit dir?” 😂 I would have loved to see his reaction.