We caught up with Electric Callboy to chat about their upcoming Australian tour, what brings their fans together, and why their kids are the best judges for if a song is a banger.
Electric Callboy’s relationship with Australia grew a bit like the tempo in a techno song does: building up slowly for some time, before accelerating at hyper speed to a fever pitch. What started with an early day festival slot at Good Things 2022 that saw the crowd grow well beyond what the stage was prepared for grew into packed venues in 2023.
Now, those packed venues have escalated to full-scale stadium dates, with the German tekkno icons returning in September for their biggest Australian headline run to date as part of the Tanzneid World Tour.
For Electric Callboy, the pace never really slows. Vocalists Kevin Ratajczak and Nico Sallach lay it out pretty plainly.“It’s gonna be running super fast, like always,” Sallach says. Tours stack on tours, festivals blur into headline runs, and yet Australia still stands apart. Ratajczak says it feels “like a reward that we get to play in Australia, because it’s so chilled and everybody’s in such a good mood.”
Sallach goes further, describing an emotional pull that’s built over multiple visits. “I wouldn’t say [it’s like] coming home, but we made so many friends in Australia, so many people, that I always just love to see the vibe… it’s just like pure happiness when I know we’re gonna fly back to Australia tomorrow.”
Australian crowds have a reputation, but Electric Callboy are careful with the word “rowdy”. Ratajczak explains that for them, it’s more about chaos and care existing at the same time. “They are chaotic and they are a little bit freaked out, but they are so energetic.” Sallach agrees, noting that energy-wise, Australian crowds match what they see back home in Germany, without tipping into anything negative.
Their rise locally has been dramatic. From that first festival run to hitting some of the biggest stadiums Australia has to offer, the leap still feels surreal for Electric Callboy. Looking back on Good Things 2022, Sallach remembers “seeing so many people wearing wigs, having our costumes on and just standing there waiting for us. That was, for me, the craziest feeling, because you traveled so far you didn’t know what to expect, if the people will like you…how the crowd will respond to your music and to your appearance.”
“Right before we entered the stage, we could already see all of those crazy motherf**kers out there, dressing up like us and then being pumped and waiting for our show. And that was hyping us so much.”
Ratajczak describes it as “a collision of expectation and reality.” Meanwhile, Sallach admits that if someone had told Electric Callboy years ago they’d be playing venues this size on the other side of the world, “I would have laughed, actually.”
Despite the scale, the approach doesn’t change. Ratajczak explains that big venues allow them to show what they’re capable of production-wise, even if it comes with the trade-off of distance from the crowd. Still, the band feels at home on large stages now, shaped by years of arena touring in Germany. “But playing that in Australia, come on, it’s something completely different.”
The connection with fans has only deepened since. Electric Callboy’s audience is famously diverse, pulling from metal, EDM and pop worlds at once. For Sallach, the common thread is simple. “It’s danceable and it’s some kind of easy listening.” He even uses his son as a litmus test. “If he’s dancing and loves it, I know this is gonna work.”
Ratajczak sees it as a deliberate choice to strip things back to their core. “To make something very puristic and simple…it’s not always easy.” The reward is watching people from completely different walks of life come together. “People that sometimes maybe [don’t] meet each other in reality…but they are all there, and they are all the same.”
That shared space is what keeps the Electric Callboy grounded, even as venues grow. “It’s that time of the show that you can just let go and just have fun,” Sallach says. “You charged your batteries, you charged your positivity.” He compares it to meditation, while Ratajczak adds, “For us, we’re just in the moment. And we love that.”
Musically, that openness extends to genre. Hip hop, techno, drum and bass, Latin rhythms and pop all sit comfortably in Electric Callboy’s world. Nico points to Kendrick Lamar as a dream influence, while Kevin talks about rhythm and movement as the band’s DNA. Both agree that genre lines are there to be blurred, not respected.
On the topic of genre blending, Sallach is quick to add that he considers Blurryface by Twenty One Pilots to be “the best album when it comes to mixing up every genre that you can get.” Even if Ratajczak is still not quite sure how the band’s moniker works: “How do they fit Twenty One Pilots into one cockpit?”
I tell them it has to be a big cockpit. Both of them seem satisfied with that answer.
Between old friends, new fans and the biggest shows they’ve ever played here, Electric Callboy are rolling into the station on the Tekkno train at full speed ahead. If you’re heading along next year, it might be time to start planning that costume – and don’t forget the wig.
You can check out the full interview on YouTube and below:
RELATED
MORE IN Features
