taz: Mr. Brendel, you are not just a chronicler of the band Nena. They also played drums in it. What was it like back then?
Rolf Brendel: I even founded the band. We were looking for a singer. Today we would call this a casting. We placed an ad: “Rock band is looking for singer”. Then a lot of young girls who had little idea about rock music came forward. We actually wanted to have a rock tube with a powerful voice. But our guitarist Rainer Kitzmann had Seen Nena at a disco and loved how she danced. And when she came into our rehearsal room, I was shocked at first, because she has a rather delicate and lascivious way of singing. Everything sounded so different with her. But her singing had a magic that was unfathomable.
We actually wanted to have a rock tube with a powerful voice
taz: So can we say that you wrote a memoir rather than a non-fiction book?
Brendel: Yes. And I thought back then that the band and the success would end tomorrow. That’s why I kept notes of the great things that happened to us. For example, our first appearance on television at the “Music Shop” in Bremen. I kept the little pieces of paper with my notes. I also made voice recordings of what was happening on my Walkman.
taz: And that’s where the book came from?
Brendel: I packed it all into a moving box, and once I decided to write the book, I was able to use it for that. I am now extremely happy that I was able to draw from this pool. Because I noticed that the more time passes, the more the past remains obscure. You mix things up and forget a lot.
taz: The big international one Success of “99 Balloons” was an unheard of phenomenon. How did this come about?
Brendel: The song was initially in stores like lead. But then there was an incredible stroke of luck. At that time, the book “We Children from Bahnhof Zoo” was a great success and the author Christiane Felscherinow liked our song so much that she took an audio cassette of the song with her to Los Angeles and gave it to disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer. He then played it on the radio, and then record companies, publishers and countless fans got in touch, all wanting to know what kind of song it was. They didn’t understand the German lyrics at all, but they recognized the magic of this song. And then we reached number 1 in the charts in 35 countries around the world.
taz: The song has a long life. Many Hollywood films and series used “99 Balloons” to evoke the mood of the 1980s.
Brendel: That’s correct. I later studied drumming in the USA, and everyone there still knew Nena 20 years later.
reading Rolf Brendel reads from his book “Nena – The Story of a Band” (Blumenbar, 224 pages, used from 80 euros): Fri, January 30th, 6.30 p.m., Museumsdorf Cloppenburg
ExhibitionSpecial exhibition “The Bravo star cut“: until the beginning of October, Cloppenburg Museum Village
taz: What has this success done to you, Nena and the band members?
Brendel: Because of this success we had the opportunity to make music all over the world. For example, we did two tours in Japan back then and made a lot of money. And of course that changes people. One person goes completely crazy and gets caught up in a vortex of drugs and alcohol. Others squander their money like a lottery winner who buys a Ferrari and expensive houses. But I’ve always known that life has surprises and you always have to expect that everything will be different the next day. But Nena still makes music, and I’m fine too. Although I just found a report on YouTube claiming that I died in 2011.