Dream Turin: The 22-year-old Eros Atomus would like to represent Germany with his song “Alive” at the ESC finals in Italy. The star visited him and his team in the studio.
The passion for music, it came with a delay, recalls Eros Atomus: “I got my first guitar at the age of eight for Christmas. I told my father to send them back”. The 21-year-old laughs. “Everyone in my family has already played the guitar, so I thought: No, I’m not up for it either”. A few years later, at the age of twelve or 13, he suddenly felt like it and grabbed his brother’s guitar. “I taught myself that at the beginning and also started writing my own songs directly,” recalls Eros Atomus, whose full name is Eros Atomus Isler.
After the late entry, the Flensburger quickly lined up his musical steps one following the other. At the age of 18, he was in the final of “The Voice of Germany” in 2018, convinced coaches and the audience with his special voice and his lapstyle playing technique, in which the guitar lies on his lap and is also used as a percussion instrument. After the end of “The Voice” came the hard break. “During the show, it felt like a hundred people took care of me, then from one day to the next I was completely on my own once more”. Nevertheless, Eros Atomus continued to work on his music and now dreams of the next big step: for Germany to participate in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin on May 14.
Eros Atomus is with “Alive” in the final selection for the ESC final participation
944 entries were submitted for the pre-selection, with his song “Alive” the young musician made it into the final selection of the last six. Now it depends on the audience, which votes for Turin this year on Germany’s act. On March 4, it is clear who is going to Italy.
A few days before the first big date, the official announcement of the competition entries, Eros Atomus is sitting together with Eike Freese and Marcel Zürcher in a control room of the time-honored Hamburg Chameleon studios. The two co-wrote “Alive” with Eros Atomus. Freese produced the song and also recorded the guitar, Zürcher took over drums and bass in the studio. There are final agreements to be made. Since it became clear that the song was in the pre-selection, the three “can’t close the door anymore”, as Zürcher explains with a smile: “Alive” had to be completed and recorded. In addition, they shot a video. All in the shortest possible time. Now the track can go into the race. A point landing.
Listen to “Alive” here:
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With the duo Freese / Zürcher, Eros Atomus knows two experienced musicians at his side. Both come from the harder side musically. Among other things, Zürcher is the lead guitarist for the successful industrial metal band Die Krupps. Producer and sound engineer Freese has worked on productions of deep purple, Simple Minds and various other rock and metal bands. Both have been involved in a variety of productions and have been in the music business for decades.
Eros Atomus, Eike Freese and Marcel Zürcher were brought together by publisher Eric Burton in December 2021 to write songs for Eros Atomus. The spark jumped over immediately, as everyone remembers. There would have been no imbalance, for example because of the age difference. “On the contrary, we all benefit from our very different experiences,” says Freese. It was also Burton who suggested applying for the ESC with a piece. Eros Atomus jumped right at it. “The ESC has not always had the best image in recent years, but I still remember it well when Lena won at that time. When I was a child, I thought she was great and I really wanted to marry her, ” he says and laughs.
With Marcel Zürcher, Eike Freese and Eros Atomus (from left), the chemistry was right from the start. Together they wrote the ESC article “Alive”
© Rösing / stern
So they got into it and in the end it said: “Alive”. “I had the idea for the melody one morning in the shower,” recalls Freese. He played the hookline to the other two, Eros Atomus already had a text in his head. Together they worked on the piece in one day until it was more or less finished in the box in the evening.
“I turned on the track the next day and still thought: cool”
The Hamburg Chameleon studios, in which Freese has permanent rooms, offered them the perfect atmosphere for this. The spirit of the 1970s can still be felt in the underground corridors, recording and control rooms. Vinyl records, guitars and a few memorabilia hang on the walls. Udo Lindenberg has recorded albums here, Drafi Deutscher and countless other greats have also gone out and in. There is no daylight. But this is not a disadvantage, says Zürcher, on the contrary: “The outside world stays outside. Here you can fully immerse yourself in the music without any feeling for space and time until the result is right”.
However, the decisive aha moment came only a day later, says Eros Atomus. “It’s often the case that I write a song that I find really cool one day and think the next day: What kind of crap is that?”. With “Alive” it was different. “I turned on the track the next day and still thought: cool,” he says.
At the age of 21 on one of the biggest stages in Europe?
The song itself is a life-affirming, positive and catchy singer-songwriter anthem. However, the idea for the lyrics came to Eros Atomus when he was in a rather dark phase: “But then I didn’t want to write Depri songs, but rather something positive that says: Hey, it’s great to be alive in this world. Especially now”. “It’s great to be alive” is the refrain of “Alive”. The fact that the song with this message also fits in the time of the corona pandemic turned out to be more like this. What is special regarding the piece is its authenticity. Unlike in the ESC past, it was not tailored to the body of a young singer or a young singer, but written and composed by the artist himself.
For the production of “Alive” Eros Atomus commuted back and forth between Flensburg and Hamburg, now he has looked for an apartment in the Hanseatic city for the time being. Because the work has not yet been completed: a complete album is to be created. But first, together with Eike Freese and Marcel Zürcher, he has the goal of Turin firmly in mind.
If he achieves it, he will be standing – not even ten years following he took the guitar in his hand – at the age of 21 on one of the largest stages in Europe. Not bad for a late starter.
