Milky Chance on First Time Playing Coachella, Getting Tattoos
In 2014, the German electronic outfit Milky Chance broke into America with “Stolen Dance,” a sparse, loping track that relied on minimalism to make its point and shot the band to radio ubiquity. On Friday, the group released their new album Blossom, led by the gently rolling single “Cocoon.” To celebrate its release, multi-instrumentalist Philipp Dausch and vocalist Clemens Rehbein sat down with Rolling Stone to relive some of their personal and professional milestones.
Milky Chance’s quick rise to radio fame led to them snagging a spot on the Coachella lineup in 2015, but Rehbein fell ill just in time for the group’s first set in Indio. “That was quite intense for me,” Rehbein recalled. ” We were going on stage, we tried it, and then after the second song, I had to say, ‘We have to quit. I cannot do this anymore.’ We played ‘Stolen Dance,’ but let the people sing, because I couldn’t sing anymore. They were all singing along, though – it was pretty cool. They were really kind.”
Rehbein’s first tattoo offers better memories: It pays homage to a 20-pound note that he folded into an origami cup. “I folded it myself in a bar that we used to go to in our hometown,” he told Rolling Stone, with Dausch slyly noting that it was used for shots. Dausch also recalled his first time getting drunk, which was punctuated by a sobering realization: Not only was his imminent hangover going to be spent at work, it was going to be spent toiling for his father. “My dad had to pick me up from this party, and he just took me and put me under the shower, and turned on the cold water – psshh! ‘You go to work the next day.'”