Interviewed by
Johannes Bauer and Thomas Fromm
For the interview in a hotel behind the Frankfurt Opera, Matthias Distel comes casual: T-shirt, dark gray shirt, sleeves rolled up. He looks tired, after all, he slept six or seven hours last night, he says. For days he has been on the move all the time: the man, who sings rough hits in Mallorca bars or in Bulgarian tourist strongholds as “Ikke Hipgold”, is currently on an aid mission for Ukrainian refugees. He left his black shaggy wig at home, with which he becomes the chubby fictional character Ikke Hipgold during his beery performances with songs like “I’m still swaying”.