Few acts have made the successful transition from one genre to another.
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The Bee Gees originally started in psychedelic and folk rock before becoming disco deities. Iggy Pop started his career in blues clubs. And of course Taylor Swift shifted from her country roots to a more pop sound.
Now, brother-sister duo Otto and Astrid Rot - also known as Die Roten Punkte (German for The Red Dots), can join that esteemed list, with their transition from art rock and punk to pop.
![Otto and Astrid will be at the Canberra Theatre on June 12 and 13. Picture: Jamie Williams Otto and Astrid will be at the Canberra Theatre on June 12 and 13. Picture: Jamie Williams](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc75kfrun4gz81449c9fj2.jpg/r0_0_4000_2667_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But it seems the pair's musical move for their latest album Eurosmash wasn't made for artistic reasons, but financial ones.
"The last album we made was called Kunst Rock which means art rock and we just wanted to ... do something experimental and take some risks and be a little arty," Otto says.
"But Astrid got upset because we didn't make any money. She was like, wanting to be like, a big pop star.
"So I said, OK that's cool, but that's not why I do this.
"I want to touch people's lives like Bono from U2 and Chris Martin from Coldplay, and I really want to get some things across to people."
Otto is dedicated to being a positive influence on fans. Die Roten Punkte's track Look at My Fruit, for example, talks about the importance of healthy eating.
"It's kind of like a disco-pop kind of song and it's about a date that I went on when I was in New York and the girl that I went on the date with was surprised at the amount of fruit that I had," Otto explains.
"I had a big blanket and there was mangoes and bananas and cherries and with all the fruit she got a bit freaked out. This song is all about reassuring her that it's OK to like fruit."
But what happened with the date? And did the lucky lady like the song?
"I never saw her again because after that date Astrid was mean to her," Otto says.
"She put a lit cigarette in her pocket and so I never saw her [the date] again after that."
It can't be easy being in a band with your sister, particularly - as Otto puts it - when she has a louder voice.
"We'll be talking about something and then she talks louder and she wins."
The pair have tried playing with other bands. Otto says he was fine finding other people to play with, but Astrid had no such luck because "no one else will play with her".
![Otto and Astrid have relied on each other since their parents died. Picture: Simon Schluter Otto and Astrid have relied on each other since their parents died. Picture: Simon Schluter](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/dc5syd-63z9049fen84bztc2wj.jpg/r0_0_2640_3712_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"I don't want to play with anyone else but Astrid tried to be in other bands but no one can stand it for long. She always causes trouble," Otto says.
What are siblings for if not to be your fallback band? But Otto says the siblings are used to relying on each other because their parents died when they were just children.
How exactly it happened remains unclear, with Otto and Astrid reportedly giving different causes.
While Otto is adamant their parents were attacked by a lion that had escaped from the zoo, Astrid disputes this and says their parents were "squished by the train".
The one thing they can agree on is that it was their "nasty aunt and uncle" which drove them to run away from their childhood home in regional Germany to live in a squat in Berlin.
"Astrid is a few years older than me so she's like a mother figure to me," Otto says.
"She became everything because I was only nine and she was 12.
"She home-schooled me and she would go and get food and stuff and the only thing that really kept us alive was rock and roll music."
When the pair play "it's magic" but as "serious musicians" Otto says there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes which is why they started filming webisodes for fans.
"I think that's a great way to see how we prepare for a tour, you know?" Otto says.
"Our web series is really a little bit like Beyonce's new film on Netflix about her tour. It's a little bit like that but it's just cut into small pieces."
Otto admits that perhaps the webisodes were also to combat the belief that Die Roten Punkte is best suited to comedy festivals rather than "real rock gigs".
He says when they take to the stage they can hear people laughing in the crowd and often he wonders if the audience just comes to watch the siblings argue on stage.
"It happens a lot," Otto says.
To cover their bases, Otto and Astrid try to squeeze a range of genres into their set and include songs which are reminiscent of The Divinyls and The Ramanoes, as well as a Europop track which Otto says would be at home on a Eurovision stage.
And speaking of Eurovision, with 12 months until next year's competition, Otto wants the world to know that Die Roten Punkte is ready to take the stage.
"We would represent anyone. Any country that wants us, we will do it," he says.
"We have the perfect song called Smash Our Hearts Together and it's all about celebration and love and friendship and I think it would be perfect."
And good news for Canberrans, the "perfect Eurovision song" will be the final number in their Canberra shows.
- Otto and Astrid will be at the Canberra Theatre Centre's Courtyard Studio on June 12-13.