Bilderbuch

** Vocals, Guitar: Maurice Ernst

** Guitar: Uche Yara (since 2026)

** Bass: Peter Horazdovsky

** Drums: Philipp Scheibl (since 2012)

Ex members:

** Guitar: Klemens Kranawetter (2005-2008)

** Drums: Andreas Födinger (2005-2012)

** Guitar: Michael Krammer (2008–2026)

History:

The band's music is an ecclectic mix of progressive rock, art-punk, indie rock and hip hop. Since 2008, the band has been based in Vienna, Austria.

Bilderbuch

Bilderbuch is an Austrian music group founded in 2005 in Upper Austria that has been based in Vienna since 2008. Their music draws on influences from various genres, including indie rock, art pop, and hip-hop. Bilderbuch are among the most successful Austrian pop acts in the German-speaking world. To date, they have released eight studio albums.

History

Early years

The band was founded in early 2005 by teenagers Maurice Ernst (vocals, guitar), Peter Horazdovsky (bass), Andreas Födinger (drums), and Klemens Kranawetter (guitar). At the time, Ernst and Kranawetter attended the monastery school in Kremsmünster, while Horazdovsky and Födinger attended the school in Schlierbach. In late 2007, Zebo Adam and Manfred Franzmeier, both members of the band Russkaja at the time, became interested in the group and began working with them on their debut album in 2008. In the autumn of that year, guitarist Klemens Kranawetter left the band for personal reasons and was replaced by Michael Krammer.

First successes with indie rock

In the summer of 2009, the debut album Nelken & Schillinge was released on the independent label Schoenwetter Schallplatten. The single Calypso entered the Austrian Indie Charts at number four and was also featured on FM4 Soundselection 21. The band subsequently received regular airplay on the Austrian youth radio station FM4 and performed at national and international events, including Frequency and Two Days a Week.

Music Express described Nelken & Schillinge as “an album between rock theatre, drug rock and Dadaism.” Visions praised it as “driving, not too fussy, recognisable and dancefloor-friendly.”

In the summer of 2010, Bilderbuch released the Bitte, Herr Märtyrer EP, featuring remixes of tracks from Nelken & Schillinge. Participating artists included I Heart Sharks, Dirty Disco Youth, and A. G. Trio.

The single Karibische Träume was released in January 2011. Its music video was directed by Antonin B. Pevny, who had previously worked with artists including Moby, and was filmed in the Austrian Alps. The video later served as inspiration for the music video for Auf und davon by Casper. Bilderbuch also appeared as a support act alongside Portugal. The Man on Casper's Hinterland Tour in 2014.

The concept album Die Pest im Piemont was released on 18 March 2011 by Schoenwetter Schallplatten and Ink Music and received further positive reviews. Karl Fluch of the Austrian newspaper Der Standard described Bilderbuch as “one of Austria's most exciting new bands.” The newspaper Falter praised the album for its distinctive artistic world and lyrics that moved between slogans and poetry.

The band subsequently performed at festivals including Dockville, Popkomm, and Obstwiesenfestival, followed by an extensive tour of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. In November 2012, drummer Andreas Födinger left the band.

Change in style and breakthrough

At the beginning of 2013, hip-hop and R&B drummer Philipp Scheibl joined the band. In June 2013, the single Plansch, taken from the EP Feinste Seide, was released and entered the FM4 charts. Following its release, Noisey, the music platform associated with VICE, praised the band's relaxed attitude and their use of Auto-Tune in German-language music, comparing their approach favourably with Kanye West. The television news programme ZIB 24 described the single as the year's “alternative summer hit.”

In October 2013, the second single Maschin was released on the band's newly established label, Maschin Records. It prompted a wave of positive reactions. The arts section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung praised the track's exceptional pop appeal, while the Austrian cultural radio station Ö1 remarked that Bilderbuch understood what made good pop music. Flux FM called Maschin one of the greatest hits in the German language.

The music video for Maschin was nominated at the Miami International Film Festival for its outstanding visual work and was selected among the world's ten best music videos in its category. In May 2014, it won the award for Best Austrian Music Video at the Vienna Independent Shorts short-film festival.

Maschin also topped several year-end lists in 2013. Noisey placed it among its top three tracks of the year, while Musikexpress ranked it as the highest-placed German-language song. FM4, Puls, the youth radio station of Bavarian public broadcaster BR, and tape.tv all named it their number-one track of the year. Spotify subsequently included Bilderbuch in its Spotlight on 2014 list of promising artists.

At the 2014 Amadeus Austrian Music Awards, Bilderbuch received four nominations, more than any other act, and won the FM4 Award, the audience prize. In 2020, the Austrian pop-culture magazine The Gap ranked Maschin second in its list of the 100 most important Austrian pop songs.

The singles Spliff and OM, each accompanied by a music video, were released ahead of the band's third album. Lina Simon, who contributed the concept and creative direction for the OM video, was nominated for a Theodor König Award alongside video professionals associated with Deichkind and Die Fantastischen Vier. The award was first presented in Berlin in 2015 as part of the Echo music awards.

On 27 February 2015, Bilderbuch released the album Schick Schock. Beginning in March 2015, the band toured Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with Mavi Phoenix as their support act. At their final concert of the tour, held at Graz's Orpheum on 10 January 2016, the band announced that they would take an artistic hiatus.

At the 2016 Amadeus Austrian Music Awards, Bilderbuch were nominated in the categories Band of the Year, Album of the Year, Live Act of the Year, Pop/Rock, FM4 Award, and Studio Recording Award. They won Album of the Year and the Studio Recording Award.

The track Spliff was featured in Gore Verbinski's film A Cure for Wellness. In September 2017, it was also played during the presentation of Versace's spring collection at London Fashion Week. According to Vogue, Donatella Versace had become fascinated with the song after watching A Cure for Wellness on Netflix.

Continued commercial success with Magic Life

The album Magic Life was released on 17 February 2017. Its preceding singles included Sweetlove, I ♥ Stress, Erzähl deinen Mädels ich bin wieder in der Stadt, and Bungalow.

The songs Maschin, Man hat mir weh getan, Kopf ab, and Ein Boot für uns were used in the soundtrack of Josef Hader's 2017 film Wilde Maus. The song Bungalow appeared in the second episode of the German-Luxembourgish television series Bad Banks in 2018, playing during a scene in a student club.

At the 2017 Amadeus Austrian Music Awards, Bilderbuch won in the categories Band of the Year and Live Act of the Year.

Digital transformation

From March to May 2018, Bilderbuch embarked on their most extensive tour to date. The Tour 5000 comprised 23 dates across the German-speaking world, focusing on smaller clubs with capacities of no more than 1,500 people.

For the tour, the band shifted to an entirely digital approach to music production. Amplifier stacks disappeared from the stage, drummer Philipp Scheibl played an electronic drum kit, and the visual presentation centred on a minimalist laser show. Singer Maurice Ernst replaced his short, bleached-blond hairstyle with a brown side part, while guitarist Michael Krammer shaved off his long hair and replaced it with hair tattoos.

Commenting on the Vienna show, the city magazine Falter noted that these changes reflected the band's artistic commitment to constant reinvention, pushing boundaries, taking risks, and defining their own sense of coolness.

At the end of May 2018, Bilderbuch released Eine Nacht in Manila, their first new song since Magic Life. Major festival appearances followed, including performances as co-headliners alongside Gorillaz at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park.

On 4 December 2018, the band unexpectedly released the new album mea culpa, initially available exclusively in digital form. The release had been announced only a few days earlier through the band's social media channels. Bilderbuch also announced a second new album, Vernissage My Heart, for 22 February 2019, when a physical edition of mea culpa was also scheduled to appear.

Five days before the release of Vernissage My Heart, the band released the political song Europa 22. A fictional EU passport was made available for download through the website bilderbucheuropa.love. The passport became a social media hit, being used hundreds of thousands of times within days and shared by politicians in Germany and Austria.

Vernissage My Heart and mea culpa simultaneously reached the top two positions in the Austrian album charts.

The band's stage aesthetic changed fundamentally again for the tour supporting the two albums. Digital elements gave way to an analogue approach, and the colourful, Dadaist stage design resembled a theatre set more than a conventional rock stage. The Viennese drummer and keyboardist Lukas König joined the band for the tour, expanding it to five members. He had previously contributed the rap part to the 2015 song Softdrink and supported Bilderbuch on the Schick Schock tour with his solo project Kœnig.

The highlight of the 2019 tour came on 24 and 25 May, when Bilderbuch performed two major open-air concerts in front of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Approximately 30,000 people attended the shows.

In July 2019, the band released the new song Mr. Refrigerator, which was named Tune of the Week on Jack Saunders's BBC Radio 1 indie show. Another single, Kitsch, followed in October, alongside a limited vinyl EP of Mr. Refrigerator. The EP, restricted to 1,000 copies, sold out on its release day.

2022–2025

On 8 April 2022, Bilderbuch released their new album Gelb ist das Feld. It was followed by a tour that included performances at prestigious classical concert venues such as the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Berlin Philharmonie.

Musically, the album drew inspiration from 1970s and 1980s rock, particularly artists such as Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Although the songs retained the vocal effects characteristic of Bilderbuch, they incorporated more acoustic guitar and synthesised sounds. Tracks such as For Rent featured 12-string guitars, while Dates made use of synthesizers.

The stage design for the concert-hall tour adopted a retro aesthetic. LED elements that had featured prominently in earlier shows disappeared, replaced by guitar amplifiers. The band wore long robes, and guitarist Krammer played a double-neck guitar.

In August 2023, Bilderbuch released the EP Softpower, exploring further musical directions through elements of neo-psychedelia and alternative rock. It was subsequently expanded into an album-length release featuring live versions.

In November 2023, the band released the standalone single Bluezone, whose lyrics loosely reference the concept of Blue Zones, regions associated with unusually high longevity.

From 2026 onward

The first single from the band's eighth album was Irgendwo, accompanied by a 15-minute short film directed by Stanko Repac.

In March 2026, Michael Krammer left the band for personal reasons after more than 17 years. From June 2026 onward, singer and multi-instrumentalist Uche Yara took over his part during live performances.

The album Unendlich +1 explores, among other subjects, the influence of algorithms and social media on human relationships and social interaction. This theme is particularly evident in the song Push Reality.

One of the band's first concerts with the new lineup was a show at Vienna's Flex club, announced as a “live rehearsal.” Singer Maurice Ernst identified digital rock, in the style of The Strokes and The Voidz, as a key stylistic reference for the album.