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Die Roten Punkte
 German singer and guitarist Otto Rot greets me from a phone box in Keith. His sister, Astrid, the band's drummer, is hung over and confused: "There are bright twinkly lights and creatures everywhere, they're all just bustling about when really you should be sleeping now," she clarifies resentfully.
"She's more of a night person, whereas I like to get up and check my MySpace page. She focuses on going out and drinking as much alcohol as she possibly can." Otto lowers his voice solicitously, "Sometimes in the morning her brain is a little crazy. I have to eat in different places because she is a fan of the Australian meat pie. I have quite a different lifestyle from Astrid. I am a straight-edge punk, I am a vegan and I don't drink alcohol: I like apple juice with gas. Yoga makes me feel good and play guitar better, sing better, jump higher, reach higher notes...It's not just spiritual, I actually feel I am giving a better rock'n'roll performance."
The band are eagerly anticipating playing during the Fringe Festival. "Adelaide is a party town! Then we're going to Melbourne, then in June we're going to Canada for three-and-a-half-months. People have been telling us they're really excited to see our concert." "It's basically the best rock'n'roll you can ever see," Astrid interjects, "There are lights and music and us! I love Australia, I like to come more than once, because then you really experience something."
"Melbourne reminds me of Berlin because there's so much going on," Otto enthuses. "What New York is to the rest of America, Berlin is to Germany - 300 percent cooler than the rest. Anyone cool from anywhere else, when they get old enough to drive or take the train, moves to Berlin and starts a band. Because our parents died when we were young, Astrid was like a mother figure to me. She took me to a squat in Berlin and she would go out at night to see bands - I wasn't old enough - and she would come home and tell me stories."
A child with a mission, "I started reading magazines and I got my first CB/GB t-shirt. People go, 'What's the mystery of punk? How to find out such a crazy thing? It's so underground!' But it's not really. I pretty much learnt everything about punk from the Internet. I taught Astrid how to be a rock musician because I play loads of instruments: guitar, drums, keyboards."
Their influences include The Ramones and Kraftwerk. "Astrid loves it. She's out there doing the robot. We just saw some old people walk past shaking their heads, not understanding - they probably don't see a lot of characters like us around here."
Astrid takes the phone defensively. "It's probably not true, anything he said about me. Otto has the tempestuous rock'n'roll temperament. I don't know what else to do, I am a drummer and I sing and that's what you do, you play late at night and you have to go out afterwards!" She recalls the days before roadies, when the band had to use miniature instruments: "I was 13 and he was eleven and he had a little guitar because he's got very small hands and feet. Once you put a microphone in them they don't need to be any bigger. You just have to play very fast and very loud and very good."
Otto lowers his voice to an earnest whisper. "I sometimes think about a solo project. I could do like Lenny Kravitz, or Stevie Wonder, where I play all the instruments. He played that song I Just Called To Say I Love You and that was the '80s and it was terribly bad but in the '70s he was a funky man and he played every instrument. And he can't even see. So he just does it with his heart. Oh! Astrid just said she will poke my eyes out, so I can't see too. How will that help the music?" "It'll help me because then you'll shut up," Astrid responds.
"I get angry but I would never do anything violent," Otto pronounces, "I feel the responsibility of being the spokesperson of a generation. You see," he says with resignation, "This is what I have to deal with all day long. We have three hours' drive to Adelaide..."
Die Roten Punkte play at The Garden Shed (The Garden Of Unearthly Delights) as part of the Fringe Festival on Fri 2 - Sun 18 March (excluding Mondays)
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