So here’s another one of my stories.
This time I’m meeting Talkin’ Secret in Hamburg Bergedorf. The Sander Treff – the place to be – is crowded with people I don’t know (of course) and the band. But there’s only two guys, Nick and Marti. There have been some changes, both begin to explain. But they are already working with two new people: Lina at the lead guitar and Finn on bass guitar. So the band seems ready for the next chapter.
I’m pretty impressed of these young guys. Enthusiastic, full of passion – brothers in life and music. But what’s left to say? Before, I’ve been curious. Post-Punk? Oasis in disguise? No. And now, I’m hungry. Check out the interview to understand why and meet the band, which goal is neither to fade away nor to burn out – Talkin’ Secret!
Yesterday, your debut album Petrichor was released – congratulations! It shares its name with your current single.
How did you come up with the name?
Marti: I think I can explain that well. This song, the entire lyrics, and what the video aims to express—it’s all about longing. In the video, there’s always this switch between the pub and the beach. The word Petrichor is a Greek word and refers to the smell when it rains in the summer—it literally translates to “the blood of the gods.” Somehow, especially now in winter, I strongly associate this smell of wet grass with longing. It’s a similar feeling…
Nick: Nostalgia too…
Marti: Yes, nostalgia as well. And memories, and longing. But for me, the song, the way it sounds, and what it conveys, is the same as what this scent does to me. That’s how I came up with the idea to name the song that way.
Nick: He told me about it while we were in the pub, and I thought the word sounded really cool. At first, we were just talking about the song. As I mentioned, most things happen very spontaneously. When we were recording the album, we didn’t actually have a title for it. Then, at some point, we thought: “This would be a great intro song, and actually, it would also be a great album title.” It just felt right! It’s also the only song that doesn’t have its title in the lyrics—the word Petrichor isn’t mentioned once. The moment he said it, I thought, yes, that fits. That’s exactly the feeling I get from this song. And that was also reflected in the video.
Source: YouTube, Talkin’Secret
TALKIN’ SECRET: OUT OF COMFORT ZONE
The second track on your album is Worth The Way.
“You should be ashamed, because you never went too far…”
Who do you think of when writing such lines?
Nick: Well, I wrote those lines, and I’d say I was thinking about myself. I just want to experience everything! When I look back later and talk about what I did, I would be ashamed if I had nothing to tell. That’s what I mean—”You should be ashamed if you never went too far.” You have to push boundaries sometimes. That’s our life. I want to be able to tell stories later because eventually, we all die anyway. If you don’t go too far, then you die on the regular.
Marti: Funny thing is, that’s exactly how I understood it. That was our first song with Talkin’ Secret. That was the beginning of everything—how we thought back then. Of course, we always had this dream of being rockstars or at least doing something big. But back in school, we weren’t really committed to making it happen. We worried too much—”What will others think of me?”—and that’s what it’s about.
Nick: That was the first song where I wrote lyrics for Talkin’ Secret. Before, with Fading Bloom, it was more grunge, and our lyrics were mostly like, “Yeah, I feel like shit, I’m not okay.” With Talkin’ Secret, my approach was different—I wanted to write a song that looked at things from the outside and gave someone a message: “Just do it. Do what you want—it doesn’t matter!”
Marti: It’s worth the way!
Nick: Exactly. It’s worth the journey. And I thought, hey—how cool, maybe we meet halfway. If you do it the same way, maybe we’ll meet halfway and walk the rest together. Where it leads doesn’t matter.
Only when you go too far you can actually see where the limits are.
Marti
One thing that stands out:
Your album moves within its very own sonic universe. Capturing this mood… when was the first time you thought—this is it!?
Nick: Like I said, before, we were more into grunge with Fading Bloom. Then we started listening to The Smiths and The Cure. Their songs have a certain pace, a specific drive—that was important to us. Combining that with guitars, the chorus/delay effect—that’s how our sound developed. It was never like, “We want to sound like this band.” It was just what we could do.
Marti: Our interest in music led us there. Our mom was a huge The Cure fan, and our dad was really into The Smiths. As teenagers, we listened to grunge, but eventually, we discovered these bands and completely fell in love with them. That’s how everything evolved. Our music style, what we play, always follows what we listen to.
“Why don’t you believe in miracles? Let’s get high, let’s get high, you can fly, if you don’t mind.”
Chasing that high – how much do you actually pursue it?
Marti: When we were younger, we were always looking for a high. Whether it was performing live or something else. But now, I see the high in knowing who I am and what I want to be.
Nick: I don’t even know what high I’m chasing. For a while now, I’ve been telling myself that the high is the moment. I say this all the time—you just have to enjoy the moment. Look, right now we’re drinking beer, smoking a cigarette —there are so many situations where things could be worse. The high is the moment, and you have to make the moment the high. Growth is also a high. I can see us evolving, even if it’s two steps forward and one step back. Four years ago, I dreamed of recording an album like this, and now we’ve done it—but I don’t feel the high because I’ve already adapted. Humans adjust to things quickly. So, I keep reminding myself—I have to be in the moment, and then it feels like a high again.
Marti: Nowadays, I try to see negative experiences as highs too. Things that used to break me—I now see them as something that shapes who I am.
Nick: To answer the question simply—the high, for me, is beer and cigarettes with my friends in the pub. Having a great night! The key is not expecting too much. If you do, you’ll always be disappointed. If you just enjoy the moment, there’s so much joy to be found.
Source: YouTube, Talkin’Secret
Real Talk
“Why don’t you believe in miracles?”
Do you think people have stopped dreaming?
Nick: I actually think that most people have never even started dreaming. Many might have an idea of what they want in life, but they’ve never truly dreamed. And that’s why they often don’t understand us dreamers. Many people I get along really well with—good friends of mine—sometimes I just think: Let go a little more. Just dream! Not everything has to be logical. Things just happen. I’m not superstitious, but you have to allow it. Because if you don’t believe in miracles, what do you even believe in? There are so many miracles…
Marti: I find it funny because this is another example where I interpret things completely differently. For me, when a lot of difficult things happened, I started wondering: Can I still do things the way I do? Am I still dreaming?
Nick: That’s the first time I’m hearing this. Makes sense, though.
Marti: Am I still dreaming? Have I stopped dreaming? I have to start dreaming again. At some point, I thought—maybe this is about me? But through a lot of experiences, I realized that you can never turn a dreamer into a non-dreamer. A dreamer will always be a dreamer.
Nick and Marti of Talkin’ Secret.
We’ve already talked a bit about your music—when can we see you live?
Marti: We’ve recently reformed, and we’ll see how our rehearsal goes tomorrow. I’m thinking March or April. I don’t want to promise anything, but…
Nick: I’d say more like April, but definitely by summer at the latest. So, it’s going to continue.
Marti: We also have some confirmed gigs that we’ll definitely be playing. That would be in June, but the goal is to perform even sooner. To start dreaming earlier.
Nick: Then we can all dream together.
You were recently in London (directed at Marti), and you surely wouldn’t deny the British influence. Fascination with England—what are your thoughts on that?
Marti: I just feel like—maybe because I’m just a visitor—everyone there has some kind of connection to music. Everyone seems to have a sense for it. A friend of ours always says that when he sees us listening to music, he notices that we feel music. And he wishes he could feel music the way we do. And I get the impression that in England, more people feel music rather than just listen to it. I notice it the moment I arrive there because so many people are just so passionate about it. I’ll be in a pub, and there’s some old guy in overalls talking about Paul McCartney. In the next pub, Oasis is playing on repeat. Then I step outside, and there’s a bus packed with guitar amps and instruments blasting music. I feel like people in England dream more. Germany… well, Germans are just a bit uptight!
Nick: Rock music was born in England. You can just tell. All the great bands come from there. And for me, the whole pub culture plays a huge role as well. That’s really important to me. The English are just so much better at being a bit rough around the edges. They have this self-irony, like, “Yeah, we know we’re in a shithole, but…” And like I said, rock music was born in England. The best rock music comes from there. Naturally, if you want to be in a great band, you look to England, not Germany. I can hardly think of any German bands that inspire me. Actually, none, to be honest. That’s why the fascination with England comes so naturally. Once you’ve been to a pub there, you never want to leave.
Marti: It’s the whole vibe. When I arrive there on a Tuesday, and the pub is packed, people are there straight from work with their colleagues. They just think, “I want to have a great night tonight.” The rest doesn’t matter. As we say all the time: “Whatever happens tomorrow – my future self can deal with that.”
Belonging. Believing in yourself. Dreams.
We’ve already covered these topics. Which song and theme would you like to highlight once more?
Nick: Take Glimpse of the Morning, for example: “Short days and longer nights.” That’s exactly about nights like tonight. If you go all in, the next day feels incredibly short because you sleep late—but at least you spent it with your friends.
Marti: Stranger in Disguise, on the other hand, was written for a close friend. You’re hiding in your cave, but I still believe in you because you belong to me – and yet, in the end, it turns into “Now you’re a stranger in disguise.” For me, Stranger in Disguise is about someone who still looks like the person I once knew, but it feels like they’ve become a stranger—disguised as that person who once meant so much to me. And yet, I find myself thinking, I don’t want to believe these lies just to keep the dream alive.
Source: YouTube, Talkin’Secret
Finally: Was it worth the way?
Nick: Absolutely.
Marti: Yes, just yes.
Nick: I’d do it ten more times.
Marti: The journey isn’t over yet. We’re still on our way.
Nick: Ask us in ten years.
Your album Petrichor consists of nine songs. Do you have more tracks in the works?
Nick: Absolutely. Our actual hit isn’t even on the album! When we recorded it, we had 14 songs, but not enough time in the studio. So, we cut it down to nine. Since then, we’ve already written six more songs. If we count all our ideas, it’s probably 20 or 30 songs waiting to be developed. The only challenge now is finding the right people to record with.
Marti: To bring it all together.
Nick: That’s the only thing missing right now. But otherwise… absolutely!
Marti: Don’t Wanna Know was always a fan favorite live, and we never recorded it. We have plenty of material and are eager to make more. But the main goal is getting back on stage and giving people a great night—giving ourselves a great night. The rest will follow.
Nick: I love performing live, but I’m also itching to record another album already!
If you come to our live shows, you’ll definitely hear more songs than what’s on the album!
Marti
Talkin’ Secret.
To be fair, there’s also more than one story to this interview.
Somewhere over the Reeperbahn the night ended. Thanks to achtzehn93 and the Silbersack. No photos, no filming. Yeah, I know…
Catch Talkin’ Secret live in 2025:
– 24.05. Molotow
– 13.06. Lola
– 26.07. tba
