They are Germany's best-known YouTube twins - and have been since their teenage years. After their stellar career on the video portal, Heiko and Roman Lochmann are now on new terrain and continue to delight their fans with both original music and acting appearances in film comedies.
In 2011, a channel called "Die Lochis" was launched on the YouTube video platform - behind it were Heiko and Roman Lochmann, two brothers from Mainz who were just 12 years old at the time. Initially, Die Lochis mainly parodied current chart hits and translated songs into German. For their videos, they won the audience award in the "Newbie" category of the German Web Video Award.
In the years that followed, Heiko and Roman Lochmann steadily expanded their show and eventually reached more than 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube. Their videos are viewed in the double-digit millions. At the same time, the two increasingly focus on their music - in 2013, they release their first single "Durchgehend Online". The song becomes an instant hit and the first live concert in Cologne's LANXESS arena is quickly sold out.
More singles follow: Songs like "Ich bin blank," "Sonnenschein" and "Mein letzter Tag" all chart in the German Top 50 - and are a foretaste of Heiko and Roman Lochmann's first tour, which starts in January 2015. Their self-produced albums even land in the Top 5 of the German album charts.
As HE/RO, the brothers turn to rockier sounds
The next step is only logical: After eight years, the twins pause their channel on YouTube and dedicate themselves completely to their career as musicians. As a band, they perform under the name HE/RO - a combination of the first two letters of their first names.
The very first song "Siehst Du mich?" makes it clear where the journey is headed - HE/RO rock right from the start. The sound with drums and distorted electric guitar even reminds some music critics of the band Tokio Hotel. Also the single "Höhenangst" shows that the twins are not afraid to go new ways musically: One part is taken over by the rapper Kayef and thus gives the sound of HE/RO a completely different note.
"Höhenangst" also proves that Heiko and Roman Lochmann are not afraid of the very big feelings. That's exactly what the song is about: the passionate hunger for life of young people who want to experience everything that life can offer them.
Heiko and Roman Lochmann also generate a lot of attention with the song "Wrong with me", in which they openly address their own psychological problems. Thus Roman suffers according to own data from occasional panic attacks, Heiko against it fights sometimes with massive self-doubt. Thus, they contribute to de-tabooize the subject.
Excursion into the film business
Whoever has tickets for Heiko and Roman Lochmann can thus look forward to a concert that shows the musical transformation of the twins live and in color. Because the first songs are on the program as well as newer productions, such as the single "Kuss an Dich", with which the brothers plead for more love and joie de vivre.
Today Heiko and Roman Lochmann are on tour, in the charts, on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. But beyond that, they are now also a household name for film fans. They play in several episodes of the telenovela "Sturm der Liebe", after their first feature film "Bruder vor Luder" they shoot the mix-up comedy "Takeover - Voll Vertauscht". The cast also includes German TV stars such as Alexandra Neldel and Kai Wiesinger.
As young as the Lochmann brothers are at the start of their careers, the two have already experienced a lot. So it's not at all surprising that they have already published an autobiography. In "Welcome Reality," however, the twins not only talk about plans and projects, but also share very private thoughts with their readers.
