Gustav Klaus Wolfgang Schäfer was born and in Magdeburg on September 8th, 1988. He grew up with both his parents and a big sister. He still lives in Magdeburg in a newly built house with his wife, their daughter, their dog Neo and their cat.
Drumming has been a passion of his since he first played the drums, when he was only four years old. He got into music after listening to it with his father. He has also mentioned the Danish Metallica drummer, Lars Ulrich, as one of his biggest inspirations.
After finishing compulsory school, he went on to enter a music school where he also met Tokio Hotels bassist, Georg. At the age of 12, they attended a show with Bill and Tom’s duo “Black Question Mark”, and after this show they ended up joining their band. This is how the band “Devilish” was born. In 2005 the name changed to Tokio Hotel and they released their first single together, “Durch den Monsun”, which became the start of their very successful career. There is no doubt about how he to this day still loves to play the drums and you can clearly tell he absolutely does it with passion when they are on tour.
“In the evening during dinner I played under the table and at first my father said “Okay, go out.. with your food.. and you can eat on the floor” and then after, I think 2 months – 3 months they brought me to the music school and the teacher says “Yeah, you’re too small” – I was 4½ years old, so.. I was too small. Yeah.”
-Gustav Schäfer
Gustav enjoys doing a lot of things at home. A few years ago, he started building his own house a bit outside of Magdeburg. Recently, Gustav discovered a passion for barbequing, and he uses his Instagram to show off all the delicious food he cooks. In 2018 he even arranged his first event in Berlin, exclusively for Tokio Hotel fans, called “Drums ‘n BBQ”. There he teaches fans how to play the drums and ends the day by barbequing for them all. He is also really into camping and especially likes to travel to Croatia during summer in his caravan. Another of Gustav’s recent hobbies, include being an influencer on Instagram. He has had several sponsorships, with Kinder Pengui and Stihl, to mention a few.
Style-wise Gustav is usually seen sporting a pair of regular jeans – or even just a pair of shorts alongside a t-shirt. He is also often seen wearing a cap on his head. Despite that Gustav also has a few tattoos here and there on his body, including one with the lyrics of “Hurt” by Johnny Cash. Gustav has not changed a lot throughout the years, but he did have completely black hair at one point, as well as a ponytail during the “Feel it All” tour. Recently his style is very trendy.
“I hate to give interviews.. that’s maybe.. yeah I.. I’m a shy guy.. and I never talk that much, I know, but that’s why I never talk that much is because I don’t like the interviews.”
-Gustav Schäfer
Gustav is the quieter member of the band during interviews – but do not mistake him for boring. He is quite a funny guy with a great sense of humor, and he loves to joke around with the other band members. Even though he does not really like to be in the spotlight during interviews, he does like to show off his private life on Instagram, which of course brings joy to all the fans. He has chosen to share pictures and videos of his adorable daughter several times, but does not show her face, to respect the fact that she is not a celebrity and should have a normal upbringing. Because of that, the fans also do not know her name. We all absolutely respect Gustav for his decision to protect his family.
Did you know?
- Gustav loves listening to Rock, and especially Metallica
- He claims to be a perfectionist, and always places his stool and drumset in a certain way
- Gustav always vanished a bit before going on stage, to clear his mind, and warm up his hands. He gets distracted by the energy of Bill, Tom and Georg
- Gustav sometimes does an “Olaaa” moment with the fans, once the other bandmembers leave the stage. He has since said he does this, when he feels like the show went extra great
- He calls himself a bit of introvert, which is also why he rarely talks during interviews
- Gustav once described himself in an interview as being a bit grouchy and sulky
- He said he was very unsociable as a kid
- Gustav and his wife got married in 2014
- Bad skin and his height, was something he was very insecure about in school, but since his skin problems went away and he grew taller, so did his confidence
- Gustav was once attacked in a nightclub, for being part of the band
- Bill always makes fun of Gustav’s clothes and choice of outfits
- Gustav loves chocolate
- His favorite movie genre is Action, but since having his daughter, it seems he mainly gets to watch “Frozen” with her
