When Tokio Hotel was on MTV for the first time in 2005, it was clear to 12-year-old Mwita Mataro that he also wanted to play big stages with his own band, sing rock anthems and be loved. But as a black musician he quickly reached his limits in conservative Salzburg. Only the openness of Vienna was the basis for the frontman-to-be to feel comfortable in the world of music - in a world where racism and class play no role.  A year abroad in Ireland and numerous concerts by bands like Kings Of Leon, Phoenix and Arctic Monkeys later, he began working on his own songs with school friends for the first time. For lack of a rehearsal room, a garden pavilion in Vienna's Türkenschanzpark was misappropriated to develop the first indie hits. The name of the band was derived from the meeting place: At Pavillon was born.

In 2016, things got serious: the adolescent drumming turned into indie rock with a political approach. Of the original group, only Kiddy B and Mwita were still part of the band, while the Austro-Iranian drummer Paul Ali set the rhythm from then on. A diverse band that initially politicised more than rehearsed, until finally their first single "Lions" hit the German-speaking world. A single that already bears the band's DNA in its basic features: class-struggle indie rock that roars loudly and is also always convincing live. With success came a relevant realisation: whether at festivals, in clubs or in the charts - indie rock is white. "As a musician, it is my mission to motivate black people to make rock and to create structures in which this is possible,'' says Mwita Mataro. A mission he is also pursuing in his upcoming documentary AUSTROSCHWARZ.

One album, one German tour and one pandemic later, At Pavillon now return with their second album: Personal Development Deals.

The band used the last two years - forced to - to come clean with themselves: Who am I? What do I want? And anyway. What sounds like an esoteric personal coach was in fact a necessary reorientation as a collective, but also for each individual band member. The band was down, but after this catharsis they are ready to tear down the stages of this world again.

With rock anthems, synth-pop tracks, indie-western romance and melodic ballads, the new album "Personal Development Deals" will be broad enough in its musical and lyrical diversity to ask all freedom-lovers and freedom-seekers to dance as sonic support. Because everyone should dance at At Pavillon, regardless of skin colour, gender, age, sexual orientation or origin.