Eight months left to the German preselection, but already three artists or projects have stated their wants to participate in it. These include a gay boyband project, a schlagerband and a former participant at a Greek preselection.

�We know the time has come for it�, music producer Mr Swen Gutknecht told German newspaper Berliner Zeitung yesterday. He plans to create and promote an openly gay boyband, targetting a market of over two million gay men in the age of fourteen to thirty-five in Germany alone, who are said to �have a high affinity for pop music and be open to the newest influences�.

Auditions for the boyband in spe are currently running in major German cities i.a. Berlin (�Sage Club�, july 20th), Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Munich and finally Hamburg. Mr Gutknecht is looking for four different types of openly gay men, who should be young (under 25), extremely goodlooking and be able to dance and sing. A contract over two songs with a major German company is ready to be signed, which will send the new boyband as an entry to the German preselection.

Another German band willing to enter is schlagerband �Die barmherzigen Plateausohlen� (�The merciful platform boots�, photo above) from Saarland, home province of 1982 ESC winner Nicole Hohloch. They recently won the �Grand Pril�, a band contest held at the famous Schlagermove in Hamburg, a street parade equivalent to the Berlin Love Parade (the only difference being that fans party to German schlager songs instead of techno). There they played to an enthusiastic crowd of 20.000 people.

Now they want to win the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany. �Only someone from the Saarland is able to do that� declares lead singer Mr Mischael Plateau to German paper Dillinger Wochenspiegel. They have already auditioned for the German preselection in 2002, but did not make it.

Finally, American born singer Kay Connors, second in the Greek preselection 2001 with her entry 'One more Time' and recently having had a few gigs in Germany, declared her wish to participate in 2003 again, this time for Germany.

The German preselection is to be held on 7th March 2003.