( CNN ) -- Move aside oom-pah bands . The new Germany has no space for your lederhosen-clad image . And forget that dark German music scene promulgated by metal industrial bands like Rammstein . Here comes Madsen , a four-piece indie rock band with heart and high-energy live shows . They are one of the most popular new bands in Germany , with several top 10 hits . Madsen is made up of brothers Sebastian , Johannes and Sascha Madsen and their friend Nico Maurer . They are touring the United States to promote the German language and their audience is mostly high school and college students like 10th grader Maya Dudley of Chamblee , Georgia . She saw the band in Athens on a field trip with her German class . `` Most of their songs sound like anything you would hear on the radio here , '' she says . Their sound has been compared to Green Day and the band members claim Nirvana as one of their influences . Their lyrics are smart , fun and distinctly German . `` Our English is n't very good , '' said Madsen 's lead singer , Sebastian Madsen , in his first interview in English . While he only has a slight accent , he 's not ready to translate into English any of their more popular tunes like `` Du schreibst Geschichte '' ( You Write History ) or `` Mein Herz bleibt hier ( My Heart Stays Here ) '' . `` It 's more interesting to sing German in America , because it 's a challenge for the people here , '' he says . That 's why the entire tour is sponsored by the German government , the European Recovery Program and others interested in promoting Germany 's culture and language , such as the Goethe Institute . `` In the U.S. , many German programs have been cut down , '' says the Goethe Institute 's Bjoern Technau . German language education is being pushed out by other languages , like Mandarin Chinese , according to a 2009 survey by the Center of Applied Linguistics . `` We try to keep German on the screen , so to speak . '' Technau says . The 12-city Madsen tour is supposed to help . The band has been playing mostly in school auditoriums in the daytime . The audiences are American students who dance and sing along in perfect German . That 's because they have studied the lyrics in class . The Goethe Institute developed lesson plans for German teachers around the band 's songs . `` Mad about German -- Mad about Madsen '' is the tag line for the U.S. tour . Besides getting kids interested in the language , Madsen wants to push out German music stereotypes one American auditorium at a time . `` German music still has the reputation of being somewhat dark , '' says Sebastian Madsen . `` We want to counter this clichÃ© and surprise our audiences . '' One big surprise is that Madsen 's live shows are just as energetic in a school auditorium as they are at a huge Berlin music festival . `` It does n't matter if there are 10 people or 10,000 , we always want to give a good show for everybody . That 's very important to us , '' says drummer Sascha Madsen . The last date on Madsen 's U.S. concert tour will be November 18 in Denver .
German rock band Madsen is touring the States . The tour kicks off in New York on May 7 and will end with a show at Madison Square Garden on June 3. The German government is sponsoring the band 's tour .