Biography
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Years Active
1998 – present (26 years)
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Founded In
Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Bio
Hey all you drunken bastards and beautiful ladies!
It’s the year 1998. The Backyard Babies just released their milestone „Total 13“, Turbonegro created THE album of their career, „Apocalypse Dudes“ just to take a 5 years break later on. Bands like Gluecifer or Hellacopters reanimate the long lost spirit of rock’n’roll by refueling him with some dirty, hellfyred gasoline and people started to listen to the music of bands like Stooges, MC 5, Thin Lizzy or AC/DC like it was meant to be: loud! Right in this year, it was the month of May, 3 totally insane Madmen, as different from each other as they could be, came together at a Guitar Wolf concert (you know, those mad japanese) at the Underground, Cologne and decided to start a rockband, because they thought (after seeing the performance of Guitar Wolf) it actually couldn’t be that difficult.
Those three fine gentlemen, named Steini, Lipski and Henseler each picked an instrument they wanted to cling to, one time drums and two times guitar, so that the the only thing needed left to do, was to find a bassplayer and a singer, which would be able to withstand the high standars of the fantastic three, i.e. being absolute beginners. The place of the bassplayer was given away relativetly fast to Mr. Rock Vegas, who neither had touched left alone played a bass in his entire life before, but looked like the younger brother of Mike Ness. So he made his rocket career off the couch, away from girl and TV and into the band. As for finding a singer, the credits go to Mr. Henseler. After drinking eight (!!!) Long Island Ice Tea, his glasses somewhere around his nose and his hairs made like Frankensteins, he was still able to convince the Don to join their band. “Hey, you wanna be the singer ov’a rocknroll band?”, is still a quote that fills the band with awe, when they remember how and when it came out of the mouth of an over two meters tall, totally drunk giant.
No.8 Birdshot was born!
So they prepared themselves for their first concert on december, the 21st, 1998 at the Batschkapp in Frankfurt. 4 Songs, an 800+ audience and 18 minutes later, this concert became a legend.
In 1999 they wasted their time mostly with songwriting, practicing their instruments, consume drugs, get layed by beautiful women (ok, some things are definetly lies, but they sound good, so pick the right ones yourself ;) ) and they realized, that it’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll, especially if you don’t want to sound like Guitar Wolf. Because of this, Steini decided to quit the band in the August of 1999 and with him, they got rid of a good piece of their past. Tank Williams joined their ranks as the new drummer and with him also joined qualities like speed, power, aggression and last but not least professionality.
Later in the same month, at the Blue Shell, Cologne, a new band named Bettie Ford was born and rose like the phoenix from the ashes. The setup lasted till the end of 2004 and consisted of Rock Vegas (bass), the Don (vocals, guitars now and then), Tank Williams (drums), Gitz-o-War (guitar) and myself, Silver Revolte (guitar).
In 2000 there were quite some concerts with a lot of cool bands, like Zen Guerilla, songs came and went away.
In 2001 the band went to the studio for the first time and recorded the „Rockfather“ EP, a song that, despite its age, is still considered a hit on live perfomances. More gigs with bands like the Hookers, Hard Ons or Flaming Sideburns made the year complete.
In 2002 there were also concerts with the Bones (One of Silvers favorite bands) and a small tour with the insane Psychopunch.
And then in 2003 came the big surprise: After more gigs with the Bones or the Hanson Brothers, the mad Gregor Mining from ZYX Music hands us a record deal, which, after a few fine adjustments and getting totally drunk with him, gets almost immediatly signed. A few weeks later and 14 hits in the suitcases we went to the studio of the legendary Kurt Ebelhäuser (Blackmail), to record our debut album “League of Fools” after consuming a lot of Van Dolfft’s Advocaat.
At the end of 2004 Tank decided to quit the band to fulfill his dream of opening his own record store. We wish him well and hope his store will last throughout eternity!
In 2005 Brat o'Hara joined the Fords as a replacement for Tank and proved himself (by getting immensely drunk several times) of being worthy to be a member of the band. The year passed with a lot of shows, a lot of fun and some new songs. Lots of friends and fans were made and Bettie Ford managed to establish their name even more in the rock bizz.
Now it's almost the end of 2006. Due to an accident whit a long rehabilitation period, Gitz-O-War was forced to also take a leave from the band. He decided to retire altogether and the band will be holding a huge "Big Boom" Farewell Gig in early december. A new album has been recorded (again by Kurt Ebelhäuser) and the guys are currently looking for a new label to release it in 2007.
And here they are, the boys who picked their instuments once. Ready to give the world some kickass rock, no compromisses, no wannabes and no sticking to what’s “in” these days. Rock’n’Roll in its purest form. Hard, dirty, fast and always with a whole lot of melody!
The rock’n’roll begins here, so stay drunk and punk!
Sincerly yours,
Bettie Ford
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