The Full Bandhistory

Hey all you drunken bastards and beautiful ladies! Here’s a little story about the band Bettie Ford and their long, hard way to rock'n'roll over the last 10 years.

The Beginning

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 refuelling 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 Under¬ground, Cologne and decided to start a rock band, 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 only thing needed left to do, was to find a bass player and a singer, which would be able to withstand the high standards of the fantastic three, i.e. being absolute beginners. The place of the bass player was given away relatively 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 Frankenstein’s, 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.
 
The Second Lineup

In 1999 they wasted their time mostly with song writing, practicing their instruments, consume drugs, get laid by beautiful women (ok, some things are definitely 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 professionalism.
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 Silver Revolte (guitar).
 
In 2000 there were quite some concerts with a lot of cool bands, like Zen Guerrilla, 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 performan¬ces. 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 favourite bands) and a small tour with the insane Psychopunch.

League of Fools

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 them out a record deal, which, after a few fine adjustments and getting totally drunk with him, gets almost immediately signed. A few weeks later and 14 hits in the suitcases they went to the studio of the legendary Kurt Ebelhäuser (Blackmail), to record their 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 fulfil his dream of opening his own record store. Everybody wishes him well and hope his store will last throughout eternity!

A New Age

In 2005 Brat o Hara, the replacement for the parting Tank, gave his first official appearance in March and has proven himself (by becoming drunk several times) to be worthy of being part of the band and with him they played up to 30 shows in 2005.
 
In 2006 they headed back into the studio to record their 2nd album Singapore Sling which was released in April of 2008 via Crafts Recordings (PIAS) and Roughtrade. It was again recorded by Kurt Ebelhäuser in his Studio 45. 16 tracks, several of them already performed live with great feedback, were recorded within 14 days and 14 of them will make it to the final stage.
In December 2006, the long-time and founding member Gitz-O-War decides to retire due to health and age problems but not without performing one final farewell show in a sold-out Underground, Cologne.
 
Won’t stop rocking

Now it’s 2008. The remaining four members of Bettie Ford decided to go on like this until all liquor of the world has gone dry. The album release shows are ready for the hot stages of Germany and after the glorious start of the Drunk over Russia tour in autumn 2007, they went to hit the roads of Eastern Europe for a second, longer and harder time last may again.
 
They are on their way to rock city!