Die-Ärz-Drummer Bela B Felsenheimer: Self-critical view of the past

Four decades of experience in the rock business – that’s what shapes you. Die-Ärzt drummer Bela B Felsenheimer (62) now looks more critically at the wild years of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll than before. In his new novel “Fun”, the musician addresses the dark side of the industry and patriarchal structures in the music business. In an interview with the magazine “Spiegel” he speaks openly about the changes in the scene.

“Rock’n’Roll is always a sexual promise, that’s part of its DNA,” explains Bela B. But he used to see the groupie culture much differently: “When I started making music, and bands and rock musicians Of course, ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock’n’Roll’ was in my 16-year-old head.”

Today the Die Doctors star sees many things differently. The band removed some of their early songs from the repertoire – such as “Elke”, which combines fat shaming and misogyny. “This is the last millennium,” says Felsenheimer self-critically. He also apologizes for a macabre joke at a concert in which he and bandmate Farin Urlaub (61) made fun of knockout drops: “Not a moment that we are very proud of.”

The musician calls for more mindfulness in the industry. At his band’s concerts there are now awareness teams who watch out for aggressive behavior in the audience. “For example, there are gropers at every concert, people who touch women and men in intimate places during a fight,” he reports. In such cases, the perpetrators would be expelled from the concert.

“What’s wrong with developing? Becoming more mindful?” asks Felsenheimer. “I’m not a ‘everything used to be better’ punk.” His attitude has also changed politically. While Die Ärzte appeared to be decidedly apolitical in the 1980s, today he knows: “It is impossible to be apolitical. The claim of being apolitical is already a political statement.”

In his novel “Fun”, the musician describes an abuse system in a fictional German rock band. Even though many readers may draw parallels to real cases, he emphasizes: “I’m not interested in profiting from a scandal from two years ago.” Rather, he is concerned with systematic problems in society.

The punk rocker sees the need for change: “Feminism works better when men internalize it too. When we stop looking at a woman as a trophy or a thing.” For his novel, he specifically sought out female perspectives: “In any case, I only gave the book to my personal environment to read in advance. Almost exclusively to women, because I write a lot from the perspective of women. It’s not enough to just read something. “

He uses the example of David Bowie (1947-2016) to show that rock music was not only characterized by misogyny, “who, with Ziggy Stardust, created the first mass-appealing non-binary creature in pop history.” His conclusion remains nuanced: “It’s not all black or white.”