"Making music means staying young in your head, accepting new challenges and being happy!"

Anyone who hears Bettman's crisp sounds - German rock with a solid rock groove, official guitar licks and unpretentious singing of honest lyrics - will notice that the band lives their motto.

Gert Bertram - initially "Batman" because of the unmistakable fire mark "almost a natural mask", jokes Bertram, has been affectionately called "Bettman" since his youth, due to his preference for all activities in bed.

He fell for rock'n'roll early on. At that time still at home in Neumünster, but already with posters from Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin in the nursery, the Schleswig-Holstein surroundings and the classical piano lessons prescribed by his parents quickly become too stuffy for him.

Without further ado, he teaches himself to play the guitar - with the help of the records of his role models and standing in front of the tube radio. With his long hair down to his buttocks, a piano and choir training and guitar skills well equipped, in his opinion he fits in much better in Berlin anyway. Before that happens, however, he is live on stage for the first time, at a session at the Christmas party of the apprentices at the Deutsche Bundesbahn they played "Inside Looking Out" by "Grandfunk Railroad" ..., a wild number back then.

Then at the age of 17 1/2 I went to the city of his dreams without further ado. With jobs such as grave digger, roofer or later S-Bahn driver, he initially stayed afloat. At the age of 18 he founded his first rock-blues-boogie band 'Shot Gun' - in this band he also played with Jay Be on bass for the first time - later based in Kreuzberg, they quickly became known as the "Kreuzberg Rolling Stones".

Finally and incurably infected by the stage virus, from now on everything revolves around the music. The hip clubs and underground discos - Bettman knows them all - and everyone in business. At the time, guitarist and singer Joey Albrecht was the head of the legendary Berlin krautrock band 'Karthago'. Ur-rock Ralph Steinmetz is the drummer of the 'Joey Albrecht Band' in the 80s. Back then there was Café Morgenrot in Berlin and practice rooms for bands like Nina Hagen, Spliff, Shot Gun and the 'Joey Albrecht Band' in its vicinity. In the red of dawn, everyone met and celebrated who had rank and name, ”Bettman remembers today. The musicians become friends.

As a roadie in Berlin, Bettman met many stars in the eighties: “Santana invited us to his tuning room, great guy. And I played soccer with Richie Blackmore from Deep Purple after the sound check in the hall, or with Lemmy and Billy Gibbons after their shows

drank a whiskey in the dawn ".

In 1992 in the legendary “Tacheles” in Berlin, Bettman worked as an in-house sound engineer for 8 years - and is on tour with various bands throughout Europe and the USA.

At the beginning of 2020, BETTMANes wants to know again correctly. He gathers his longtime friends and colleagues together in order to record four new pieces with them for the EP “Alle Kommen Frei”.

These songs are very important to Bettman - apart from the lovingly arranged and interpreted cover version of the title "Helden" (David Bowie), they are all songs that he wrote himself:

"For me, good songs are like my children who are carefully allowed to grow up, everything is well considered!"

It can take a month or two before an arrangement is ready. Sometimes the text or singing is there first, and the music follows through improvisation - or a guitar riff haunts Bettman's head, and the piece gradually builds up around these first notes.

You can hear in all four songs how much attention to detail went into the production. Honest, handmade music without frills - but with exclamation marks and at a high level: BETTMAN makes mobile:

The "Bettmanlied" is a strong, guitar-heavy German rock answer to the superhero theme music - a musical wink with a view of the alleged lotter life of the band boss himself.

“All come free” is a real listening pleasure with a sing-along guarantee, not only thanks to the many ingenious guitar grooves and licks that skilfully interlock.

“Meine Süße” fits perfectly into a Schimanski thriller - the 80s greet and inspire with epic choirs: hard shell, soft core - a rock ballad love message to the woman at Bettman's side.

Everything at Bettman is from a single source, because the four musicians produce in his "Allzeit Musik Studio", founded in 2004. Through Bettman's many years of work as a musician, DJ, sound engineer and producer, he has experience in all branches of music. “Our recording studio also has an affiliated label! It is therefore a relaxed and direct way of working, without producers talking in and in the end something comes out that you actually didn't want. "

EP "All come free" - Bettman - Release November 6th, 2020 - © Label "Allzeit Musik"

The four German rockers are already working on the album with 12-14 tracks, the release is planned for the end of 2021.

“The fascinating thing about making music is that you are never finished. Music is infinite, you never stop learning. ”- BETTMAN