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Vita |
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© 2007-2023 weird |
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A queer perspective on women in pop culture |
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Ausgabe Nr. 121 November 2017 |
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Sitting Next To Missy Elliott
Interview K‘s Choice-Frontfrau Sarah Bettens
Interview: Christine Stonat (10/2017) Photo: Jen Rosenstein
weird: First of all happy 25th anniversary! Your upcoming tour in Germany in November 2017 will be a celebration of 25 years K’s Choice. Why did you decide to celebrate it with an acoustic tour?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: We celebrated with an electric tour in Belgium, Holland and France, but logistics made it impossible to bring the whole band to Germany. We’ve done a lot of projects the 3 of us, with our keyboard player, and we find it to be a very successful formula. Not just fun for us, but also for the fans. Things get a little more intimate and personal, but we still have a blast and are able to do a dynamic show.
weird: You’re also celebrating your 25th anniversary with your best of album “25”. This includes among others also a great re-recording of your 1995 hit single “Not An Addict” together with like you out musician Skin. How did this collaboration happen, means also why did you want to work together with Skin?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: We felt like we had to do something special for this anniversary album. We wanted to rerecord Not An Addict, our biggest song, in duet with Skin. She is a friend, a fan of the song, and we go way back, so it seemed like a great opportunity to do something together. First, we were just going to do the same version as in the nineties, but then with the current band. It was actually Skin who got us to consider going 180 degrees from that and trying something completely different. It was a total blast to be in the studio with her. She’s very professional, very funny and just a great person to be around. I love this new version and we’re very proud of it.
weird: How did you choose the songs for the album?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: Gert and I each made a list of songs separately and the lists were actually not that different. Some songs stand the test of time better than others, and Gert and I are mostly on the same page about stuff like that. Of course, we took fan favorites into account as well.
weird: 25 years K’s Choice. How do you remember how everything started back then?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: I have a really bad memory, so I’m very grateful we have footage. J I have fond memories of the beginning, but I’m also taken aback by how young and naïve I was when I see interviews. I knew absolutely nothing. If I could talk to my 20-year old self right now, I’d tell her to take herself less seriously, take more risks and think before you sign a contract.
weird: How and with which feelings are you looking back on the last 25 years?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: Mostly gratitude. Sometimes, I can’t believe it’s been that long, a lifetime really. I’m very proud of what we’ve done and so happy we’re still able to be out there doing it. I made my friends on the road, I grew up on the road, became who I am today on the road. I’m not sure who I’d be if I had had a regular 9 to 5 job.
weird: First time I saw you was at PC 69 in Bielefeld – this magazine’s hometown – in 1995 as support of Heroes del silencio. You remember that tour?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: Absolutely! That tour was so important for us in Germany. It took us to a new level. I used to love doing those support tours, it’s such a shame that record labels won’t spend the money anymore. It really gives you an opportunity to show your skills to people who would have normally never given you a chance.
weird: If one to pick what was your best moment with K’s Choice on stage?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: Too many moments to pick just one, but Pinkpop in Holland was definitely a highlight. 30.000 people, all quietly listening to my brother and I playing a very intimate song called My Heart, it was amazing.
weird: What was your best moment off stage?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: Sitting next to Missy Elliott in hair and make up for a Vogue Magazine photo shoot in New York City. #ultimaterockstarmoment
weird: K’s Choice has a very rocking side and a very soft side, too. Any side you prefer to any time?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: I go back and forth all the time. I’m grateful we can do both and that we can do both well. I know our fans have preferences, but for me it just depends on what I’ve been doing. Change is always nice and especially when you’re trying to be creative, so we try to mix it up as much as we can.
weird: Do you personally have an all-time favorite K’s Choice song?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: Believe is one of my favorites. It has held up really well over the years, I still love the hope that shines through that song, and I still really enjoy playing it live.
weird: There’s one new song on “25” and it is the wonderful single “Resonate”. Will there be more to come in the next year … and in the next 25 years?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: We will be working on a new K’s Choice album in 2018. We’re not done yet! At the same time, both Gert and I will be working on side projects as well. In my case, something very different from K’s Choice. Stay tuned!
weird: November 2017 is this magazine’s 10th anniversary. And you were the very first interview I did for the No. 1 issue. http://www.weird-bielefeld.de/index-Dateien/vita1.htm And there were another two interviews with you to follow. Last one in 2015. Thank you so much again. Anything you like to wish “weird Magazine” on its 10th anniversary?
Sarah Bettens | K’s Choice: A very Happy Birthday, may we all celebrate the next 10 in 2027 and thank you so much for your years of support.
Interview: Christine Stonat (10/2017) Foto: Jen Rosenstein |
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Die belgische Band K‘s Choice um die lesbische Frontfrau Sarah Bettens feiert 2017 25-jähriges Bandjubiläum. Aus diesem Anlass erschien im April 2017 das Best Of-Album „25“ inklusive der neuen Single „Resonate“ und der Neu-Aufnahme ihres größtes Hits „Not An Addict“ gemeinsam mit der lesbischen britischen Musikerin Skin. Jetzt ist Sarah Bettens mit K‘s Choice auf Jubiläumstour. U. a. im November 2017 auch mit einem Akustik-Programm in Deutschland. Sarah Bettens (45) war 2007 die Allererste, die weird für seine Ausgabe Nr. 1 November 2007 interviewte. Es folgten weitere Interviews 2013 und 2015. Umso mehr freut es weird, dass Sarah Bettens einmal mehr Zeit gefunden hat vor ihrer Tour erneut ein paar Fragen zu beantworten. Fragen zu 25 Jahre K‘s Choice. Das Interview erscheint hier im Original so wie es in Englisch per E-Mail geführt wurde.
Online: www.kschoice.com
K‘s Choice „25“ (earMusic/Edel) Out: seit 21.4.17 Single: „Resonate“
Live-Termine Deutschland:
10.11.17 Frankfurt (Batschkapp) 11.11.17 München (Technikum) 12.11.17 Berlin (Lido) 13.11.17 Hamburg (Knust)
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Interview-Steckbrief - in eigenen Worten -
Name: Sarah Bettens Alter: 45 Beruf: Musician Wohnort: California Meine weirdeste Eigenschaft: I don‘t like wearing bras.
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Foto: Jen Rosenstein |
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Info: Musikerin Sarah Bettens (45) ist Frontfrau der belgischen Indieband K‘s Choice. Gemeinsam mit ihrem Bruder Gert wurde die Band Anfang der 1990er gegründet. 1993, vor 20 Jahren, erschien, damals noch unter dem Bandnamen The Choice, ihr erstes Album. Der internationale Durchbruch gelang ihnen schließlich 1996 als K‘s Choice mit ihrem zweiten Album „Paradise In Me“ und dem Hit „Not An Addict“. In Bielefeld spielte die Band erstmals am 26.10.1995 im damaligen PC 69 als Vorband von Heroes del Silencio. Es folgten zwei weitere Alben bis 2000. 2003 dann kündigte die Band eine Pause an, die Sarah als Sängerin, Songschreiberin und Gitarristin für eine Karriere als Solomusikerin nutzte. 2005 outete sie sich gleichsam mit ihrem ersten Soloalbum „Scream“ öffentlich als lesbisch. Zeitgleich zu ihrem zweiten Soloalbum „Shine“ 2007 erschien dieses Online-Magazin weird, und so kam es, dass Sarah Bettens das erste weird-Interview in weirds Ausgabe Nr. 1 im November 2007 wurde. 2013 erschien unter dem Bandnamen Bettens das Album „Waving At The Sun“. Ein wunderschöner Soundtrack zur filmischen Dokumentation einer Antarktis-Expedition des berühmten Polarforschers Dixie Dansercoer. 2015 gab es mit „Phantom Cowboy“ dann ein neues, siebtes K‘s Choice-Album, auf dem sich die Band rockiger denn je präsentiert. 2017 feiert K‘s Choice 25-jähriges Bandjubiläum. Es erscheint im April 2017 das Best Of-Album „25“.
Sarah Bettens lebt mit ihrer Partnerin Stephanie seit über 10 Jahren in den USA. Vor einigen Jahren adoptierten sie zwei Kinder. Im Juli 2015 heiraten die beiden.
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Hinweis: Sam Bettens ist ein trans Mann. Dieses sowie weitere weird-Interviews mit ihm wurden vor dem öffentlichen Coming-out unter seinem alten Namen geführt und die Einleitung mit altem Pronomen geschrieben. |
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10 Jahre weird November 2007 - November 2017 |
