Bela B

Dirk Albert Felsenheimer was born in Spandau, the westernmost borough of Berlin. He has a twin sister named Diana and his parents separated when he was five years old.[1] Felsenheimer graduated from the Carlo-Schmid-Oberschule in Berlin.[2] Afterwards he joined the police force, partly due to boredom and partly because of the influence of his uncle, who was also a police officer.[1] However, shortly before joining the force Bela became punk, which seemed at odds with the conformity required of him in the police.[1] Despite his reservations, he began police training, as he could think of no other viable option and he did not want his mother to worry about him.[1] However, he quit the force soon after joining because he felt that he did not belong there and he began being harassed by the other recruits.[3] He then worked in a warehouse for a short time before beginning a three-year apprenticeship as a window-dresser for the department store Hertie.[3]

Felsenheimer took his stage name from Dracula actor Bela Lugosi, whom he has admired since childhood.[4] The "B" stands for Barney, as the German name of the fictional The Flintstones character Barney Rubble is "Barney Geröllheimer", and he was nicknamed after him because of the similarity to "Felsenheimer".[4] Felsenheimer is actually registered with the German performing rights society GEMA as 'Bela Barney Felsenheimer'.

Bela B drumming in 2013

Bela is a fan of horror, which is reflected in many of his songs, such as "Dein Vampyr" (Your Vampire), "Mysteryland", "Der Graf" (The Count), "Die Nacht" (The Night), "Wir werden schön" (We Become Beautiful), "Der Vampir mit dem Colt" (The Vampire with the Colt), "Licht am Ende des Sarges" (Light at the End of the Coffin), and "Monsterparty".

One of Bela's particular features is that he usually plays drums standing up during performances. He has done this since he saw the Stray Cats perform in 1983.[5] Up to that point he had performed sitting down for the first Die Ärzte concerts. However, he generally plays sitting down in the studio, and also performed seated during the Rock'n'Roll Realschule concert and at times during the "Jenseits der Grenze des Zumutbaren" ("Beyond the Reasonable Limit") and "Unrockstar" tours.

Bela B at Highfield Festival 2014

Bela B was the owner of the Leipzig comic book publisher Extrem Erfolgreich Enterprises (Extremely Successful Enterprises), which published horror comic books, including German versions of independent series such as "Faust" and "Satanika". Their titles also included their own publications such as "Schweinevogel" and a comic about Die Ärzte. In an interview with the Berlin magazine Zitty in September 2006, Bela B announced that he was giving up his publishing project.[6]

As an author, Bela has written for the vampire anthology Liber Vampirorum: Last Blood and for comic books published by his publishing house.

Other hobbies include acting and he has appeared in many German television productions, including episodes of Alarm für Cobra 11 and Tatort, as well as in Gonger for the German television channel ProSieben in 2008 and in the film A Goddamn Job. In 1985, Bela portrayed one of the main characters in Richy Guitar, a film about an aspiring rock band which also starred his Die Ärzte bandmates Farin Urlaub and Hans Runge. More recently, Bela played the lead role of concentration camp prisoner Hans Steinbrück in the 2004 film Edelweiss Pirates. In 2005 Bela's acting roles included a role in the short film Kingz (directed by Benni Diez and Marinko Spahić), which was produced by the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, as well as the role of Ronnie in Barbara Gebler's crime parody, Salamander. In 2007, Bela interviewed his favorite director, Quentin Tarantino, about the film Death Proof for the German newspaper Die Welt[7] and later had a cameo role as a cinema usher in Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds.

Bela's voice-over work includes the voice of Clay in the German version of the MTV cartoon television series Free for All. He also recorded the voices of various characters in the German version of the Danish film Terkel in Trouble. His work also includes several audio dramas, such as Faust vs. Mephisto alongside Thomas D from the German band Die Fantastischen Vier and the audiobook Venus in Furs with actress Catherine Flemming. He also recorded the audio version of a biography of Elvis Presley in 2007.

In early 2011, Bela recorded another audio book, Exit Mundi, a popular scientific book by the Dutch science journalist Maarten Keulemans discussing many possible and absurd end-of-world scenarios. The promotion tour took Bela on 15 venues, reading on stage in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The tour also included gimmicks, such as Bela reading from the book to the tune of R.E.M.'s hit single "The End of the World as We Know It".

In 2019 Bela published his first novel, titled Scharnow.

Bela B in 2012

Bela B lives with his girlfriend Konstanze Habermann and their son in Hamburg.

He is a fan of the German football team FC St. Pauli.[8] He is also a keen runner, having completed marathons in Hamburg and New York. In 2004, he completed the 20 km event in the 26th Ahrensburg Lümmellauf and the Dracula Transylvania Marathon from Sighişoara to Mediaş, Romania.[9]

Bela B has also supported many anti-fascist projects, including the initiative "Kein Bock auf Nazis" (No Room for Nazis), which was started by the Berlin punk band ZSK. His anti-fascist stance has also been shown in songs such as "Schrei nach Liebe" (Cry for Love) and also "Deutsche, kauft nicht bei Nazis" (Germans, Don't Buy from Nazis). Bela made the latter available to download for free from his website.[10]

Bela is also a big fan of The Simpsons and has expressed a wish to appear in the series.[11]

• Die Nixe/The Mermaid (Christa Fast) (1992)
• Die Brautprinzessin (2002)
• The KLF der schnelle Weg zum Nr. 1 Hit (2003)
• Gabriel Burns – Folge 6, Die Totenmaschine (as barkeeper) (2004)
• Thomas D vs. Bela B – Faust vs. Mephisto (2004)
• Venus im Pelz (2005)
• Böse Nacht Geschichten (2005)
• Captain Berlin vs. Dracula (from Jörg Buttgereit) (2006)
• Vampira-Hörspiel-Reihe by Lübbe Audio (2006)
• Last Train to Memphis (part 1 of an Elvis Presley biography written by Peter Guralnick) (2007)
• Careless Love (part 2 of an Elvis Presley biography written by Peter Guralnick) (2007)
• Kill your friends (by John Niven) (2009)
• Exit Mundi – die besten Weltuntergänge (by Maarten Keulemans & A.W. Bruna Uitgevers) (2011)
• Sartana – noch warm und schon Sand drauf (based on a 1970 Spaghetti Western) (2016)

• Karg, Markus; BelaFarinRod (2001). Die Ärzte. Ein überdimensionales Meerschwein frisst die Erde auf (in German). Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. ISBN 3-89602-369-1.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bela B.

• Official website
• Official Die Ärzte website
• The Big Felsenheimer – Bela B. internet encyclopedia (in German)
• Bela B. Felsenheimer at IMDb
• Bela B in the German National Library catalogue