The Lords - Some Folks By The Lords, Plus (2010)

A beat band was the best school of life, I once claimed in a lecture, and Peter Max 'Bi' Donath also sees it that way. You developed creativity, learned social skills like teamwork, adaptability, the ability to compromise. One acquired logistical skills and learned how to handle money. More or less, but more about that later.

Max Donath: "How long can we make beat music? Those were our thoughts. Will I still have work tomorrow?" Well, he would eventually realize that he no longer had one, but by then he had spent nine years cavorting with his buddies on the stages of the European continent.

The whole thing had been started by Wolfgang 'Wuffi' Hinneberg (??), who had the idea of launching a skiffle band. And when Ulrich 'Ulli' Günther joined the band, he not only had a nose for the visual aspect, but also occupied the position of bandleader surprisingly fast. The bowler hat, the bow tie, the black vest and the white shirt were obligatory for the Skiffle Lords, as were the white spats later on.

In the line-up Wuffi Hinneberg (guitar), Rainer 'Gandy' Petry (guitar), Reinhard 'Löffel' Gieloff (washboard), Klaus-Peter 'Leo' Lietz (banjo), Andreas 'Andy' Neumann (guitar) and Ulli Günther (teakettle bass) they played their way through Berlin, won on 8. April 1961 (before the New Skiffle Spirits) they won the 'Golden Washboard' in the Schöneburg Sports Hall and received it - in miniature and made of brass - from the Senator for Youth and Sports. A generous Englishwoman donated 110 Marks for the winners - all of them with bowler hats, except Wuffi, who only got a papier-mâché cylinder - which the band planned to spend on a guitar.

When Leo Lietz changed from banjo to melody guitar, the modern times were satisfied. In 1962, the Skifflers switched to twist - for they had already lost Wuffi and Andy, who had seen their future away from skiffle in rock 'n' roll and formed the Hinneberg Combo (later The Phantoms). The Lords gained a drummer, Peter Hauke, to replace 'Löffel', the legendary washboard player. A bass player was also added. By the fall of 1963, Peter Max 'Bi' Donath had arrived with his drums to replace Hauke, who had left to join The Tornados (later The Rollicks). Max Donath soon brought his friend Knud Kuntze into the Lords as bassist.

With moderate success, The Lords played in smaller venues in Berlin without causing any sensation until United Artists announced a competition to find the 'German Beatles' for the premiere of the Beatles movie 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'. The Lords minus Gandy plus Wuffi, who helped out, won the title of 'Berlin Beatles' on July 21, 1964, and from then on were not only allowed to open the screening of the Beatles film musically, but were also admitted to the final battle in Hamburg's Star Club. Actually, they didn't have any Beatles numbers in their program, but From Me To You and Please Mr Postman were rehearsed for the competition.