Here you can find out the story of the band.
How the band started
In August 2004 Diethard was wandering around the Herxheimer Plätzelfeschd. As he observed the sights and sounds he remembered an old idea of his to form a band that played the best of the 50’s and 60’s. Some of the first contacts he made came to nothing but soon after that he met Frank Ohler, the drummer, who was very interested in the whole concept.
Shortly before that Diethard had met Pete Field, the bass player from London. One call, obviously not to London but to Dörrenbach and Pete was in.
Drums, bass and lead guitar were finally together. Now they needed the voice and the show. The three members set about putting adds in the paper and on the local websites like BandsInDerPfalz, BandsInKarlsruhe and Sperrmüll etc. There was a lot of interest and they met many people who could just about carry off a song or play a few notes on the guitar and who had a reasonably good stage presence but as weeks and then months went by they did not find the right person.
Then one day Pete brought along Helen to a rehearsal. She was a singer who he knew from another band project. A 21 year old who already knew and could sing songs that were famous 20-30 years before she was born, could that really be? Well, less than one evening and the guys were confident that Helen was the right girl for the job!
All that was to do now was find a front man to join the lead singer, a job that turned out to be much more difficult than expected, and took some more months till we finally met Klaus in August 05 - harmonizing greatly with Helen from the very start. And another few weeks later, Klaus brought guitar-man Günther along, a bandmate from his other band called HoiDois. So after nearly 1 1/2 years of searching, Helen & The Poor Boys were complete.
How we decided on a name
A band name is the trademark of a band. It is something that should impress audiences and event organizers as well as be memorable. It should say something about the band and their music and most importantly, not already be taken by another band.
There were many lively and sometimes rather funny proposals and discussions about possible band names. In discussion was "Flashback", "Get Back", "Beatburger", "Sorry for the music", "Backslash", "Dr. Pete". A hot favorite was the word play "Helen's Angels", unfortunately a name that could have made us sound like a biker rock band though. So, one day during some chitchat came the idea of "Helen & The Poor Boys".
Names like this were in abundance during the 60’s – well-known names included Gerry & The Pacemakers, Freddy & The Dreamers and Cliff Richard & The Shadows. And the name is also similar to a one-off concert with the name "Wille & The Poor Boys" which in 1985 was organized by Ex-Rolling Stone Bill Wyman in order to raise some money for a foundation. Taking part were Jimmy Page (Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin), Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company), Chris Rea, Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones), Kenney Jones (Small Faces, Who), Ringo Starr (Beatles), Andy Fairweather-Low (Amen Corner) and many more music legends.
And currently: In early 2005 Ringo Starr started a new band with the name "Ringo & The Roundheads"”.
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