Die Ärzte

Die Ärzte
press photography of Die Ärzte in 2012
Background information
Origin	West Berlin/Berlin, Germany
Genres	Punk rock, pop punk, alternative rock, ska punk, pop rock
Years active	1982–1988, 1993–present
Labels	Vielklang Musikproduktion CBS (Columbia Records) Hot Action / Universal
Associated acts	Soilent Grün (1979-1982) Depp Jones (1989-1992) King Køng (1989-1993) Die Toten Hosen, Die Zu Späten (2000) Farin Urlaub (since 2001) Farin Urlaub Racing Team (since 2005) Bela B. (since 2006) Bela B. y Los Helmstedt (since 2006) Laternen-Joe (2011)
Website	official website
Members	Farin Urlaub Bela B. Rodrigo González
Past members	Hans Runge (Sahnie) Hagen Liebing (The Incredible Hagen)

Die Ärzte ("The Doctors", German pronun­cia­tion: [diː ˈʔɛːɐ̯tstə]) is a punk band from Berlin. Die Ärzte are one of the best-known German punk rock bands and have released 13 studio albums. The band consists of guitarist Farin Urlaub, drummer Bela B. and bass player Rodrigo González. All three write and perform their songs.

Die Ärzte were formed in Berlin in 1982 by Jan Vetter (alias Farin Urlaub, a pun on the expression "Fahr in Urlaub", meaning "Go on vacation"), Dirk Felsenheimer (alias Bela B., referring to Dracula actor Bela Lugosi and the fictional The Flintstones character Barney Rubble) and bassist Hans Runge, alias Sahnie (). Bela and Farin had previously played together in the punk band Soilent Grün, established in 1979 and named after the film Soylent Green.

After Soilent Grün broke up in 1982, Bela and Farin decided to form another band. In the first two years (including Sahnie) they mostly played in clubs in their hometown, Berlin. Their first release was a contribution to the sampler 20 schäumende Stimmungshits (rough translation: "20 foamy party hits"), featuring a strong alcohol theme (for example, the chorus of "Vollmilch" translates as "you drink whiskey, he drinks beer, I drink milk"). In 1983 they won a rock contest in Berlin and with the prize money they recorded their debut EP Uns geht's prima... ("We're doing great..."). Finally CBS signed them, and they released their first LP Debil ("Moronic") in 1984 then their second Im Schatten der Ärzte ("In the shadow of Die Ärzte") a year later.