BITCHIN'!

BITCHIN'!

Sharon Liveten

Here are three facts that the Bitch gang want to get across:

• They are not defunct.

• They are selling hard rock records, not an S&M service.

• Their latest record is called The Bitch Is Back.

Got it? Now you know more about Bitch, the rock band, than most people. Sorting the facts from the rumors about her band is something Betsy, their petite lead singer/vocalist, has been contending with since the first leather-clad, whip-bearing publicity shots of the group were unleashed on the public. Those photos, and the band’s past albums, Be My Slave and Damnation Alley, helped create Bitch’s serious image problem.

“There were people,” says Betsy quietly, shaking her head, “who knew who I was, but not that I was in a band. They thought I was some bondage babe who was going to come over to their apartment and beat the shit out of them while their wife was at work. I always felt like writing back to say, ‘By the way, we’re a band.’ ”

Betsy admits that some of the confusion about Bitch is their own fault. No one forced them to take a walk on the seamy side. But for years Bitch, comprised of guitarist David Carruth, drummer Bobby Settles, bassist Ron Cordy and Betsy, played heavily on an S&M image. Their shows contained theatrical moments involving leather, whips, chains and active imaginations. The band thought it was a giggle. Others saw it differently. But it doesn’t matter; those days are gone. Now they want people to notice their music, not their gadgets.

Following a two-year hiatus, during which the band was working but were sucked into a managerial/legal mess, they’ve returned with their third record, the aptly titled The Bitch Is Back. And yes, the title track is indeed a cover of the Elton John hit. Obviously, things are a little different in the Bitch camp than they were in the past.

“There are only so many songs you can write about whips and chains,” states Betsy, matter-of-factly. “We wrote ’em all. There’s a lot more attention paid to the material on this album, as opposed to Be My Slave, where we wanted to hit everyone over the head with the image, and the music was secondary. Now we’re concentrating on the whole thing. The image and the music are just as important.”

Two years is a long time for a band to be out of the public eye. But it was the PMRC, the group that would most like to see Bitch disappear, that kept them in the spotlight. For a time everywhere that group’s fearless leader, Tipper Gore, went, she clutched a copy of Be My Slave. It was her favorite example of rock music at its most evil. For her tireless work on the band’s behalf, Gore earned an album credit on The Bitch Is Back. She hasn’t thanked the band yet.

“She kept our name in the press,” laughs Betsy. “She brought the record on TV all the time: on Nightline, CNN, everywhere. So we thanked her.”

Tipper will probably have fewer objections to The Bitch Is Back. And, since its tunes are , more coherent, less thrash-infested, more melodic and better produced than Be My Slave, Bitch can easily survive without the PMRC’s dubious free publicity. This time Bitch plans to make it on their music. All by themselves.