Today we’d like to introduce you to Melody Douglas.
Hi Melody, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2013, I was living in Austin, TX and was a 46- year-old hairdresser. I lived life to the fullest, but with some legal encouragement, I decided to quit drinking and sober up. I have a lot of nervous energy and needed to tackle that energy in a positive way. I have always had a sense of rhythm having been in drill team in high school and a go-go dancer at the Fast and Cool Club in Dallas in the 1980s. I love music and dance and felt I needed a hobby to harness that energy. I made the decision to take drum lessons. My first drum kit was a children’s drum set and I lived in an apartment where I could not practice. I asked my salon manager if I could take my drum kit up to the salon and practice after hours. The night cleaning crew was not amused as I practiced for hours in a hairdressing salon. I took drum lessons once a week but was getting impatient after 6 months after only still playing drum beats, but no songs. Someone suggested that I try a band class. Long story short, I somehow ended up in a Beatles cover band without ever playing one song. I was horrible, but they were desperate. We were a match made in heaven. Our first show was a Sunday matinee at the iconic Antone’s in Austin, TX. It was such an adrenaline rush to be on stage drumming away that when I came down the stairs off of the stage, my knees buckled and I caught myself on the rail. I knew at that very moment that this was my new drug/passion. I was hooked forever. After that performance, I decided I wanted to start my own band. I needed a place to rehearse a band, so a friend of mine offered his mechanic’s shop in the back of his property for me to rent to live and practice. The only problem was that it had no bathroom, so he installed a toilet in the middle of the shop…no walls, no privacy. He allowed me to use the bathroom in his house to shower. I was on cloud nine… might not have been your cloud nine, but it was my cloud nine.. So now begins the process of starting my own band. I decided I wanted an all-girl band with a name including a feminine retro word, Betty, and a mildly provocative word, Ready, hence the name, Ready Betty. I, also, wanted a band name that worked with all kinds of music because I had not yet decided what genre the music would be. After several months of auditioning people off of Craigs List which included a prostitute, a drug addict, and many colorful people, I had my first line-up of six girls. Again, I was on Cloud Nine!
For a minute, we were an eighties cover band on 6th Street in Austin. We did three shows and on our 3rd show, we got fired after our first set, The manager fired us while we on the stage. He paid us half our money and told us to get out. Some of the girls were crying. The next day, my girls were ready to quit, but my persuasive pep talk convinced them to stay. I had decided to go a different direction with Ready Betty. I wanted to be an all-girl rockabilly band with vintage uniforms. This was truly when Ready Betty was born!
It took us 6 months to learn 2 hours of rockabilly music and I discovered I had a talent for booking and marketing. I, also, had the help from my graphic artist boyfriend whose artwork was amazing. It was a magical combination. Our first year to really gig was 2014 and we did 53 shows. Over the next couple of years, we opened for The Bluebonnets which is Kathy Valentine’s Band (from the Go-Go’s) at the iconic Studio 1A in Austin City Limits. We, also, performed a live show for Fox 7 morning news in Austin, a 30-minute live show for Koop radio, and recorded our first EP entitled Cocoa Mojo. Mind blowing first two years and then my band fell apart. I had rebuild a second line-up from scratch again. For the next 8 years, we continued to perform about 35 shows a year playing at venues like Threadgill’s, Little Jenny’s Longhorn Saloon, South by Southwest, festivals, hot rod shows, corporate events, and roller derbys. Our wildest show we ever performed was for the Nude Swinger’s Festival in Apache Pass, TX. Following our performance was a midnight nude run through the forest. And, no, we did not participate.
Little did we know that our last show for the Austin line-up was in Brenham, TX on St. Patrick’s Day in 2019. There talk at the show about a virus that was going around. Then COVID 19 hit.
Forward to 2021, after a majority of the music venues in Austin closed, I had decided to end a 14- year relationship. I moved to the Dallas area a week before the SNOWVID winter in February 2021. I wanted to start a new band in the DFW area and started looking for a place to practice with a band. I found a place in McKinney, but it had been damaged by the SNOWVID freezing weather. While I waited on the rehearsal studio to be repaired, I started auditioning for new band members. I hired a group of fun, creative millennials who were half my age, but were beautiful, talented, and ambitious. My Ready Betty DFW was born…
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It is never a dull moment running an all-girl band… can you say drama? Also, it is a constant struggle looking for that next gig. It takes a lot of social media, networking, and promoting. That can be exhausting. I am still a hairdresser full-time and running an all-girl band is, also, full-time job.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are a 5-member all-girl retro-themed show band. We perform covers from 1940s to current music and original music with a vintage twist. We play rockabilly surf rock, blues, country, and rock in matching vintage uniforms.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I love watching a crowd get down to our Ready Betty music.
Contact Info:
- Email: melody.douglas200@gmail.com
- Website: ready-betty.com
- Instagram: readybettyband
- Facebook: Ready Betty
- Youtube: Ready Betty
