DISCLAIMER: This is the unedited version. The version actually printed in the Jerusalem Post was changed quite a bit by the editor.

They have yet to release their debut album but Matan Cohen, Avital Tamir, Roey “Bear” Berman and Rotem “Glida” Inbar, known collectively as Betzefer, are about to be living the life that many aspiring local musicians can only dream of.

Already a well-known entity on the local heavy metal scene, Betzefer¹s path to success seems to have already been signed and sealed. The band inked a contract last month with international record label Roadrunner Records. The label has made the band¹s promotion a top priority. A European tour and major summer festivals are all on the horizon for the Tel Aviv based quartet.

The band¹s first disc Downlow, set for a June 6 release, was recorded in Belgium under Kris Belaen of CCR Studios and was produced by Denmark¹s Tue Madsen. Madsen is considered an expert producer in the heavy metal field and has worked with noted acts like The Haunted, Mnemic and Aborted.

“Nothing can get us down anymore,” says Inbar, the band¹s bassist. “When I’m at work, and I’m about to drop dead, I think about it, and I get in a good mood. Going to work is kind of funny but really, it¹s temporary. Everything feels like the last day of school.”

Inbar’s reference to school is ironic, as the band¹s very name is a tribute to the high school where the group shares its origins. The band’s founding members, vocalist Tamir, guitarist Cohen, drummer Berman and former bassist, Evil Haim, first played together at a 1998 high school gig in Maccabim Reut High School (MOR). It was supposed to be a one-time gig covering songs by bands like Black Sabbath and Metallica, but they clicked so well that the four had no choice but to head off and seek their fortune together, creating their own earthy, neck-wrenching groove in the vein of AC/DC, Pantera and Slayer.

They independently released 200 copies of their demo “Pitz Achbar” in 2000. This planted them on stages across the country and scored them a live gig on Israeli mainstream radio station Galgalatz. A compilation of live material,”Some **, But No **” was released a year later in 2001. All 500 copies quickly sold out.Betzefer’s stronghold on the Israeli metal underground was becoming more and more established.

There was one problem. Evil Haim had been moonlighting as bassist for grindcore act Lehavoth as well. His recording and touring obligations in Europe would occasionally leave Betzefer bassless for six months at a time. So about a year and a half ago, current bassist Rotem Inbar, a friend and fan of the band, was asked to fill in for Evil Haim: first temporarily, then permanently.

And since then, Betzefer has gained the reputation as an insanely energetic live act both here and abroad. It was a gig at the Bousil in Weert, Holland opening for gold-selling industrial metal act Fear Factory that garnered them a deal with Roadrunner.

“It’s the biggest thing that has ever happened to us,” says Cohen.

“From the minute Roadrunner contacted us to the minute we signed the contract, it took two really long months. Negotiating the contract took much longer than we expected. And we couldn’t tell anybody!”

What added to the thrill of being discovered by Roadrunner is that the label also represents what Betzefer hold as one of their most beloved influences, the Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.

“I don’t think people in this country realize how big it is for a local band to be signed to such a major label,” says Inbar, who, along with the rest of Betzefer, considers the entire concept of the band to be unabashedly Israeli, from its name to its “digging man” logo.

Adds Cohen, “Because we are from Israel it will be very interesting for people. People are always going to have prejudices about Israel and Jewish people, but it¹s also very exotic and I think the media is going to be very interested in it. A band from Israel will make a lot of noise.”

Scott Ian talks about the recent reunion of the original Anthrax lineup and other issues…

Check it out.

For an interview with Mr. Ian conducted by yours truly, click here.

thanks, Blabbermouth!!

Roger Friedman of FOXNews.com has issued the following report:

The rumors were true: I can tell you exclusively that sometime next month, Infinity Broadcasting will announce that David Lee Roth is taking over for Howard Stern.

The one-time lead singer of VAN HALEN will assume the microphone in New York and several other markets where Stern’s show is heard.

Still not set is where Adam Carolla, former co-host of “The Man Show”, will be in place, but sources close to the action tell me that Roth and Carolla will not be together.

Roth is represented by the all-knowing, all-seeing Creative Artists Agency in Hollywood, so you know he has an ironclad contract.

The president of programming for Infinity Broadcasting, which owns Stern’s show, said last winter that there wouldn’t be one person replacing the notorious shock jock. And he was right. Roth and Carolla will divide up the territories so that no one person can regain Stern’s monopoly of the airwaves. Carolla will likely have the West Coast.

Read the rest of the article at FOXNews.com.

I caught up with Kfir Gov, frontman for Seek Irony, before their trip to the States Sunday to record with Sylvia Massey Shivey…

MI: hi!

KG: hello

MI: So what’s up? how’d u get the deal?

KG: well… last year, Seek Irony decided, after playing shows for 2-3 years around the Tel Aviv area, that the band can’t get any further than where it is. So we decided to organize our own US tour. Basically, we contacted lots of bands in the states and organized shows with them all around California and Texas. When we arrived in Texas we met up with a band called Kritickill who is pretty big in their area. They played with bands such as Sevendust, Slipknot, Flaw , Coal Chamber, Fear Factory and many more. I was this whole time in touch with their manager through emails, who promised to help us out when we get to Texas. His name is Ray Vanhoozer.

Anyway, when we got there the promotion was tight, the local radios were talking for weeks about the band from Israel playing with Kritickill. At the show there were about 1000 people. The show went great! Better than we expected even. We sold in one night a third of the amount of all the EP’s we’ve sold in 2 years in Israel. Crazy night, lots of girls, I’ve never signed so many autographs in my life…Anyway, Ray, who was Kritickill’s manager at the time, couldn’t believe what was going on. Now, he and Kritickill had a few issues between them that lead them to split apart and he became our manager. All is good, no harm done, they found another manager, we’re all friends.

A week after that show, Ray put us on another show in front of a Sony Red company. It was a showcase of ten bands that had sent demos and the label wanted to see them live. We played that night. Ray got us the best slot at 11pm. It was a tiny club but we ripped the place apart. From that show the reps from the label took us to their studios in Dallas. Bad ass studios. Many great artists recorded there – used to be owned by Fleetwood Mac. Anyway, we recorded there a few songs under their production for 3 weeks… all on their expenses but we were not happy with what was going on there. They started talking with us about a development deal, but we have decided not to sign on with them.

MI: This was Sony Red?

KG: A company that builds artists for Sony Red. 11260/Sony Records. So… we left the studios and flew back to Israel but stayed with Ray. Ray really digs the Israeli concept. We represent ourselves as an Israeli band abroad. We even discuss the situation in our country quite a lot. We even have a song written about the holocaust called Poli.

Meanwhile, while we were there I got the opportunity to speak with a few reps of major labels. I was trying to understand how we could get their attention. One of the guys that helped me a lot is an A&R at Capitol Records. He told me about a few secrets to the industry.

MI: Like what? 🙂

KG: One of them – is that through famous producers – it’s easier to reach the majors. They don’t really listen to demos. So … we started searching for a producer to do the job. Meanwhile, I see our friends, Betzefer do the same thing, which led them to Roadrunner Records. Ray and I talked with a few producers and about a month ago. He contacted Sylvia Massy Shivy – Multi Platinum Producer (Tool, System and many more) that has worked all her life with all the majors. He sent her out “Fake”, one of our new songs. You can hear the demo version of that song – the version she listened to – on our new website.

She loved the song and immediately returned us back an email saying she would be very interested in working with us. A week after – I called her up and spoke with her for the first time. She said she wants to sign us on a production deal. So, we talked the details on the phone – both of us very excited, and a few days later we got the contract through the email. It took us a few weeks to find a good/known and familiar industry lawyer that would be interested in representing us. He negotiated the details of the deal for us, a few days later she approved and that was it, basically.

MI: I’m really happy for you. So what now?

KG: Well…we’re flying off to Houston this Sunday. The foreign office is helping us with promotion and media this time.

MI: Misrad Hachutz!!? Like Israeli government office!??

KG: YUP!

MI: How did you get in touch with them?

KG: Just called them up, told them about the contract we have signed, they were really cool… forward me to one of the head people at the Music and Sports department and they said they’d love to help.

we’re planned to play a few shows in Texas. We’ve just wrote three new songs that we want them to be on the album. Our keyboardist is in Mexico now… he’ll have to add his thing to these songs in the following month, and then we’ll drive up to California to record our first full length album with Sylvia in her studios.

MI: You’re going to Mexico?

KG: No, he’ll meet us in Texas. We’ll probably play a few showcase shows right after the recordings in order to get some major labels interested. And Ray, Sylvia and our lawyer will help us shop the record to all the major labels in the states. We plan on meeting the lawyers in NY before we get back home in January.

MI: Why did u guys choose Texas and CA in the first place? Did u know kritickill before?

KG: We met through the net on garageband.com. It’s a site that musicians review musicians on. I liked their stuff and wrote a cool review about them, That’s how we met at first.

MI: How would u describe your sound?

KG: Our sound…mmm… something between hard American Rock like Korn, Disturbed, System and Techno. Also a lot of new age electronics. Our keyboardist, Yoav, loves Infected Mushroom. If you wanna listen – go to our website now. There are 4 songs you can listen to that we have recorded recently.

MI: B’hatzlacha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KG: Toda!

(thanks Blabbermouth!)

Israeli rockers SEEK IRONY have signed a production deal with acclaimed producer Sylvia Massy Shivy (TOOL, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, SEVENDUST, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SKUNK ANANSIE, POWERMAN 5000). The band have been invited to record their first full-length album during November-December 2005 at Radio Star Studios in Weed, California. Co-producing and engineering the CD will be Rich Veltrop, who has previously worked with such bands as RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, OZZY OSBOOURNE, SLAYER, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS.

SEEK IRONY will be flying to the U.S. next week to play a few A&R showcase gigs and to make final arrangements for the recordings of their new album.

For more information, visit www.seekirony.com.

Betzefer’s new website is up! Message board, Street Team, the works. Just in time for the holiday season.

Speaking of which, shana tova u’mtuka…more updates next week…

Excellent bassist, living the dream, touring the world and he falls out of his bed from the window of the tour bus that subsequently falls on him.

Poor guy. His memory lives on, especially in the thousands who strive to reach his level of skill.

R.I.P.
Clifford Lee Burton
February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986

Alright, this may be a review but it is also a rebuttal towards the critics who are viewing this album as a simple collection of Pantera and Sepultura rework. No doubt, the sound is definitely built around the respective styles of the two metal legends. However, there is a subtle groove underlying this album that is specifically Betzefer’s own deal, easy to discern.

Guitarist Matan Cohen reflects the pragmatic approach of his beloved Angus Young as well as other more groove oriented influences. His choice of simplicity in technique renders the cohesive punch of the band a lot more powerful than if he was being all lightning-fingered like his purportedly copied Dimebag Darrell z’l (not that he couldn’t be if he wanted to, mind you). A boyish exuberance pervades the roars, growls and screeches the currently chromedomed Avital Tamir naturally emits while the rhythm section of Rotem “Ice Cream” Inbar and Roey “Bear” Berman pulls it all together like a garrot fitted snugly around a smarmy music critic’s neck.

The charm of “Downlow” is that it still bears the original fire of its creators done through the looking glass of the producer. There are some added bells and whistles that designate the creative twist of producer Tue Madsen, but he didn’t tamper with it in damaging ways. He helped bring to recorded format Betzefer’s intrinsic strength and fury, heretofore only seen live onstage. The opening track “Early Grave” lets the listeners know what they’re in for – Berman and Inbar pummel the hell out of their respective instruments early on. Throughout the disc, speeds change, so do riffs. Tamir actually sings a bit, too. A good example of the basic bootyshakin’ Betzefer groove that is completely their own is title track “Downlow”. And the lyrics of all songs display a surprisingly powerful command of the English language, rife with hilarity as well as general metal angst, aggression and dysfunction.

It’s a really great album. Yes, there’s some definite copy and pasting going on via the two bands aforementioned but no one can honestly write this disc off as a simple plagiarism of Pantera and Sepultura do they take the time to listen to more than ten seconds of it.

Blabbermouth has posted the Century Media press release celebrating Orphaned Land’s triumphant return from the States. I’m actually quite surprised that I didn’t see one nasty comment in the entire thread

Israelian “Middle-Eastern Metal� outfit ORPHANED LAND report back from their trip to the ProgPower festival in Atlanta, Georgia, where they shared stage with such renowned acts like Angra, Conception, Pink Cream 69, Stratovarius, Symphorce, Therion and others. The festival was sold out in nothing more than 3 days(!!!) thus it’s not surprising that Kobi’s feedback on ORPHANED LAND’s touring season 2005 is very positive:

“Hello all orphans in Germany and Italy!! We just came back from ProgPower USA where we played two shows. It was our debut show in the USA and we played an unplugged set at the pre-party (we all wore white outfits) and the day after we plugged our guitars and made some oriental Middle-Eastern NOISE! After 43 shows in 22 countries, after we destroyed Summer Breeze and ProgPower festivals we are ready to bring you the first European HEADLINER shows!!!â€? / Kobi

Well, not exactly, but close enough.

(Some details have been changed to protect the guilty and to promote cohesive storytelling from two separate events)

I was in a supermarket today frequented by charedim. There was a nice lad there who happened to be wearing a Burzum t-shirt.

Of course, I went over to him. We shared amusement at the fact that all of these shoppers except me had no idea this T-shirt endorsed frontman and convicted murderer Varg Vikernes (yimach shmo), an open Nazi who would happily place everyone there (including said fan) in ovens and turn up the heat.

Then, of course, I gave it to him over the head a bit.

He basically told me that he doesn’t support Burzum’s ideals but since it’s good music he’ll wear the T-shirt. Then some lady asked him to do a mitzvah for her in bad American Hebrew (not much worse than mine)- so the conversation was over.

So I want to know what you guys think.

Do you think it’s OK to like a band and be into their music if, well basically, they want to kill you, or hate you for your religion/race/whatever? To what degree?