“…I attended The Metalist Festival in Palmakhim, an all-day heavy metal festival featuring Israel’s top metal acts and a couple of notable imports including Destruction and Megadeth, who were to perform in Israel for the first time in nine years, much to the nation’s desperate anticipation. The event was held in a makeshift venue right on the beach of the Mediterranean with five-thousand Israeli kids dressed in black from head-to-toe, banging their heads to the murderous rhythms of international thrash, as Tel Aviv twinkled in the background.”

Read the whole story here, and it’s a story, folks. Only in Israel.

My favorite part was when the kids were giving it to the Christian missionary:

“The kids were totally fucking with him, making smart alleck remarks like, “Jesus loves me? Well Moses loves you! You know Eliyahu HaNavi? He loves you too!” Mind you these were not religious kids in the slightest sense. These were tattooed, pierced, headbanging metalheads. And fa real, they gave him whatfor. We were beaming with pride.”

A Personal Account
(as well as varied ramblings about Carnivore)

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this before I found out Phil Anselmo ain’t much of a Jew fan.

The day before Ozzfest, I was e-mailing back and forth with ex-Stone of Tears guitarist Yonatan Harold about the Spiderman 2 game he had just beaten within a day or two of getting it. He told me to have fun at Ozzfest tomorrow. I had completely forgotten about it. So the next day I scrambled all over Times Square looking for tickets. I couldn’t find anyplace that sold Ozzfest tickets. Only Broadway shows. So I figured I’d try my luck at the concert itself. That was an hour and something train ride to Jones Beach, Long Island.

I made my way to Penn Station. After buying my train/bus tickets, I see a metalhead couple chatting. It was obvious they were going to Ozzfest too. A few minutes later when I got on the train, they were sitting a few rows in front of me. I heard the man asking the conductor which bus he needed to take to get to Jones Beach. He didn’t really know. So being the helpful dosit that I am I offered my advice.

We started talking. He told me, “I’m playing tonight.�?

I didn’t believe him at first, but then his friend, a tattoo artist named Rachel, held out a magazine centerfold of Superjoint Ritual with his autograph on it.

“Whoa!�? I say. “Out in Israel, people really love you!�?

I asked him if I could interview him. He told me that he just had to make one phone call. It was to his momma. He spoke to her in his slow Southern drawl for a while like a good loving son and when he was done…

INTERVIEW WITH NOT-REALLY-SOUR JIM BOWER – (sorry the interview ain’t word for word but all I had was a notebook on me).

Jimmy Bower is hailed as the godfather of sludge (by Roey from Breorn at least). Currently he is the rhythm guitarist for Superjoint Ritual, a band he formed with Joe Fazzio and Phil Anselmo back in 1993. SR had to be put on hold for a while due to Pantera and other projects, like Bower’s own Eyehategod and Down. Down, another Anselmo collaboration in which Bower plays drums, actually came out with its debut in 1991. On and off over the years, Down also engaged in heavy touring, including with System of a Down and Meshuggah (an awesome show I had the privilege of seeing).

But Superjoint Ritual could no longer be chained by circumstance. In January of 2003 the band started touring nonstop to promote their new release, “A Lethal Dose of American Hatred�?.

“We get out there,�? Bower smiles. He’s been a professional musician for the past fifteen years. “By the time I was a teenager I knew what I wanted to do,�? he recalls. He’s known his fellow New Orleans native Phil Anselmo from playing in bars since they were both fifteen (they’re now 36). He prefers playing guitar over drums at this point, simply because he is playing a lot more guitar lately.

And in his red Ozzfest windbreaker, long gnarly facial hair and piercings, he definitely looks like a rock star. But he sure doesn’t put on the act. He seems really down to earth and respectful, like someone you would actually feel a little guilty about stealing from if you burned his CDs (and hell, he was riding the train, right?). “If you’d a told me as a kid I’d be playing Ozzfest I’d a freaked,�? he says with a grin. According to the Ozzfest stage set-up, “I’m the little guy all the way on the left with the guitar.�?

Bower, with his New York City hardcore roots, proves that you don’t have to be an asshole to be a real punk. Mentioning Peter Steele’s pre-Type O Negative Carnivore first when asked what bands he loves, he also mentioned classic NYHC and other acts such as Agnostic Front, Sheer Terror, Black Flag, the Melvins (by whom he is greatly influenced), Witchfinder General (which he says is Pete Steele’s favorite band) and Black Sabbath, of course.

CARNIVORE

But back to the Carnivore thing – I used to be a major Carnivore fan and I still know many if not all of their songs by heart. Their songs “Jesus Hitler�? and “Race War�? aren’t as bad as they sound. But some of their songs like “God Is Dead�? and “Thermonuclear Warrior�? illustrate ideologies the Nazis spewed but aren’t specifically Nazi, such as eugenics (killing all the retarded/disabled), being a human animal and the Superman ideal, as well as general Catholic angst.

No one really knew what to make of Carnivore and their overgrown frontman. That led to a lot of discomfort. Discomfort led to dislike, to say the least. In the late 80’s/early 90’s, posters with Peter’s face on it bearing the caption “Kill On Sight�? circulated around Europe. This was against the backdrop of a time when the Berlin Wall was coming down and everyone had their panties in a bunch, politically speaking. And the bailegan around Peter Steele’s purported views would one day serve as inspiration for Type O’s track ‘We Hate Everyone’ on the Bloody Kisses release.

A three-pronged kind of thing often mistaken for a swastika, Carnivore guitarist Marc told me that Peter had chosen the triskelion logo to symbolize one branch for each of the band members. And that they were surprised when one day, they looked into the New York Times to see that it was a symbol of a pro-apartheid South African hate group. I’ve met the drummer, Louie, as well. He’s currently a bus dispatcher for the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City. I asked him what was up with the B11 bus schedule. The B11 runs from Boro Park to Flatbush in Brooklyn, NY. Louie said, “Yeh, yeh, I know,�? and Peter interrupted to make some correlation between the abysmal bus service and the Jews’ being at blame because of the way they drive. He also mentioned that they should put cattle horns on the buses in that area.

Turns out Jimmy Bower was at the same Carnivore show I was at the now-defunct (for very stupid reasons) landmark club L’amour in 1994 (L’amour has currently reopened under the moniker Brooklyn Music Terminal). The show opened with the strains of Wagner blaring. Peter came out and gave warning that he’s going to dump a bucket of blood over the people closest to the stage. Many thought it was fake, but it turned out to be real. I got my six-month long eye infection cause I was stupid enough to stand there while he was doing it. And people were cutting open a deer carcass and playing football with its head. The guy I’d been hanging out with that night cut out its eyeball and gave it to me. Then I gave it to Peter to say ‘I have my eye on you.’ Then he chased some other girl with it. Nebach.

It was also the show I made friends with the girl who, a year later, would end up posing with Peter in Playgirl. And where I met someone who brought me to his brother’s house in affluent Westwood, NJ to surprise me with swastikas and Hitler pictures all over his walls. At this show, I also met someone who wanted to rip out his jaw and rewire it so it would move like a true carnivore’s mouth, and/or the guy who did the first version of Type O Negative’s Christian Woman video (which was a hell of a lot cooler than the second). In any case, Jimmy said someone got stabbed that night, but I didn’t remember that. So back to Jimmy Bower, the man, the fan.

BOWER

Bower recounted, “I was smoking a joint. And the bus pulled up to the arena. Standing in front…it was Bill Ward (Black Sabbath drummer). I was like, ‘buhbuhbuhbuh,’�? – he waves his arms – “totally starstruck!!�?

When asked if Superjoint would ever head out to Israel, he replied, “I would love to head out to Israel. It’s just for Americans and the lyrical content of our album, I don’t really think it would be wise…it’s not that we’re scared. Terrorism is a serious thing. We have a lot of work to do here that we can do that we’d rather stay here and do.�?

Bower’s tattoo artist friend was interesting. I have a feeling she was Jewish because when we started talking about tattoos and Jewish law, she was getting pissed at me in a way someone who didn’t care wouldn’t. But that could be total speculation. In any case, we got into a conversation about Danzig.

I personally love Danzig’s music. But I’d heard a nasty rumor that Glenn Danzig, an Italian from Lodi, NJ, named himself Danzig because it was a Polish town where the Nazis wiped out the entire Jewish population. I didn’t necessarily believe this when I’d first heard it a few months ago. But the day before Ozzfest, my grandma (the lady I love most in the world) told me that her mom, ten year old sister and many of her aunts, uncles and cousins were all gassed and cremated in a town called Danzig –

“Have you ever heard of it?�? she asks me.

So if that shit was true, I wanted to know. Cause that would put a painful yet necessary dent upon my listening habits.

At first she thought I was just looking for something to fight about. She indignantly said, “No, I know Glenn! He’s – “ and then she stopped and kinda smiled, thinking things I probably didn’t want to know. Then she asked me a question reeking of truth. “Is the music about destruction, or isn’t it?�?

I answered, “There’s a difference between destruction in general and destruction against me, personally.�?

When we got off the train, we went together towards the bus stop. The blind leading the blinder, myself leading the way, feeling all cool, all of us hoping we’re on the right track.

Jimmy was nervous because he had to get there in time for the record signing at 3:00. It was nice to see that he actually cared about making people wait.

They were deciding whether or not to take a taxi, but the taxi would take almost the same amount of time as the bus and would cost ten times as much. We got to the bus stop and saw a kid wearing a Warzone T-shirt. Someone is selling tickets, so I get a ticket that cost 67.50 for 49 dollars. It would have been fifty but the bus came and I only had four singles on me. After, I was really paranoid that it was a fake, but both Jimmy and this kid, John, assured me that it was the real deal.

ON THE BUS

Jimmy took his windbreaker off to reveal a Bad Brains T-shirt and arms tattooed with a million stories’ worth of ink, including the four bars of Black Flag’s “My War.�? I’d asked him what it was cause I’m not familiar with Black Flag.

He was like, “What? You should really get into them,�? and he launched into a whole conversation about the band’s former singers and Damaged, speaking like a true fan. In the midst of the conversation he goes “Politics and music don’t blend. If anything it’s like putting rice on a barbecue.�?

Then I said, “Dude, what are you talking about? (I should have been a little more respectful). Everything you listen to is politics. All these hardcore bands. Look at Carnivore.�?

He said, “Yeh, but that’s in your face fuck you kind of politics.�? Kind of like Superjoint Ritual themselves.

As we drove up to the beach, Jimmy was all excited, like a big kid, looking out of the window at a view he’d never seen before. The land around us was green and flat, surrounded by a lot of water and hazy sky. A motorboat sped by and Jimmy yelled, “That’s a baaaaaaaaad boat.�? He said that the ride into Jones Beach looks a lot like Louisiana swamp.

When I asked him if there’s anything he wants everyone to know he states simply, “We’re the most brutal band in the world,” as well as the following: “Kids shouldn’t think that Hatebreed was the first hardcore band. Nothing against Hatebreed, but it would be a lot cooler if people were influenced by the earlier bands.”

KF: See what happened with Jesus Christ. He was doing his blasphemy thing. He was doing that. Instead of speaking with him – he was Jewish – instead of coming to him and saying, “Hey listen, let’s talk about it. What’s your problem? Let’s hear what you have to say, let’s speak about it like we speak in chavruta-”

KF: Right. Because look what happened. They were so frightened that they said “Yo! Crucify the motherfucker!” And now look what you have today. You have black metal. You have Christianity. You have the Pope. You have the Vatican. You have, I mean, you know the Gremlins movie?

Kobi Farhi of Orphaned Land
for Orphaned Land concert photos I took click here.

MI: What’s up with the khaffiyeh, dude?

KF: We’re coming from the Middle East. We’re different. People are used to bands from the USA, from Scandinavia, Europe. We’re different. We’re coming from the Middle East. We’re coming from this place. People here are wearing khaffiyehs. I used to grow in Jaffa, which is kind of a mixture of Christians, Moslems and Jews. Lots of Arabs live there and I used to see them with their khaffiyehs. You’re even coming into my home and I’m wearing jababiyeh.

MI: That’s an Arab thing?

KF: I don’t know if I can say that it’s an Arab thing. But I can definitely say to you that back then in the early days, most people here were walking with this. From Jesus Christ to Yaakov Avinu. Everybody used to go with this costume.

MI: The Jews also?

KF: Of course. If you look back then, to the period of Jesus Christ or Avraham Avinu they used to go here like that. It’s just nowadays that things turned out to be here so Western related. I’m even thinking that they used to go with khaffiyehs. Did you see pictures of Avraham and Yaakov Avinu? They wore khaffiyehs.

MI: Well, it’s not exactly khaffiyehs.

KF: Well, they had something on their head.

MI: Yeah, a turban. like, the Teimanim still wear it. But nowadays, what does it represent. When you see a khaffiyeh, you see Hamas, PLO, Islamic Jihad. How come you’re not seeing it like that?

KF: No..I’m not trying to take any position in anything we do. I don’t take any sides. I’m not trying to justify what the Jewish people do to the Palestinians and I’m not trying to justify the fight of the Palestinians and Jews. I think it’s a very big circle of confusion so I am not getting myself involved. I’m just coming to reflect everything altogether. All religions.

MI: So you don’t take a stance on it.

KF: No.

MI: Not as a Jew either?

KF: Not as a Jew either.

MI: What, it doesn’t hurt you if a soldier gets blown up?

KF: Of course it hurts me. It hurts me very much. It also hurts me when a Jewish soldier is killing a Palestinian kid. It hurts me as well. I don’t think the value of my life is more than the value of a Palestinian. I don’t like terrorists. I think they are murderers. But on the other hand, they fight for their own freedom. So I’m not coming to judge. I’m not trying to get into their shoes. I’m not trying to say that I’m pro-Palestinian. I never voted in the elections. I have no opinion about it whatsoever. I think it is something I don’t want to get into. i will give you a hard example. We’re both believers. You are Jewish, you are religious. I’m Jewish too. I believe in the Bible. I sometimes, pretty often, put on tefillin. And I really like my religion. But, if I will take, and it’s just an example so you have to forgive me, if I will take the Bible and I will throw it into a pool which is full of shit –

MI: Chalila –

KF: Chalila – this book is full of holy words. This is the L-rd Himself in a costume of letters. If I will throw it to this pool, all holiness in it is like, banished. It will be kadosh (holy), and when I throw it to this pool, it will be tamei (impure). It’s the same thing about getting into politics. I think that getting myself into politics, into taking sides, is getting myself dirty. I’m not taking any sides, I’m not dealing with it. I’m doing my music. And that’s it.

MI: Alright… well, this land (Israel)… do you really consider it orphaned?

KF: Of course.

MI: Why?

KF: OK. It all begins from the Holy Land. It begins from the Promised Land, promised to Moses. It continues with what I just told you. Something that is kadosh, like this land. It is like a mother. She gives us food, air, stuff like that. Now imagine this mother washed out with blood. It made her to be from kadosh to tamei. Now, instead of it being a holy land, eretz zovat chalav u’dvash (a land that drips with milk and honey), it is a land that drips blood. So, I accept that this is all part of that way and that someone out there knows what He is doing. But seeing it from down here, it’s a holy land that turns out to be an orphaned land. Because of war. Because of confusion. Because of three religions who are supposed to think about morality, about charity, to be the representers of life, of salvation, stuff like that. Instead of that, they are fighting each other. They turned out to be political groups. And they kill their own man in the name of religion which is a very strange and dangerous thing to do. You cannot take religion, as pure as it is, as sacred as it is, and involve it in a politic – which is – like my analogy before, drawing your holiest thing into shit. And this is something that I cannot accept. I don’t take any sides. I respect all religions and I think they are all speaking about the same thing. The conflict that they have, this is something –

MI: Alright, that’s it, we’re gonna fight.

KF: Look. I know you are religious and this is difficult for you to hear. Let me tell you, just an example, about how ‘religious’ is confused. Take Jesus Christ. He was Jewish. He thought, he had some criticism about some of the things about Judaism. He wanted to change that. And now, on his behalf, people are dying al Kiddush Hashem (to sanctify G-d’s name).

MI: It’s in the Talmud, what happened with him. They used to rip it out of the pages in the Talmud in Europe because they didn’t want the Christians to kill them but now they print it again. The whole story.

KF: What, the whole story in which he was flying and the rabbi was shitting on him or something? I don’t buy it. I’m not saying this. I’m saying, look how frightened people were of Jesus Christ. The Jewish people. What did he do?

MI: I didn’t hear it like this! I heard he was making chilul Hashem (desecrating G-d’s name).

KF: He was making Chilul Hashem. See what he was doing back then, is what we are doing today. For one thing…

MI: Wait, what, who, where, we? Who’s we?

KF: The Jewish people. We’re definitely not following Judaism.

MI: That’s for damn sure.

KF: We’re definitely not learning in the yeshiva, not shomrim shabbat, not going to synagogue, we don’t give a shit about nothing. We are more American than we are Jewish today. Now, I don’t have a problem with it. You can quote me that we are more American than Jewish and all our American fans will be mad at me. There isn’t anything bad about being American. It’s just an example. But see what happened with Jesus Christ. He was doing his blasphemy thing. He was doing that. Instead of speaking with him – he was Jewish – instead of coming to him and saying, “Hey listen, let’s talk about it. What’s your problem? Let’s hear what you have to say, let’s speak about it like we speak in chavruta-”

MI: well, they said in Talmud that his rav was wrong.

KF: Right. Because look what happened. They were so frightened that they said “Yo! Crucify the motherfucker!”

MI: (laughs)

KF: And now look what you have today. You have black metal. You have Christianity. You have the Pope. You have the Vatican. You have, I mean, you know the Gremlins movie?

MI: I love it.

KF: so you remember Gizmo?

MI: hey, I love Gizmo. (does the voice) Gizmo.

KF: Yeh, Gizmo. He was so small. But then you throw water on him, and “BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW”. Now, they crucified Jesus. They said, “We’re out of the problem! We crucified the motherfucker! No problem!” Now look what happened. This is the biggest problem we’ve ever had. This is something we don’t know how to deal with. The monsters that were created out of this position are unbelievable. It’s so huge. It’s so big.

MI: But it wasn’t out of the crucifixion that this came, it was from what they made out of it later.

KF: It doesn’t matter. The crucifixion was the act that led to the result. I mean, it was an outcome of this. Maybe if they weren’t crucifying him and just let him speak his bullshit and let him die, maybe it would have ended with some kind of small kind of religion, I don’t know.

MI: But no! You know Zimri and Kozbi? Zimri, he was a prince of Shimon who went and got nasty w. a chick in front of everybody and was like, “Hey, it’s OK, let’s go,” and because of it there was a large plague and a lot of Jews died, and the only reason all of the Jews didn’t die was because there was a man named Pinchas who picked up a spear and freaking killed the guy. Pinchas, this is the guy that turned into Eliyahu HaNavi and he got the covenant of peace, because he knew that he had to sur m’ra (turn from evil) to aseh tov (do good), and you have to know when to cut. You can’t have an arm with cancer on it, and say, well, ok eat me! You have to like cut it. My whole point is, sometimes you have to cut it. If he was doing that much damage…

KF: I don’t agree! You know why?

MI: Why?

KF: I’m thinking to myself, instead of cutting your arm, figure, why did you get cancer? Because if your actions led you to get cancer, you will cut your hand. But, if you will continue, maybe –

MI: Chalila.

KF: Chalila, maybe you will get cancer on your leg, next.

MI: But it’s the same thing, if you say, that there is an Arab coming to kill you. Why? it’s because you did this and this and this. No man, the Arab is coming at you with a knife! You’re gonna say, “Dude, get away from me with that knife or I’ll fucking kill you!â€? You can’t just stand there and be like, how, what.

KF: I decided, for myself, as being a Jew, I don’t take any stance. I will focus all of my focus in order to bring Jews together and to be ohr lagoyim (a light unto the nations).
I don’t want them to think I hate Jesus, I want them to think that Jesus was a Jew-

MI: Heh, yeh, people say that you look like Jesus.

KF: I know. But it’s just a way of looking. Back then, everybody was looking like that. And they just remember Jesus. He’s the most famous from that period. That’s why people say “heh, you look like Jesus,” but back then everybody looked like that.

MI: OK…so now, you have three different religions. The Koran and hadith have all these anti-Semitic quotes, the NT has all this anti-Semitism.

KF: Politics.

MI: No man, it’s the religion, this is all right there smack in the text of the religion.

KF: Rabbis are also saying things in the religion that I don’t agree with. I don’t care if you’re a rabbi, you can be, I don’t know what. You can be Eliyahu HaNavi but if you say this kind of bullshit then get the fuck out of here.

MI: So what are you saying?

KF: I’m saying I have many problems with Christianity as a religion but I don’t have any problem with Jesus Christ as a human being and as a Jew, and for what he said.

MI: So I heard you used to be a dosi.

KF: A What?

MI: A dosi. (me botching up my hebrew, no doubt – ed.)

KF: A dosi?

MI: A religious Jew. What happened?

KF: Well, it started from me being searching myself, asking too many questions. Then I bumped into Rabbi Nachman m’Breslov, which is still one of my favorites till today. I really felt it was speaking to me, ya know?

MI: What was it that spoke to you?

KF: There was like, a lot of comfort in it, It was like, if I can paint it to you was like a father that I’ve never seen came to me and did to me like that (pats an imaginary child on the head). “It’s OK boy, don’t worry about it.” I was blown away from it. And I was, now I’m 29, I was maybe 20. I cut my hair and put kippa on my head, I bought my tefillin and talit which I have till today, and I’m using them. But then, I was confused. Today, I know my mission. Today I know why I came here. Today I know that I came to take my messages with the religions that we use and take them into the world that we are working with, that we are approaching with our music.
I once met this rabbi in the Kotel Ha’maaravi. I was telling him about Orphaned Land, about using prayers and stuff like that. He told me, “You know, you must continue to do it. Even if I was chozer b’tshuva, even if I was religious now and would go to synagogue, we must do this, because no rabbi or mekubal or whatever can go into this world which is the world I work with, which is the world of metal music. These people will not get familiar with those songs, with these words. We did a paragraph from the Bible, if we would not use this in our music.

MI: But that’s for Jews…why would you take a Psalm or something in Hebrew if it wasn’t for them?

KF: I know, but the metal people in Israel, they’re atheistic according to what they say. They don’t believe in G-d and the religious parties of the Knesset really made them even go far away from G-d. So, seeing that in our culture, the jumping and dancing…this is our religion. These people with the piercings and the tattoos and everything, you see them jump like this, they don’t know why they do it but they praise the L-rd.

MI: Then it is for your own, though. For your own people.

KF: Of course. But if you talk for all the world, it’s ohr lagoyim (a light unto the nations), for us, it’s ahavat chinam instead of sinat chinam. Because when I see people, atheists according to what they say, jump like that it makes me happy. It makes them it happy as well. The small flame, candle of Judaism that was left, they will know how to find it in Orphaned Land, in our gig. And this is what I like about it. And this rav, this is what he told me, that I must continue to do it. He told me I’m like undercover, with a metal outfit, but I’m like a religious, undercover.

MI: So what’s El Norra Alila?

KF: You know, the prayer on Yom Kippur? In Neila, where the times are locked, it’s like the song, where we say to G-d, we say before the times are locked, find us forgiveness. Probably, you’ll get to hear it, But I think only Sfaradim sing it (he sings it), they sing like that for a few minutes. This album that I write, was during the period where I became religious and I was exploring the whole thing. This whole album is like some kind of a journey. Searching and looking for yourself, stuff like that. Sahara was more like a commentary on what is going on in the Middle East, Desert Storm, stuff like that. Mabool is the perfect concept album and concept that we ever made. First of all, for a band like Orphaned Land, the whole philosophy and concept of the band, it’s a perfect story.

MI: Well, what exactly is the philosophy of the band?

KF: Trying to get the impossible into the possible. For example, take fire and water. They cannot – they say of barad (the hail that rained down on Egypt during the ten plagues) that it is fire and water together. Even though the water puts out the fire and the fire boils the water, they can get along together. We call it a tango between G-d and Satan. We always like to take opposite things that have nothing to do with each other, like ancient history and distorted guitars, we take religion and we put it into metal music. And see the result, metal people who dance like they’re in a synagogue. This is a concert of Orphaned Land. It’s like taking fire and water together without any one of them deleting the other.

MI: So how is Mabool a reflection of that?

KF: Mabool is a reflection of what is going on here. That’s the concept of Orphaned Land. If we were a holy land, now it’s turned out to be an orphaned Land. I’ll give you an example. A woman. When she is tme’ah (impure), she goes to the mikva (ritual bath). And when our clothes are dirty, we send them to the laundry. So a mabool is like a mikveh for the nature. In Parshat haMabul, they say, v’tishachet haaretz – the land was corrupted. It is not only land that was corrupted. It was man. Man were so corrupted that the land was corrupted, because man and the land, they held connection. If our land, which is a holy land, turns out to be corrupted, it is now an orphaned land. It has to be washed out by the flood. It has to be turned into an ocean land. And then, a new beginning, again, to be a holy land.

MI: OK, listen. Now we’re gonna fight. First of all, you sound like a Satmar. What is this? They say that the land is tumah. The land’s not tumah! It has halachos, listed, where it says that whoever lives in Eretz Yisrael in a city full of heathens has it much better than someone who is living outside of Israel with a bunch of religious Jews. It says all of these things, that someone who lives outside of the land is like he has no G-d. At all times,anywhere. Don’t tell me this! It’s not true.

KF: Look. This land is the Holy Land. Go to the Beit HaMikdash. It was the holiest place we ever had. Now, bring blasphemy into it. And the Beit HaMikdash will be ruined! OK? So this is what happened. This land is very holy, it is the holiest land on earth! But, doing the things we were doing on this land is like putting blasphemy into the Beit HaMikdash. Holy Land, Orphaned Land. The Beit HaMikdash was ruined!

MI: But there’s something that says that if someone stays in Eretz Yisrael, even if they don’t know anything and don’t keep anything, that Eretz Yisrael is michaper (atones) for them. And that we, here, that if you don’t get thrown out of the land, then you’re a tzaddik. Even if he’s eating pig and it’s a Jew, there’s something in him that makes him a tzaddik.

KF: Of course. This is what I told you. Jewish people at our shows that have tattoos, that don’t have anything – there is only a place of darkness, the way they describe themselves, the way they declare themselves. And then I see these small tiny sparks within them.

MI: Look, like you said before, if someone throws a chumash (one of the five books of the Torah) into a pool of shit (G-d forbid and I would hate to be the person who would do such a thing) but look, if you pick it up and wash the crap off of it, it’s still good.

KF: It’s not the same. I will give you a much harder example now. If someone rapes a baby –

MI: Chalila.

KF: Chalila – it will never be the same. You can see the baby, you can wash it, you can send it to psychiatrists, you took something out of him. You stole something out of his innocence, his holiness. Why do they say that a woman who was raped, she’s michulelah. Hu chilel otah. Because she was holy, and he took something out of her. The land has become corrupted because of the actions of man. The land is not corrupted. The land is nothing but giving up pure love. It gives us fruit, vegetables. So much, you know? You can see the love of G-d everywhere. People don’t see it but I can sometimes look at an apple for half an hour, cause I don’t understand how this thing grew out of the ground and into a tree. How I’m taking it, eating it and I enjoy it.

MI: You make a bracha?

KF: Of course I do.

MI: Good. Yeh, I see you also keep your bathroom door closed, that’s a sign of a religious person.

KF: Yeh, I lock my bathroom door and I always close the toilet lid down.

MI: Yeh, and you keep it clean too. Sometimes, I can go into a single guy’s bathroom and it’s like “AAAAAAAAAAAGHHH”.

KF: I’m trying, I’m trying. I’m doing my best, because I know I’m surrounded by darkness. This is etz ha’daat (tree of knowledge) here. This is like confusion everywhere, this is like toilet everywhere. This is not Paradise, this is not Gan Eden. I know where I’m living, and I know where I came from. I look at this apple and I’m amazed. Because somebody put it in my hand. It was growing. The water came out of the sky, fell to the ground. The tree was like, climbing up, the apple was ready, somebody picked it up, brought it to where I got it, and I only paid one shekel to get it. This is true love, this is true love. I know that the land is not corrupted. I know that the land is mother. It has the ability, it has the way of a mother treating her own children. This is the land. But, we act like people who spit in our parents’ faces. So the land is corrupted. Because we rape our mother, we make our mother have a bath in our blood, we spit in our father’s face, we piss on our father’s face-

MI: Oy yoy yoy.

KF: This is what we do.

MI: Speak for yourself, dude.

KF: Look, we’re all one, OK?

MI: Yeh, it’s very hard for me to deal with.

KF: We are all in the same boat, we are all responsible for each other, so this is what we do. OK, so we’re not doing it individually, but this is what we all do. We can’t say, “hey I’m doing taryag (613) mitzvot, I’m free, WHOOO! Thank G-d!

MI: Yeh, I was talking to some guy that said the Leviim were safe because they didn’t have a part in doing the chet ha’egel (sin of the golden calf). They say now, that every punishment that the Jews get, no matter what, is because of chet ha’egel. He was like, “No, they’re put in situations about it, but they still don’t get punished.” I’m like “Dude, what are you talking about, they get it just like the rest of us.”

KF: I think everybody gets it in their own way, I don’t know….back to Mabool…it’s very apocalyptic, it’s very reflective of what’s happening here. We sing in seven different languages. I will not sit and say that what is said on the album happened, with the tsunami, but this is the way we saw that things were going to happen. The album was released in February of 2004. Look at the cover. It’s a tsunami. There was a mabool in India…

MI: (whistles “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” theme in a spooky manner)

KF: We’re not kind of prophets or something. But musicians definitely have the ability to put themselves out, artists in general, also, and put themselves out of the picture, stand outside and start painting it, you know. This is what we did with Mabool.

MI: Scary.

KF: I’m seeing myself, very much close to G-d, even though I’m not making taryag mitzvot, and sometimes I sin, sometimes I smoke on Shabbos, sometimes I drive on Shabbos, I’m doing very awful things, you know? But I’m saying, if my mission was to be a secret agent…

MI: I don’t agree. I think if you kept Shabbos..you know that whatever work you do on Shabbos, you lose out. And you know that if you miss out by not doing work on Shabbat, you get it later. All these bands would be huge if they didn’t work on Shabbat, they’d be huge.

KF: Look, everything you say is true. This is what they say about Shabbos. But take a police officer and take an undercover officer. The undercover officer is inside with drugs, with drug addicts and he’s with people that kill each other. now, he’s looking for the problem, that if he finds it, he solves everything. If he finds the chief of these gangs, of the Mafia, of the drugs, of whatever it is and kill him, he finishes the problem. Now, on his way to doing that, sometimes he needs to use drugs. Sometimes he needs to kill other people. He’s a police officer, OK? He has to do all of these things. He has to use drugs, sell drugs, kill people. I don’t know what.

MI: But who says you have to break Shabbat? You can play Thursday.

KF: He has to do his best to complete his mission.

MI: People will come to you on Thursday. They will come to you on Sunday. They will come to you on Wednesday.

KF: Sometimes I have to perform with my band on Friday. What can I do.

MI: Tell ’em no! Be like, “Not this time, baby.”

KF: I can’t do it. First of all, I’m one out of six. I cannot force my agent – it’s a very tricky game. because G-d is so merciful, and so giving and loving, sometimes He will say continue to do it. If you know me, and you know my way, and if you’re doing what you do on my behalf, continue to do what you do. I know you’re in the world of metal. The world of blasphemy. I know you’re in the world of I don’t know what. You cannot make taryag mitzvot, you cannot make Shabbat. You can’t make a blessing every time you eat, you will throw too much attention. You are an undercover agent, OK?

MI: Would you bleed on it? Are you 100% sure?

KF: Look, almost every day, I won’t say every day but at least once a week, I’m speaking with G-d. I’m begging him to lead me to do whatever I do on His behalf. I’m swearing to him that I have no other king than Him. I’m swearing to Him I want to do everything that I do only to bring Him back to His orphaned child. And this is what I want to do. Nothing else. And I ask every week. Every chance that I can. Even now, I ask Him to guide me because you cannot see nothing at the end of the day. We are full of questions because we are in darkness. Light is truth. If I put you in a house right now that you don’t know, I will put you on the eighth floor, and it’s a very big house, and I will tell you, “Find your way out,” you will start with the questions. “Where am I?” “Where’s the light?” Is it the kitchen? Is it the living room? Is it the balcony? Then you will say “OK, I have to make my first step,” but you don’t know where to go. Then, the first right after this wall, you make your first step into the wall. You will fall into a table, chas v’chalila this is just an example, fall into the glass table, break it, cut yourself and get wounded. Why? Darkness. But when you are in light, I can put you in the same house in light, and you only have to question “Who put me here?” and “What the fuck am I doing here?” Then you see, living room, light, door, out. You have answers. You know where to go. You don’t have to get yourself injured or wounded. This is darkness. So I don’t see anything, but I just ask Him to guide me, and to do it good.

MI: So what do you want people who have never heard of you to know about you?

KF: Well first thing I want them to know is as a band, we are not a white metal band, we are not a black metal band, we are not a death metal band, I hate definitions. We’re a metal band. We reflect everything we see. And we’re a very interesting band because at the end of the day you can see a metal band coming from this region for the first time of I don’t know twenty years of metal music. So this is very interesting, and give Orphaned Land a chance, try to read the lyrics as well because everything is very deep and conceptual in our way. The music, the lyrics, is related to what happened in our lives. And I think that everyone can find a piece of himself inside of our music. This is definitely life in music. It’s like a light bulb in a room of darkness. When you put it, everything is enlightened. Like at our concert. You were there. People see the light. And it is not our light. We are nothing. A musician is just a channel for this light. It’s not our light, we are nothing, we are nothing more than anybody else, but we have a very important message, to fill the world with light.

MI: Cool. Now they’ll really think you look like Jesus.

KF: Jesus was cool. By the way, about the black metal bands, if you want my opinion, if you get really thick into the bottom of it, I think they have nothing against Jesus. I think they have a very strong thing against Christianity and the Church. But Jesus…they all look like Jesus. With their long hair, and their beards…

MI: And their corpse makeup, yeh…(starts discussing the intricacies of which way you do devil horns, which way you face, which way it looks like a goat)

Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider — the grand marshal of the March of Dimes motorcycle ride — was on hand in Harrison, New York Sunday (Sept. 18) to greet more than 200 people who gathered from Westchester and Rockland counties to support the ride.

The March of Dimes, a national nonprofit organization fighting birth defects, aims to improve the health of babies by preventing premature births and infant mortality through funding research in the area.

Read more at Blabbermouth!

According to the ProgPower Europe website, “The hype around this band is huge in the underground scene, not without a reason. We are very proud that we were the first ones who booked ORPHANED LAND to come over to The Netherlands. Recently they already supported Paradise Lost in The Netherlands, but they will come back for ProgPower only in October. Be sure not to miss this fantastic band from Israel.”

Orphaned Land will also be performing at the ProgPower UK in March 2006.

They’ve just come home from ProgPower USA, where they played September 16th.

The Washington, DC band’s third release is a striking difference from much of the metal fare dished out today. Generally, the whole tone of the album evokes a certain yearning and striving for a better life – all facets of the album depict it, diamond cold and tight. The positivity peeks through crisp, clear sound. Especially noted is the technically remarkable double guitar duty. And there are solos, too! They’re comparable to In Flames but with a slight tinge of emo in the vocals of John Henry, who projects the requisite amount of rage combined with…hope. Tracks on the album run the gamut from stunning acoustic beauty to full-fledged sonic thrash warfare. Definitely recommended.

Nazi-Hunter Simon Wiesenthal Dies at 96
11:20 Sep 20, ’05 / 16 Elul 5765

(IsraelNN.com) Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, who survived the Holocaust and helped track down Nazis for the rest of his life, died Tuesday at the age of 96.

Wiesenthal died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, Austria, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

“When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren’t able to kill millions of people and get away with it,” Wiesenthal said of his life’s work.

All international booking for Orphaned Land is now being done by ICS.

PROFOUND LORE RECORDS will also now be releasing the band’s early Holy Record albums: Sahara (1994) and El Norra Alila (1996) The releases, under license from Holy, will be double-gatefold vinyl. Release dates are tba.

Thrash act Hangman have signed to the independent German label Witches Brew. Ten tracks have already been written and they’re working on an 11th now. They will begin the recording of their Witches Brew debut, suitably titled “Thrash Onslaught”, in November. Expect this release in February / March 2006.

The Voice of the Black Beast Growls About G-d, Gush Katif, etc.
a generally untouched MSN chat

MI: OK here we go! Drumroll please…

YZ: Stagadish!

MI: I’m going to pretend I never heard u or anything of u…what’s stagadish?

YZ: drum roll

MI: and what’s a Schvortcccccccccccccccccchtsechaye

YZ: is this the first question?

MI: yep

YZ: first of all, its schworchtsechaye

MI: u gonna get a lot of people fkn up the name methinks but it adds to ur charm

YZ: and the literal meaning is “black beast”, but there is also a metaphorical meaning

MI: what

YZ: it is a an insulting nickname for sephardi jews which was used to suggest that the sephardim are black barbarian creatures, not cultured and primitive. but for me it stands for each and every scapegoat in this world and it stands against the elite in every way.

MI: why is that important to u?

YZ: i cannot stand aside when i see the injustice in this world and in my immediate surroundings. just now 8000 people were kicked out of their houses without a proper solution. there are very few people who can ignore this kind of action and this kind of governmental brutality.

MI: Oh, don’t start me.

YZ: I thought you started me!

MI: heheheh i meant don’t start me on Gush Katif, I gotta seashell from there around my neck with the word revenge written on it. Are there particular lyrics that you think aptly describe what schworchtsechaye is all about?

YZ: We sing about many issues, and our music expresses a strong point of view: we have a song called “Aristocratic Brutality” which talks about the position of the Europeans and how they relate to Israel. a song like “Nowhere Land” that talks about our way of life and why its the only way of life which is possible in this reality. or a song like “I Blame” that talks about how people are dishonest with each other. There is a wide variety of subjects we are interested in. mostly political and social. There is no specific song that can define our beliefs. You need to see our material as a whole.

MI: Are you guys active in anything u can talk about without getting arrested for it?

YZ: We are active in promoting the metal scene, which is totally legal.

MI: Have you or will you write anything about the Gush Katif situation?

YZ: with pleasure. But what do you want to know?

MI: What do I wanna know? A lot of things. Like, for example, you heard of this ISHC movement? Someone named Tzachi told me about it, Israel State Hard Core. Do you have anything to do with this?

YZ: um, no. Look, about Gush Katif, the most annoying thing is the fact that people got thrown from their homes without a proper solution. I don’t understand how a democracy can do that to their people. I dont think such a thing can happen in any other western country. second, there are many Arabs who live among Israelis. If we would try to touch even one of them the international community will do to us what they did to Yugoslavia. But to kick Jews from their houses is ok, right? third, there is no doubt that we are creating a new hostile nation on our borders. It’s beyond me how a nation can do this to itself. And all this is happening when the right wing is the ruling power in the government.

MI: If they had invested a half of the soldiers they needed to tear the Jews out of their houses in going into Aza and making shish kebab out of the terrorists… It’s not beyond me, I got all the reasons, papi. 1. the government wants to prove that it is a nation like any other. It wants to prove that they’re not racist elitist Jewish. That they want to be good to everyone and they would rather cut themselves then cut the person that needs to be cut. It’s called battered wife syndrome. “Maybe, one day they’ll love us..”

YZ: Yes. Tomorrow..

MI: Another thing, it’s a lot about the religious thing too. The media made monsters out of these mostly sweet and innocent people. And even the Jewish people were screaming “O yes tear those fanatics out, they deserve it.”

YZ: I just want you to understand that im not anti-Arab, anti Palestine, or anything like that. I’m anti terror. And as long as terror is in control there is nothing to talk about. I don’t think that the media did that. I think that they were very pro-settler in this particular case. It touched me very strongly to see these pictures on the television, and it was a very emotional experience.

MI: Before, they sure as hell did. Now they don’t. But leading up to it??? They were printing stuff like “Those monsters! They want to shoot at the IDF!!”

YZ: only during the process they stopped the demonization of the settlers. These are people who throughout their whole lifetimes were brainwashed by the government to go live there in the name of Zionism. I think that zionism has just died and there is no more jewish movement, only a jewish state. a place to live with no heart.

MI: well, how much do u know about religion?

YZ: Enough. im an athiest.

MI: Alright, well, there’s a bunch of people, who live here that never needed a state to live here, cause they believe the land is holy with or without a state. People would spend every penny they have n risk their lives to come here, even if this was an Arab government, chalila.

YZ: Yes, but after a few times they got slaughtered, I think that even they will understand that we need a state, and not to talk about what happened in Europe 60 years ago and in many other places.

MI: According to ‘charedi’ and ‘dati’, i guess, for lack of better tools- the land is still holy. The yerushalmim lived here the whole time. No state.

YZ: And now there are 6 million Jews here.

MI: Thank G-d. Yeh, so dati says that they needed the state.

YZ: How many lived here back then, less than 100,000?

MI: Fine, but im saying they still lived here and even if people were in Europe or America they were still thinking land is still holy no matter who has control of it and it’s still a commandment to live here. So even if the secular Zionist dream is dead, BFD. That doesnt make the land any less what it is. BFD – Big FKN Deal.

YZ: I don’t believe that any one thing is holier than anything else.

MI: Fine, but religious people of all walks do.

YZ: Fine, I’m not religious.

MI: So, like I argued with another of my secular friends who doesnt believe in this, in this type of argument neither of us will come away feeling fulfilled because we both come from completely different platforms.

YZ: Religion only brings wars to the world, and speaking of the “holy land” brings war to the world. The war here is about religion.

MI: Every war is. Bush is making his Crusades. In China, against Tibet, what is it?

YZ: Colonialism. Even you, as a religious person, speaks in a very brutal way. This is ours, we need to shish kebob them, etc. You said it.

MI: For sure. That’s straight out of Tanach though. Ever read the story of Pinchas?

YZ: I don’t believe in Tanach. I’d rather read the fucking news.

MI: Alright…well, I don’t believe that violence is bad. If it is used in order to save ourselves.

YZ: Or in my shows!

MI: Stam, to go fk someone up for fun is not nice.

YZ: Unless it’s in a show.

MI: You guys have a brutal pit?

YZ: Yes, the most brutal in Israel, or one of the most, at least.

MI: Back to your music – when I heard it, it sounded like a cross between standard black metal and hardcore….what are your main influences?

YZ: Not black metal, that’s the first thing. We have hardcore touches because we had an American drummer and we could feel the influence of the NY scene, but it’s mostly thrash metal with Middle Eastern touches sometimes. Now we have a new drummer, and he brings a new style to the band. Each and every member brings his own thing.

MI: What bands do u list as ur major influences?

YZ: Slayer.

MI: what do u think about the ‘Slayer are Nazis’ accusation?

YZ: But they are so fucking good! and besides, I think (hope?) they are over it…

MI: Well, lemme ask u about the atheist thing but only if it doesn’t annoy you.

YZ: Ask…

MI: why?

YZ: No one convinced me otherwise.

MI: Don’t tempt me. first off, there’s a rule of philosophy, there is no way u can prove a negative. Tell me agnostic, ok. Agnostic is dunno for sure.

YZ: The way things are working it cannot be that god exists

MI: why?

YZ: I don’t believe in G-d because it cannot be that G-d exists. And if he does, He is a big motherfucker if He permits the kind of thing that has been happening to go on. In other words, even if he exists, i wouldnt want to be on his side

MI: Man, what if i were to tell you that all this shit happens because of people’s free choice and if we did right none of this shit would happen – shift the blame, k’eelu.

YZ: That is your opinion.

MI: Well, that’s what the whole religion thing is about, being a better person cause every deed u do brings energy into this world.

YZ: I think that I’m trying to be a better person, but it has absolutely nothing to do with religion.

MI: Who makes the rules of what is a better person? Of what is good n bad? Don’t tell me every man for himself, cause if that was it i have a nice death list I would be happy to execute.

YZ: As long as you don’t harm anyone else you’re OK. When you hurt other people you are not ok. Rules of the jungle.

MI: What if u harm yourself? And how do u know what harms another if u are not that person?

YZ: First, it’s my right to harm myself. Second, if I hurt anyone I expect him to tell me that, so then I can stop. Nothing is on purpose. If he doesn’t say it, how can I know? I try not to hurt people, but when someone hurts me I’ll hurt him ten times more. This is my way of living. I do not live by any book of rules. I think that is for insecure people.

MI: so you just said you believe in violence after all which goes against what you were griping at me before :p. Which is the exact thing I agree with except when its a fellow Jew cause it’s forbidden (which sucks but hey, makes the world less of a jungle)

YZ: Did I say I believe in violence? I believe in just punishment for a wrong deed.

MI: Ten times more which is usually what?

YZ: It doesn’t have to be physical, does it?

MI: No, sometimes physical is better. But it more than likely ends up being physical and don’t give me no bs that u wouldn’t.

YZ: Only when there is no other choice.

MI: Alright, fair enough, soo.. tell me more about the band. You have 2 releases and are working on a third, correct?

YZ: Correct. But you dont have the first release

MI: I have 14 Minute Dive. And I actually misplaced the new one but I will find it.

YZ: The latest thing you have we didn’t release becasue we weren’t pleased with it, and plan to re-record it

MI: what are your goals with Schworchtsechaye?

YZ: Goals? To gig with the greatest! Our first release was called “Nightmareality”.

MI: I know the 2nd, what’s the 3rd gonna be called

YZ: Raise your Arms.

MI: you said in ur bio that you were singing a lot about the terror sitch. Is that what nightmareality is about?

YZ: Yes. Back then was the worst time in Israel, I think. But also the new album, Raise your Arms, speaks about that.

MI: It’ll get worse G-d forbid, Don’t worry. Yo, back to this. What do u mean ur not anti Palestine as a state. Why not?

YZ: All they need to do is be human beings and not animals. Every nation has the right to self definition and nationhood.

MI: They were never a nation historically until 1967.

YZ: So who are these people who we fought against in 1948?

MI: Nomadic arabs that had only been there for 200 or so years. A mix of Circassians, Turks, Bedouin.

YZ: And there were more of them here than Jews.

MI: Depending. The last Jews left Aza in 1929. There had been a huge community that peaked in the 1600s. Then in 1929 when they massacred a bunch of Jews in Hebron the last Jews there left, there never was a Palestine.

YZ: Aza is the historical home of the Philistines.

MI: Right. And there are no blood ties between them and the ‘Palestinians’ of today. “Palestine” was a name given to Israel by the Romans, it was Judea at the time.

YZ: Fuck blood ties. There was a people, maybe a mix of peoples, who have been living here. These are the Palestinians of today, like it or not and they are still here.

MI: For how long, compared to us?

YZ: Doesn’t matter.

MI: These people never asked for anything from anyone ’til they saw the Jews were getting it.

YZ: I mean in terms of length of time, they are here, and they are not going anywhere, as are we.

MI: Now that’s a shame.

YZ: Be realistic.

MI: Realism states that if we can kick Jews out of their homes we can kick Arab terrorists out of theirs.

YZ: I think with an agreement we can do a transfer of populations. Without an agreement, unfortunately, we can only kick out our own brothers. This is war.

MI: Israel is too afraid of world opinion.

YZ: OK, it’s true, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are 2 communities living here, Jews and Arabs, who, because of stupid politicians and stupid religions, cannot live side by side. One says “this land is holy to me” and the other says the same. From all this holiness bullshit all we get is blood on the streets, on both sides. And the politicians think that they can make some sort of solutions, but instad of negotiation with the right people they brought some terrorists from Tunisia and created this horrible situation. The Palestinians are suffering from it as much as we are.

MI: But they want all of it.

YZ: You want all of it too. Not you, and not them, can have it all. I, for example, just want to live peacefully, as does the common israeli man on the street or the common Palestinian. This is exactly what we are singing about. The world opinion, the point of view of the common man, the idiocy of politicians. What we don’t touch are the religious issues, the issue of religion, b/c we think that everyone has the right to his own belief.

MI: You can’t separate it.

YZ: Yes, but I dont have to sing about it. I told you what I think, but I’ll not express it in my art. I think I’ve said it all.