Tal Kedmy from Mens Rea gave us some time in the smoking room of the Old Friend Rock Bar to introduce us a bit to Mens Rea…

MI: What does Mens Rea mean?

TK: It’s Latin for Guilty Minds. It’s a pretty common term in law and that’s where I got I from since I was a law student when we formed the group.

MI: Where?

TK: Tel Aviv University. I figured if I don’t end up as a musician I may as well make a lot of money.

MI: Describe yourself to someone who never heard of you.

TK: Hard rock, old school rock n’ roll. That’s the kind of music we like to listen to and play.

MI: What bands influenced you?

TK: Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, bands that do heavy metal, Metallica, Megadeth. Skid Row, Led Zeppelin. An endless list.

MI: What made you decide to come to Jerusalem?

TK: We heard of Old Friend, and it seemed like a cool place. We weren’t mistaken, especially judging by what is on the playlist (Megadeth is blasting in the background)…,.. we like to play in front of people, I don’t care where. Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, North, South…

MI: Have you had any exposure here in the mainstream?

TK: It’s kind of hard to get exposure in the mainstream in Israel but once in a while we get onto the most important web portals in the country: Ynet, Tapuz, that’s a way of getting into the mainstream. We have a video clip on channel 24 – they show it quite a lot, I guess, late night hours.

MI: How was your New York tour?

TK: That was cool, had a few tours in New York and New Jersey. in a way it was the same as performing in israel but you have to plan more, when we stayed there, yknow.

MI: What clubs did you play?

TK: Baggot Inn, Pussycat Lounge, Kenny’s Castaways, and that was a pretty significant show for us cause from what they write from their website, Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen started their careers there.

MI: How did you get hooked up on this tour?

TK: Contacted the places, the venues, mostly over the Internet, and let them hear our music. Most of the places liked it and it was cool. We, y’know, just had to set the dates. It was cool but we wanted to get a record deal, we didn’t, we were quite disappointed but it’s a major step for an israeli band and I’m glad we did it anyway.