AMASEFFER "Free At
Last"
Interview by Dark Starr
Amaseffer is a band from the land of Israel . It’s not exactly the first
place that comes to mind when you think of strongholds of rock music.
That’s just one of the paradoxes of this band. Another is the fact that
their debut disc is one of the most mature and complete works I’ve heard
in a while. The sound is hard to describe and runs the gamut from
modern progressive rock to metal and even soundtrack type music. Well,
however you describe the music I had the chance to pose some questions
to Amaseffer’s main man Erez Yohanan about the musical history of the
group and a lot more.
WORMWOOD CHRONICLES: Can you catch the readers up a bit on your musical
history?
EREZ YOHANAN: We have no musical history! For all three of us it is the
first album we ever released. On the other hand, we have a lot of
experience playing live and playing with bands in the past. Basically,
in the past four years we are totally dedicated to Amaseffer and not
playing in other projects.
WC: I know artists are not crazy about having their music pigeon-holed,
but how would you describe your sound?
EY: Our sound is a melting pot of cultures, a fusion between East
meeting West, rock meeting Philharmonic and movie soundtrack meeting
theater. The concept is a biblical one and in order for us to capture
the spirit of the time ,we thought to combine them all together.
WC: Who do you see as musical influences?
EY: To be honest, NONE! When we sIt down on writing sessions the first
rule is: "block out and forget all you know of!", this is our motto in
the band. Yes, we do listen to Jazz, classical, rock, pop, metal, Arabic
and so on but no chance we will bring this to the table when we work.
We start with clean sheets and just switch to "Amaseffer Mode" and we
found that this way we write the purest music from the deepest corner of
our soul and at the end of the day when we listen to what we have
created, it is for us a true moment of achievement.
WC: Where did the name for the band come from?
EY: Amaseffer is the phonetic translation for the Hebrew word:
"Am-Haseffer", which means, People of the Book. It is an ancient name
given for the Israelites in the Bible, refering to them as people that
follow the holy book. We chose this name because of the concept we're
dealing with, the ancient atmosphere that we have in our music and we
wanted a name the will symbolize who we really are and what we are all
about. This name is a direct link to to what we stand for in
Amaseffer-the band.
WC: What’s ahead for you?
EY: Soon we set the dates for the pre-production of chapter two of the
trilogy, hoping to release it next year.
WC: Are there musicians you’d like to play with in the future?
EY: So many of them, it would be unfair to name only a few but if I
really need to , I would say Geddy Lee of RUSH, STING, Klaus Badelt.
WC: You guys are from Israel. With all the strife in that part of the
world, it seems like it would have to have had an effect on your music.
How do you think it’s shaped your artistic vision?
EY: I would say that it had no effect at all. We are not into politics
and we write music coming from the deepest corner of our soul. We don't
want to "contaminate" it with political views for we are not a political
kind of band.
WC: How do you see the prospect of Israeli/Palestinian peace?
EY: If our leaders would give up their ego then we would see some
progress in our region. It is the core problem. Please forgive me for
not going into details on this for as I said, we are not into politics.
WC: Why did you decide to base the whole album on parts of the Bible –
or since I’m guessing you are Jewish, (and the books are Old Testament
ones) I should say the Torah?
EY: I'm a strong believer and it was obvious that when I'm ready to
start working on a concept album, it would be a Bible based story. I
wanted to take the biggest story in the Bible. I wanted to make an epic
and one need an epic story in order to do it, so this was the ultimate
story...the main event, as I used to call it.
WC: Do you think that downloading of music is a help or hindrance to the
careers of musicians? It’s been said by the major labels that it’s
essentially the heart of all the problems they are having in terms of
lower sales – would you agree?
EY: I think that once you download an album and you like the band, then
you should go and buy the album! So many bands today it would be
impossible to obtain even a small fraction of it if you are not super
rich.
WC: In a related question, how do you feel about fans recording shows
and trading them?
EY: It's illegal, period!!!
WC: If you were a superhero, what musical artist would be your arch
nemesis?
EY: The one who bows before Satan.
WC: These next three we tend to ask of everyone. The first two sort of
showcase musician as music fan. First, what was the last CD you bought,
or what have you been listening to lately?
EY: I bought the new album from Riverside – "Rapid Eye Movement".I also
listen to two Spanish artists named Vicente Amigo and Diego el Cigala...
those two are at my top list at the moment.
WC: What about the last concert you attended for your enjoyment?
EY: A show of an Israeli band named Distorted. They just released their
new album and it is a great one.
WC: Now, this one some love, some hate. Feel free to not answer if you
don’t care to. What has been your biggest Spinal Tap moment?
EY: I will answer it no problem, it's a refreshing question from all
serious interviews !
I went to my friends house,needing to go so bad to the bathroom, I got
into his house pulling my pants down even before I got in, I barged
inside the bathroom only to find that his girlfriend is standing there
plucking her eye brows. That was funny and embarrassing at the same
time, me standing there with my pants down watching her watching me. I
was lucky for it was a very good friend of mine and I knew his
girlfriend for a long time so we all just laugh about it.
WC: Finally, are there any closing thoughts you’d like to get out there?
EY: Thank you for your kind words and support, God bless you all!
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