Interview with Distorted

DISTORTED - ISRAEL

Interviewed by: Fonda

This band started in the early 1996 in Bat-Yam Israel, and this metal band is pretty amazing and had perform with great local and International bands as well. But we do hope that they will remain in UG scene for better reasons. Anyways, NBzine got the chance to interview their lovely lass Miri. So here it is:

Hails Distorted band! Your gig sched seems all occupied this year! How do you manage your time with your personal lives?! Like spending time with your family and friends? How about your jobs?

Miri(vocals) - It¡¦s really hard to keep up with everything in life, a daytime job, a relationship, family, friends¡K but there is no other choice as I see it. You have to combine it all
You can not pass on any of those things in life. A person should have friends, should be with his family and beloved ones other wise nothing has a meaning! So you see your friends less, you work more hours but it is manageable.

I am glad you can still juggle up the time< that's great. Your band started more than 10 years ago (since 1996?) Did you guys ever thought it will last this long? Was it a high school fun idea to form a band? Or more like taking the world? hehe..
Actually, it was a high school form band, we all went to the same high school together and that¡¦s where it all started but of course non of us ever imagined that we would last so long or actually fulfill our dreams and goal together as a band!
People that went to school with us are still in shock when they find out that the band still exists or when they read articles in the news papers about us, I know that I¡¦m very proud to have such great friend for so long!

You guys fucking rock, so no wonder that you are still banging the metal scene! Hehe. Distorted music genre, was it planned to be melodic death from the beginning? Did it change through the course of time? How were you able to get Miri as an additional vox? It¡¦s not usual to know an Arab lady who is into heavy metal!
We started as a hard rock/alternative rock band, our style was completely different back then and it evolved in time same as we evolved in time.
I must correct you, I¡¦m not an ¡¥arab lady¡¦ even if my voice can lead you on¡K
I am an Israeli girl from birth and as I said before, we all went to the same high school so it was pretty easy for us to connect.

Thank you for correcting me, some think also that when you say from middle east, they consider people as arabs. Now we know! By the way, Who is the composer and lyricist of the band? You have signed to various record labels, do you prefer going mainstream or stay UG? Money or fame? Or just plaudits?
The main composer in the band is Raffael Mor (guitars and vocals) and I¡¦m the main writer but we all like to take a part in the writing and composing so its pretty much one unit to rule it all. We don¡¦t have a preference for UG or mainstream, we prefer to be devoted to ourselves and our music and if we like to do death metal now or do for example hard rock later, it doesn¡¦t matter - as long as we like it and feel complete with it.
About the money issue, its very hard to make a living of the music industry nowadays especially from metal music, so the answer is pretty much clear ¡V its mostly for the soul and of course the fame that everyone dream of!

Straight-forward answer! All for the passion of music! You have played with great Intl. bands, and the upcoming MFVF 5 which I am really jealous of! hehe. How were you invited to perform in such great gigs? Which band you enjoy performing with?
Yes we have and we will! It has been a real pleasure to meet a lot of big bands and performing with them on the same stage, we are really proud of this accomplish!
We got invited by promoters who loved the band and thought it would really fit their event. I can¡¦t say there was a band that was nicer or less, they were all nice people and we enjoyed each show we had! We just love performing live.

I am sure Distorted band will be seen in more Intl. gigs. Does Distorted have a permanent drummer already? How do you see Distorted in 5 years? Having your family, still rocking the scene, etc?
Unfortunately we still didn¡¦t find a permanent drummer, it¡¦s really hard to get a serious one in Israel¡K so for now we are working with a permanent session drummer and his name is Shaked Furman.
Distorted in 5 years from now? Good question! I think with 3 more albums, a really big and respectful resume and of course families. Ben Zohar (guitars) is already married and I bet he¡¦s thinking of kids right now, I¡¦m about to get married myself in the next year so its pretty natural that in this age we would already think of having families but it doesn¡¦t mean it would keep us from having a rocking life ƒº

One word to describe Distorted. Name an object that represents the band.
Onw word to describe Distoretd will definitely be DEVOTION

And the object that represents the band will be a ¡¥ROLLER COASTER¡¦ and the explanation for that will be that during the years together we had our ups and downs but just like in a roller coaster its always fun and exciting.


I have seen the promo video ¡§ Children of the Fall¡¨ which I think is amazing. Where did you shoot the place? Can we expect more videos from Distorted? Are we going to see your video in MTV??
¡¥Children of Fall¡¦ video was shot in the north area of Israel in a city called Haifa.
It was a really experimental video and we didn¡¦t know what to expect until we actually saw it! Yes you can expect more videos coming up in the next album!
About MTV, we hope so some day¡K

It was an amazing video, and please don¡¦t be a sell-out band!hehe¡KWhat inspires your band to continue? Did it come to a point that all of you had a bad discord & you wanted to call it quits?
I think every person in a band can tell you that sometimes he has those moments that he wants to quit everything and just retire because there are certain moments in this business that make you want to tear off all your hairs and jump from the highest building you can find! Its not easy especially in a band when you are kinda ¡¥married¡¦ to 4 other persons.
Yes, we do have those moments! But as a ¡¥married couple¡¦ we sit down and discuss our difficulties because we care about each other and about the band and we all have the same interest ¡V to become big so we do everything to suck it up and continue!

Yeah, keep your band tight because lots of your followers will be sadden if you guys call it quits! Do you still have a feeling of trepidation when performing? How about rituals? Do you get drunk, smoke or do whatever shit before performing?
Yes, we do get nervous sometimes when it¡¦s a really big show or a completely new crowd but it¡¦s a good excitement. Our rituals? Usually some pushups, some breathings or vocal exercises, some good luck hugs and up to the stage!
We are actually good kids ƒº we NEVER drink or smoke before a show (maybe a beer once in a while but not heavy drinking) and it¡¦s the same for drugs-NO drugs.
I believe that when you go on stage you need to be in your best for the crowd, they deserve it! When they respect you, come to the show buy a ticket or buy your merch you have to show them the same respect by putting up a great show and not to be drunk on stage. Also I cant really understand how people can drunk on stage, how can they function?

Yeah, it will be terrible if the band is drunk and vomits in the crowd¡KAny crazy stunts from the audience while performing?? Proposal to you Miri?
Ohh yes, a lot of crazy stunts during shows!
We had a couple making out right before the stage nearly having sex! They got turned on by our music! Some lesbians throwing flowers and saying dirty things to me¡K
This drunk guy came on stage during a song to ask for a cigarette! Some people got crazy in the mosh-pit and they totally destroyed the stage and monitors¡K lotssssss of crazy things! And also some proposals¡K ƒº but not only for me! Hehehe¡K
Haha! I enjoy that answer of yours! Well, better have a body guards! Hehe. What can you say about the Middle East band increasing in the metal scene? Do you still get a shock from the people when you tell them you¡¦re a band from Israel?
Yes we do, some people still think that Israel is all about sand and camels or its all about wars but its not! We have so many good things in here that they don¡¦t bother to show on TV, they only show the terror attacks and bad things and presenting a really bad vibe on our beautiful country.
Our metal scene is growing every day and it¡¦s such a great pleasure to see it! We¡¦ve started as a band when there was almost nothing and now we have so many metal heads and great bands in here¡K

Damn, I feel like dropping by there! Hopefully, soon..What is your opinion about the war in the Middle East especially in Lebanon and Iraq, who is to blame?
I don¡¦t want to get involved in this whole ¡¥who¡¦s fault it is¡¦, All I care about is having peace around here because it was a really sad period during the war! Both sides have suffered a great lost, a lot of families lost their beloved ones. Nothing is worth it.
People may say a lot of things but having a war is nothing but hard!

War is a man's fight over nothing, that's what I think. So, Any plans touring the Asian countries especially Philippines? =)
We want to tour EVERYWHERE! As long as we have a chance we will.

Tell us about your upcoming album.
Our next album is going to be released on spring 2008 with Candlelight Records, world wide. We are trying some new things on this album hopefully people can connect to it as well. We will have some known singers doing guests vocals, some new vocals techniques and a lot of new things!

Wow, cant wait to for that album! Wish you the best guys. That will be it, thank you for the time! Any last message for all the readers of NBzine and your supporters as well?
Thank you for an interesting interview, I really enjoyed it!
I would like to thank the readers as well for reading this article and for those who support the band, you are the spirit of Distorted! Hope to see you all in show some day!!!

Keep it metal,
Miri Milman
www.myspace.com/distorted