DISTORTED

// Falber Teles

MIRI MILMAN - Before answering this interview, I would like to introduce myself to the readers.  
Hi everyone, my name is Miri Milman, I am the female singer of DISTORTED.
Raffy Mor – Vocals/Guitar, Ben Zoher – Lead Guitar and Guy Shalom – Bass.

SOURCEWEBZINE - I would like to know a little bit about your musical background. When did you start playing and how did you end up into a metal band like DISTORTED ? What bands did you look up when you were young?
MM - I am almost 24 years old. I'm a musician since I was 5 years old - I started as a pianist. I learned to play Accordion and flute then 9 years later I started playing the guitar as well. That time I was more and more into singing as well, it goes along pretty good with playing the guitar, so I started singing more often. At first I had a high school band and some different projects until I met the DISTORTED guys on 1998.

My love for rock and metal music is deep since I was a child…  my father was a guitar player so I grew up listening to rock bands like The Beatles, The Doors, The Shadows, etc then later on started listening to Bon Jovi, Guns & Roses, Metallica etc. When I turned 13 I fell in love with black metal music and I refused listening to other genres but our old drummer (Ori Eshel) introduce me to some female fronted bands such as: The Gathering, Theatre of Tragedy, Dominion, Lacuna Coil and many other great bands that back then seemed so weird to me that girls sing in metal bands but that really influenced me and I’ve been doing that ever since.

SOURCEWEBZINE - So you released your first album titled "Memorial" through Bad Reputation Records in 2006 and it has received a lot of great reviews through media. If you look back at that time, is there something you would have liked to do differently with the previous release?
MM - Yes, our first album "Memorial" had some great reviews all over the world, which really surprised us because we didn’t know what to expect of it. It was our first experience with professional recordings and our first signing with a label or even first media exposure. It was all new to us.

There will always be thing we would like to change in the past but that belongs in the past. Now we are focusing in the future and our future second album that is being written as we speak.

SOURCEWEBZINE - How was the recording process of the album? Would you do something differently this time? What is your typical way to write a new song?
MM - The "Memorial' process was very long. It took us 4 years to write this album (with breaks in the middle) until the moment we actually recorded it.

It was really hard for us to complete the job because we all had to go to the army and because we have age differences in the band, it took us 6 years until everyone were finally got released. We used to get together every week or two weeks and write a song in a rehearsal studio. Then it used to take us 4-6 rehearsals to complete the song.

Today things are really different.  Everyone write their riffs at home and then we have writing sessions where we play the riffs and trying to create songs of them. We record the stuff we have at home and then work on it with the drummer in the studio. I know that today, most of the bands write through computers, with music programs but for some reason it doesn’t work for us, maybe in the future...

SOURCEWEBZINE - How is it with live gigs? The new tracks should work well to animate the masses, so what do you expect? Any touring plans you can already confirm?
MM - For now, we only have live shows in Israel because we are writing our second album and only when it will be released we could have a tour.

As for now we are confirmed to play in the Metal Female voice festival in Beligum and some local shows in Israel.

SOURCEWEBZINE - What´s the most craziest thing that has happened to you while being on road? Tell us something about it.
MM - We still haven’t toured much so I can’t really say that we had crazy moments on tours, but on the tour we had in February we had a crazy session drummer!

I think he was mental! We are still in shock with his behavior.
We always have crazy moments on shows and recordings but it involves things that I don’t think the guys would like to share.

SOURCEWEBZINE - What´s your opinion about the metal scene in Israel nowadays? Is it where it should be or should some things be differently?
MM - Well, before 2002 we could say that the metal scene in Israel was quite dead. The 90’s were really good until 1995 that things started dying.

There were no metal events no festivals or nothing that could have indicated that this scene will ever become alive again.
At first when we started to play concerts, we had only 5-10 people in the crowd, but today our scene is bigger than ever! It has been awaken from its deep sleep, and it's amazing to see the differences in each concert. Every time I see new faces it’s making me feel very happy to see this good progress.

SOURCEWEBZINE - I would like to know a little bit about your music taste so what kind of music are you guys currently listening to?
MM - It’s very varied. I am listening to all kinds of genres in metal such as: Death Metal, Grind Core, Metal core, Doom, sometimes gothic… Raffy and Guy are kinda the same as I am but Benny is listening to old school music, old rock and heavy, fusion and blues.

SOURCEWEBZINE - DISTORTED is, as far as I’m aware, the only female-fronted metal band in Israel. What is it like being in such a position?
MM - Up till 2 years ago, we were the only female fronted band in Israel but today there are more bands. We consider the biggest one.

It felt good to know that we were the only band so far but it is also good to have competition. I was always the only girl back stage at shows and festivals so it always felt good to be special.

SOURCEWEBZINE - I notice that you have sung for ORPHANED LAND in their live shows. How did get in contact with the band and what is it like to work with them?
MM - To sing with OL was very natural for me because we consider them to be good friends of band – practically family. 

We kinda grew up in the same city and we know them for years.

OL are great people and I really enjoyed working with them and going on shows with them. 

SOURCEWEBINZE - When you are taking off time from road, what do you guys normally do?
MM - Everyone have a day time job, we are all very occupied during the days.

I work as a graphic designer. Guy works as a programmer in a high-tech company and Raffy works in the same company as well. Benny has is own business. 

It’s very hard to keep the job and have a band but we do everything we can to fulfill our dreams.

SOURCEWEBZINE - I know you are from a small city called Bat-Yam located 10 kilometers south toTel Aviv. Tell us more about your hometown. Is there anything there that inspires you to write music and what other inspirations do you have?
MM - Wow, It’s great to know that someone actually read about our small city called BAT-YAM (a mermaid in Hebrew). It is a small city that has nice shores and I live 5 minutes away from the beach. The city in general is not that interesting except for the beautiful beach strip.

I guess that in some way our city did influenced our music, perhaps in a more oriental way or maybe it is responsible for our need to play extreme music, but it ends there. There is nothing inspiring in this city except the beach and the great time we have in the summer.

SOURCEWEBZINE - I would like to thank you for sharing these words with us and wish you good luck with your new album. Is there any last words you would like to share with the readers of sourcewebzine.com.br ?
MM - I would like to thank the readers for taking some time in reading this article.

Also I would like to offer you an invitation to Israel, it's an amazing place and the situation here is not as bad as they show it on TV.

Thank you Falber for a great interview! And for your support!  Best regards.

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