1. So Distorted has been around in one form or another since 1996. How is the current line up working out?

Before starting the interview I would like to introduce myself and the band:

Hi everyone my name is Miri Milman – I'm the female vocalist of DISTORTED

Raffael Mor – vocals, Guitars

Guy Shalom – bass

Benny Zohar – lead guitars

Matan Shmueli – drums

Up until 5 months we still played with our older drummer Ori Eshel. The new line up works really great and we have some new energies with Matan. The chemistry is good and everyone is happy about the new brother.

2. You recorded your first 3 songs in October of 1998, then released 2 more songs over the internet in 2002. How does it feel to now have a full length record ready to go?

It is very exciting for us to finally release the debut album MEMORIAL, a moment that we have been waiting for too long. So far we really love the idea that a lot of people can finally listen to our music, and It is what we've always dreamt of.

3. Speaking of your 1st record titled "Memorial", when can we expect it to be available?

The Album has already been released lately in Europe and only four months ago in Israel, still you won't be able to find it all over Europe but that is our main goal right now, to find a world wide distribution.

That album is well distributed in Israel, France, UK, Spain, Italy and Belgium.

4. What inspired the title of the upcoming album?

Memorial main theme is pain and loss that unfortunately we all have experienced. I can say that this album was inspired by many things but the main thing is living here in Israel and how it isn't very easy sometimes, especially these days. Most of all personal things that has happened to each and one of us and we felt the urge to write about it and to share it with our fans. We wanted to write in a way that the listener could really connect to it.

5. For those who don't know Distorted hail from Israel. How is the metal scene there?

Well, before 2002 we could say that the metal scene in Israel was quite dead.

There were no metal events no festivals or nothing that could have indicated that this scene will ever become alive again.

On the year of 2002 things started to a wake a bit after to we took the matter into our own hands. We started a production line called Metal Till Dawn that its main goal was to give a stage to some young metal bands (including us).

That production line really helped people here to understand that to have a live metal scene we all have to contribute to it, by having shows by supporting the local bands and bands that are coming to perform here…

So after two or three years things really improved here, more bands were willing to come and have shows more promoters were willing to invest in bringing big bands here and even some of our big bands are now doing great in Europe, like Orphaned Land and Betzefer…

I just hope that our scene will grow even bigger.

6. What bands influence your writing the most?

I think it is very hard to answer this question because there are so many good bands and we like a lot of them but the ones that had influenced us the most are: Metallica, Nevermore, Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, The Gathering, Tool and more… about the mid-eastern sounds, I guess we were influenced by it as well and this we have at home.

7. Has Distorted had a chance to play any shows outside of Israel?

Actually not yet. We are trying so hard every day to connect the right people and to get a tour planned but it is so damn hard.

We were supposed to have our first gig in Turkey on 14 th July with WASP

But it got canceled due Blackie's heart condition.

For now we are keeping our options clear and working a lot to make this dream happen.

8. How would you feel about touring the U.S.?

I would say BRING IT ON!!!

As we speak we are negotiating with a booking agency in the U.S that really liked our music and wants us to come for a long tour in the U.S during 2007, so this might happen for us and all we are left to do is cross our fingers.

In fact it won't matter if it will be Europe or U.S we just want the opportunity to have some live concerts out side of Israel.

9. Let's talk more about your music. Has the band had any success in surrounding countries in the area?

If you are talking about our area such as Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Greece, so far a small success – we don't quite know yet, I guess we just need more time till people would listen to the album.

About Europe, we got a lot of good response from people who listened to it and really liked it. I really hope this will grow every day and people would listen to our music every where in the world.

10. Living in such a politically charged area, how do you feel about politics and religion in music?

I'm always rather not to talk about politics especially when it comes to music. Music should be neutral and uniting. People should forget those kinds of things when they are listening to music. It's always a difficult matter and there is no escape out of it, usually its even dragging to huge fights and I really hate it so I'm always changing the subject.

11. The song "Redemption" has very powerful lyrics, tell us about this song.

This song is mix of a lot of issues, most of them talks about our history, Perhaps our general history as a nation and us as people who live here.

Redemption is a very strong song, as for the music itself.

People might think it has political issues in it and a lot of people even ask me about it but I didn't write it from that part… I only wrote what I felt on that moment and I tried to express the anger and sadness I felt because of the personal loss I have suffered. I never would like to write about politics, it's so boring.

12. When writing your music, what is most important to you?

The Most important to us is never to feel like compromising with our music.

To create music that we love without feeling that we need to change it so it would sell more or to change it so people would like it more. We just express what's in our hearts on those moments we all sit down together and write.

Also we are always trying to share the writing between all of us so no one will ever feel left out or that we won't have to dislike parts of the songs. We all have to feel complete about each song we make. With this approach everyone is happy about the results.

13. As a female vocalist, what other female singers inspire you?

I do have some female singers that inspire me. I think the first female metal singer that inspired me was Anneke Van Giersbergen from the Gathering.

Her voice is really amazing. She has softness, she has power – she has it all.

I have a dream to sing a duet with her and I hope I could do it one day.

Another female singer, but not a metal singer is Dulce Pontes, she is Portuguese and I have never heard such an amazing voice! She has this ability to do what ever she feels like with her voice and it is absolutely beautiful. It is a gift! I am trying to learn from her as much as I can.

Mostly my inspiration is from male singers such as: Warrel Dane from Nevermore, Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth any many more…

I just love to listen to other singers no matter what they sing. It's always giving me inspiration.

14. After the release of "Memorial", what is next for Distorted?

We have many plans. We already began writing our next album that is going to be a concept album. We are writing the songs in a certain order that is also going to be recorded that way. I can't talk about the theme now but I can say that it's going to be a bit new to us, We are heading some new directions.

And we have plans to tour a lot and get more familiar to the world wide metal scene.

15. What is one thing you think fans should know about Distorted?

There are two things: I think people should know that all the band members are very good friends to each other. We are one big happy family. We all grew up together since high school. We always go out together to drink or even travel together.

Second thing is that We really care for our fans - very much. We always try to be very friendly and to answer all the mails we get. We see our fans as friends, As for our fans from Israel, we can go out to drink together and sometimes even talk on the phone. It's very important to us to have good relations with our fans.

Thank you for a great interview.

Best Regards,

Miri Milman

DISTORTED

 

 

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