Hiys lads. What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
Yoni – When I was 14 I wanted to produce a Anime series based on drawings I made. I had both the opening and ending theme songs for the show in my head and noticed I was focusing more on them than on the show itself and right around that time I heard that Ran, the greatest drummer in the grade, was in a band with the hot emo guitarist everyone in our grade had a crush on. They were looking for a singer to play with. Ran and I instantly clicked, and the Emo girl left the band.
Ran – Actually, I first started playing drums when I was 9, after my dad got seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. He needed to find a safer hobby and started to take drum lessons. Soon I followed him and very quickly got into the music rabbit hole.
Introduce us to you and your musical history.
We are a Duo. Yoni is the singer and guitar player. Ran, the drummer, drums with one hand while playing bass on a keyboard with the other.
After the aforementioned Emo girl left, we formed a Hebrew punk band called WeSuck, which went on to become a bit of a viral hit in Israel. But as we grew older, we got tired of our foolish gimmicks and went on to start The Dodies. This eventually led to our patron Alison, from Texas, to discover us and take upon herself the mission of supporting us and helping us in any possible way. That in term led to our relationship with Bumblefoot, which has been more than a great gift for us.
Name your 3 favourite Albums
Yoni:
In utero – Nirvana
SuperUnknown – Soundgarden
Without You I’m Nothing – Placebo
Ran:
Silent Alarm – Bloc Party
OK Computer – Radiohead
Lonerism – Tame Impala
What was the first song you heard that steered you into a music path?
Yoni – I remember being 14 and listening to a lot of pop and hip-hop music. One day my friend’s parents bought him a bunch of band T-shirts, one was of Nirvana, and so we decided to download the discography of all the bands. A song called Rape Me drew our attention, and after hearing it and being completely blown away, I never really went back to listening to pop music the same way I had before, nothing felt as real.
Ran – When I was a young teenager, I remember when I first started to listen to albums back-to-back. I remember moments when I sat and did nothing else – just stared blankly and listened to the music. Looking back, those moments were formative. They really let you think and process how you feel about music and what you want to do with it.
The music industry is the hardest industry in the world to progress in, How do you feel you are doing?
In certain ways we’re lucky, in others we’re not. We live in a world of numbers, and that also applies to our music, and music in general. Accordingly, we always need to push our social media numbers. That in turn might bring more opportunities to tour the world with our music, and not just in Israel where we live.
I’m seeing a lot of debate about women not feeling safe at music gigs, any thoughts on what we need to do to help?
We can see that type of behavior happening more at festivals and bigger shows where it’s easier to get away with it amongst the masses. The performing artists have the power to point out incidents if they see them, and the concertgoers can stop things from within the crowd. It’s important to speak up if you notice something, or if something happens to you.
As you develop as an artist and develop using socials what ways do you get new ears on your music? Any tips?
Playing shows has contributed and is a major factor. Social media presence as a whole is like an instrument. The more you practice on it, the better you get and the easier it gets. When you just start to publish stuff, you might get in your own head over it, but try your best to stay consistent. We’ve also been fortunate enough to have good people by our side. It’s expertise after all.
Tell us Two truths and a lie about you.
We love Blink 182
We love religion and what it is doing to our country.
We love Green Day.
What’s your thought on Spotify’s monopoly on the music industry?
As relatively young artists we really don’t know any better. We can definitely feel the inflation of bands happening right now on streaming platforms. When a single platform holds most of the power, chances are it will abuse it and take advantage of artists. This is the current situation. But we’re also too caught up in the rat race at this point to try and fight the streaming systems.
Do you sign up for any conspiracy theories?
We both are definitely far from being conspiratorial thinkers. We actually talk about how random things are quite often. Though the internet has put together a lot of accounts of people who exposed things we couldn’t imagine to have been true before.
Did you buy anything you didn’t need during the pandemic?
Yoni – I can’t say I personally have never been much of a shopping guy.
Ran – My wife and I got a 4,000-piece jigsaw puzzle during one of the lockdowns. Though the brain stimulation was worth every penny.
What was your worst experience on stage?
When playing with WeSuck, our old band, we had a charity gig at a school for mentally challenged people. Both the band nor the organizers didn’t know what to expect. The moment we started playing they all covered their ears with their hands and ran out of the room screaming.
Tell us something about you that you think people would be surprised about.
We recorded our second album on an island in Ireland. An island in an island if you will.
What makes you stand out as a band?
We’d like to think that our music and live shows make us stand out. We do believe we have our own unique take on the concept of a rock duo and its definition.
Yoni has also been writing a novel, and its plot coaligns together with our music. Each chapter is named after a different album of ours and represents the philosophies behind the individual albums.
I hear you have new music on the way, what can you tell us about it?
We’ve got a new video coming out soon for our song ‘Won’t Last’. It’s a song out of our new album ‘Floating in Limbo’ which we recorded in Ireland. The lyrics are based on mantras Yoni repeats in his daily meditation practice. The melody and adaptation is dreamy rock that builds into a mindful banger
Talk me through the thought process of the new tune/s.
Yoni – The album ‘Floating in Limbo’ was written in a time of accepting my obliviousness to myself, shattering my comfort zone, and opening the door to new realizations that helped me cope with my depression. Won’t last is one of the more peaceful tracks in the album, conveying a more present and mindful attitude toward life.
What was the recording process like?
It was a blast. We recorded in Wildwater Studios, under the production of Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal (ex-Guns N’ Rose’s, Sons of Apollo) and the engineering of Eoghan McSheain who owns the studio. Our senses of humour blended well, Bumblefoot relaxed us into playing most of the album live and without a metronome. It felt very real and we managed to capture a clear image of our vision.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Yoni – I felt like the learning curve In my personal life affected the songwriting itself. This album is less depression-based than our first album (It’s One Hell of a Ride) and more about the in-between state – a state between understanding something and just thinking I understand it. A state that requires the courage of facing the unknowns in your life you didn’t want to think were there. The music itself has changed sonically, I’d like to think the melodies progressed into sounding more original, yet still remained catchy.
Ran – For me, making progress from the first album was a challenge, as cliché as it might sound. I think there is a sweet spot for developing and diversifying our sound. Going over it could end up in a mess, but we have managed to hit that spot.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
Probably not, we’d love to have been able to tour with the album more. But we’re still working on that aspect.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
The music! Have a listen to it why dontcha?
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