ASHMEDI OF MELECHESH POSTS COLUMN ON DECIBEL

DECIBEL MAGAZINE has posted a column from Ashmedi of Israeli extreme metal band Melechesh. FROM DECIBEL MAGAZINE: Festung Open Air was a great event. Good bands and we caught up with good friends. I haven’t seen Proscriptor (Absu drummer and former Melechesh drummer) for five years, though we are in touch almost daily. Last time we met was for the first Melechesh gig in Toronto back in June 2004. That was one hell of a show. My preamp electrocuted me while I was on stage and I just tried to downplay it, acting as if nothing had happened. The crowd was watching. I saw a white light and a tunnel and all that all within a fraction of a second.

Aside from that it was a memorable evening and the first of several visits to Canada. That show was organized by Adrian Bromley of Unrestrained magazine. Adrian unexpectedly passed away last December. We are still not over it as he was a good friend. On a brighter note, the show went well at Festung Open Air. While Absu were playing their set I was invited on stage and sang with them the classic “Swords and Leather”. The crowd went berserk. My bandmates had no clue this was going to happen. Proscriptor and I planned this quietly.

A childhood friend of mine, Marc, was also at the show. He is originally from Switzerland, but he grew up in Jerusalem right next door to my place. I recall back then I’d be blasting Slayer, he and his sister would be blasting Metallica or whatever while my other friend would be blasting something else. It was a metal neighborhood where we grew up. At the gig, Marc reminded me that the last time he saw Melechesh live was during our farewell gig to Jerusalem prior to relocating to Europe in ‘98; he was helping out and working as a staff member/bouncer. He is a pilot now. Other than that these few weeks Moloch and I have been spending a lot of time in synergistic music writing sessions in Amsterdam. They are proving to be valuable. A lot of new Melechesh material is being born. It is an Epigenesis. These writing sessions are very important because Moloch spends most of the year in Virginia, where he is busy with his Ph.D., so we set up several writing sessions in Amsterdam or Jerusalem.

In my previous article, I mentioned LA and moving back to Jerusalem. The fact is, at first I did not want to leave California. I was quite happy there, but my friends in Jerusalem were irreplaceable and the decision was not mine to take. By then, I was fully obsessed with music. I recall how desperate I was to get a guitar, but I could not afford one. I was willing to compromise, however! I found an oddly cut wooden plank, almost like an explorer shape guitar body and I basically built a pretend guitar with a wood whammy bar and sewing threads instead of strings... Hey, it was a start! And as I said before, beats air guitars. Not that there is anything wrong with air guitars.

I asked my mother for a real guitar, but she said, “I put you in school and feed you. The extras you have to manage yourself.” And she was right. We could not afford more, especially due to the political situation. And business was really suffering in Jerusalem. I took a few odd jobs in construction (as a minor) and such. They sucked. I quit but I still saved every penny. Well, the currency was Shekels just like in Biblical/Roman times. [Laughs] Every birthday or whatever I saved all the money, including my small allowance, so as to buy a real electric guitar. I kept at it for two years but then guess what? The Gulf War was about to start!

The atmosphere in Jerusalem drastically changed. It was really haunting. All our friends who were from abroad basically left. From a whole bunch of friends two of us remained. The municipally did their thing and distributed gasmask kits since everyone believed chemical weapons would be used. The gasmask kit was a carton box with a carrying strap because people had to walk around with it in the streets. And inside the box was a dodgy pen-like syringe. Once you twist a knob this needle appears and you inject yourself in case the gasmask failed. The box also contained a packet of chemical powder, the gasmask itself and a filter. The fancy gasmasks had a drinking straw valve so one can drink without having to remove the gasmask. Mine did not have that! We were instructed to duct tape all the windows with x-shaped lines in order to avoid glass flying in the house due to missiles.

We were also instructed to designate a room which we could use as a shelter and as soon as the chemical weapons alarm went off we must close ourselves in, cover the doors with nylon curtains and duct tape them. If there are any gaps, we were to use a wet a towel—water and some of that powder provided in the gasmask kit—to cover those gaps. I have a clear memory of once walking to buy more duct tape and a couple of idiot sheep in the street were shouting, “Goodbye everyone! The end is near! We will all die…” Well, it finally happened, the war started and all you’d hear were F-16 jet fighters flying. No one was in the streets the first day. Here is the twist. The company my uncle worked for had many connections. They were able to get airline tickets for my mother and I for one of the last planes leaving the country. So we could head to Miami. My brother was studying there and one of my aunts lived there. The same aunt who used to live in Africa. So, basically the war started at night. By the next day, we got a call. We had those plane tickets and had find transportation to the airport. That day was a really difficult day in my life. Why? Because, as I said, every one of our friends had already left the country, with the exception of one of my friends and myself. Now I had to tell him I was leaving as well and that really sucked!

We had a lot of food stored. And many cases of cola and some beer. We sat on the roof of my house drank a lot of that, burping and throwing all empty cans onto Marc’s balcony while F-16s patrolled the skies. Other than that it was dead quiet. And, yes, no sirens yet, meaning no missiles were launched towards Jerusalem. I was humming parts of Megadeth’s Rust in Peace. He felt it was appropriate and he was very cool about things. The thing is, in the beginning, everyone was absolutely convinced that missiles containing chemicals would be launched. That many would burn, suffer and die. Or so that’s what people and media believed. I said goodbye to my friend and within a few hours we went to the airport. It was indeed the last airplane leaving the Holy Land.

Times were absolutely strange. While the buses where taking passengers to the plane, the sirens howled. Scud rockets were heading towards the country. We made it onto plane and it took off. While we were airborne the pilot explained that the last bus load did not make it. They had to go to the bunker, so as not to delay the take off. But the pilot explained that two Scud missiles were launched. We were glad we were on the plane. The worst things came to my mind. I imagined my friend and other acquaintances and family being mutilated. I was just numb. Many long hours later we were told that the missiles had no chemical warheads. This was a major relief!

We eventually made it to Miami and my time there was very... metal!

Read Part III of Ashmedi's column here.

Read Part II of Ashmedi's column here.

Read Part I of Ashmedi's column here.
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-