Check out these photos of Grave Digger touring the Old City of Jerusalem today taken by friend and awesome photographer of Metal Israel, Oleg Hmelnits. Click on the photo above to see.

It still hurts to see his personal pain splashed up all over here like this, though, even if he did it himself for his own TV show… Hashem yishmor.

Internationally acclaimed hip-hop artist and producer White Shadow Of Norway speaks to Metal Israel regarding his experiences growing up close to Norway’s metal scene, the effects of mass media on people’s sanity, metal influence in his hip-hop, breaking into the NYC hip-hop scene and a bunch of other topics. Check out his bio and discography here. No joke. It’s a fascinating read. A huge thanks to Metal Israel’s correspondent Bela Nagy, who is always providing MI with quality news and interviews. Sorry it took so long to edit, bro. DFL.

MI: You’ve got a fair 3-decade experience in the music industry…please summarize the milestones in your career you keep the most important…

WS: Discovering, and falling in love with music much thanks to my dad (RIP). Learning how to DJ, make beats, and produce well, and developing my own styles. Being lucky enough to be able to DJ at parties and clubs from when I was about ten years old. Winning the Norwegian DMC DJ battles in 88 and 89, and being in the world DMC finals the same years. Moving to New York in the early 90′s, and becoming a part of the NY hip-hop scene back then as well as rockin’ all the biggest clubs there, and producing and doin’ cuts on records. One of them “Hangin’ Tree” happened to end up in the Last Action Hero movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I guess Sony had the mad connects (laughs). Starting my own label Uncut Productions in 1995. Making, and releasing several successful albums on my own label, and get to work with some of the finest hip-hop artists of all time: legends and underground. Being able to still continue, and make dope music, and release records from now…’til infinity.

MI: You are from Norway, a country with a really huge heavy music history. As far as I know, you are influenced by it, tell us something about that…

WS: Metal was one of the genres I grew up on in the 70′s, and 80′s, and by the early 90′s when I moved back from New York Norway had sorta resurrected the Black Metal styles that started with bands like Venom and Bathory, and had taken it several steps further so I got into that from hangin’ out with some people who were into that, one of them a member of one of the most well known Black Metal bands nowadays, so I got to be around it without being in the middle of it so to speak, but close enough to it so that I heard about stuff like the church burnings, the killings, etc. before the media picked up on it, and when they did it all went haywire which is the exact opposite of what most people into it wanted, I mean, very few of them wanted it to become as mainstream as it did, and just about none of the core members burned churches, but you know how it goes once the media gets onto something, and blows it outta proportions, and yeah that’s exactly what they did, so at that time the police might pull you over if you was a guy with long black hair, and if you wore occult symbols and stuff, so it got crazy, and it’s funny cause all that madness is what made the scene interesting to people outside of Norway, but at the same time it broke up, and ruined the scene in a lot of ways like it’s hard to keep goin’ when you get shut down by the police all the time.
Same thing happened a lot with hip-hop, so I saw parallels between the two cultures though they were way different as well. They were both really underground in Norway in the early-mid 90′s., and really aggressive. They were the kids against a system and society which was apparently perfect but kinda Illuminati like with an elite state that was in control of all the money, and riches, and a society where everything was being laid out for you like go to school, behave well, get a proper education so that you can get a nice job and get paid well, get a wife, have some kids, etc…you know the routine, and if that isn’t something for kids to rebel against then what is?

Another thing I like about both scenes is the opposition against all authority, and that we don’t give a fuck but gonna do things our way outside of the system type attitude, so as far as Black Metal, I wasn’t right in the middle of it but close enough. I got to visit the Hell shop once but it was after Euronymous died so they were naturally closed down, but the Welcome To Hell album cover was still in the window along with the hours they were open. From noon til like 7pm I think, and a friend and I went to a second hand vinyl shop the same day that happened to have gotten Euronymous’ record collection in for sale just that day. Me I wasn’t all that much into Metal at the time as far as buying records and stuff, but I think my friend picked some gems from that collection.
Another thing that got me involved with people into Black Metal was my love for Horror movies. Up until the early 2000′s most of them were totally banned in Norway, and titles like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Cannibal Holocaust, the Argento and Fulci flicks, Faces Of Death, and so on would get you in trouble if you owned them, and of course you couldn’t buy them at the video shops cause they were all banned so there was an underground who would trade, and sell movies, that I was a part of…mostly buying a lot! (laughs). It was all VHS tapes, and dupes of them back then so some friends would have like 4 VCR’s running day and night copying movies, then they advertised in mags and papers and sold them. To some it became good business so the police would start becoming aware, and would be interested in shutting that scene down for several reasons. First they were banned movies, second, illegal bootlegs were sold, and third the dealers would make a lot of money, and finally of course they didn’t pay taxes either from that, so if the police heard you had banned movies they would raid your home, confiscate the movies, and press charges, so there was always this fear of if we’d get to keep our beloved Horror classics.

I never got busted but at some point most of my friends were so I stashed all my movies at my mom’s house in boxes for a while (laughs). It was totally ridiculous when you think about everything being available on DVD, and online now, but that was only the 90′s so it’s not long ago. What it was really about however was that the governments had finally found the ultimate scapegoat, and would blame any crime on Horror movies. Like..ok, so this kid raped his sister – he watched Horror movies all day. That kid went on a rampage and killed ten people…they found out he had watched Horror movies every day. Some politicians even claimed that Horror movies were a worse threat to mankind than nuclear war. You know what I mean. The hysteria was totally crazy! But there it was man…the ultimate scapegoat.
I’m happy that’s over with now, and that even the censors can see a masterpiece like say Cannibal Holocaust, or The Beyond for what they truly are which is great Horror movies, but back then they were outlawed, and you were looked at as a little crazy if you had too many of them around your house, and that’s the power of mass media for you. It can quickly turn into mass hysteria as it all started with TV documentaries about that kids rented the most violent Horror movies, and so they became a threat to their health according to the media, and then society as a whole because of that, but you know, as happy as I am that those days are over. It also made it special to know that you were part of something considered not all that normal by most people in society, and the fact that it was illegal but not THAT much I mean it wasn’t like you were a killer or a thief, but just a little illegal, added to the excitement of a bunch of teens to early 20′s like us back then.

MI: Metal music is still important in Norway, I mean the kids are looking for it, or you feel that the trends are taking over every year?

WS: I think there’s a scene for just about anything now including Metal. There’s not much Black Metal that gives me that same raw feel like the early bands with a few exceptions. I like that no holds
barred super aggressive, and lo-fi sound of the early 90′s the most, and it’s rare to find that much of it nowadays. Black Metal like most other genres became trendy too, and seeing bands like Dimmu Borgir on the top of the Pop charts here was a weird feeling, but at the end of the day I’m happy more people in general get into more underground types of music cause it shows people are developing their own tastes, and doesn’t just follow what the mainstream tells them to like.

MI: With your music, do you try to put out the same energic vibe as metal does?

WS: Yes to a certain degree, but I’m actually not a fan of too much fuzzy overdrive guitars and stuff in hip-hop. It can work but in most cases it really doesn’t so gotta be careful how much to include that in hip-hop beats, but kept moderate it can be dope.

MI: You run your own record label Uncut Productions. Why did you decide to cut any middle man?

WS: If you want it done right do it yourself, and if you can’t handle the whole weight make sure your team is your fam! (laughs). Uncut started as a label releasing my own mixtapes in 1995, then I signed a couple of acts and put out some cd-singles, then I put out my vinyl EP Back to the True School in 2003, then my albums, as well as I signed Mark Deez, and Infinito 2017 to one album deals. I like running it all myself cause I get to make all the decisions, if I fuck up there’s no one to blame but me, and if I do well there’s no one to pay but me.

MI: In the ’90s you lived in New York, doing it big as a club DJ. What are your experiences from that era?

WS: I went there in the first place to learn and experience where hip-hop came from, and why, so I got a much better understanding of that, that’s kinda hard to explain if you haven’t lived there for quite some time yourself, but hip-hop was much more a part of peoples’ lives there than in the EU when I lived there in the early/mid 90′s. You’d hear it from every car, building, store, you had cats freestylin’ on the streets, all the clubs was playin’ that real shit back then, and just being in the middle of it all gradually made me feel why it started, and why it developed in the directions it did. Plus being in The Bronx and seeing firsthand the poverty, the burnt out buildings, the miles and miles of garbage dumps right next to the main streets, hearing gunshots up the block, and feeling a general fear in the people there, and the same goes for Brownsville, Brooklyn especially, just made me feel that it was obvious that something as creative, and competitive as hip-hop had to originate in that environment cause you know the saying that people are at their most creative when times are hard, and they also push it to survive harder in such an environment.

I also learnt the music biz from the inside from hangin’ out at the major labels like Elektra, and Atlantic, plus some of the bigger hip-hop labels like Profile, Def Jam, and Tommy Boy, and it was during that time I more or less decided I didn’t ever want to be a part of the mainstream record biz but do it independently, cause I’ve always been more into music than business to be honest, but things were better even at the majors back then than now as you had A&R’s like Dante Ross (Elektra), Funkmaster Flex (Profile), Clark Kent (Atlantic), and those were people who knew hip-hop culture, and were parts of it as they either dj’d or produced, and they’re the reason why the majors signed the good artists in that era, and that’s all it takes really. You have to have people from the hip-hop culture on the inside of the big labels, and business cause how else are they gonna know if it’s hip-hop Hiphop or not?

That, low sales, and greed is why the majors sign the wackest shit now. Because it’s easier to manipulate those artists cause they want money and material things a lot more than a KRS-One, or Brand Nubian did, but times done changed, and for the time being the major labels and big corporations aren’t touching anything that even smells of real hip-hop or underground styles of hip-hop, so I guess we gotta force ‘em then (laughs) or better yet just do it all ourselves.

But you know, all that negativity, yeah there was a lot of that in New York, and at the time I lived there it was really dangerous as well, and especially hangin’ out at clubs when there was a hip-hop related party cause someone would shoot up the place quite often. There was a murder rate of an average of six crime related killings every day, and every other crime, and atrocity you can think up, but there was also a lot of love in New York, a lot of unity, and a lot of good times, and people in New York showed respect where due like when I got there all I had to do was show that I knew what time it was with hip-hop, and show that I had skills, and the love for it, and I got that love back so in a lot of ways I’d say it was easier to me to get into the core of the hip-hop scene there than I thought it’d be before I got there, and also not as dangerous.

Like, it was rarely the wild wild west you know what I mean (laughs), where you had to dodge bullets and what have you lol, but yeah it happened, but the most important to me was to finally find a music scene, and people that were into the same things I was, and find a big scene for it, as in Norway the scene was crazy super-duper small all the way up until around 2000.
I left New York when I had accomplished what I wanted which was to live in the place where hip-hop started, to get a deeper understanding of it, and to become a part of the New York hip-hop scene, plus of course kill it as much as I could DJ’ing, and makin’ beats, so when that was acoomplished it was time to move on. I had to get deeper into the art of beatmakin’ as well, and I’m the kind of guy who needs peace and quiet to be creative so I moved back to Norway, and have no desire to move back to New York cause I don’t wanna fuck with the memories of being there in what’s now called the golden era of hip-hop, but at the same time, New York is in my heart man, and I represent NY as much, if not more, than Norway.
Back then I’d recommend anyone heavy into hip-hop to go do the same but nowadays you don’t have to, I mean the golden era, it’s over. There’s still a lot happening though, and you can still go there and hear the old school artists rock clubs etc, but from what people tell me it isn’t the same as it was as when it was all new.

But to sum my long ass reply up! (laughs) Yes fam. It was quite the experience, and to a country-dude from Norway like me who was heavy into hip-hop it was like goin’ to heaven…or heaven, and hell at the same time. (laughs)

MI: You are part of the fresh album from Snowgoons, “The Iron Fist”. How you got involved in the project?

WS: We’ve been in touch since the early 2000′s, and produced records on some of the same labels like Grooveattack in Germany, and we worked with some of the same artists like Maylay Sparks, and Donald D. A few years ago we talked about doing a 12″ single together where we produced one side each, and it would feature various emcees from the US, however different missions, plus budgets, and vinyl sales went down the tubes as the internet, and digital dj equipment got bigger came along, so it never happened, but we’ve been in touch over the years, Snowgoons, and Sicknature produced on Mark Deez’s The Oracle album which was released on my label Uncut Productions, and so I returned the favor by producing, and doing cuts for a track for The Iron Fist album, and it’s most likely not the last time you’ll hear us work together. We’re all from Europe too, and we have similar styles of production, and the same vision when it comes to makin’ that raw hardcore hip-hop so us working together wasn’t a big surprise to most people I guess.

MI: Outside of the groups from Norway, what are your other favourite metal bands, past and present?

WS: I pretty much grew up on Disco, Funk, and Old School Hiphop so Metal is a side-genre to me, but growin’ up I was a fan of Kiss, Motorhead, AC/DC, Ozzy, Dio, Iron Maiden,Venom, Metallica, Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Slayer, Kreator, Morbid Angel, Megadeth, Guns & Roses, and the Norwegian bands TNT, Mayhem, Dark Throne, Burzum, and lately Gorgoroth, and Gahlskaag.

MI: At the time when hip-hop and metal/hardcore got mixed how did you think about them? In this case, I mean the likes of Anthrax/Public Enemy or the Judgment Night soundtrack…

WS: My first memory of that was Run-DMC’s Rockbox, King Of Rock, Walk This Way, etc, The Beastie Boys’ Rock Hard, Fight For Your Right, BDP’s Dope Beat, and when Public Enemy sampled Slayer’s Angel Of Death for She Watch Channel Zero, and I loved all that, but from when PE teamed up with Anthrax, and it became its own genre I think it started to become a bit mediocre, and corny like…ok, this worked well a few times, so yeah!..Let’s make a whole genre! (laughs). That was takin’ it a bit too far I think.

MI: And then what about the Limp Bizkit/Linkin Park’s?

WS: Nah, not feelin’ them at all. No disrespect, just personal taste.

MI: What are the projects you are workin on now?

WS: The Iron Fist album by The Snowgoons feat. Savage Bros. & Lord Lhus just dropped. I produced the track called Return Of The Fist featuring Virtuoso, my fam Grindhouse Gang’s album titled Militia Of Emcees also just dropped, and I produced the joint Crazy (Goin’ Bananas) on that, GHG is Mark Deez, Lord Lhus, Dr. ILL, and Powder. I also produced tracks on the new albums by Klive Kraven, La Dog, and Lt. Mana from Goldminded Records, and I released my Instrumentals 2 album on April 15th that you can get here along with all my other albums. It’s got instrumental versions of tracks from Destiny, Victory, Iron Fist, The Oracle, and more on there. Right now I’m workin’ with a lot of different artists. Some will drop, some won’t so I’m not gonna namedrop for now, but I spend most my time now workin’ on my next producer album featuring various artists which will drop in 2012, maybe sooner.

MI: Last thoughts to the readers of Metal Israel?

WS: Rock on! Peace.

Desert just played their first Swedish heavy metal festival main stage – Rockstad: Falun with the following bands:

Check out more photos of that here.

Check out Desert’s song “The Unsubdued” here…

Read more…

MI: So describe LevYatan in your own words to someone who’s never heard it.

CB: A journey into the mystical sounds on a bed of almost Beatles sounding tunes. There’s some Jethro, Santana, and David Matthews with a hint of Led Zeppelin at times.

MI: Why did you get involved in it?

CB: I usually get into projects that I’m passionate about, and levYatan has been an artist that I’ve followed for a long time but didn’t really work artistically with until this latest release. He sent me the mix before it went to mastering to get my opinion. As soon as I put that CD on I was hooked. The visual scapes I pictured in my head based on the sounds I was hearing were a trip to say the least. I pitched the concept for the cover and he loved it.

MI: What have you worked on before and why did he send you the mix? How did he know about you?

CB: I’m an all-around artist. I work on branding for corporations, advertising, packaging, and web design. I’m also a singer -songwriter myself. Music is my true passion. I’m a distant relative of levYatan so that’s how he knows me, and he always sought my opinion in all his artistic endeavors. I’ve always given him insight and advice on direction and sound. But it was always from a distance. This is the first time I really got involved to create something artistically together. I flew out to LA, sat with him for days before arriving at the final concept which we shot in his pool

MI: What are the plans with LevYatan – what are the goals for the future?

CB: He’s an independent artist and as any there is a lot of struggle to get out there and be heard. My goal is to try and put it in the right hands, through people I know. I think people would love it if they just had a chance to hear it. I’d like to see him do a US tour this summer.

MI: Is there a real possibility of that at this point?

CB: Anything is possible. He could get signed by a super indie label that can tag him on to a few festivals and tours.

MI: Is that in the works or is that a maybe ?

CB: Both it’s in the works and it’s a maybe

MI: You’re living in Israel now – are you doing any work creatively together? If so, how?

CB: I’m living in Tel Aviv at the moment to try and advance my own artistic endeavors of music, art and acting. I hope to take up acting really soon and explore my expression in that form.

MI: Through what venues in Israel?

CB: Israel is a small country but I’m looking forward to using it as a launching pad.

MI: What is your musical background?

CB: Fortunately I come from a great heritage of music. My grandfather was a piytan (cantor) in Morocco who studied with the great David Bozaglo. My father followed suit somewhat but in the realm of rock n roll, or what he calls Moroccanroll. He was with a very successful group in the 70s called Les Variations. They toured with a lot of known bands from the time, namely The Who. But my father’s true passion was soul music, blues, music of the African-American experience. The soundtrack of my childhood is Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Sydney Bache…those artists and the music I came to discover and love as a teenager were the foundations to my own musical expression. I was in a band as an early teen which only lasted as long as school did. Once that was out I didn’t touch music seriously for years. Only 4 years ago my brother and I formed a band Rock Of David. We hooked up with another musical protégé from the Piamenta clan. His father, Yosi Piamenta is known as the Jewish Jimi Hendrix. Yuda, son of Yosi is a great guitar player and friend. We eventually decided to take a break as we wanted to try different things in music. I wanted less loud rock n’ roll, and go for what comes out of me best, soul. So I took up learning the guitar, and for the past year I’ve getting better at playing and the same time composing songs. I used to compose just from the mind before. Having an instrument really changed things for me. I wouldn’t say its better, it’s a just different way of composing that takes you in another direction.

MI: What’s the difference? Snd how did you put the songs down if you didn’t have an instrument?

CB:  The difference for me at least is that with the guitar there is more of a progression. This chord sounds good with that chord following it, and then singing a melody on top of it, where before I used to hum my tunes (mostly in the shower), and free flow into something. If I felt I had something I liked I would record it on my Iphone and then bring it to my guitar player and we’d work it and iron it out. Then write the lyrics. I guess in a way it was a more free way to compose. But the tradeoff I have with giving up some of that freedom is the consistency I have when writing music with an instrument. I don’t have to wait for the lightning bolt to hit me with a melody. I can play a few chords and listen to what the notes are saying.

MI: Cool! Do you have anything else on the horizon?

CB: I ‘m just opening my design studio and launched a site for it: hippush.com. It will be my basecamp for all future projects. I also have a fashion line in the works. I’m collaborating with a brilliant designer in Milan, Italy. Sarah Benchimol and I are working on a collection for men and women to hit stores in August. The line is called IMUZE and you can get more info about that on my site.

If you are neither a metalhead, nor Japanese, the name Marty Friedman could sound like the Jewish guy from next door. But if you like heavy metal music, the name Marty Friedman is very familiar. He is considered one of the best guitar players in the world, serving as lead guitarist with the Grammy Award nominated band Megadeth, and also known for his many side projects and solo career.
If you are Japanese, then the Friedman name is synonymous as Mr. Heavy Metal, the workaholic rock guitarist, with long curly hair, who last-but-not-least covers popular j-pop (Japanese pop) songs and turns them into instrumental heavy metal pieces.

Originally from Maryland, in the United States, Friedman performed in Israel for the third time on May 31. Friedman was born in 1962 and his musical career is more than impressive.

After playing lead guitar in lesser known bands, he founded Cacophony with fellow guitarist Jason Becker. His first of many solo albums, Dragon’s Kiss, was released in 1988. But the biggest milestone in his career was in 1989 when he became lead guitarist in the already world-famous thrash metal band, Megadeth, which played in Israel this year for the fourth time. Lead singer Dave Mustaine was born Jewish as well.

Friedman toured the world and recorded five studio albums with Megadeth including some of their best selling albums ever from 1990′s Rust in Peace until 1999′s Risk. To be the lead guitarist in such a strong band is the dream of every musician in the field, but Friedman wasn’t completely satisfied. In late 1999 he left to play different styles of music and to live in Japan.

After the move his career continued and developed quickly not only as a guitarist, but also as a producer and media personality. Friedman had his own TV show, which he hosted in fluent Japanese, called Rock Fujiyama. He has appeared often in local media, earning the nickname HebiMeta San, or Mr. Heavy Metal.

Always working on new projects in different styles, in recent years Friedman performed together even with j-pop, pop-punk and trance musicians. But don`t worry, in his solo albums he sticks with instrumental rock and metal, even when he is covering j-pop songs.

His new solo album, Bad D.N.A. was released in Japan in August last year. Friedman and his band started their European tour in April of 2011 with the Tel Aviv Reading 3 show as the final stage.
The organizer and producer of the concert was Yishai Swartz of Raven Music, who has brought many famous heavy metal acts to Israel and is expected to bring many more.

Reading 3 is a mid-sized club in the Tel Aviv port. The show opened with Hatikva, Israel’s national anthem, performed on electric guitar. It wasn`t a surprise because Friedman’s 2007 performance in Israel also opened with Hatikva. A YouTube video of the performance with the excited crowd singing along now has over 97,000 hits.

Friedman’s virtuoso guitar playing with unique techniques were as trademark as his long curly hair. His band was composed of extraordinary Japanese musicians. Although quite young, their musical professionalism, talent, enthusiasm and enormous motivation showed.

The drummer was exceptionally energetic and communicative, even though he only used gesture language, and quite a character. It seemed like he could easily become a leading actor in a traditional Japanese theater.

There was excellent cooperation between the legendary guitarist and his band. Despite performing with such intensity, the show came close to two hours. They played 24 songs including Thundermarch, a classic from Friedman’s first solo album, It’s the Unreal Thing, Elixir and a couple of j-pop covers such as Yuki no Hana from the Tokyo Jukebox. All of it was peformed with electric guitar and distortion. Even if the audience didn’t know the original songs from a totally difference genre, they still rocked.

During the intermission, Friedman talked about the Tsunami tragedy which is haunting Japan, and mentioned how much he loves Israel. It might be a given that a Jewish artist loves Israel, but today unfortunately is not so obvious. Some musicians have even refused to perform in Israel. To hear a performer stand on an Israeli stage and state his fondness for the country could be politeness, or empty words. But in recent years, “I love Israel” is definitely a statement.

It was announced months before on the Internet that Friedman was to conduct a jam session with a famous Israeli rock guitarist. After the finale, the band returned to the stage with Yossi “Sassi” Saharon, lead guitarist of Orphaned Land, the most well-known Israeli metal band abroad and one of the pioneers of the Middle Eastern metal genre. Saharon is also one of the best known metal personalities in Israel.
There are many famous Jewish rock musicians and entertainers in the world. Not as many come here to play. Even less consider moving to Israel. The Israeli music industry has certain shortcomings as well. There are certainly many underground genres which should have more appreciation, support and publicity. Many quality Israeli hard rock, metal, and alternative rock bands have recently earned success overseas: Orphaned Land is one, Salem is another. Israel can become attractive in this musical world as well.

The Marty Friedman show would have been great anywhere in the world, but to see such a quality musical group in Israel added some extra flavor. Plus the fact that Friedman is a Jewish and played Hatikva made the show quite special for the Israeli metal fan.

I love him.

GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal was a special guest at SALEM’s May 6, 2011 concert at Reading 3 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The event commemorated the re-release of SALEM’s cult 1994 album “Kaddish” (originally released by Germany’s Morbid Records), an LP which represents the band’s personal dirge for the victims of the Holocaust during World War II.

Says Thal, ““Even though none of my immediate family was killed in the Holocaust, it’s something that speaks to every Jew. If it’s not the Holocaust, it’s the trauma of the Six Day War, and if it’s not that, it’s the f****** Inquisition. We all feel the sense on a holiday when a family gets together that the gathering would have included seven times as many people if certain events hadn’t happened. I think only Jews would understand that – only we get it.”

Marking Holocaust Remembrance Day loudly
By DAVID BRINN
04/30/2011 21:26

Israel’s veteran extreme metal band Salem will be performing their landmark 1994 concept album with special guest Guns & Roses guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal.

“I’m a third generation Holocaust survivor,” said Salem’s vocalist and leader Zeev Tannenbaum earlier this week, explaining how a doom metal band came to write and record the relentlessly aggressive album Kaddish, which after selling more than 100,000 copies worldwide in the years after its release, has just been reissued by the band.

“My father lost his whole family in the Shoah and escaped from Poland to Russia to Israel. I heard his stories all my childhood about what had occurred to his father and Kaddish was our desperate cry in memory of the horrors that happened to our families. By doing this album, we sent two important messages: We will never forget, and we are here to survive.”

Kaddish also featured the band’s first song in Hebrew – a version of “Ha’ayara Bo’eret” (“The small town is burning”), adapted from the Yiddish poem “S’brent” by Polish-Jewish poet Mordechai Gebirtig in 1938, written in response to a 1936 pogrom of Jews. The mix of metal and painful Holocaust imagery rustled enough feathers back home to prompt a debate in a Knesset committee over the appropriateness of death metal bands playing songs related to the Holocaust.

“[MK] Dov Shilansky tried to get our video clip banned and the record removed from stores, but I remember Shevah Weiss [a former Labor MK and Holocaust survivor] coming to our defense and defusing the situation,” said the 44-year-old Tannenbaum, by day a senior official at the Givatayim municipality.

“Some people were aghast that a metal band would have the nerve to relate to the Holocaust within a framework they usually associate with facism and violence.”

One person who had a different reaction to the album was Guns & Roses guitarist Ron Thal, who is coming to Israel to perform with Salem on May 6 at Tel Aviv’s Reading 3.

Yishai Sweartz of Raven Music, the record label which is re-releasing Kaddish, sent Thal the music in the hopes he would write a testimonial for the album.

Thal, born Ronald Jay Blumenthal wrote, “This is the most true-to-art doom metal album I’ve ever heard, completely capturing the horror of mankind’s utmost vulnerability to evil and self-destruction. Being someone who lost family to the Nazis in Poland, this album tore straight to my soul.”

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post last week after completing two seders with his family in New York in which he proudly “nailed ‘Ma Nishtana’,” Thal said that he was thrilled to be coming to Israel and to perform the songs on Kaddish with Salem.

“My family is originally from Lithuania and Poland and my grandparents got out in the late 1920s, but many of their relatives were killed. We have no record at all what happened to them,” said Thal, who joined Guns & Roses, one of the world’s top musical acts, in 2006.

“Even though none of my immediate family was killed in the Holocaust, it’s something that speaks to every Jew. If it’s not the Holocaust, it’s the trauma of the Six Day War, and if it’s not that, it’s the f****** Inquisition. We all feel the sense on a holiday when a family gets together that the gathering would have included seven times as many people if certain events hadn’t happened. I think only Jews would understand that – only we get it.”

AFTER ESTABLISHING an e-mail and Facebook relationship with Sweartz and then Tannenbaum, Thal was asked if he would be interested in coming to Israel to help Salem perform Kaddish during the week of Holocaust Remembrance Day. His response was immediate.

“I told them I’d love to be a part of something so meaningful. I was absolutely honored to be asked and I’m working hard to get the songs down exactly as the band does them. I want to do it right,” said Thal, who will be spending three days in Israel around the show with his wife.

Both Sweartz and Tannenbaum were surprised and delighted by Thal’s acceptance of their invitation.

“It’s amazing that during this time when people are calling for artists to boycott Israel, the guitarist for one of the biggest rock bands in the world is willing to fly here to perform with a local metal band for a sacred and important aim like this,” said Sweartz.

“It shows that idealism hasn’t disappeared from the world and that the subject of the Holocaust is of supreme importance to him.”

“It really touched me when he said he would come, I was so surprised” added Tannenbaum.

“Even though we live on opposite sides of the world, we still share the same loss and grief about the Holocaust.”

Tannenbaum also expressed satisfaction that Kaddish, which has been out of print for the last 13 years due to record company complications, will once again be available to fans.

“The rights to the album finally returned to us and we decided to rerelease it,” said Tannenbaum, adding that the music has been remastered at Sterling Sound in New York and features a new cover design and art created by the band’s guitarist, Nir Gutraiman.

Tannenbaum hinted that there would be “some surprises” at the show besides the performance of Kaddish, with Thal and Salem devising some other treats for the audience.

Thal, who enjoys a thriving side career away from Guns & Roses as a solo artist and producer, said that he manages to find projects that inspire him and makes time for them despite his main commitment to G&R.

“I definitely have more passion than time,” he said with a laugh.

“And I have a bad habit of taking on more than I can do and killing myself to get it done. It’s a tough juggling act and Gun & Roses is a big ball to juggle. Sometimes, there’s not a lot of prior notification of a tour coming together and I’ll have to shift around everything else that I’m doing while dealing with the one big ball.”

“But everything in life is doable, you figure out a way. If you want to accomplish something worthwhile, it’s going to take some pain.”

(AP) Kiss’ Israeli-born singer-musician Gene Simmons is shouting out loud at the string of musicians who refuse to perform in his homeland.

“They’re fools,” the legendary bassist told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday, on his first return to Israel since leaving the country as a child more than 50 years ago.

Simmons described the visit as a “homecoming.” He offered a description of himself that might shock his legions of fans who know him as an American icon prone to spitting blood and sticking out his exceptionally long tongue:

“I’m Israeli. I’m a stranger in America. I’m an outsider,” he said, speaking in a hotel lobby across a valley from the walls of Jerusalem’s historic Old City. “I was born here and I’m proud of it.”

Simmons had harsh words for musicians like Elvis Costello and the Pixies who have recently canceled concerts to protest Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians. Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters has gone further, joining an organized movement dedicated to boycotting Israel and its exports, though he appeared in Israel in 2006.

“The countries they should be boycotting are the same countries that the populations are rebelling,” he said. “People long to be free … And they sure as hell don’t want somebody who’s a ruler who hasn’t been elected by them.”

Simmons, 61, is visiting Israel as part of his reality show, “Gene Simmons Family Jewels,” which follows the adventures and musings of the rocker, his longtime girlfriend, Shannon Tweed, and their two children.

While situations on the show are generally lighthearted, he said his stop in Israel has deep personal significance. “Coming back to Israel is a homecoming,” he said.

Simmons was born Chaim Witz and spent his childhood in northern Israel before moving to America. The normally extravagant musician, known for his extended tongue, demonic makeup and stage pyrotechnics, grew subdued as he described his early life in the hardscrabble town of Tirat Carmel.

He recalled his father, a carpenter, taking his assault rifle and heading off to military service on weekends. He said his mother, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, taught him that “every day above ground is a good day.”

The family was “dirt poor,” scraping by on meager bread and milk rations available in what was then an underdeveloped country. He earned money by selling fruits he collected from cactuses.

Simmons moved with his mother to the United States when he was eight. Although he has climbed to the highest levels of the entertainment world and lives with a former Playboy Playmate of the Year in Beverly Hills, he said he still considers Israel his home.

Over the years, Simmons cultivated an extravagant personality, often boasting of his sexual conquests and his fortune and fame. While he did not hide his immigrant roots, they were never emphasized — but this appears to be changing in recent years.

Simmons, wearing dark sunglasses and black pants, shirt and blazer, laced the interview with Hebrew phrases. “Where were you born?” he asked in somewhat halting but serviceable Hebrew.

He made local headlines during Israel’s 2006 war against Lebanese guerrillas by sending a televised message to a wounded Israeli soldier, calling him a “hero.”

Simmons co-founded Kiss in the 1970s and became famous for wearing white and black face makeup, spitting fire and coughing up fake blood at sold-out performances. The group has sold some 100 million records, and four decades later, it remains one of the best-selling concert draws.

Simmons also presides over a business empire that includes his reality show, TV, game show and movie appearances, video games, books, comics and a Kiss credit card. His net worth is estimated to be in the tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of dollars.

Simmons insisted that his busy schedule has been the only reason he never made it back to Israel before.

“America allowed me to climb the highest levels of success, and I never wanted to stop. When you reach the top, you can rest,” he said.

“I’ve reached the top.”

Read the completely different and awesome exclusive interview at The Jerusalem Post here.