Metal Mayhem UK

Metal Mayhem: Thanks for answering a few of our questions.
Avital Tamir: Hey no prob! Always have time for people interested in my band!

MM: How and when did the band form?
AT: We started off back in 1998 as our school band (hence the name, which means “school” in Hebrew, and since we clicked so well together we gradually moved on to writing our own material.

MM: For those that are unfamiliar, can you tell us what Betzefer sound like?
AT: Betzefer is a very groovie-hard hitting 4 piece band – we aim to play music as heavy as it gets. The way we see it, always exploring the darker side of rock’n’roll.

MM: It’s been a few months since your debut album “Down Low” was released, what has the reaction been like so far?
AT: Reactions are great by far! I keep reading great reviews about it, and get loads of fan mail from places we’ve never even been yet from people who love the album and can’t wait to see us live!

MM: How did the deal with Roadrunner actually come about?
AT: Our album was self financed and produced. Once it was ready we came up with a neato promo kit from hell… sent it out to all the labels which we thought might be interested – and a month later we got THE phone call from RR… they were our first pick as a label, so I guess you can say we got all we wished for!
MM: What would you say are your main influences?
AT: That’s tough… we all come from different backgrounds in the extreme music filed (newer material, old school thrash, hardcore, street punk, you name it) and all listen to a variety of styles… I guess it’s fair to say you can hear a lot of Pantera and Metallica in our music as we all grew up on these bands – but then there’s also a touch of more classic rock to the whole thing.

MM: Other than yourselves and Orphaned Land, I’m not familiar with the metal scene in Israel. What is the scene like over there?
AT: Scene is great even quite large – compared to the size of Israel itself, and there are a lot of great bands active there. Thing is that it’s super hard for an Israeli band to export itself mainly because we can’t cross borders which makes touring on your own nearly impossible.

MM: Now that you’ve signed to a major label, what do you hope to achieve now?
AT: We still haven’t seen the entire world – and we want to tour EVERYWHERE! We recently started the writing process of our next album, which we hope will be released winter 2006.

MM: What bands have you played with so far?
AT: We got to play with so many of our favourites; Lamb of God, Chimaira, Caliban, Soulfly to name just a few, and even got to share a stage with Slayer on a couple of festivals.

MM: Were there any noticeable appearances at festivals this year?
AT: We played some smaller festivals this past summer, but most notable one was With Full Force main stage, along with great bands like Sick Of It All and In Flames.

MM: What about 2006? Has there been any announced gigs/festivals/yours you’ll be appearing on?
AT: Announced? No. But you guys stay tuned!

MM: What would you say has been your proudest and most memorable moment with Betzefer?
AT: I can think of many... being on that main stage in WFF is one, receiving that phone call from RR is another. I only wish for my dreams to continue manifesting themselves with this band as they did up until now.

MM: Good luck with the future, any last comments?
AT: Yeha! Listen to more ROCK! See y’all in the pit!!! thanks!