Hey guys, please give us a short introduction to BETZEFER as a band.
Avital (Vocals): BETZEFER is a hard-rocking-ass-kicking band! There's nothing we enjoy more/do better than playing live, and we all live for the shows, and for ROCK!



BETZEFER started as a high-school project, the meaning of your band name also has something to do with this, tell us about it.
Well, Roey (Drums), Aviv (Ex. Bass player) and I started playing together about 7 or 8 years ago as our school band (Playing back up for the choir). We teamed up with Matan at some point for a cover show at some party, and since we enjoyed playing together a great deal we just kept on going… We used to call ourselves "Lehakat BETZEFER" (School band) and at some point decided to just stick with BETZEFER, which sounded cooler…

Thinking about alternative music from Israel, only USELESS ID comes into my mind. Give us an insight on the music scene in Israel.
Alt. music scene here is amazing! There are a lot of good bands playing many geners of metal/punk, USELESS ID are of course a big pride, and the live shows…we got the craziest metalheads (as well as lots of punks) in the world in here – so shows here are quite intense :) We always get great reactions from bands who come play here from abroad!

What status does metal music have in your society or the media and what kind of shows do you play in Israel?
We're kind of underdogs in here… The mainstream media systematically ignores Metal music, and pretty much all music created in Israel which isn't in the Hebrew language, yet the scene is well-connected and people stay informed through the Internet and the streets, and we play really cool shows in here! Last month we pulled like 900 people in Tel-Aviv! And we have a great festival called Metalist happening every summer – which keeps growing every year…

Tell us something about the sound of BETZEFER, you really seem to be influenced by some of the really big acts like SEPULTURA or PANTERA..

Yes, I think it's quite obvious when listening to our music that these two bands are our biggest influences … We all grew up listening to their music and it's what we like best! Heavy metal, as raw as it gets! Funny how no band follows this style anymore... Seems to me that metal broke up to a trillion sub-geners – and no one remembers where they came from anymore... We're hoping to change that!

I suppose there aren’t a lot of people in Europe who know BETZEFER, what can we expect from your upcoming album “Down Low”?
You can expect to be kicked in the teeth, and just make sure you get front seats for the live act, because this is where it all happens! We're going to be promoting "Down Low" in Europe this summer, so don't miss it!

“Down Low” is your 5th release, it’s also the first one which is going to be available beyond the boarders of Israel. What do you expect from this release and the new opportunities?
It's also our first full length album! We only released two singles and two EP's, and when we felt ready to record our debut LP and take it to foreign lands, we went ahead and did. We're all really happy with everything that's happening right now with the band, and can't wait to start touring, play with our favourite bands, go to new places and meet lots of new people on the road…

You’ve already been to Holland to support FEAR FACTORY and are going to be back in Europe for promotion in April. What do you expect from your visit to Germany?
We always enjoy travelling, we're gonna play a couple of shows (29/4 in Cologne and 6/5 in Hellendoorn ) which is always fun, and meet some of the people we're gonna work with for the first time – and on May 27th we're coming back for a month or so long tour throughout Europe so stay tuned! All in all this is pretty exciting... Finally making the international move... We feel ready!

What are you guys doing back in Israel if not making music? Can you already live on making music?
Up until now its was quite impossible for us to actually live off the bands income – since Israel is still a small place so there are only that much shows you can play/records you can sell, plus we didn't have anyone sponsering our activities so the band was self finaced since the begining and we had to invest some serious money to get to where we are today – So all of us have day jobs (Hopefully this will change soon).



Thank you very much for your time. Do you have any final comments?
Thank you for reading, check out our website (www.betzefer.com) for tour updates as we're coming to a town near YOU, listen to more Rock 'n' Roll music, and all will be good!