Metal Jew

Iron Menorah

So I heard simultaneously about Iron Menorah from a couple of places, including Jack at Teruah. They're a Jewish Iron Maiden tribute band, who play dressed as ultra-orthodox Jews. Other than that the Jewish context is pretty minimal, give or take the odd burst of Hava Nagila. My first reaction when I heard about them was to groan inwardly: it's not that this sort of shtick isn't moderately amusing, it's that we Jews deserve so much better. Let me explain. There is a long history of Jewish novelty acts that draw on the presumed humorousness of Jews contributing to popular music and popular culture. It's based on the premise that Jews are so nerdy and uncool that to see them rock or whatever is intrinsically ridiculous. And for a long time this was fair comment and novelty acts provided a valid way of Jews dealing with such anxieties. But the thing is - we've moved on. There's too much interesting and vital Jewish popular music around now to see it as only ever a novelty. In metal itself, after Orphaned Land there can be no doubt that a Jewish metal hybrid is viable and interesting.

It's not that Iron Menorah aren't fun. It's just that they themselves seem anachronistic: a parody of a self-parody.

All that said, as an Iron Maiden cover band they're not at all bad. The vocalist especially channels Bruce pretty well. Here's the two videos of them from you tube so you can judge for yourself:

New article on metal in Africa

I had a short piece published on metal in Africa for a new UK free music magazine called Juke

The article can't be read online and I'm not sure where you can get the magazine, but you can  download a pdf of it here.

Orphaned Land to play London!

What happens when a metal act plays on a Jewish festival?

There's an interesting post on Metal Israel, consisting of an open letter to Ozzy Osbourne, asking him not to play in Israel on 28 September, which is Hoshanah Rabbah:

    I beg you, switch the concert date. It’s good for you. It’s good for Israel. Don’t disrespect G-d on His     own turf. Please, Ozzy. And I want to come see you. I love you. Don’t play on chag.

Aviva, the author of the letter and of the blog is an orthodox Jew who loves metal. Now I don't for a second think that the letter will be effective. And I don't think that it's necessarily appropriate to send such a letter. That said, I can identify with the letter up to a point. I'm not an orthodox Jew but I virtually never go out on Friday nights and at least some of the festivals. Consequentially, I've missed a lot of my favourite acts (for example, I'll miss Converge and Kylesa in July). That's what it is to be Jewish I guess. I suppose that Aviva's point is that if you play in Israel you need to respect Jewish law. I don't accept this myself but I can certainly see how it can be pretty galling to live in a Jewish state and still be faced with the kinds of dillemas that diaspora Jews are faced with. Still, the separation between religion and state is to me much more important. And in any case, it's good to be reminded that you're Jewish once in a while by making a sacrifice - even in Israel.