Ashmedi’s (Melechesh) biographical column & chaotic metaphysical thoughts, Part VIII
Posted October 22 by Chris D.
By Ashmedi (Melechesh)
The month really does pass by quickly. No sooner I write one column and I get emails informing me it is time for the next. But it is a fact that the older you get the quicker time passes. It has to do with years spent living on Earth vs. the length of time discussed. For example, a 5-year-old’s perception of time is different from that of a 50-year-old person. For the 5-year-old, one year is one fifth of his/her age, meaning 20 percent of the child’s life. For a 50-year-old, it is only two percent. Don’t ask me why I had to explain it, but, come on, don’t we often wonder how time seems to pass by quicker and quicker as we age?
Anyway, I am sitting in the airplane [doing] nothing to do, so I decided to take advantage of the time and begin this month’s column.
When I started Melechesh Jerusalem simply had no black metal scene. One could not find black metal CDs and the two specialized metal shops were closed down or shifted their business model to accommodate grunge fanatics. I never liked grunge music. At the time, I had a grudge on grunge because many of the metalheads stopped listening to metal and just focused on this new thing. Nowadays my musical tastes are broad (broad is an understatement, by the way). However, I still feel jealous when a new music trend tries to over shadow metal music. Nevertheless, there were still some survivors, but they did not know about black metal, so what I did is order a number of albums from several record labels and sold them downtown to people I know. Not for profit but just to spread the music.
Speaking of Melechesh, the band consumed most of my time. It was a calling and together with the other guys in the band I knew we were on to something. Somehow the songs felt sincere. The whole idea of having black metal blended with Middle Eastern drum patterns sounded great and doing this in the location we were in was just magic(k)al.
As for the band name, we wanted a name that was original yet had certain occult hints to it. And we [had] be sure there would never be a band with the same name, so I thought long and hard, brainstorming together with a Kabbalist friend of mine, who, by the way, is now completely involved in Kabbalistic teachings and no one hears from him to this date. He went to some Kabbalistic boarding school, gave away most of his belongings and that was that. We eventually came to the conclusion the name needed the word ‘Melech’, which is ‘King’ in the languages of Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic (with different pronunciations). I often saw the word ‘Melech’ in occult books. I liked the sound of it. I added ‘Esh’ for ‘Fire’ to make a noun of our invention with Hebrew/Aramaic references. We also made a song called “Malek Al Nar”, which is the same exact meaning in Arabic to keep things thorough. We knew, from day one, most people would think we were exclusively Israeli or Palestinian. Neither [of which] was true. We had one Palestinian in the band, who was partially Assyrian, I was Armenian/Assyrian and our drummer was Armenian. But we also had a revolving door of bassists. Some were Israeli. Our music transcended mundane politics. But, to this date, we are wrongfully labeled. Some say we are Arabs. Wrong. Some say Israelis. Wrong. Some say we are Jewish. Wrong. [When] we say, “No, we are not. Sorry!”, people say, “Wait a minute are you a racist?” [To that] we would answer, “Hell no!” The whole concept of racism is extremely flawed (even from a sociological and scientific perspective) and irrelevant. [Anyway] Some say Muslim. Wrong. Rarely [do people] say Christian, but that’s also wrong. Our families are of non-practicing Christian background. Hardly anyone figures out the latter one. All these classifications are dumb. We have always tried to not talk about it. It seems our identities have been lost to hearsay and finger pointing. [Usually] by people who want to claim us for themselves. Well, until we start to suck anyway. Being from Jerusalem does not necessarily mean you are from “X” or “Y” place. It has been the home and a hub for many peoples, of many minorities and nationalities.
At the time and for no specific reason we did not intend to be associated with the emerging black metal scene in other parts of the country, so we kept to ourselves. However, we did fliers to spread with our first rehearsal tape in ’94. Within a year the letters were pouring in. Apparently, some of the fliers were circulating in the U.S., the Far East, South America, and in Europe. Underground scenes were finding their way back to Israel.
The whole rehearsal room situation was a challenge to arrange. We started off playing in the school’s old music room inside the Old City. The school said we could use it—as we had in the past—but the backline was just ancient. As I mentioned in my previous blog, Moloch’s uncle bought them for the school some two decades earlier. We also tried rehearsals in Bethlehem at Moloch’s house, but after a few rehearsals we decided to stick to Jerusalem due to the fact that it was getting harder and harder to get to Bethlehem because of military roadblocks. Anyhow, in true tradition of that grey geeky school, some saboteurs said we ruined the equipment in the rehearsal room. They said this so they could have more rehearsal time doing generic preppy pop music. The people in charge of the music room said we were not allowed to play “loud” distorted guitars. They thought we were ruining the instruments. We did not understand why all this was happening at first, as we did use the room prior to this. Nevertheless, we did play with distortion. Once the supervisor came in (who was a Catholic monk). We turned off our distortion pedals instantly and made it sound acoustic. We explained to them that it sounded louder and noisier outside of the room. Inside, it sounded acoustic and mellow. [Laughs]
Sadly, I was eventually banned from the room, but this did not faze us. I still used to go there. When [the school’s supervisor] came to check on us I’d quickly hide behind the huge guitar amplifier ‘till the aging monk left. After giving a few motivational speeches about music and harmony. We did occasionally go to a professional rehearsal room, but it was bloody expensive. Though, to this date, it is the most professional rehearsal studio I have ever had the pleasure to use. We got a huge break when I managed to talk to a very noble organization in Jerusalem that helped youths get off drugs. They happened to have an amazing rehearsal room. It was located on the edge of the central park in downtown Jerusalem. The rehearsal room was a converted bomb shelter nine-12 feet underground. The place was huge. They had all the backline we needed, a recreation room, and so forth. With time, I got involved in this organization as junior supervisor to the rehearsal room and they gave me a key to the room. This meant we could rehearse Fridays late at night, then hit the bars downtown, and if we felt like it we would return to the room to play some more.
Often, we’d invite friends there and jam all night. We used to be so isolated in that room due the studio being underground. Once a bus blew up literally 90 feet (30 meters) away, but we had no clue. We remained in the room for three-four hours. Our families, however, did hear of it. It was on the news. We were unreachable. The exit to the studio was on the opposite side of the explosion facing inside the park, so by the time we left the studio it was late at night. We went through the park, so we did not notice anything. When I got home my mother was really pale. Then she showed me the news recap and indeed the area it was filmed in was 90 feet (30 meters) away. We had no clue.
By late ‘94 the band was stable and we had a decent amount of songs. We did a few rehearsal tapes and tape-traded those worldwide. Eventually, we did our debut demo and metaphorically called it As Jerusalem Burns, which we released in 1995. I recall the day we picked up the demo cassettes from the printing company. They did the cassettes. We did the covers. Once we got all the tapes to my house the whole band sat and folded covers. The demo was well-received. Some people, to this date, think of it as our first album. It is not. Anyway, as I said the feeling [in the band] was really great. We made black metal in the Holy City, literally pissing off everyone there. Eyebrows were being raised. The group of people getting into black metal—through us—increased. With it, shit started to happen. Rumors were going around about Satanic people in Jerusalem. Clashes with our families started to occur regularly. It started getting out of hand. In East Jerusalem, I was considered an outcast. West Jerusalem is more liberal. Things were fine there. For the time being. Until one Saturday night I was heading to watch a friend’s band play. Some metalheads said that a journalist was tracking me and wanted to get in touch. This journalist was apparently going to [the same] places I’d hang out in. Also to the music venues. Whenever there was a rock-related gig, he hoped to find me there. That night he did. He worked for one of the largest newspapers. He said he wanted to make a story about Melechesh. It was the first time ever that a band in Jerusalem made this specific type of music. He was very pushy and even wanted to pay me for the story, which I refused. I thought it would be great for band promotion, as I have been interviewed several times before in local papers with my previous band. Which went fine. I said sure, but I didn’t want it [the article] to sound like anything other than a band. He gave me his word. We got a cab to my house so I could show him some of the books I liked reading, [we grabbed] some promo photos, and then headed to the newspaper HQ for the interview. A few days later while walking downtown to get the paper, Moloch, Lord Curse and I heard a few people shouting at us (due to our clothing style and image), “Hey, you are members of the Satanic cult!” We saw the newspaper... We were on the front page with a headline that stated a Satanic cult was in the holiest of cities. I freaked out. I was pissed off. The whole story was a charade. The footer of the band photo was members of the Melechesh cult, practicing black magic in a cemetery. The promotional photo shoot was not even in a cemetery. They described our look as people with long hair (yes, I had long hair then), dressed in black, wearing pentagrams, etc. The paper stated that we did ritual sacrifice. Animals and whatever. Anyone who knows me knows that if I see a person abusing an animal I will abuse them.
People would call me up and say the police were looking for me. That I was wanted for questioning. Suddenly, it was announced practicing Satanism in Jerusalem is illegal. You must understand, prior to this incident no one has ever talked about this in Jerusalem since its inception a few thousand years ago. So, the whole idea of deeming Satanism illegal was never considered and, mind you, the government itself was liberal. But I suppose in Jerusalem the stakes were high. At the time, I told many people if they did tell on me they would be in a lot of trouble. The police did not know our real identities because we had corpsepaint and used our stage names. The newspaper refused to hand them our contact information. It was a witch hunt. My ex-girlfriend, at the time, was arrested for having a pentagram on her. She called me and assured me she said nothing. I recall the whole band and some friends were about to go to Tel Aviv. We were all gathered in Jerusalem. Suddenly, a police car showed up. We instantly spread out to alleys and said we would meet at a different location. Near the busses to Tel Aviv.
Side note: Several youngsters found me in a bar and asked to join the cult. I would always answer, “What cult? Fuck off!” Sadly, some suburban kids of Jerusalem started to take notes of the article and tried to do the same thing. That included stories of youth sacrificing animals. It was distressing. It was all made up by the journalist and now animals were being killed. Anything to sell a paper...
The guys from the rehearsal room and that organization I was a part of advised me to lay low for few weeks. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to visit my brother, who was managing Seagram’s Company (Chivas Regal, Jack Daniels, Absolute vodka, Martel Cognac) in Indonesia. Yes, I had an unlimited supply of the ‘devil’s juice’, even in Jerusalem. I will get to that later on. So, I went to Jordan and from there flew to Indonesia, where I spent two amazing months living the most luxurious life full of excess. My brother had a huge network with the night life scene there and his girlfriend was a famous supermodel there. Always on TV and such. So, we used to go to all the bars and get VIP treatment. It was a nice turnaround to the situation before. I used to also go to the dodgiest alleys and flea markets to meet up with headbangers. My brother used to tell me not to go there as it was dangerous. I said I felt safe with my metal friends and indeed that was the case. They were very cool people. But seriously, folks. The gap between the rich and poor was stunning. I’d see people living in shanty houses, living off rice three times a day. Meanwhile, I was invited to a private island owned by a friend of the family...insane! I spent most of my time on a jet ski on a tropical island, which was kind of cheeky after all hell broke loose in Jerusalem. But I didn’t ask for that. Very often when things seemed bleak, good stuff would happen when I least expected it. I loved the temples in Bali. The temples were surreal. Eventually, I returned to Jerusalem. Things had cooled down. They [the police] had bigger things to worry about, but [from then on] we always tried to keep a low profile.
Alright, I am about to go out for now have some dinner and hit some bars. Yes, my flight landed. There is still so much more to tell about the beginnings of Melechesh and the evolution of the band. Also bear in mind, when I talk about the band in a biographical sense I, at first, thought was odd. But in a way it makes perfect sense now. The band is a part of me. It has defined and taught me many things. I am sure many of you who founded or play in bands would instantly relate to this.
** Read Part I of Ashmedi's column here.
** Read Part II of Ashmedi's column here.
** Read Part III of Ashmedi's column here.
** Read Part IV of Ashmedi's column here.
** Read Part V of Ashmedi's column here.
** Read Part VI of Ashmedi's column here.
** Read Part VII of Ashmedi's column here.
** Read Part VIII of Ashmedi's column here.
** Read Part IX of Ashmedi's column here.