Interview: Miss Red
Trees, Jamaica and reggae artist Burning Spear top the list for Miss Red’s inspirations. As she’s currently living in Berlin an email interview went forth, but positivity came pouring through her words as the Israel beauty told us how the collaboration with The Bug came about, and much, much more…
How did you first get into music?
My brother and sister use to play to me in repeats doctor dre snoop dog beastie boys and Shabak Samech (Israeli rap crew in the 90s) as baby growing up. So I kinda got to know a lot of lyrics by heart and flows just from that. I got my first guitar when I was 10. I started composing and writing lyrics soon after. I did mainly classical guitar, and at the same time transcribed and learned all Metallica solo by heart.
My first band was me and another girl named Tal Engel who is an amazing vocalist coming from Haifa. We used to sing in harmony, pretty hippie. We performed at coffee places, jazz bars and whatever got us into the city. When I got a bit tired of the guitar and took a break from music, concentrating on theatre and poetry. Until I met the Easy Rider Crew which contains General G, Mentor Irie, Guma Ranks, Likle Madly and Yuta B who were making rub a dub and ragamuffin dances and bringing Jamaican vibes in town. They introduced me to the sound system culture, which I fell in love with right away. Since then we’ve been collecting and trading records, DJing and MCing and got out of Haifa, exploring the scene in the country and the world.
When and why did you move to Berlin? What is it about Berlin you like? How does it differ from London?
I moved officially to Berlin last summer because London was getting too heavy for me, also visa-wise it’s pretty difficult there. Also Kevin (The Bug) moved here so I can keep my constant work with him. I have here the pleasure of staying in focus continually and working on my shit properly, I am kinda easy to destruct. So here I say no most of the time and lock myself in studio. I think it’s more about love than money around here… and the summer here is wicked.
How did the collaboration with The Bug come about?
The collaboration started in a tiny club in Yafo (Ana Loulou). Kevin was invited to play in Israel, and the day after the show the promoters hustled him to come and play for fun, and I just happened to hear about it. I haven’t seen the show live before. It was a spontaneous party and it was wicked. I got really into it and grabbed the mike, and the same morning we rushed into the studio and recorded Dis Me Army.
You’re originally from Israel, What’s it like growing up there? What music do people usually listen to? Is there an ‘underground’ music scene there at all?
How is it like? Stress, and fear. Depending on what, how and where, but generally the country is continuously in war. Even if it’s not in your hometown, it is in your society, and stress and fear is generally there. But apart from that, or when you grow up with that basically not aware that life could be different, growing up in Haifa, which is in the north, for a child is pretty boring. Lucky to be close to the beach and have beautiful forest on top of mountain is what kept me going. The mainstream in Israel is listening to eastern pop bullshit or national pop folk songs. Yes of course there is an underground music scene, in Haifa my hometown we make our own shit alone and keeping the scene alive with opening our own bars raves and booze bringing it to the people, crew like Ghostown, 3421 and Easy Rider Sound wake up the town. And this area is open to everybody to party in peace. It’s special and versatile you can get a lot of producers coming to Israel and a lot of self-making.
What’s the best/most memorable UK performance you’ve ever done and why?
The most memorable show I guess was the first one actually in Corsica Studios in London were my crew got in a fight with some Irish drunk dudes trying to take my ex’s jewelry. I got to see for the first time a real British crowd. It was mentally marvelous.
What other new releases are you working on? Any more collaboration lined up?
Right now I am working on my solo mixtape that will have a lot of collaborations with some of my favourite producers. Then there’s a collaboration with Japanese crew, Bim One, which is coming out soon. An Easy Rider album is being recorded these days. I’m constantly exchanging stuff with people.
