Project Description

Interview with
Alex and Nadav
from
OPAL OCEAN

(October 2020)

Interviewer – Dave Bruce

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How did you all find each other and decide to share your musical talents as a group?
We met in late 2014 after my partner heard Nadav playing in the streets of Melbourne and invited him for a jam. We connected right way and never looked back since.

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think people resonate with your music?
I see our music as an exploration of the nylon string guitar. We don’t abide by any rules or code, we simply follow our ears. That’s why you’ll find everything from Heavy Metal to Psy-Trance in our sound. I think our style is so open ended that everyone can find something to enjoy in our music.

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today?
Alex – I love Tool, Metallica, Dream Theater, Al Di Meola, Joe Satriani, Shpongle, Infected Mushroom, Bireli Lagren, Bob Marley, Rodrigo y Gabriela, among many others. I’m forever hunting for new music, who knows what I’ll be listening to in six months, right now I’m loving Ella Fitzgerald!
Nadav – Opeth, Tool, Metallica , Dream Theater and a whole bunch of 90’s grunge haha! I’ve always been a sucker for 90’s grunge music and the raw energy that comes from their live performances.

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Your new Album is about to be released! Describe its origin and evolution.
Alex – The Hadal Zone is a metaphoric descent to the deepest part of the ocean; our ideas. We gave ourselves a lot more room to explore new ideas and push the prog metal part of our sound. Each track has a specific function like a 12 course meal that would have you travel through a world of flavours. Exploring those sounds and techniques definitely flexed our creativity muscles and I’m extremely pleased with the result.
Nadav – Yeh the album goes deep, it’s packed full of riffs that we’ve been holding onto since 2016 or even earlier but we’ve grown a lot in our song writing capabilities that I think it was the right time to write these tracks.

What are the signature pieces on the album, and which is your favorite track?
Alex – It’s hard to say, I love them all for different reasons, “Point Of No Return” for it’s arrangement, “The Hadal Zone” for the cool 7/4 feel throughout… but I guess the highlight of this album is having Jordan Rudess on “Polycephaly” so yeah I would have to say that track for me. If you’re new to Opal Ocean maybe “The Hadal Zone” is a better place to start.
Nadav – Yeah “Polycephaly” is a highlight for sure but I still love the feel of “The Hadal Zone” track. It  has a strong vibe of Tool that I’ve loved for years and the riffs and writing aspect of that song came so naturally to me, it just feels like home.

You mentioned Jordan Rudess from Dream Theater is on your new album, how did this come about?
When we started writing the new songs we knew we wanted to have a guest on a song that wasn’t related to guitar. Jordan was literally the first person that came to mind and we decided to reach out to him. He came back to us straight away saying he was interested and liked what we were doing with our music. Polycephaly was then written in mind of it being a Dream Theater style song and really drives home that classic Prog vibe! Super happy what Jordan brings to the track and the album overall!

Any tours or events coming up soon? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
We’ve got a masterclass series we’re putting together. Hopefully that will come out at the end of the year. We definitely want to film some more music videos for some of the tracks off the album. Then if all goes to plan, we’ll be getting ready for touring Europe in June. We might record some more tracks if we find the time and money.

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If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
Alex – I feel like Rodrigo y Gabriela would be a perfect fit. They understand where we’re coming from and are a really solid duo. A show or a collaboration with them would be great!
Nadav – I’d say Danney Carrey or Mike Portnoy, both are incredibly amazing drummers in their own right. It feels like they would be able to interpret our acoustic rhythms in their own way and we’ve never had played with a drummer that talented so the sound would most likely be very unique!

Do you have any long-term aspirations as a music artist?
Think having our music synced to a movie or a game would fit right in with our style and would be very cool to be part of something like that. As a whole I think we would be happy being able to tour again and be able to put out more music more often whilst sustaining ourselves. 

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
Nothing compares to the experience of playing live. The connection with the crowd and my band mate is otherworldly. For the highlights I would normally say, playing Montreux Jazz festival, the millions of views on our original songs, and that time we got into Quincy Jones’s birthday party at Montreux or even having Jordan Rudess on our album. But what I really hold close to my heart is the amazing people that helped up over the years. I had no idea strangers could be so generous, welcoming and straight up legends. From the fan that takes the time to learn our songs so we could have a jam, or the fan that opens up his home to us for a few nights on tour to the fan that backs us in our crazy crowdfunding campaigns. Those people are why we give it 100% and we’ll continue to give it 100%.

Where is the best place to listen to your new album?
Spotify is what we are pushing right now but for music videos definitely go to youtube!

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Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:

Alex :
Album – 10000 Days by Tool
Artist – System Of a Down
Movie – Les Visiteurs (I’m French so I love French comedy classics!)
Place to visit – Barcelona and Prague and New Zealand…. There’s too many!
Venue to play – Brin De Zinc in France, small venue but awesome vibes!
Food – I love veggies, I would say Ratatouille!
Drink – Ice Tea… the home-made stuff none of that bottles junk.
Person in History – Leonardo DaVinci for sure, he was ahead of his time on so many levels.
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) I haven’t figured that one out yet, I guess that’s why I don’t have any!

Nadav:
Album – Damnation – Opeth
Artist – Metallica
Movie – Too many! Most Tarantino movies?
Place to visit –  France for food and Switzerland/New Zealand for the view ;)
Venue to play – Not a proper venue but Bourke Street Mall holds a lot of good memories!
Food – Lately I’ve been liking mexican more and more… Oh and greek yoghurt
Drink – Alcohol – Rum or tequila…  no alcohol – Iced coffee or Fresh Juice
Person in History – I prefer animals in history
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) Well It’s got to be a pot of greek yogurt ? Still thinking about what to get, don’t want to make the wrong choice… ;)

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AMNPLIFY – DB