Cover Story: Red Axes, Rock & Rollers With a Disco Soul
Beatportal Interview. Words: John Thorp
19 May 2020
"Being in a band is not easy,” affirms Arzi. “It can be super fun for years, but to continue a band can be very, very hard. And then, suddenly, somebody has a family or somebody leaves to go here or there, and then you’ve lost it.”
Red Axes are rock & rollers, first and foremost. But that doesn’t mean house and techno don’t explicitly inform their sound. Following the release of their self-titled LP on Dark Entries, John Thorp dives into the psychedelic palette and lasting friendship that defines this Tel Aviv-based duo.
“If you talk to the average teenager of today, and ask them what it is about rock & roll music that they like, then the first thing they’ll say is the beat,” announces a spoken-word sample on ”Zeze,” close to the top of Red Axes’ new self-titled album. The record is the Israeli duo’s third complete full-length and their first for the celebrated San Francisco label Dark Entries. Both the label and band have been present for around a decade, each building a bridge between the cyclical reinventions of contemporary rave culture and a rich, freaky history of post-punk, EBM, disco, and no-wave.
