Israel is not famous for its hard 'n heavy scene, that's sure. Usually keeps the media busy with other, political things. Red Rose is a solid melodic hard rock/metal band from Israel that made a big impact with its debut album in 2011. Nowadays the band released its second album and it is ready to make the 'big step' for some bigger things! Eli Reeve, the bass player, opens his heart to Heavy Paradise and discusses about the band's newest effort but, also, some other cool stuff! Enjoy!

Heavy Paradise : Hello Eli and welcome to Heavy Paradise for this interview! Firstly, I would like to congratulate you for your new release. As I said in my review, this is a solid album with some excellent tracks in it! Are you satisfied by the result of your new album?

Eli: Hello to all "Heavy Paradise" readers! First of all, we'd like to thank you for the opportunity to tell a little about ourselves and share some thoughts! We are definitely satisfied by the result! We reached a new level in the music complexity, in songwriting and in the performance. Each of us had a chance to experience new things in this album - both technical and artistic. I think that as we write new songs, we are getting closer to what Red Rose is all about – I mean we are finding our own "voice". We all feel that this work is a great step forward. Yet we also know there's a lot more to reach out for in the future! And this is definitely what we are looking forward for.

Heavy Paradise : I have to say that “On The Cusp Of Change” features a more mature and tighter sound but, also, some heavier parts. I want to say that this is more ‘difficult’ and not so catchy in comparison with your previous one. Do you think that the band is tighter now and ready for the big step??

Eli: We definitely are tighter now. We are growing “older”, gaining experience, and we only want to move forward! “The big step” is what we were looking forward for since we gathered under the name “Red Rose”!

Heavy Paradise : How long did it take you guys for the recordings of “On The Cusp Of Change”? How is it working with the mighty Tommy Hansen as a producer?

Eli: We have already worked with Tommy before. Then it was our debut album "Live the Life You've Imagined" and everything was a novelty for us. This time we returned to Denmark with the feeling, that we have some experience now and we know, what to expect...that's what we thought! :)

But Tommy amazed us again, as at the first time! He's a fantastic person, full of endless energy, which captures all those around him! It was great pleasure to work with a master like him. This time we had a longer period of recordings. We knew that the new album is more complex, and its recording might take more time and effort. "On the cusp of change" was recorded for the three amazing weeks that we spent in a small sweet town - Horsens!

Heavy Paradise : Israel is not so famous for its hard ‘n’ heavy scene! How difficult is for a band from this scene to get the attention of media and fans?

Eli: Incredibly difficult! The reality is pretty harsh. There’s not enough space in Israel to gather big audiences, not enough space for touring, and generally the rock culture is not developed much. But though the metal scene is small, it does exist. There are many good bands here. We just hope that the rock-metal movement will come out from the underground and expand in the future.

Heavy Paradise : If you ask me, I would say that “Chasing Freedom” and “Alone In The Night” are two stunning tracks and my personal favorites! Which are your favorite tunes from the new album?

Eli: Oh...this is a really difficult question! It's like asking a father to choose which of their children he loves the most! :) All the songs are very different and for different moods. "When Roses Faded" is perfect for person, who chose progressive metal and complex compositions. “Chasing Freedom” is more contemporary song with echoes of our debut album. "King of the Local Crowd" is a classic rock 'n' roll song - very catchy and lively! I don't know...definitely, I love them all!

Heavy Paradise : The songwriting in Red Rose is it a one man’s responsibility or a team work result?

Eli: We always write songs together, jointly. Everyone brings something to the process. Sometimes it can be a riff, which one brings in, and we take it and start to develop into a full song driven by its atmosphere. Then go the lyrics and vocal lines, inspired by general mood of the resulting music. And sometimes it's the opposite: we start from lyrics or a vocal line with simple chord progression, and put them into an arrangement. We try different approaches!

Heavy Paradise : Which is, in your opinion, the strongest Red Rose’s point and which is the weakest that you need to work more on that??

Eli: I think, our strength is that we are all very different personalities. Each of us has a different life story and we came from different musical backgrounds. But we are all united by one thing - we love melodic music! When we manage to achieve a compromise in our writing, we come up with all these different elements included in one piece of music. Together we can do anything! A weakness could be called our youth, as a band and ourselves. We still have much things to learn and gain experience. But this is the most interesting thing, isn't it? :)

Heavy Paradise : Which are your influences ?

Eli: Each of us has his own main inspiration sources. This is why the music we wrote turned out to be various, sparkling with different elements even in one single song. But we also have common favorite bands like Royal Hunt, Dream Theater, Queen, Scorpions, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath… Classics of rock and metal are the real influence for us, I think.

Heavy Paradise : You have chosen “Don’t Believe These Tales” as your first video single from the new album. Solid tune!! How so and you chose this track? I assume that this tune is the band’s favorite!

Eli: The point is that our new album reveals our thoughts about the pompous "end of the world" issue. We interpreted this issue as a fact that the world is being on hold, waiting for something to happen, that will change everything, give it all a new start. And we took this subject of anticipation for a change to different scales - from global to personal. All these thoughts and different stories appearing along the album end up with a message-delivering track "Don't Believe These Tales". It is some kind of a thematic climax for this album. Besides, it IS a pretty cool tune!

Heavy Paradise : Are there any plans for some live gigs? Is there any chance to see you in Europe?

Eli: We are dreaming of a decent tour for a long time! We would be very happy if it came true, and it would be a great step forward for us. We hope that now it will become possible and this year we will visit Europe! Anyway we got some local shows waiting for us in the near future.

Heavy Paradise : So, closing, what are the band’s future plans?

Eli: Our main plan is performing live as much as possible! For that, of course we must fix the main band’s problem: lacking of a permanent drummer. Once we find the right person to join our little family, we will be fully charged to rock every stage we may reach!

Heavy Paradise : At this point, I have to say a big thank you for this interview and to wish you all the best for your future plans!

Eli: Thank you again! To all readers, we hope you will like this album and it will bring new positive emotions and inspiration to you! See you soon!

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