SEEK IRONY: TECH ‘N’ ROLL

TECH N ROLL / by SEEK IRONY

Interview by: Shanna Gibbs

For most musicians, electronic dance music (EDM) and rock are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Seek Irony is not composed of most musicians. Technically originating over a decade ago with two brothers in Tel Aviv, Seek Irony is far from any average band you’ll lend ears to, even on the notably “weird” streets of Austin, Texas.

What I’m sure most of us don’t know is that Tel Aviv is a “very strong dance/electronica town,” which explains how brothers Kfir and Rom Gov, the vocalist and drummer for Seek Irony, found their affinity for EDM, drawing inspiration from The Prodigy, Pendulum and Israeli based bands like Infected Mushroom. What’s different about these guys, though, is that they also grew up with their fair share of System of a Down, Pantera, Tool and the like, and rather than choose one style of music or the other, they combined all their influences to create a sound they call “EDM rock.”

SXSW’s hometown may have only been privy to Seek Irony for a year, but the band and its members have been hard at work doing what they love for much longer.

“We started doing this when we were young kids. It’s a slow process, and it took years to do this for a living,” Kfir says. He then proceeds to tell me a story beginning with two kids, 10 and 15 years old, and how they followed a passion they couldn’t ignore from Israel to the great state of Texas.

Long before Kfir, Rom, and bandmates Alex Campbell (guitar), Mikael Oganes (synths, DJ) and Adam Donavan (bass, tri-bass) drew a crowd at Austin’s Red 7 for the release of their debut stateside album, Tech N’ Roll, these guys had well-established music careers as a producer, professional drummer, and guitar teacher that led to a Chinese music award as well as three Grammy nominations.

After seeing a record deal fall through and facing constant challenges as a band based in a small country with no funds for expensive touring, Kfir and Rom finally made it to the U.S. to join forces with the rest of Seek Irony, playing two stages at SXSW within the first year of their arrival and selling out in pre-sale tickets for their recent album release show. For Kfir, just getting big enough overseas to make this happen was a huge accomplishment.

“The fact that the band was able to develop in Israel was a success in itself,” he says. “Then we knew, if we can make it here, we must go further.”

SEEK IRONY – “RAVOLUTION”

The band has definitely had its fair share of struggles on this journey, but they don’t let that overshadow the advantages they’ve made for themselves.

Kfir owns Evil Snail Studios in Austin, so Seek Irony writes, records and produces all their own music from the comfort of their very own space, which is more than a good thing, because, as Kfir relays, the “jam method” of writing music doesn’t work for this musical team. Instead, they spend time together in the studio in constant pre-production.

“Everyone wants to contribute something and has a vision,” Kfir says of writing. “Over the years, we’ve learned to let everyone express their ideas.”

That’s all well and good, but five guys expressing sometimes separate ideas is bound to lead to quite a studio-time bill, so it’s a good thing the boys have free reign over Evil Snail Studios.

As they work on their music videos for the first few singles, revel in the album release, and preparer the release of Tech N Roll EDM remixes, Kfir remembers the struggles Seek Irony has seen along the way and doesn’t seem to regret it one bit.

“We feel overwhelmed every day, but we keep pushing forward because that’s how we are,” he admits. “We just love what we do. I don’t mind working 24 hours a day to do what I love.”

Lucky dog. How many of us can say the same?!

“LIVE ON FEBRUARY 5TH, 2015
Photos by: Shanna Gibbs”

From SEEK IRONY, posted by Broken Records Magazine on 2/10/2015 (28 items)

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