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At the moment the British-Israeli band Blackfield is on tour in Europe and Aviv Geffen was so kind to answer my questions on the phone before the show in Paris. "The tour is going really great. We doubled the sales compared to the last tour and several shows are sold-out - like tonight here in Paris." But we wanted to talk about the album... The cover artwork of Blackfield II shows the ruin of a bridge which "shows nicely that Blackfield is coming from the ground... We are a down-to-Earth band." The artwork builds a sharp contrast to the slow, mellow pop rock songs. On their 2nd release are more slow tracks then on their debut album - and most are sung by Steven Wilson. "This is a classic album with mellow songs, something teenagers these days don't have. They have all these ring tones, but no band to lean on. And the album has a message. The lyrics have a meaning. There is some depth in it." The music can be enjoyed without concentrating on the lyrics, but if you want to get into them, they tell you something. "Its about faith... about God... for example. Being from Israel don't influence my writing and I don't want to talk about Israel and the conflicts in our songs, but perhaps people start thinking about it..." Some might miss the more rocking tunes... "It was the direction we wanted to go to, but it came naturally. Also that Steve sung most of the songs. But it wasn't an ego thing. This is not a band of egos, it was just the best for the songs. Steve moved to Israel awhile ago and so its easier to work together now. It's real fun to work with him and in my opinion he is the best producer ever! And he thinks my songs are the best... We are already planning our 3rd album, but at the moment Steve is writing songs for Porcupine Tree." Blackfield became a real band and are more based in the indie rock genre - as Aviv said. And that he can't wait to come back to Europe... "Especially Germany is a great place and I was totally overwhelmed by the response we got! Berlin was the best show on this tour! Even if London, Paris and the Greek shows were sold-out... Berlin was the best!" And the German capital must have impressed him a lot... "Berlin is a fantastic place, perhaps the best place in Europe... I think about moving there for a few months... You know, the people were great and a German actress / singer came to see us. Jeanette (Biedermann - the editor) actually should be at a TV show and cancelled that to attend out show! That's a huge compliment for us!" Only a few more shows and the European tour is over, then they will go for a few shows to America. "We will play 8 shows in the US next month and the shows in New York City and Boston are already sold-out. In New York we will record the show for a DVD." The DVD shall be out in a couple of months and will also have some backstage footage, a photo gallery and some more for their fans. "I'm very excited and at the NYC show we will play for the fans a mixture of songs, but we will focus on Blackfield II." On the shows in Europe the band get supported by British newcomers Pure Reason Revolution and I was curious to hear Aviv's opinion about the band... "They are great! Young and hungry. And very talented! Their sound fits well to us - and the fans like them too." It ain't easy to find a band to tour with which fits to the sound of Blackfield, but with PRR they found one. "The tour is almost over and I wish we had more shows." But they will come back! Perhaps I'll get the chance to see them next time... and talk a little more with Aviv... At the end I can only wish them good luck for the rest of the tour and for the DVD recording... Unfortunately the phone line broke down and I couldn't get back through to Aviv. But he is a very sympathetic person and it was nice to talk to him. And perhaps next time we can talk a little longer....
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