Aug 22, 2008

Israeli artist 'Young' at heart

Music of psychedelic era enticed Alon, led him on the road to songwriting and, eventually, the Bay

By Paul Freeman / Entertainment Writer

When Israeli singer-songwriter Geva Alon plays Bay Area dates, it's like a homecoming. Now a solo artist, the Flying Baby frontman lived here for two years.

He has several local shows coming up, including Aug. 27 at San Francisco's Hotel Utah, Aug. 28 at Berkeley's Starry Plough, Aug. 29 at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz and Aug. 31 at Monterey Live. A friend's wedding in the area prompted him to set up these gigs.

What brought him to Northern California originally was his reverence for our music history. "As I grew up, most of the bands I listened to came from the Bay Area, from the psychedelic era, the '60s," Alon said. "Quicksilver, Jefferson Airplane, the Dead, Creedence (Clearwater Revival), Neil Young - I loved all that bunch."

Raised in a kibbutz, Alon, who's been called "the Israeli Neil Young," listened to his father's Elvis and Beatle albums. His older brother introduced him to Dylan records. Alon felt a need to dig deeper. He had to travel to Tel Aviv to track down newer American albums. Soon he was strumming a guitar and writing songs.

When Alon started playing music, he sang in English. "I didn't bother writing in Hebrew, because all the music I grew up on was in English," he said. "Ten years ago, the media wasn't open to English-language songs at all. We couldn't get any radio play or TV appearances. It was very hard to get crowds, very hard to get gigs. But people have started to be more open about that in the past few years. Nowadays, (there are) a lot of bands playing in English, a lot of bands wanting to go out of Israel, travel the world doing music. It's better now."

He had formed the Flying Baby with friends from the kibbutz. They recorded two albums in Israel, then came to California and played gigs all over the West Coast.

"It was kind of a dream, to see the world. And performing was a good excuse to do that," Alon said. "Travel opens your mind. Israel is a very small place. I've been playing there for a lot of years. You reach the point where you've played everywhere. You know everybody and know all the venues there are to play. You want to see new things, get exposed to different cultures. You want to reach new audiences."

Alon's latest album, "Wall of Sound," filled with compelling songs and plaintive vocals, is helping him reach new listeners. "It's a blend between the Flying Baby, which is kind of grungier rock 'n' roll, and my first solo album, which was acoustic folk. (The new album) has both sides of me. It moves among a lot of genres, which I think makes it interesting."

He'll be performing a number of those songs at his Bay Area appearances. "A lot of people say that seeing me live and hearing me on CD are two different things altogether. If people like the CD, I always tell them, you've got to come see the show, because you're going to hear the song from a different point of view," he said. "I find it a lot more intense. In a show, a lot of factors affect the music, especially the people's reactions."

Alon is currently based in Brooklyn, N.Y., another great place to explore. "It's really exciting and really hard, at the same time, because the competition is huge. Everybody's playing music here. Everybody wants a gig. You go to a venue and there are five or six bands playing the same night with you," he said. "It's pretty crazy."

Playing as much as possible, Alon says, is "the best PR work you can do." "The more I keep playing gigs, the larger the audiences and the more CDs I sell, the more things happen."

Alon will tour Israel in October, his most recent two albums earned a lot of attention there. His cover of "Modern Love," the David Bowie song, became a big hit.
"It's especially satisfying, when you know you've worked for it so hard. You actually fought to get stuff heard on the radio. It's now easier to get gigs, because I'm more recognized."

Eventually, Alon, 29, and his wife will resettle in Israel. "Israel will always be my home. It's the place that I know best," he said. "In time, when we start talking about kids, it's going to be in Israel. I can't see another place where I would want to (raise) my kids."

When he gets onstage, his place of residence becomes irrelevant. "Music is music and everybody speaks that language. Once I start to play, no one in the crowd cares where I'm from. They either enjoy the music and relate to it, or they don't. It's about who you are as a person, not where you're from. That, to me, is the greatest thing about music."

His career goals are simple. "Looking back on the records that I've done, I want to be proud of them. I'm not going to make them because I want to be on the radio or because I want my face to be on a magazine. When I was 20, that was the goal.

"Now I just want to do stuff that's good and have a good time doing it. Otherwise, it's just not worth it. It's so hard anyway, you might as well enjoy what you do."