Charlie Megira & The Bet She' An Valley Hillbillies

Band Formed By Israeli Musician Charlie Megira . Band Has Several Tags On Last Fm Including The Bet She'an Valley Hillbillies. Background In The 2000s Charlie Was Dating And Living With Michal Kahan An Active Singer And Guitarist In The Tel Aviv Scene. Together They Released A 12-Track Album As Charlie Megira & The Hefker Girl Entering A World Of Goth-Inflected Post-Punk. “Fear And Joy” Where Charlie Abandoned His Surf-Rock Reverb For The Same Cold Metallic Production That Launched A Plethora Of Early ’80s Joy Division Clones Out Of England. And While “Nothing” Truly Echoes The Memories Of A Make-Up Drenched Robert Smith “Kiss Of Death” Shows Megira Reemerging From His Private UFO To Create A Sonic Youth-Ian Noise-Scape With Kahan Conjuring A Low-Fi Siouxsie Sioux Vibe Behind The Microphone.”. In 2008 Charlie Megira & The Modern Dance Club Was Formed. At Charlie’s Behest Kahan Moved From Guitar To Drums And The Group Was Rounded Out With Tal Fatale On Bass And Javi Scheiner On Rhythm Guitar. With The Modern Dance Club Megira Enjoyed His First Proper LP Release And Logged His First European Tour. And It Would Prove To Be His Most Assaultive Project To Date. The “Love Police” Album Was First Released In 2009 As A Single LP On Germany’s Burnout Record Store Label And Then Again In 2011 As A Double LP On Eran Yarkon’s Guitars And Bongos Records Of Oakland California. The Album Showcased A Grungier More Driving Vision Of Trashy Post-Punk With Megira Snarling In English Over A Gut Punching Wall Of Crazy Electric Guitars. “Elvis Is Not Dead” Captured A New Unchained Megira Screaming Lyrics About Whores While Attacking His Guitar With Vicious Methodical Abandon. Love Police Confronts The Senses From The Racially And Sexually Provocative Cover To The Distorted Screamed Vocals Within. Megira Would Later Confess That The Album Was Heavily Influenced By San Francisco Hardcore Outfit Millions Of Dead Cops. Yet Just As Megira Was Harnessing Momentum With The New Band He’d Hit A Rocky Patch With Kahan. Since The Beginning Of Their Relationship Megira And Kahan Had Been In Lockstep With Each Other As Lovers And As Musicians. Like Lux And Ivy Of The Cramps Charlie And Michal Made For An Amazing Rock ‘n’ Roll Spectacle He The Alien Rock Star And She The Talented Vixen With An Attitude. The Break-Up Which Happened On Charlie’s 38th Birthday On October 10 2010 Was The End Of A Significant Chapter In Megira’s Career. At This Point The Story Evolves At A Faster Pace By 2011 Megira Was Married To Seurat Sash Samson. The Two Had Fallen In Love Soon After Meeting In A South Tel Aviv Bar And Not Too Long After Samson Was Pregnant. In November Of 2011 Megira And A Four-Months-Pregnant Samson Had A Large Traditional Jewish Wedding Ceremony And In May Of 2012 Welcomed A Son Named Adrian. Within Months Of Adrian’s Arrival The Megiras Announced That They Were Leaving Israel And Moving To Berlin. While Charlie Had Always Been An Outsider Figure In The Land Of Israel He Had A Strong Connection To His Family And Heritage And The Move Shocked Everyone Around Him. He Thought Himself Too Old To Continue A Career In Music Seeing The Move As An Opportunity To Focus His Development As A Chef And A Painter. The Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies But Even So Midway Through 2013 And After A Short “hiatus ” He Formed The Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies - Named After The Homeland He’d Recently Left Behind. The Group Comprised The Modern Dance Club’s Tal Fatal On Bass Who Was Also Living In Berlin And Stefano Described By Boaz Goldberg As “a Bongo-Beating Beatnik Charlie Met In German Language Studies Class.” The Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies Was A Return To Form For Megira A Sojourn Back Into His Earlier Musical Fascination With Late 1950s And Early 1960s Rock ‘n’ Roll. While The Hillbillies Tallied A Revolving Door Membership Roster Over The Next Few Years The Act Also Recorded The End Of Teenage An Album’s Worth Of Songs Released On Cassette Only By Guitars And Bongos In 2014. While Megira Keeps An Ian Curtis Croon In His Back Pocket His Delivery On Teenage Is Not As Aggressive. Opener “Jack The Ripper” Has A Great Drive To It But Is Also Almost Raga-Ish With Megira Displaying His Hypnotic Surf Guitar Backed By A Bongo Beat. During This Period Megira’s Music Found Its Way To Israeli Filmmaker Ari Folman Then Fresh Off His Oscar Nomination For Waltz With Bashir And At Work On His Next Project 2013’s Live-Action/animated The Congress. Folman Brought Megira In To Write Music For The Film Alongside Legendary Composer Max Richter. Folman’s Film Also Made Space For A Party Scene In Which Megira And His Backing Band Entertain A Glitzy Ballroom Attended By Cartoon Renderings Of Elvis Picasso Sinatra And Other Luminaries. In 2014 Megira Brought The Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies To America For A Short Trip Down The West Coast Plus A Stop At The Austin Psych Fest. “On This Tour I Sing In English And Also In Japanese Arabic German And The Holy Hebrew Language ” Megira Told The Stranger. “I Feel Pretty Comfortable With Any Kind Of Language. Rockabilly Is All About Dealing With The Normal In An Exotic Manner. I Think Everything That Diverges From This Rule Should Be Considered To Be A Crime Against Rock ‘n’ Roll.” It Was On This Trip Where His Legend As A Visionary Outsider Finally Began To Grow. Another Tour Of The States Garnered New Fans Including Shannon & The Clams The Black Keys And The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas Who Approached Megira About Signing With His Own Cult Records Label. After Fourteen Years Of Releasing Records Charlie Megira Was On The Verge Of Breaking Through. For Much Of 2015 While Awaiting The Fruition Of The Deal With Casablancas Charlie Lived In Asheville North Carolina After Which He Moved Back To Berlin. In 2016 He Returned To Israel For Three Gigs. His Iconic Pompadour Was Gone And He Looked Gaunt Even By His Own Standards. And While His Return To His Homeland Was Well Received He Spoke About No Longer Making Music And Retiring The Charlie Megira Character. His June 16 2016 Performance At The Tel Aviv Cinematheque Would Prove To Be His Last. Megira Had Attempted To Commit Suicide At Least Two Times During The 1990s. According To Samson He Would Suffer Periods Of Confusion Stretches During Which He Could Not Connect With Reality When He’d Be Unable To Recall Major Life Events Such As The Birth Of His Son. He Had Long Wrestled With An Inner Darkness About That He Could Not Escape—not As Gabi Abudraham And Not As Charlie Megira. As 2016 Wore On Charlie Returned To His Life As A Father And Chef In Berlin. The Casablancas Deal If It Had Ever Been At The Precipice Of Reality Never Materialized. Max Richter Whom Megira Had Remained In Contact Attempted To Usher Him Toward A Record Deal But To No Avail. According To Samson This Was During One Of Charlie’s Periods Of Confusion. On November 5 2016 Megira Hung Himself In His Berlin Apartment. When He Was Found His Guitar Was Plugged In His Effects Pedals Were On And His Amp Was Buzzing. He Left Behind A Wife A Child And A Growing Flock Of Fans The World Over. Charlie Megira Was Buried In A Jewish Cemetery In Berlin. A Dark Stone Obelisk Marks His Grave With One Of Its Faces Engraved In Gold In Remembrance Of Gabriel Abudraham. An Adjacent Face Is Engraved In Memory Of Charlie Megira A Testament To An Artist Who Chose To Live Two Lives The One He Was Born Into And The One He Invented A Creation For The World To Witness. Below The Gravestone’s Charlie Megira Inscription Are Five Words A Phrase From An Interview Of The Artist Himself That Reveal Everything About Who He Was Is And Will Ever Be “A Sun Shining Backwards.” Font —David Katznelson June 2019
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