Roni Weinstock

Musical Discoveries: Please tell us about your musical background, how you got into music, what music training and the music education you have had.

Roni Weinstock: I started out as a drummer, took a few lessons and played in a band for a little while. While waiting for one of my drum lessons, I browsed through some magazines then came across some pages of guitar tabs, took them home and started to teach myself how to play the guitar.

After a while I started to write songs, never thinking that I would be brave enough to take a mic and sing my songs. But after a lot of whiskey, reinforcement from my boyfriend and loud guitars, I overcame the shyness and fear and began to rehearse with a full band.

Then I decided it would be wise to take a few voice lessons to know how to sing right and not hurt my voice while doing that, so I took lessons for about one year.

What artists have influenced you the most?

Artists that I believe influence me most, then and now: No Doubt, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, Faith No More, Skunk Anansie, K's Choice, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, 30 Seconds to Mars, Paramore and Incubus. But I am probably forgetting many more.

How was FeelAbouT created?

Well, everything started way back when my boyfriend and I started a band. Guy Fisher (lead guitar) joined soon after. After a while and a few gigs came many changes as for the members of the band, sound and existence of the band.

Why does the band sing in English instead of Hebrew? Maybe better said, are there any Hebrew songs that we haven’t heard?

We met Eyal Leon Katzav (album producer) and it was then that we decided that the album would be in English--we had materials in Hebrew but decided to pass--which was only natural as all of our influences came from American or English spoken music.

As the songwriter and vocalist I felt that I could express myself better that way, lyrically and vocally, other then that we wanted to keep our doors open and not be limited to Israel alone.

What kind of things have you done to develop your voice?

Voice lessons and a lot of rehearsals. I also try to challenge myself with new songs, that sometimes demands new things that i have not done before musically or vocally and as I'm doing that a lot lately i will probably go back to learning.

Please tell us about the writing and recording of the songs for the EP and the album.

The first thing was to choose the songs for the album. After doing that we started intense rehearsals with Katzav and together rearranged each song till we felt was ready for recording. After we got all the songs ready we went on to record them, we laid down the rhythm section first then went on to the guitars then to the vocals and backing vocals.

Some songs we had disc jockey and keyboard recordings, and in "Stop" we added brass section as well. Now comes the longer part which is the mixing of the songs which was done brilliantly by Simon Veinstock and Eyel Leon Katzav, after going over the mixing of each song a few times, when we finally felt complete with the mixing we took the CD to be mastered by George Marino at sterling sound in New York.

After these songs were recorded, what did you do next? How did you get them "out there" for others to hear and what reactions did you get?

Well, first of all we always kept our fans involved so they would be the first to know about the album. Media wise: we started to work with an Israeli public relations firm as it was important for us to push this CD in Israel first. Before we released the album, we picked two singles which were "Small Mind" and "Stop" for the publicist to work with.

The singles got radio play on several Israeli radio stations. We got some reviews and articles written as well. Then when the release date of the album was decided we scheduled our premiere show and worked really hard on making a one of kind FeelAbout performance.

We had video art created for each song to play along and the result was amazing. We got the brass section to play with us "Stop" live as well a cello player to play "Follow Me Down" with us and it all came out really rewarding, moving and exiting. We also worked with a British publicist for a little while which got us air play in Ireland mostly and radio interviews.

We upgraded our MySpace page recently and we will soon upload our new official website. Heads up: it's going to be one hell of of a site (smiles)!

What's your plan to promote the new album?

After promoting the album in Israel and preforming with it as we do now. we are now planning a European tour to promote the album there as well. Our album is currently available to buy in all of the well known digital distributor websites and we are getting the album reviewed in Europe, USA and Canada. We really are pushing forward in all fronts.

Tell us about your live performances.

Our shows are always full of power and energy and so is the audience. When I'm on stage I really let it all out and go wild. I get really exited before every show, as small or as big as it may be. When I'm in it I just give my all! I don't talk too much between songs because I prefer the interaction with the audience when they feel the songs and go crazy (smiles).

How important do you think "image" to a female recording artist these days where so much visual information is portrayed in the media?

I do believe that image is important, but it is something that has to be build on the inner person that you are or it won't fly.

How would you say the internet has influenced your artistic direction and connection with music lovers?

Point Of You is available in music stores in Israel. But the internet is the best way today to gather fans, get reviews and distribute your music worldwide. I LOVE the old fashioned physical CD when you get the booklet--I love the smell of the print--and all, but today most people want the option to access the music they want as fast as they can.

If they are fans or the media, you as an artist have to supply that to them or you would not be noticed at all. Things like MySpace and FaceBook are a great tool to any artist.

With all that being said, it is obvious that still there is nothing more powerful then live shows and face to face interaction.

In addition to music, what else and who else rocks your world and fills your waking hours?

That would be my boyfriend Nadav Rikover, and our two most amazing cats (smiles).

What are your plans, hopes and dreams looking out through the end of this year and into next?

I hope the CD will keep selling, that we will keep on increasing our fan base all over the globe and I hope this year and the one that follows will bring many new opportunities to grow and spread our music. Our plans include the European tour, promoting the album and to keep creating and working on our new songs for the next FeelAbout album.

Is there anything else you want to tell our readers?

They can and should get our album. See the useful links below. Thanks again!