After churning out a wealth of bright and inventive delights these last few years, Tel Aviv-based outfit The Urban Tales are now back for 2023 to deliver their energetic new single 'Hospital'.
Lifted from their newly released debut EP 'Two Pigeons In Straitjacket', which is available to stream now, 'Hospital' makes for an incredibly bold and vibrant listen. Bringing back more of that raw and raucous indie-rock direction they are known for, they are returning for the new year with one of their most impactful cuts to date here.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with them to find out more about their origins and what has inspired them most over the years.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
Daniel: “Guitar obviously, but I was always drawn to singers and how they are able to convey a message through lyrics”.
Guy: “Guitar for sure”.
Ido: “The first instrument I fell in love with was, of course, the Bass Guitar, I played piano as a child and saxophone for a couple of years, but the moment I took my first bass lesson – that was it for me”.
Itay: “The drums for sure, I took a few guitar lessons and quickly realised it wasn't for me… I had (and still have) severe ADHD as a kid so beating drums was the perfect outlet for me”.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
Daniel: “My earliest memory is of my dad playing Ozzy Osbourne CDs around the house. Later I started exploring punk, metal, emo, and rock music generally. Now I have a weird balance of listening to lo-fi indie during the day and blasting metalcore at the gym”.
Guy: “ when I was younger I absorbed from my dad lots of rock like Zeppelin, Lenny kravitz, Rush and lots from the 80s, as I grow during my teenage I started getting into blues, alt, fusion, funk, prog, R&B”.
Ido: “ I really loved grunge and metal as a teen, mostly progressive and melodic death metal. as I grew older I opened my mind to other genres”.
Itay: “ As a kid, I really enjoyed listening to hard rock in the car with my parents, things like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Santana, etc. But when I was 9 I discovered metal music and it changed everything for me. I was really into Thrash and Prog metal and when I got to high school I started exploring other genres like Funk, Fusion, and Hip-Hop”.
What was the first album you remember owning?
Daniel: “The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. My dad gave it to me when I was like 11 years old and I became an instant emo kid. Kinda stayed the same ever since”.
Guy: “I think it was Mama said by Lenny Kravitz”.
Ido: “Frank Zappa's Hot Rats, one of my favourites even 12 years later”.
Itay: “Ride The Lightning by Metallica, I saw it at Tower Records at my local mall and spent like two weeks begging my mom to buy it for me”.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
Daniel: “Welcome To The Black Parade! This song is a cult classic, it’ll live forever. It’s perfect right from the infamous piano intro till the very end. Emo Kid Unite!”
Guy: “Master of puppets an all-time favourite”.
Ido: “Like a Stone by Audioslave, it's a masterpiece from the lyrics through the music and all the way up to the production".
Itay: “Wow, that's a tough one... but if I had to choose one It would probably be Show Me How To Live by Audioslave”.
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
Daniel: “Brewing an extra strong cup of coffee. It just keeps me up through the whole process. Sometimes it takes the extra cup to kick in the jams."
Guy: “No, I let it come and let its flow”.
Ido: “Not much, but I often write in the late hours of the night, around 2 a.m. is my most productive time”.
Itay: “Not really… sometimes I'll get inspired after a conversation with a friend and a lot of times I would just jam a lot until I'll find something I want to develop”.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
Daniel: “Well, this one is gonna be really diverse. On the edgier side, I keep listening to Youth Fountain, and on the other more chill end I can’t stop listening to Bombay Bicycle Club”.
Guy: Alice in Chains, John Mayer, Slipknot, Christian Kuria, Stevie Wonder, Jordan Rakei”.
Ido: “ Right now I am really enjoying listening to the last Pixies album, "Doggerel" and to the "Fragile" album by Yes, but I’m also listening a lot to Kendrick Lemar's latest album”.
Itay: “Right now I listen to a lot of hip-hop artists like JID, Pharoahe Monch, and KAYTRANADA. On the rock/metal front, there's BZAAT, an Israeli duo that makes insanely groovy metal, and Noam Ben Omri, a super talented guitarist that makes amazing instrumental music”.
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Daniel: “Incubus - Please Brandon Boyd if you're reading this contact us and we’ll make it happen ASAP”.
Guy: “Chris Cornell”.
Ido: “I would really love to open a show for Muse or Radiohead, Their music is a huge inspiration for me and I think that it can be heard in our music”.
Itay: “ Deftones”.
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
Daniel: “The fact is that we are creating something new and unique and having the slightest impact on people”.
Guy: “Doing what I love to do the most”.
Ido: “That someone is having an emotional connection to one of your songs. In my perspective, when someone is happy, sad, angry, or whatever and your song is a way of expressing it to the world, it's the true meaning of art”.
Itay: “Doing what I love every day, to inspire and be inspired, and most of all that weird awesome feeling you get when you play a live show”.
And what is the most frustrating part?
Daniel: “Being stressed as hell and sleeping fewer hours. Damn, I’m tired even writing this”.
Guy: “Instability”.
Ido: “I actually don't see anything as frustrating in making music, even when you fail you're still creating something that you feel and expressing it into your music so there is nothing bad about it. sure it can be hard sometimes but frustration is not the right word for it the way I see it”.
Itay: “The lack of stability”.
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
Daniel: “Keep on pushing, get a really good bullshit detector, and get a smaller pedalboard because that back pain ain’t gonna cure itself”.
Guy: “Be yourself nobody is going to be as you”.
Ido: “Practice, practice, practice, if you don't try to become a better musician every day then you're limit is much closer than you might think”.
Itay: “Don't compare yourself to others, no one is better than you at being you, so be the best you can be”.
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The Urban Tales' new single 'Hospital' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.