Bouquets, Memories, and Desert Journeys

Interview By Bardo Mendez of Integra Pink

Photographs By Rick Perez

Reckless Magazine takes a trip to the desert with Southern California musician Israel’s Arcade to discuss his new album, “Live Your Fantasy”. Israel opens up to Bardo Mendez of Integra Pink and talks about experimenting with different styles of music, evolving as an artist, and his album release show at the Paramount on December 15th.

Coachella Valley, USA

Bardo: Congrats on the new album “Live Your Fantasy.” Can you go into what the process was like recording it and writing it?

Israel: Well, I think as far as the recording and writing process, they kind of went hand in hand. I recorded everything myself, except for one song in my bedroom, through a tiny Scarlet interface. I kind of would write a guitar loop, then write over a guitar lead over that, and that guitar lead became the vocal melody, then I would come up with a drum beat, and then I would come up with the lyrics and it was kind of.. the whole writing process was kind of like a little Frankenstein of you know just like layering a bunch of ideas over each other.

Bardo: I really enjoyed listening to the album. The first song, “You Can’t Hurt Me” just hooks you in immediately with its fast-paced drumming. The melodic intro and that guitar lick that you have in between “Dry Wind Memories” was super nice and the outro guitar section of “Hacker” I really enjoyed a lot because it was super groovy. For me the standout track was “La Tipica” but I want to know which song off your new album was the most fun to record?

Israel: Most fun to record… that would probably have to be ‘Live Your Fantasy’ because the drumbeat was so fun to make and it was fun to dance to. I’d be dancing by myself in my room as I was recording it and this is a true story. I did this several times to that song, just by myself.

The other one would have to be ‘Bouquet of Youth’ because that was the only song that I didn’t record myself. Our friend recorded it for us at an actual studio and it was the first time my whole band was able to record on an actual track and that was a lot of fun to do.

Bardo: You’ve stated on your Instagram that the oldest track on the album was first written around 2018. Could you share which track that was and then why you waited this long to release it?

Israel: That track is ‘Bouquet of Youth’. ‘Bouquet of Youth’ and ‘Dry Wind Memories’ are basically the same song, so it’s like a 10 to 11 minute song but because it’s so long I ended up just cutting it in half and making it two separate songs. It took so long because it’s really complicated to record and complex; there’s a lot of tempo changes and recording things that I didn’t know how to do at the time. I had to use an actual professional to do it for us.

Bardo: From your very first single back in 2018 to your now latest album, how would you say your music has evolved since then?

Israel: I think since our first single in 2018, I’m less afraid to stay within a certain sound and genre. In the very beginning I was very much adamant on having like a traditional, whatever the indie sound was at the time. I’ve always been interested in so many different types of styles of music and I’m not so afraid experiment with that anymore.

‘Live Your Fantasy’ has some dark wave vibes in there. ‘La Tipica’ has some rockabilly influences. There’s some surf influences. In the future I don’t want to stick to one specific thing but being able to have the flexibility to do a lot.

Bardo: Your single “Wages of Fear” features a picture of your grandmother on the single cover. How has your background and heritage influenced your music and more specifically your new album?

Israel: Well I do talk about this all the time but I grew up listening to so many different genres. I grew up with metal and bands like Metallica, Nirvana, and Sublime. I grew up with techno, cumbias, banda, ska….everything. Having parents [who] were teenagers in the 90’s and were exposed to so many different types of genres transcribes into my music for sure.

Bardo: Which song or songs on the album were the most difficult to finish?

Israel: I would say the most difficult song to finish and record would have to be ‘Bouquet of Youth’ again just because it’s so long and there’s so many different moments within those 11 minutes. With a song like ‘Live Your Fantasy’, I was able to just loop the same drum beat throughout the entire song and it sounded solid that way but I wasn’t able to do that with ‘Bouquet of Youth’.

Bardo: Which song are you most excited for people to listen to?

Israel: I think all of them, man, honestly because they’re all so different. The first one has an electronic punky vibe and I just want people to see my versatility. We can do multiple things, we’re not like one trick ponies you know? So I want them to hear all of it.

Bardo: Who are some artists or bands you enjoy listening to before a show or when you’re out on the road?

Israel: Well it’s always changing. I’ll pull up my Spotify right now, let me see….I just watched the new Priscilla movie, so I’ve been listening to some Elvis. I got some Social Distortion in there, started getting into Pink Panthress. I’m a big fan of the band X. I got some fuckin’ corridos in there too, some punk. Dust Bowl Champion, ya know?

Bardo: The album release show on December 15th at the Paramount in LA - can you tell me more about it? Are you excited for it?

Israel: Oh, I’m super excited for it. I’m so excited because we’re going to be headlining the show and we’re going to have KCRW dj’ing in between the sets. I’m super excited for the bands that we’re going to have on the bill. We’re going to have the Grin, which is like an ice age kind of post punk vibe, and then we have the Mainliners, who are like an 80’s punk vibe, and then we have the band Pleasure Pill from San Diego who have a very like Brit-pop, Oasis kind of vibe. I’m all about that versatility and it’s going to be a very eclectic night. We’re going to have a really long set, I should say longer than usual it’s going to be like an hour and some change then we’re going to play a bunch of old songs we haven’t played in a while as well as our entire album and a bunch of new merch and fun stuff like that.

Bardo: And what do you think is going to be your favorite song to perform live?

Israel: Once again it’s going to have to be ‘Bouquet of Youth.’ I love that song man. It’s, it’s fun.