Riviera Regime

Riviera Regime gehören zur neuen Generation bei Psycho + Logical Records. Mit “Real Soldierz Ride” liegt nun bereits das dritte Album der ehemaligen IDF-Soldaten vor – diesmal mit freundlicher Unterstützung von Necro, Q-Unique, Mr. Hyde, Cynic und anderen alten Bekannten. In unserem Interview stellt Klee Magor das Duo kurz vor…

On your website, you describe yourself as a “universal group” that has never been limited to one city or region. Now you two ended up in Toronto – have you thought about moving to New York after getting signed by PLR Records?

Ya, we have considered it actually, always enjoy being out in NYC whenever we out there. We got a large crew out there, but right now there’s no real reason for me to live out there. I do all my own production, and I own a studio here in Toronto plus I own 2 other businesses. So basically T.O. is my stomping ground and I love being  out here. I also got a 72 year old father who survived the holocaust. He lives 10 minutes away from me, and I like being near by so I can see him as often as possible, feel me.

You were serving in the Golani Brigade – for what reasons did you choose to join the israeli army?

It was for a few reasons: family, pride, for the experience, something to do basically. For me it was either that or end up behind bars eventually, ’cause I was a wild teenager. I needed it to help me become a better person.

When and why did you decide to leave the IDF?

Well we did our mandatory time that was expected of us. 2 years we did, between 1997-1999, so when it was time to leave we left. We had enough after 2 years of non stop grind and fighting. It was time to move on.

I already heard Necro’s side of the story … but could you describe in your own words how you connected with him?

We hit him up with an e-mail in 2005 after hearing about him and feelin’ what he was doing. It was similar to our vibe, plus he is from an Israeli family. So we decided to holla at him and connect. We ended up meeting in person a few months later that year in NYC and we all clicked and became crew.

You released two albums before your deal with PLR – “Thugz Of War” and “Cold Blooded”. To be honest with you – I haven’t heard them yet. What kind of sound did you bring to the table?

“Thugz of War” was released in 2004. It’s a hard album, theres some dope bangers on it. I did all the production on it. We also produced and directed two videos of that album and released a 12″ vinyl. “Cold Blooded” was the follow up album in 2006. Very grimey album, extremely violent and gangster vibe to it. I also produced that whole album.  Both albums are flava.

Did you already get any international response during that time?

We had made some fans across the USA – due to the fact that we drove and sold CD’s out of the trunk of my car. We drove all over Florida and parts of New York selling copies of “Thugz of War”.  When we finally got our video for “Dat Murder Shit” and also “Dont Fuck wit Us” on the net, the international buzz got bigger and we started to get orders from parts of Europe and Austalia.

Now it’s all about “Real Soldierz Ride” – what can we expect from this one?

Expect to be impressed. The production on this album is dope as hell!  I produced the
majority, but we got a song produced by Necro called “Golani Brigade” on it, plus a few
other producers lent their talents. We got some dope collabos on it, too: from Necro, Danny Diablo, Q-Unique, Mr. Hyde, Cynic of Sick Symphonies, Nems and others. This album is banger after banger, not one filler tune.

What makes this album better than your earlier works?

Well for one, it comes with a bonus DVD with over 100 minutes of footage. I’m talkin about live show performance footage, videos and other bonus material. The album also comes with a bonus compilation album featuring 14 tracks from the 2 previous albums, and 2 unreleased tracks, one from 1998 in the Hebrew language.

“Real Solderz Ride” is your first album with large-sized promotion. Do you have a several albums deal with PLR? How do you see your future there anyway?

No, we don’t have any multiple album deal with PLR, we taking it one project at a time. We were already down with PLR before we decided to do a deal with Necro. Necro is a friend of ours, so we’ll take it as it comes and see how it all works out.

Last but not least could you quote your favourite line(s) from the upcoming album?

I dont have any real favorite lines on this album, they all dope! But just one off the top
that comes to me: “The streets is watching all these cats be squeelin and talking / alot of dealers be cops but really concealing their walkie talkies / it’s like in gin rummy they’ll try to play you for money / what I’m sayin the system is designed to get the better man / in and out the bing stuck in the hood lost in the ghetto fam / the Regime we team forming like a rebel gang / banging big toys and make noise just like a metal band.”