IE: For those unfamiliar with Kids Insane tell us a little about who you are and what Kids Insane is all about.

Nadav: We are Nadav (26) on bass and Corey (24), vocals. The other 2 crucial Kids Insane members are Assaf (26) on guitar and Yoni (24) on drums. Kids Insane are like most hardcore bands…a local group of friends getting together and sharing their love for hardcore punk music, protesting our love and anger against this messed up, two sides society that we all live in.

IE: When I think of hardcore bands and where they are from I usually think about NY, the East Coast or California or the UK and Europe. What is the scene there like for punk and hardcore?

Nadav: It's quite a small scene compared to the rest of the world…But at most shows local bands draw around 60-80 people, when a bigger American band comes by, which happens very rarely, about 500-800 people could be there. Many people in Israel listen to punk and hardcore at home but don’t get out to see bands play live. There are no punk record stores and only a few small active distros.

Corey: Quite a few good hardcore bands have started in the last 3-5 years. I believe Israel has all the sources for growing a punk/hardcore scene...there’s just so much fucked up shit going on here and so much to say and do about it.

IE: Do you get most of the bigger touring bands coming through when they tour Europe?

Nadav: Simply…no. I guess it’s because of the high prices of plane tickets, and the fact YOU HAVE to fly over to get here. Over the years a good few did pass through here though. I could give you a long list but I’ll just state the ones who were worth seeing: Good Clean Fun, NOFX, Shelter, No Turning Back, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Frenzal Rhomb, Dry Heaves and Pettybone.

IE: You refer to Israel as “IsraHell” on your Facebook page. What was it like growing up there for you?

Nadav: Growing up here as an Israeli kid isn't much different than growing up in any other American suburb. You can get all the music and the magazines down here…we had MTV, skateboards and guitars. We just got things down here a few years later but this is even closing in now with the internet changing everything. The one big difference growing up here is of course constantly hearing about threats or terror attacks. At about the age of 6, it was the Gulf War, we all hurried into shelters with gas masks on and a few years later suicide bombings started in Tel Aviv. For a kid these events really scare you and the fear makes most blind. Some of us grow to learn more and more about this complicated conflict and I guess that's where some of the anger comes from.

Corey: When your friends and family are seen as “targets” the people around you would expect you to choose a side... and we can’t choose a side when we find both so hard to trust.

Nadav: The letter H' in "Israhell" is an old Israeli metalhead joke that kinda stuck... but anyway life here sure ain't  heaven.

IE: These are some turbulent times in your area of the world. How have you been effected by the recent fighting that has seemed to be cooling down in recent weeks?

Corey: Well, we live in the center of the country so we don’t get to see a lot of missiles flying around our heads (last time it happened in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area was back in the 90’s) but we are clearly aware now of what a hell of a life could be for a person living closer to these missile hotspots.

Nadav: A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of a few missiles flying into Tel Aviv. You could really smell the panic in the streets after the first alarm went off. No real damage was done to the area we live in and all our friends and families are safe. At the end of the day we all want the occupation to end and we want people to stop threatening our families’ lives.

IE: When you say threaten your family’s lives you mean as a country or as individuals?

Nadav: As Israeli’s.

IE: This past July you released a video for the song “Same Shit Different Scene” which is a cartoon starring Kids Insane. This has to be one of the most original videos I have ever watched from a hardcore band. Can you tell us how the idea came about and how the video came together? Who did the drawing and who came up with the storyline of you guys breaking into a vault?

Nadav: Our friend Alon Bonder likes to draw these funny characters of just about everything. About a year ago he came over to me to edit a short animation exercise he was doing for school. We loved how it came out and we had to do another video. I knew we all wanted something original and different for a Kids Insane video. It only took 5 minutes to come up with the idea. We thought that a bank robbery would just make a really cool video but we don’t support violence and we're not in it for the diamonds... A massive safe full of good records though is something worth stealing. We put everything together for 3 months and shot and edited everything within a few weeks thanks to a lot of friends and favors.

IE: “Story Of A Lonely Street” was the first video off of your CD “All Over” and took more of the traditional live setting that is associated with hardcore videos. The song is more of a slow jam and shows an innovative writing style. What kind of music or bands do you think directly influences you guys these days when you go to write a new song?

Corey: We love early American hardcore bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Dag Nasty, Gorilla Biscuits and of course Black Flag. We listen to hardcore bands from these times as well… Paint It Black, The Suicide File, Trash Talk, Gallows, lots of Bridge 9, Deathwish, and Thinkfast bands go through our stereo, but that 80’s hardcore sound will always be a kind of guiding line to us....

Nadav: From time to time we may get “modern”, we love the amount of options there are with modern technology. Without it a song like “Story Of A Lonely Street” would sound completely different.

IE: How does the process of writing new material happen for this band? Take us through from start to finish how a typical Kids Insane song gets created.

Corey: Nadav and Assaf will come up with a guitar riff or 2 that works together and then we will just start jamming with Yoni till I get the lyrics together…by that time it’s just bits and pieces left.

IE: One thing that stood out on “All Over” were the lyrics and how they have to be read a few times and almost deciphered to get the idea of the message. Is this something done on purpose and can you describe your writing style?

Corey: Usually, like any song writer, I start writing when I'm charged with emotion and got a subject in my head...by the time the pen hits paper I think of a specific point of view to write through. I’ll leave small hints that are like "keywords" to give the general idea away, it can be a line from the song, the title or sometimes I’ll just leave it as a mystery. I can't really define my writing style. I puke out my guts on paper and hope for the worst. I can say that the writing style in the new Kids Insane songs are a bit different and don't leave much room for question marks.

IE: Your record label is based in Pennsylvania, your CD was mastered in Massachusetts and you also did a UK tour, and have interest for touring in Central and South America. My question is how much time do you spend networking? It is obviously working for you to this point.

Nadav: We wanna reach everywhere, and these days with Facebook and emails you could practically send your stuff everywhere. Whether or not people will listen is not up to us.

IE: Would you say Kids Insane is one of the bigger bands in the underground scene in Israel?

Nadav: Not really, the underground scene in general here is big and has a lot of different music genres. I guess we can say we stick out on the punk hardcore horizon.

Corey: And certainly with every gig more people show up.

IE: You played a two week tour of Europe with the UK’s Dry Heaves this past September and into early October. How did that tour come about and was that your first time playing outside of Israel?

Nadav: That tour was the first time we took Kids Insane out. We all have been on tours before but this was another level of exciting for us. Last March we helped Dry Heaves out and booked their Israeli tour. We know Avi, their vocalist, since he used to live in Israel. Anyway as a sort of “thank you” the Heaves took us in their van and let us borrow all of their equipment. We really can’t thank them enough for being such cool dudes with us and taking us on this tour. We had an amazing time with them.

IE: How did everything turn out on the tour? Best show/moments?

Corey: Overall it was great. The crowd responses were really good. We sold most of our merch and made a lot of new friends. Hanging out with Dry Heaves for two weeks was awesome. They’re hilarious and sound soooooo good.

Nadav: We think the best show was at the skate park in Sheffield, England. It was a Saturday night and the spirits were high. The minute we started it all just went off. Everybody was happy, drunk and dancing and a bunch of good friends from back home were there too. It was a good night…so good that Corey came out drinking afterward and he never drinks!

IE: Worst show/moment?

Nadav: Wasn’t really a worst moment... just some shows where you end up playing in front of the promoter and the other bands. On those kind of nights we know how to make the best of it and not let this get us down. Thank you German beer!

IE: When you are away from home for a few weeks like you were what are the things you miss most about home?

Nadav: My girlfriend, and my mums food.

Corey: The things I miss the most about home when I'm on tour are seeing my girlfriend, Saturdays with the family, sitting around with my friends, playing the drums, eating hummus and the one thing that you don't get much to do on tour and it's being alone…in my room with a good record playing.

IE: What do you guys do for jobs?

Nadav:  I’m unemployed at the moment, Yoni works at a data coverage company and also is a part time student, Assaf is a full time graphic design student and Corey works at his local convenience store.

IE: What are your future plans for touring? If they aren’t already booked what are you looking to do next?

Nadav: At the moment we plan on doing a short week in the UK around Spring time and probably get out to the rest of Europe again in the summer. We’ve been asked to play some places in Central and South America so we’re trying to work that out too. It will be really interesting to see how it goes over there.

IE: Is there an overall “goal” for the band like touring in certain places maybe? Playing with a particular band? Or just being a well known name in the world of hardcore music?

Nadav: I think our first goal is just to enjoy the music and the kind of thing we do. We want to play everywhere really, and keep expressing our feelings through music. We wish that our music will help break barriers and build bridges between people and more. Help people to question and make a change for the better. One goal I have is to go to Indonesia and Malaysia. These countries don't have diplomatic relations with Israel but do have a proper hardcore scene going on. We can't go there because we've got the wrong passports.

IE: That’s all I have right now, anything else that you would like to add?

Nadav: Fuck the border

IE: Which border to be exact?

Nadav: Any border that stands in the way of an innocent person.