We say it plenty of times. Soul, it seems, pops up in some unexpected places… like Tel Aviv! It seems that the Israel town is a Northern soul hot bed with the coastal resort hosting it’s very own Soul Club. The Tel Aviv Soul Club, aka TASC, is the brainchild of Yashiv Cohen, a DJ who, in 2006, lured brothers Johnnie and Bin Neeman, whose massive soul collections had been hitherto confined to their respective living rooms, into playing their records to the Tel Aviv public.
Yashiv is also the lead singer of Men of North Country, a Tel Aviv band who blend rock, British pop and soul. However he’s always hankered to form a more soul-based band and he recruited the Neeman brothers who just happened to play guitar and piano. Now, “Neeman”, we’re told, means “faithful” in Hebrew, so the new band were quickly dubbed THE FAITHFUL BROTHERS.
The band are working on a debut album but they’ve just released their first single – a stomping ‘Dance My Hurt Away” with an equally splendid up-tempo cover of Billy Sha-Rae/Eddie Parker’s ‘Crying Crown’.
Lots of contemporary bands/artists have tried their hand at “Northern” – with mixed results. But in truth, these Faithfuls do a wonderful job – both tracks have a really authentic sound …. tinkling vibes, crashing beats, parping brass and pumping bass… the lot. We would though, describe the vocals as “blue-eyed soul” – but nowt wrong with that! The tunes are out now via Mr Mellow’s Music. Interesting!
