missFlag shuns politics for love in Israel’s indie rock scene

Throughout human history, flag wavers have always received special attention.

missFlag, an up-and-coming indie band from Israel, hopes to receive some special attention of its own when it makes its first stab at securing a place in the history of commercial pop music success stories.

The band just made its live debut in the United States with a handful of shows in the L.A. area, including at the Cat Club on Sunset Blvd. Besides getting a feel for American audiences, missFlag positioned itself to showcase for Universal Records, looking for a deal that would allow them to plant their flag firmly on American soil.

The band began its rise two years ago, in Jerusalem, with five local musicians, ages 20 to 32, all born in Israel with the exception of singer Ohad Eilam who was born in New York and moved to Israel with his parents when he was 7.

“The music community of Jerusalem is very small,” Eilam said, “so all of us in the band really knew each other already from having been involved in other musical projects in the same scene. One day we just started collaborating, and we committed to it.”

While the bandmates became bar mitzvah and are all practicing Jews, none of their songs reference Judaism and they say they would rather leave the topic of Israeli politics to the politicians. Instead, the band writes lyrics shying reflecting on the universal problems of love rather than personal problems tied to a war-torn Israel.

Establishing the common human connection of love with American audiences may be a smart way to go if they are going to conquer American radio airwaves, although American audiences might be more inclined to accept songs of political protest these days.

In late November, missFlag will release their songs, which are sung in English, on a full-length album to be sold on the Internet via the band’s website