Old Man River
Aussie-Israeli Ohad Rein scores a surprise hit in Japan

Courtesy of BMG

The 1960s were a time when many musicians—Jimi Hendrix comes to mind—were shaped by compulsory military service. But with the draft mostly a thing of the past, Ohad Rein’s case is unusual.

“I learned in the army that I wanted to make music, and the fact that I couldn’t just gave me more motivation to do it,” says the frontman for Australian band Old Man River about his three years in the Israeli military. “As soon as I was released, it was like someone put me in a slingshot and fired me straight to New York City.”

In a chat at his record company’s office in Aoyama, Rein, an Israeli citizen, describes a life spent roaming continents. Born in Australia, where his parents were working at the time, he then lived in Israel, Holland, New York and India before returning to Sydney a few years ago.

Being in New York during 9/11 simply served to reinforce his musical ambition. “I was working in a shitty telemarketing job, then this crazy event happened,” he recalls. “The whole city came to a halt for about two months. Everything was disrupted, and there was a feeling in the air that any day now there could be another attack. That triggers a funny reaction: when you feel you may be gone tomorrow, you start thinking about what you’re doing now and asking, ‘Is this what I want to do?’ To me, the answer was no. It was a big wake-up call to just start doing it and not be afraid anymore, so I quit my job and hit the subway tunnel and started busking.”

Leaving New York to study the sitar in India finally brought Rein back to his birthplace. And it was in Sydney that the creative floodgates opened. “Australia was the perfect platform to digest my experiences, because India and New York and Israel were very intense, and then you get to a place like Australia and it’s like somebody pulled the brake,” he says. “It was a stable place, and good to be prolific and productive. I think all these different experiences, different places, different instruments, got mishmashed and found their way into my songwriting and into the album itself.”

With its psychedelic and folk stylings, Rein’s music bears a lot in common with the protest music of the ’60s. Yet there’s nothing overtly antiwar about his lyrics along the lines of, say, Hendrix’s “Machine Gun.” Instead, many of the songs bear uncomplicated, universal messages. The out-of-the-blue top-selling international single, “La,” for example, is a simple, singsong celebration of life itself. “We all know the cliché

about how music crosses borders, but it’s true,” Rein insists in his difficult-to-pin-down accent. “It’s got the metaphysical ability to cross borders and cultures and seems to touch people in exactly the same spot everywhere.”

Japan isn’t the only place that’s gotten the message. After achieving moderate success in Australia with the single “Sunshine,” Old Man River first found themselves with a number two hit in Italy last year, followed by the recent widespread recognition in Japan. Based on the acclaim for “La,” Rein—instantly recognizable by his “Jewfro” hairstyle—is now in Japan doing the publicity rounds and appearing at a showcase at a Harajuku “live house,” where fans join him onstage in singing the chorus.

Breaking out of the isolation of Australia’s music scene isn’t easy, and Old Man River (the name comes from Rein’s fascination with the symbolism of rivers as well as the famous song) have done it in lightning speed. “This album surprised us,” admits Rein. “My intention was to release it in Australia and make it work there, and then all of a sudden we get a phone call and it’s number two in Italy.”

“I went to Italy and saw it happening, and then the same thing happens here in Japan, it becomes like number one on the radio. So it wasn’t a conscious decision, but when I look back on it and try to analyze why it has a worldwide appeal, I think it’s because of my own story. I’m not Australian, I don’t have the accent; I’m not really Israeli because I don’t have that accent either. I don’t feel attached to one place in particular, but on the other hand I feel comfortable everywhere. So it’s natural that the music that comes out of me appeals to people all over the place. Good Morning is not about a certain place, it’s like a fairytale that could be told anywhere at anytime.”

Old Man River play Summer Sonic on Aug 9-10. Good Morning is available on BMG.

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