The only person left after the Ultras band disbanded is Eli Peretz, who is now releasing a new album and talking about breaking up with friends • "It's become a work net. Something fun has gone wrong."
A difficult year has passed for the band Ultras, even in terms of 2020. In addition to the ongoing crisis in the world of culture, already in January the band member Dan Bartov announced his retirement from the band.
It happened about four years after the departure of Cedric Ben Shabbat, which said that Eli Peretz was the only original band member left.
The hip hop ensemble created by the three childhood friends and conquered the country with hits like "Cinderella" with Noa Kirl and "Party in Haifa" with Itai Levy, suddenly became a one-man project.
"The band is like relationships," Peretz said with the release of "Earth and Sky," the first single from Ultras Model 2020 (which now also includes singers Gal Binyamin and Liam Benisti).
"We went through it back in 2016, when Cedric left and the first song we released after he retired, 'Party in Haifa', became a huge hit. So even now, I put together a new and amazing team of talented and hungry guys. It lights me up and feels like fire to me. "In the first days I started making music in them. These are the Ultras 2021."
What is it like when the car of three childhood friends actually becomes an operation with alternating friends?
"I started the Ultras when we were kids. I knew Cedric and attached him to me and then Dan. And since then we have had this summary, no matter what happens - the Ultras is mine. It's my baby, I chose the name, I initiated the studio when we were little. "
Cedric attacked you in a scathing post.
Claimed a dispute with record company Tact Records, saying you run a brand and replace musicians like robots.
"I'm in the best relationship I've ever had with Subliminal and 'Tact'. I don't even want to comment on it, it's funny. I wish him only good and that he'll mess with his life and career and leave me alone. 4-5 years have passed since he left, I do not In the wave of seeking the evil. "
And what's the story behind Dan's departure?
"The Ultras has become like our job, and it seems to me that's why it didn't hold up and he eventually retired. We've been guys for a lot of years, and something in the companies has become a partnership."
Are you still in touch?
"It's like you have friends in the army, and then you break free and are still their friend, but naturally there is a distance, it's not like it used to be. But we are not enemies or quarrels. We get to meet less on a daily basis. "So in my daily life we are less talkative. Working with young and new people also brings me back to the age of 15. I am excited about everything that is happening and the album we are releasing."
The new album, which will be called "Sparkling Diamond", will contain the band's familiar hits that will be first collected for the album.
Alongside them will be embedded entirely new songs, including the fresh single, in which he actually sings for the first time (and not just doing rap and leaving the chorus to others, as he puts it).
He dedicates "Earth and Sky" to his fiancée, Natalie.
The two planned to get married last May, but Corona had other plans.
"Natalie is supportive and wants my success," he says, "and we said that if we get married then we do it right. I do not intend to take the slightest chance on a risk group. We have waited until now, we will wait a little longer, it will not kill us. All. Inhibition for the better. "
Not sure how true this is about returning to the stages.
"We recently released a song called 'Good Days' with Kobi Subliminal Shimoni, Gal Malka, Kitaria, Gad Elbaz, Ran Shafir and Yam Refaeli. I have a line in the song that says 'Of all things - I miss the stage the most'. "There's nothing like feeling the audience at a show. It has no substitute in any way and zoom shows are no substitute."
