missFlag is an

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

from

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Formed in 2005, the band's music is mostly influenced by the new wave of

British music Throughout the history of the British Isles, the land that is now the United Kingdom has been a major music producer, drawing inspiration from church music and traditional folk music, using instruments from England, Scotland, Northern Irelan ...

and

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

. The band consists of

Gil Assayas Gil Assayas (; also known as GLASYS) is an Israeli composer, keyboardist, producer, and vocalist. Previously, he was the lead vocalist and keyboardist of the band missFlag. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Assayas released the first GL ...

( keyboards and lead vocals), Assa Bukelman (

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

), Shai Saadia (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

), and Assaf Kraus (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and backing vocals). The band formerly included Ohad Eilam (a former lead singer, guitarist and songwriter).

History

Formation

missFlag's members have known each other years before forming the band. The group first started working together as a one-time

Tribute act A tribute act, tribute band, tribute group or tribute artist is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act. Tribute acts include individual performers who mimic the songs and style of an artist ...

for the

British Rock British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the develop ...

band

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

. Up until lately the band consisted of five members, including the musician and songwriter Ohad Eilam (guitar and vocals). Later on the band continued working as a four piece band.

''First EP''

Shortly after the Coldplay tribute, the group started to perform, write and record their own music, which led to the creation of their first release – a self-produced EP of 5 songs which was printed in only 1,000 copies. The EP caught the ear of

music producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Guy Erez Guy Erez () is a Los Angeles–based songwriter/producer, composer and virtuoso bass player. Born and raised in Israel, Erez moved to Los Angeles in 1992. His songs have appeared in hit movies and TV shows including the soundtrack to the Oscar- ...

(

Jennifer Love Hewitt Jennifer Love Hewitt (born February 21, 1979) is an American actress, producer and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel serie ...

Gipsy Kings Gipsy Kings (originally Los Reyes) are a musical group founded in 1979 in Arles, France. The band, whose members have Catalans, Catalan heritage, play a blend of Catalan rumba, flamenco, Salsa music, salsa, and Pop music, pop. They perform mos ...

, Adam Cohen,

Sarah Bettens Sam Bettens (formerly Sarah Bettens, born September 23, 1972) is a Belgian singer and musician, best known as the lead singer of the Belgian band, K's Choice. In May 2019, he came out as a transgender man. Career K's Choice In the mid-1990s ...

) who later produced missFlag's first

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

''To Infinity''

In early 2007, the group finished writing a lot of new material, from which 10 songs were chosen for the purpose of recording their debut studio album. "To Infinity" was produced by

based producer

and came to light later that year. The Album was a mile stone for the band in the crowded US market. Later that year, the group released a single from the album, called "Hidden Thieves" a rock ballad that caught the ear of the renowned radio D.J. and "taste-maker"

Nic Harcourt Nic Harcourt (born September 23, 1957) is an English-born American radio and television presenter, producer, and journalist best known as the former Music Director and on-air presenter for the Santa Monica, California-based radio station KCRW. Ha ...

from

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

, the California-based public radio station. (Credited for discovering

Travis Travis may refer to: People and fictional characters *Travis (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Travis (surname), a list of people Places in the United States *Travis, Staten Island, a neighborhood *Travis Air Force Base, a ...

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (located ...

Norah Jones Norah Jones ( ; born Geethali Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, , has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the top jazz artist of ...

Pete Yorn Peter Joseph Yorn (born July 27, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first gained international recognition after his debut record, '' Musicforthemorningafter'', was released to critical and commercial acclaim in 2001. He is ...

, and David Gray). The Jerusalem Post reviewed the album.

''Hidden Thieves''

Hidden Thieves is probably the group's

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

song. The single hit KCRW's top 20 charts, was praised in two different reviews by

The Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...

, was downloaded digitally over 10,000 times and was nominated by the

indie music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties afforded by in ...

website

GarageBand GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...

as song of the week several times. Furthermore, The Spanish/American based radio station Fame Games Radio chose ''Hidden Thieves'' to be song of the week four times in a row, leading to a "Track of the Month" title.

''Dreams of Flying''

In 2009, the group covered the Israeli classic "''Uf Gozal''" () by

Arik Einstein Arieh Lieb "Arik" Einstein ( ; (3 January 1939 – 26 November 2013) was an Israeli singer, songwriter, actor, comedian and screenwriter. He was a pioneer of Israeli rock music and was named "the voice of Israel." Through both high public and c ...

and

Miki Gavrielov Miki Gavrielov (; born 1949) is an Israeli composer and performer of folk/rock music. His career spans many decades, beginning with being a member of rock group The Churchills. He is known for a long collaboration with Arik Einstein. Many of t ...

, featuring Gavrielov himself in both the song and the video clip. Whilst the song was originally written in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, the band rewrote the lyrics in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and renamed it ''Dreams of Flying'' but maintained the general concept of the song. The melody was kept but the

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

was changed to fit missFlag's style. Along the years, missFlag has cooperated with many artists and musicians, both in the studio and live on stage including;

Jamie Muhoberac Benjamin Edward "Jamie" Muhoberac (born September 11, 1965) is an American session keyboardist with numerous credits. He is best known for his work with Seal and Was (Not Was). He is a touring member of New Jersey rock band My Chemical Romance. ...

, (from the Hebrew Wiki→) Yirmi Kaplan,

, Sharon Moldavi, Lee Biran (Libi), Ohad Eilam, Michael Greilsammer, Mai Lev,

Miki Geva Miki Geva (Hebrew: מיקי גבע; born 9 October 1979) is an Israeli stand-up comedian, musician and actor. Biography Geva was born and raised in Kiryat Malakhi. He performed for the first time at the age of nine in a local music festival ...

, Rebbe-Che and many others.

"Still Alive" cover

Still Alive "Still Alive" is the song featured in the closing credits of the 2007 video game '' Portal''. It was composed and arranged by Jonathan Coulton and was performed by Ellen McLain, who voiced the ''Portal'' antagonist and in-game singer of the song ...

" is a song by

Jonathan Coulton Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are "Cod ...

, originally written as the ending credits theme for the PC game "

Portal Portal may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), a series of video games developed by Valve ** ''Portal'' (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series ** '' Portal 2'', the 2011 sequel ** '' Portal Stori ...

" by

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

. On November 10, 2007 missFlag uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

a cover version of the song, played at a rehearsal. The cover caught the ears of thousands of ''Portal'' fans, who urged the band to do a high-quality studio recording of their version. missFlag listened and recorded the song, released on March 16, 2008 as a free download from their website. The song was downloaded over 25,000 times and featured in numerous leading gaming sites.

Awards and media appearances

*On September 17, 2007 missFlag played a live session in Harcourt's morning edition

Morning Becomes Eclectic ''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' (MBE) is an American three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill t ...

, and drew the attention of several

major label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...

s, including

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

who invited the band to LA for a showcase later that year. *That same month, missFlag was also invited to play in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

film festival. *In December 2007, missFlag's song "Fortune" was selected as KCRW's Top Tune. *On March 10, 2007 the group performed with the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

-Israeli band

Blackfield Blackfield is a collaborative music project by the English musician and founder of Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, and Israeli rock musician Aviv Geffen. Together, six albums have been released under the moniker. The first two records, '' Blac ...

(

Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...

Aviv Geffen Aviv Geffen (; born 10 May 1973) is an Israeli rock musician, singer-songwriter, music producer and author. In addition to his solo career, Geffen is a founding member of the band Blackfield, he was also the global music director for WeWork. Ge ...

) at the

Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment and is co-owned and co-operated by Knitting Factory Entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United Stat ...

, in

, California. *Since 2006, the band has toured the US four times, from East Coast to West Coast, covering over 20 states. *The ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', '' ...

'' newspaper has picked missFlag's show at " Antone's" in Austin, Texas as the Best Bet for March, 2007. * ABC Radio Networks "Fame Games" featured missFlag in "Red Carpet" - The Global Breakthru Chart No. 15 (May 16, 2009). *The band has been selected as one of the top 5 nominees for 8 awards, including: Best Overall Artist, Best Group (Rock), Most Popular band, Best Overall vocal, in ABC Radio Networks Fame Games Effigy Awards. *In 2008, their single "Hidden Thieves" was nominated in the Alternative category at the Hollywood Music Awards. *In June 2005, their song "Run" made it to the top 5 in the 'rock' category at the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

"Song of the Year songwriting contest". *JLTV (

Jewish Life Television Jewish Life Television (JLTV) is an American entertainment television network broadcasting Jewish–themed programming. The network was founded in 2007 by Phil Blazer, a longtime journalist and producer of programming for the Jewish community; Bla ...

) nationwide US TV channel did a feature on the band.

Discography

* #First EP - Released in 1.1.2006. * #To Infinity - Released 2007. * #Turn It Off Plug It Out - Released 2012

Singles

*''Hidden Thieves'' - Released in 20.4.2007 *''You're Not Easy To Love'' - Released in 18.6.2008 *''Dreams of Flying'' - Released in 2009.

References

External links

Official website101 breaks by Assaf Kraus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Missflag Israeli pop music groups Musical groups from Jerusalem Israeli indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2005 2005 establishments in Israel