Not being a musician myself, I can only begin to imagine that writing a song is not always the easiest of creative tasks to undertake. So, imagine the enormity of writing a complete rock opera, where the songs not only have to capture the audience but have to also flow so they tell a story, all in the space of a couple of hours. Perth artist & WAM member Keshet had a vision a few years back to write & create ‘The Diments’, a dark tragedy about falling from grace into the realms of insanity, as well as one man’s quest for redemption. The twisted tale centres on Eddie Diment, a successful businessman who believes he has it all – money, power and the beautiful Layla by his side. However, Eddie’s seemingly perfect world is quickly turned upside down when he discovers Layla is having an affair with his wayward brother, Barry.
The soundtrack is littered with strong original rock tracks interwoven with different genres & styles and played live by a professional seven-piece band. The show is being produced by Platinum Entertainment, who have recently staged highly-acclaimed productions of ‘We Will Rock You’ & ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, using local talent intermingled with some of Perth’ top vocalists, musicians & dancers with Tempest Rising’s Vin Trikeriotis & Emerald City’s Sal Abate playing the roles of Barry & Eddie respectively. We caught up with Keshet to talk about what we can expect to see & hear in this extraordinary production, his excitement at seeing his creation flourish & grow with Platinum Entertainment on board and what life was like in Israel with very limited access to the music we all know and love…
Sean: Hey Keshet, thank you for sparing some time to talk to us at The Rockpit about this wonderful rock opera, The Diments. It must be so exciting for you having Platinum Entertainment involved and taking this to the next level.
Kesh: I am over the moon. I can’t even begin to explain how it feels. It’s just something you didn’t think would ever happen for us. When we first put the show on in 2017 I thought that was it, we had a good run but I exhausted all my resources doing that run of shows and I really just didn’t know how I could take it forward. There was a really big buzz in Perth after the first run and a lot of doors opened and there were people who were saying they wanted to help take it forward but unfortunately people just consistently didn’t do what they promised. It just kept falling between the chairs until finally we lost all momentum and I was worried that I would not be able to do it all again from scratch. Thankfully Trevor & Katrina Patient from Platinum Entertainment came a saw one of the original shows and decided to take the risk… and it is a huge risk for them because it is an original show. I am so grateful that they have put their faith in me & in the project.
Sean: To some extent the last two shows that Platinum put on, ‘We Will Rock You’ & ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ were huge risks in their own right in that they are global hit shows that can go so horribly wrong if not well produced & I must say both were absolutely outstanding, with sell-out shows night after night, so as soon as tickets for ‘The Diments’ went on sale I brought a couple straight away because I know the qualities they will bring to this show as well as my love for live rock music. I have already listened to the soundtrack a few times and there are some incredible songs on there. The thing that is different for me is hearing the songs before seeing the show so I’m looking forward to how they play out in the story visually.
Kesh: Thank you. There is already new content that has been added to this new version of the production. There are new songs that weren’t on the original album as well as a lot more story telling through video art too, which helps with the story. I don’t want to give anything away but even by Platinum’s standards they are going to be doing things they haven’t done before on stage.
Sean: One of the songs that really stands up for me is ‘Tainted’… I love that track…
Kesh: Oh cool, Tyler Jacob Jones sang that track on the original album and I love his version but from all the songs that Sal (Abate) gets to sing as Eddie ‘Tainted’ is the best because he just hits something that at the time I didn’t even know the song was missing but now I can just hear is complete. I know now that is the way the song needs to be heard.
Sean: You have a few cast members returning from the original run, one of which is certainly a familiar face & voice to Perth metal & rock fans and that s Vin (Trikeriotis) from Tempest Rising.
Kesh: Yes, Vin has been with us all the way through from the album & original show and now back in this new version as well…
Sean: …and also no stranger to working with Platinum Entertainment as he was cast as Jesus in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’.
Kesh: It’s funny because when we did the original show there were a couple of notes that Vin held back on because he felt it better to take it down a bit and nail it rather than push it to the limit and hit a bum note. But after the performances he put in singing ‘Gethsemane’ in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ he has that new found confidence that he can hit those notes night after night so he will be pushing himself once again which is great. It still scares him because one of the notes is still even higher than was in ‘JCS’ but not as long, so that’s exciting for me to see how he approaches it. It’s pretty humbling working with both Vin & Sal because they are incredible singers but they never act like big shots – and they are in a way. Vin’s bands’ following is insane – they’ve just done a huge tour around Europe and then they did some shows in Japan. They are just one of the top go-to bands in Perth and when top band of the same genre come to WA they usually get the support slot. Ten years or so ago Sal had a band called Emerald City and they were one of the biggest Perth bands around… they opened for bands like KISS. So to have people of that calibre interested in performing in the show is a huge honour for me and both Vin & Sal were also in the first production too.
Sean: Fans of Platinum’s production of We Will Rock You will be pleased to see a new inclusion to this show in the form of Dean Misdale aka Feminem, who adds a bit of glam to the very unglamorous Doctor Opus. Opus is a new character that you have added to the show I believe.
Kesh: Yes, Dean has a cameo role and probably has one of the toughest songs in the show – it’s a new song that is not on the album and has been added – it’s a real tongue twister too. It is a song that requires the most rehearsals. Trevor set me a challenge to write something a bit different because the musical timing throughout the show is quite similar. So he asked me to try and write something that was as fast as possible musically…
Sean: [laughs] Dean must love you…
Kesh: [laughs] I know. It’s not only fast but it’s tough lyrically too… lots of long medical works at a super-fast rate. Dean has worked so hard at getting this perfected and it’s going to be one of the real highlights of the show. Having Dean on board has been amazing because he is a real powerhouse singer…
Sean: …having got to know Dean I know how much of a professional & perfectionist he is so I totally know where you’re coming from.
Kesh: Exactly, and pair that up with Sal & Vin, who have real rock-cred… you know, they have that strut on stage that you just can’t teach to an actor. They own it. The original run was just rock singers but now this cast is so mixed with the inclusion of musical theatre actors too. With Dean & Charlotte (Nurse Billy) working with Sal & Vin, they get to see how rock singers naturally behave. I’ll give you an example – we held a workshop with the six principles last week to just talk about the meanings of the lyrics because at the end of the day I’m the only one who really knows because I created it, so there is the stuff between the lines that the audience may not pick up on… and that’s no problem because its open to interpretation but I want the actors to know where I was coming from so they can think about that when they perform. So I was talking to Dean about his character, he had no interpretation yet because we were only singing and not directing at this stage. So he just sang it like a song and he hit the notes and sang it so well. Then we talked about the light and shade and why the doctor is so malevolent and discussed what to emphasise in the lyrics. The next day we sang again at rehearsals and Dean sang it completely differently and I’ve never seen anything like that… and that’s an actor rather than just a singer because he went home and characterised. He worked on pronunciations and emphasising different words & shortening or lengthening notes. He completely changed the feel of the character. It was incredible to hear.
Sean: We’ve talked about the male cast members but we have two extremely talented female principles too.
Kesh: Yes, we have Sumi who plays Layla and she sings in a band called Switch, who is one of the biggest corporate bands in Perth. She is just an incredible singer – she’s so young but has such an experienced voice and has so much versatility with it too. When she came to the auditions it was as if the character herself had walked in, even down to her mannerisms… it was so strange and has never happened to me before. So she has done some student films and some theatre but she is predominantly a singer. I have worked with three different Layla’s now and all have been great but with Sumi it almost like, “how did you know?” especially when in real life she Isn’t the controlling & fierce person that Layla is. Also, with the story being extended in this run it has almost become Layla’s story now even though it is still predominantly Eddie’s story. The new content makes it easier to establish who the hero is & who the villain in the show is.
Sean: We also have Nurse Billy played by Charlotte Williams…
Kesh: Charlotte is musical theatre through & through and she is a WAAPA graduate. She originally auditioned for the album back in 2015 and at the time I felt her voice was too young – I couldn’t believe that someone her age would be doing the things her character does. But I remembered her, called her before the auditions and said, “This is the time”. She auditioned for both roles and it was so close but in the end we knew she was perfect for the role this time.
Sean: So how much bigger has the show become with Platinum at the helm?
Kesh: Originally we had a three-piece band and now we are a seven-piece band. Not only do we have guitars, bass and drums which have always been the engine of The Diments but now we have cello, tenor sax, flute, trombone & oboe as well as two keyboards to fill in the gaps. We also only had four actors in the original run and some had to double up. There were three guys & one girl and she played both Layla & Nurse Billy so there were a lot of costume & make-up changes throughout the show which was quite challenging. We had Sal & Vin playing the leads and then Marcio Mendes, who is also returning in this run of the show, pretty much played everything else. Also the choreography has been expanded too – the first run had four dancers but now we have grown to seven so we have pretty much doubled up in every department.
Sean: You mentioned there about the flute… I certainly got that Jethro Tull feel in the overture and also a bit of a tip of the hat to Iron Maiden at the end of the Eddie Diments track too.
Kesh: You nailed it – that was definitely influences of mine.
Sean: I’d love to talk about your influences because I can hear so many through in the music you’ve written but first we must discuss the venue for the show. Platinum have selected quite possibly the best venue in Perth for rock music, The Astor Theatre.
Kesh: It’s unbelievable. The first run was performed at The Nexus Theatre in Murdoch University and unfortunately that venue is not really equipped for a real rock sound – the PA couldn’t handle just the bass drum alone so we had to bring in our own PA and also the room just couldn’t handle the sound. But with the Astor – is there really a better venue in Perth for live rock music? I didn’t think so. As a theatre stage it’s not ideal because it doesn’t have much depth but it certainly makes up for that in sound. Scott, who does the sound for Platinum’s shows apparently worked at The Astor when they put the system in so who better to be on the desk. So it is going to be phenomenal.
Sean: How did you come to write a rock opera? It must be quite a daunting task.
Kesh: Growing up as a teenager I became obsessed with rock operas. As a boy growing up in Israel, English was never my first language and in fact not a language that was used at all. The very first rock opera I listened to was ‘Tommy’ by The Who – I first heard ‘Pinball Wizard’ on a singles collection and I asked my mum about it because I wanted to learn the guitar just so I could play that intro. She had the vinyl so I listened to it and I was immediately hooked. I then found ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and my mum would sit with me and translate the lyrics song by song for me so I could understand what was happening. Growing up in a Jewish country I didn’t know anything about Jesus – I knew the name and that who Christians believed in but that was all. Then I heard ‘Quadrophenia’, again by The Who, which probably became my favourite of the three I’ve mentioned even though it was less successful. Back then though I wasn’t very confident in writing songs but I had a knack for writing stories.
Sean: And then quite a dramatic change in circumstances for you I believe…
Kesh: Yes, at the age of eighteen I was drafted into the army. In fact, I was drafted the very same day the U.S invaded Iraq in 2003 – everything just went crazy. I remember when it had happened the time before during the Gulf War in the 90’s, we had chemical weapons used on us in Israel, so we were expecting some retaliation against us again. So, for the more experienced soldiers it meant extra training and we had to carry a gas mask wherever we went. Because war was imminent we were given very intensive training in boot camp for us who were newly drafted – it what made matters even more profound was that our boot camp was located right next to the Gaza Strip, so we were the first line of defence if there was an attack. So before you even have training your given a weapon and put on guard duty and told, “If something happens then use it!” That was the major catalyst in driving the darkness of the music in The Diments.
A lot of the songs came when I had some downtime – we didn’t get much time off – when I would write. I had my nylon-string guitar with me because I refused to get drafted without it. The songs that deal with death in the show, all the music was created there at that time. It was another year of two before I found my writing partner, Gabriel Lefelman and told him about all the music I had written and my love for rock operas but my English was not good enough to tell a story. I knew there were going to be brothers and betrayal, romance and death… I just didn’t know how to tell the story. We would meet almost every day for eight months and we just worked so well together & would bounce ideas off each other like discussing character names… sometimes we would get stuck on a line for two weeks because it wasn’t right – it wasn’t telling the story the way it needed to be told. We were very young and didn’t have enough life experience to nail the gravity of what we wanted to say. But after eight months it was done and apart for some rearrangements for the 2015 album & 2017 run of shows I’m really pleased to say that the lyrics remain untouched from the original composition. We were twenty years old back then and to write something so mature… It wasn’t a happy time, we were just fortunate for all those things to happen to us at that time and to end up with this amazing piece of music.
Sean: It’s an incredible story and to hear it from you personally makes it even more profound. I will listen to it in a completely different light now. You said that English wasn’t spoken in Israel but what about music in general? What was that like for you growing up in Israel?
Kesh: There was no rock music – if you put on the radio there was no English speaking songs and in the rare chance there was then it would be pop music. There were people listening to it but only in the comfort of their own house. It definitely wasn’t main stream. I heard stories in the 70’s of people smuggling vinyl into Israel so they could get it. One of the good things that happened to me was when I was in the ninth grade, I went to my library and found they had a music library – mp3 had just been invented and luckily I have a knack for technology so I was on top of it before anyone else in my district. I figured out if I registered at the library I could borrow the CDs, rip them and keep accumulating music in my collection. I would go every day and takeout the maximum five albums… I didn’t even know what I was taking, so I just started alphabetically. I remember getting to ‘Y’, finding Yes and thinking, “Wow, how good is this band.” I listened to musicals, big band, and progressive rock & classical music before I eventually started to define my taste which was hard, classic & progressive rock – bands like Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and coupled with my love for rock operas it defined what I wanted to do musically.
Sean: We’ve established your taste as rock fan but when did the journey to become a guitarist start for you?
Kesh: I started playing the guitar relatively late – I think I was around seventeen. I wasn’t very good at it but I knew I wanted to learn to play. I was born with fine motor skill issues with my fingers so playing guitar was thought to be a medical impossibility. I couldn’t do many simple things like use scissors or tie my own shoe laces, even when peeling a banana I had to break it in two and claw it almost like a monkey because I didn’t have the finesse. I had to grip a pencil in my whole hand rather than like the other children did. It got better as I grew older but not enough that I ever thought I could play the guitar. It was so difficult to start with and my teacher just didn’t know what to do with me – I couldn’t even play the most basic of chords. But I would not give up, it made me even more determined and after fifteen months of persistence it finally clicked, then every day I practiced it got easier and I couldn’t believe it – what I couldn’t do in three months I could now do in a couple of days. It was as if the brain made the connection finally. Unfortunately, for me to advance with my technique requires ten times the work that a normal guitarist undertakes. Also, it slips away fast – if I don’t practice if feels like I’ve slipped back a year. So it has motivated me to keep playing and to keep improving.
Sean: It kind of makes the whole story of how the show was created even more incredible. Thank you for sharing that. I like to ask a few regular questions to close with starting with my restaurant question – If you could invite three guests for dinner from the music world, dead or alive, who would you choose to join you?
Kesh: I’d love to pick Paul McCartney’s brain – another of my favourite bands is The Beatles. Pete Townsend from The Who would definitely have to be there. The third is a bit tougher… maybe Richie Blackmore – I feel that guy reinvented himself three times over. He took blues-rock to another dimension with Deep Purple, taking them to progressive rock and then hard rock and that was enough for me to be a fan of his for life. But then when Rainbow came along Richie kind of single handed created a kind of medieval rock. And now with Blackmore’s Night, which he formed in the early 90’s and completely left electric guitar to concentrate on Renaissance music – what and incredible musician.
Sean: I haven’t listened to any Blackmore’s Night as yet but two new names to the restaurant in Townsend & Blackmore which is always cool. Knowing how diverse your tastes are this one interests me. What was the last album you listened to?
Kesh: Well I normally have music on shuffle but I was listening to Bruno Marrs ‘24K Magic’ earlier today.
Sean: I didn’t expect that as your answer and that’s what I still love about asking it. Out of all the songs ever written which song would you want to be credited for writing?
Kesh: Wow, I was thinking of this earlier and there are so many… but if I had to pick one it would be ‘Kiss By A Rose’ by Seal. Every time I listen to it I just hear everything is there – I wish I could create something as perfect.
Sean: Another new song to add to my list. Keshet, thank you for talking to us here at The Rockpit. We wish you, Platinum Entertainment and all the cast & crew all the best for The Diments. I’ll be there on the Friday night so hope to catch up after the show and meet up with you and some of the cast.
Kesh: Thank you so much for your time and interest in the show. It means so much man, thank you.
The Diments – A Rock Opera
Astor Theatre
Friday 2nd August
Saturday 3rd August
Tickets: Ticketek
