Review: The Driers - Sad Party [August 2017]

It has been a while since I've written about Tel Aviv based alternative/rock trio, The Driers. Their 2015 EP, See You In Never, impressed me with its blend of punchy rhythms and beautiful harmonies (read my review here). Their long awaited debut album, Sad Party, provides very similar vibes.

Like on the EP,  Sad Party flirts with the likes of disco-tinged indie, alternative rock and even proto-punk; sometimes within the same song. Although all 10 songs on here are toe-tappers, there's still a bit of diversity among them. Songs like The Slides and Day One use interesting rhythm patterns provided by (previous) drummer Ben which'll get some hips a-shaking, while album opener Delayed, Fifty and Heartworms deliver faster and harder hitting punk rock beats which could have easily caused mass pogoing at mud-drenched music festivals in the 90's. The Invisible Girl also has a 90's feel but far more laid back, reminiscent of the Ash classic Oh Yeh! (the verses actually feel quite similar.)

Squeeze, a personal highlight from the album, teases you into thinking it's a sweet indie-pop song before erupting into an almost Weezer-meets-Violent Soho style chorus which conjures up images of long-haired teens jamming out their angst in someone's garage. The album's title track has one of the most infectious choruses which makes perfect use of guitarist Ronnie and bassist Tomer's breath-taking male-female vocal harmonies (similar to Band Of Skulls or Belle and Sebastian), a trait prominent throughout the band's work.

Although other bands do come to mind at times, The Driers are doing something very special; they manage to have one foot in the British indie scene of the last decade and the other somewhere in California in the 90's. While some Israeli bands who sing in English can come off sounding either too Israeli or like a poor imitation of their influences, The Driers sound totally natural, including some interesting and thought-provoking lyrics (e.g. The flight to my brain got delayed, And when it landed, it was too late..)

Although the mix of the drums, in particular, could do with being a lot cleaner on occasion, Sad Party still shows that the band has the potential for success abroad. Anyone who is a lover of beautiful harmonies, up-tempo beats and the odd dose of straight up rock thrown in will not be able to resist cracking a smile while listening.

4/5

Live Review: Punk Afternoon - Tune In TLV Showcase Party @ Ozenbar, Tel Aviv [14th November 2015]

Not On Tour

Let Us Be Spoken

SatuRated

The Driers

Zoo Harmonics

Document

Saturday, the Sabbath. Meant to be a day of rest, where you pray in the morning, eat, sleep in the afternoon and then go out and party at night. However, this afternoon sees the last show of the four day Tune In TLV Festival; the punk rock battle of the bands. 

   The afternoon actually starts out with a showing of the music documentary No Room For Rockstars (which I didn't see), followed by the fight to get a song onto the next Vans Warped Tour compilation. Kevin Kyman, founder of 4Fini Inc, who produce the Warped Tour, is here both for a Q&A after the documentary (I missed that too) and to be the one to choose the winner. Despite being a "punk afternoon", today's line-up is pretty mixed. 

Document

  I've reviewed post punk/new wave band Document before and I have to be honest, it probably wasn't the most positive of reviews. Despite that, the band respected my views. I was expecting the band to have maybe taken some of my pointers into consideration but today's performance doesn't really seem to differ too much from the previous one, besides being one member down and a whole lot shorter set.
  Being titled a "punk showcase", the band have comprised their setlist of their more upbeat numbers, including Where U Are and Weeks from the Reset Your Mind Ep. Newer songs, such as the appropriately named New Song and Made A Mess, are darker and slightly more electro in style. All in all, they seem to have picked the right setlist today.

  Their performance on stage is still a bit static, bar drummer Amir, who is still the most enthusiastic. With frontman Nir now on second guitar duties, this may also be hindering their opportunities for some movement and better crowd interaction. Speaking of which, it is still early and not many people have turned up. Those who have bothered to come in and watch them seem to be satisfied. I think that kind of sums Document up; their songs are pleasant enough but there is still nothing in their live performance to really grab you. They are much better on record and I am still looking forward to hearing a new album.
3/5 
    

Zoo Harmonics

  Zoo Harmonics have been around for quite some time already and, in my eyes, should have already broken the UK and American pop punk market with the debut album Business In The Front...Party In The Back. With a new bassist, Gal, in tow, the band have been working on new songs and set to release a new album.
   With Dror (lead singer/guitarist) having now cut his hair, a slightly new sound seems to have come along with it, as the band play a short set of mostly brand new songs. The band already previewed Signs From Above through a live video they did for another showcase and a lot of the crowd, including myself, already like it and are digging it tonight. As the band themselves state, it has a more "stoner" flavour compared to their previous material. Personally, I've always considered them a mixed bag and not just pop punk, so I would have been more concerned if they weren't experimenting more. 
  The other new tracks are also really promising, including the comeback of Obsessions, which will hopefully be on the new album. Throughout the set, the band rock out as usual, although it is weird seeing Dror unable to wave his hair around. There is still the masterful Ron (guitar/backing vocals), who manages to always make his present known with some high octane antics to energise the crowd.

  As interesting as hearing brand new material is, it is the closer of oldie Henry And Claire which really gets me and other Zoo Harmonics fans going. It would have been nice to have heard more from the first album, but having been given a short time slot, the band understandably wanted to showcase their new material. I think they've done a good job and I am so looking forward to the new album.
4/5

The Driers

   I'm going to keep this short because what can I say about The Driers that I haven't said before? They are a fun trio who play a mixture of alternative 90s rock and a little bit of electro brit pop to boot. Basically, they play the kind of music that brings out the inner child in me and use male/female vocal harmonies that simply make me happy. 
  Despite having released their first proper EP recently (see review), their short set mostly consists of non-EP tracks besides the brilliant Who Doesn't and Lipstick Buds. Some are already classic tracks from their repertoire, including the punky Fifty and the bounce inducing Delayed. Others I didn't really recognise but were interesting to hear and I'm hoping they'll turn up on a new record in the near future.
  As much as I love them, I still stand by my opinion that Ronnie (guitar/vocals) and Tomer (bass/vocals) could act a little more excited on stage and interact more. The speaking duties in between songs are mostly taken on by drummer Ben. It could be good to hear what they have to say for once....plus, Ben talks faaaar too much for a drummer. (סתם)
4.5/5

SatuRateD

   I'll hold my hands up! I had no idea who SatuRateD were until tonight. I was actually outside before they started and walked in a little of the way through their set. I was happily surprised to see Dror of Zoo Harmonics back on stage, this time on drums. He was joined on stage by Shirel (guitar/vocals) and they make a pretty damn good team. I believe the band was originally a trio but it seems to work perfectly well as a duo.
   In complete opposition to what I had originally thought they might be (metalcore), this duo play a mixture of garage rock and grunge. Some of it is pretty standard (but still enjoyable) Nirvana/Mudhoney-esque material, but a song like Someday Blues really stands out due to it's more unconventional beats and generally just sounds more original. The band also do a cover of These Boots Are Made For Walkin', which is normally a staple of ska or Oi! shows. It was nothing spectacular as far as covers go. Their originals, despite at times sounding a little too formulaic, still hit the spot if you're no stranger to pure "grunge".
4/5

Let Us Be Spoken

  

  Another band I didn't know much about, Let Us Be Spoken take the stage next and totally change the tone of the evening. This punk show is getting its first dose of metalcore. Whaa??

  I technically have no problem with metal or metalcore. I proudly wear my nu-metal beginnings on my sleeve and still like some metalcore and groove metal. What bugs me though is how metalcore bands act. Although I say that I like a lot of interaction and movement on stage, sometimes acting like you're some massive touring band who's been around for decades just seems really unnatural and over-the-top when you're a fairly unknown band. Metalcore bands tend to do this and Israeli bands, in particular, know how to put on that sort of spectacle really well.
   Let Us Be Spoken give us all the usual metalcore catchphrases (mostly in Hebrew): "I want you all to sing along on this one", "I want to see you all go crazy" etc.. The look, the jargen and the melodic metalcore is all there. The clean vocals sound like Killswitch Engage and are not all that terrible. However, I'm still not entirely sure how many times I can hear this type of thing. 
  As unoriginal as this may sound, they are certainly an entertaining band and they do get me punching the air a bit. Maybe I'm just in an openminded mood tonight, but the breakdowns, the thrash parts and even some of the choruses have me a little bit sucked in. There are also a few metalcore fans in tonight who are getting swept up in all the excitement. Let Us Be Spoken may have been a bit out of place tonight, but I like variety.
3/5

Not On Tour

  Last band of the night is the amazing Not On Tour, whom I have spoken of many a time on this blog, I'm sure. Like all the other bands tonight, they have a much shorter set than usual but still manage to get the crowd going with their mixture of high speed hardcore punk and catchy melodies. 

  They do not have their usual crowd here tonight. This could be a mixture of the show not being hyped up all that much and the fact that many Not On Tour fans may not have bothered going due to the rest of the line-up. That aside, there is still a few of us who have come to give our support in this battle of the bands. 
  The band are on point. Sima's amazing voice, Val's melodic riffs, Nir's heavy bass and Gutzy's crazy fast drumming are ever present, as always. I can't really say much else, to be honest. I got a little bit too wrapped up in the show, including blindly head butting someone by accident (turned out to be a friend and they were fine about it), so I didn't really pay attention to the setlist. Knowing Not On Tour, they more than likely played songs off the new album, along with a few from All This Time and the N.O.T On Tour EP and maybe only one from the self titled debut, like one of my favourites, Silly Thoughts. Personally, I love hearing their older material, but they do know how to chose the catchiest and more crowd pleasing ones at every show.  
4.5/5

   Straight after Not On Tour's set, I went for hummus nearby and, upon leaving, ran into Val of Not On Tour. I asked him if a winner was announced and he said that they had won. It was rightfully awarded and hopefully being on this compilation will give them much further international success than they have already been getting. 

  It was great to see Zoo Harmonics with new material and SatuRateD were an interesting and pleasant discovery. The show as a whole could have done with a whole lot more attendees but those who were there still had fun and hopefully, like myself, discovered a few new bands.


For more photos, you can also check out Yahel Galili's photo album, Tune In TLV - PUNK Showcase. 

Review: The Driers - See You In Never [2015]

   After a lot of hard work playing shows and writing new material, Tel Aviv rock trio The Driers finally deliver new EP, See You In Never, featuring latest drummer Ben (Mad Choice/Zaga Zaga/a bunch of other stuff). 

   As readers of my blog will already know, I have seen this band a bunch of times and enjoy their refreshing slab of 90s style alt. rock. The five tracks on this EP are all songs that I recognise and love. If I am not mistaken, these are also songs which have been in the band's repertoire for quite some time. Whereas some of the newer material I've heard in live shows are a little bit more along the Weezer style of alternative rock, the songs here could almost be considered pop rock.

   Contagious gets things off to a heavy start. Some thumping drums in the intro lead to an upbeat, rock-out number with a bouncy chorus. Although guitarist Ronnie sings the first verse, from thereon in we hear the now trademark sweet harmonies that her and bassist Tomer do so perfectly. Ronnie also sings main vocals for second track Who Doesn't and fourth track Porchlight. Who Doesn't is pure rock in the choruses but, due to Ben's drumming techniques, explores other rhythms and styles throughout the song. Porchlight sounds incredibly lighthearted and quite poppy. The intro is one of my favourites of theirs, as the opening guitar riff is soon accompanied by the bass that harmonises beautifully. The song can easily be mistaken as a cover of some sort of song by Shangri Las or even The Supremes, as it has a hint of that traditional style of writing plus an easy listening quality to it.
   Tomer takes up main vocal duties on third track Lipstick Buds and EP closer A.L.A.R.M, which makes sense, as they are both pretty bass led. Because of the bassline and the groovy drumming, both songs have quite an electronic/new wave sound to them. Lipstick Buds has it mainly in the first verse which then leads to the hard hitting chorus of "You want to be my never again". All Driers' choruses are easy to sing along to but this has to be the catchiest of them all. The song has interesting vocal melodies and a generally fun and uptempo nature.
  A.L.A.R.M could be considered the EP's party song due to it's disco beat in the chorus. However, Tomer's vocals and the song's lyrical content add dark undertones, making the song a little bit edgier than the rest of the EP.

   As I have heard these songs many times before, I was really hoping to hear something new on this EP. Luckily, we are promised a full length soon which will hopefully have some cool surprises. I love the band's use of harmonies, especially blending both a female and male voice together, similar to bands like Band of Skulls and Spiderbait. That, plus the musicianship and songwriting, make these songs very enjoyable, as long as you appreciate pop sensibilities in rock music....which I do.

4/5

Live Review: The Blue Screen of Death/Zaga Zaga/The Driers @ Koro [20th June 2015]

      Once again, a travelling band comes to Tel Aviv on their final leg of their Israeli tour. This time, it's The Blue Screen of Death from Germany.
   Support tonight came from local bands The Driers and Zaga Zaga. Both bands feature local legend Ben (Tversky) and both have been reviewed on this blog a number of times. Both bands are on top form as always and even play new songs in the set.

The Driers

   The Driers play a set full of their catchy and easy listening 90s style alternative rock, beginning with one of their newest songs, Squeeze, as mentioned in a previous review. The song has a great Weezer-style chorus and sounds like a future hit. Throughout the show, there are a few dedicated Drierees (will it catch on?) dancing around and singing along to songs they recognise from the last demo and other shows. Other new songs, Heartworms and The Slides, are along the rockier side of the band's style and I was incredibly impressed. They seem to have compiled a set of their "heavier" songs to fit in with the rest of the night's lineup. It paid off.

4/5

Zaga Zaga

   I've written about this band so many times that I'm going to make this as short as possible.

 Zaga Zaga  - shouting - guitar picking - frantic drumming - energy - new songs - same amazing set closer as always.

   Although I have managed to write about them before, I've come to the realisation that they are more of a band you need to experience than just read about.

LOVE ZAGA

HATE ZAGA

4/5

The Blue Screen of Death

   Besides hearing some of their stuff on Bandcamp, I knew nothing about Germany 8-bit punk band The Blue Screen of Death prior to tonight's event. What I heard I enjoyed but in person it is a whole different ball game.
    I was surprised to only see three people take the stage; front woman Claude, bassist Manu and drummer Öm. I thought there was at least a keyboardist too or someone playing guitar with a lot of effects. Instead, the 8-bit sounds come from a laptop by the side of the drummer. As trios go, they still make an amazing racket.
   The style is frantic, shouty punk, or "nintendocore", as some people might still say. Every song is crazy and performed with perfect energy and enthusiasm. Claude is one of the most charismatic performers I have seen. Not only does she use the entire stage, she secures eye contact with the crowd (it's like she's singing just for you) and interacts with her band mates, proving herself to be a worthy leader. She's mesmerising. Manu and Öm are a very tight unit. They are not too serious and bogged down in what they are playing that the fun gets lost. Manu even comes off stage at one point to connect with the crowd. This is the kind of thing I like to see.

   As well as tracks from their record There Are Just 16 Steps Down To Hell and a few new songs (Megrim, Kokology and One Of Them), the band also covered To Hell With Good Intentions by Welsh based band Mclusky (ex-Future of the Left), once famous for their collaboration with the website rathergood.com on the video for their song Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues. The band played To Hell... with even more passion and conviction than Mclusky, along with the added computer noises, and came off sounding like it could have easily been an original. 
  8-bit/chiptune/nintendocore/whatever one wishes to call it has always been fun, with bands like Horse The Band and Anamanguchi helping to make it more popular. If you consider yourself a fan of this kind of thing, The Blue Screen of Death are not a band to ignore.

4/5

Live Review: Photomat/The Dries @ Tachles Bar, Tel Aviv [23rd May 2015]

   OH MY GOD! Is this actually happening? Yes, that's right! For the first time in quite some months, I am reviewing a show that's not at Koro. SHOCK HORROR! Saying that, it still involves the Koro in a roundabout way.

The Driers

   Quite some time ago, apparently since the last time I actually reviewed The Driers, Ben (Mad Choice/Zaga Zaga/part owner of Koro) was recruited for drumming duties. As seen in recent times with Mad Choice, Ben's drumming has become more creative. Drumming for The Driers has given Ben a platform to really experiment and showcase his versatility. Even with songs which originally had a very simple rhythm pattern, he has used his techniques to allocate some complex yet still very suitable beats and fills.
    Tonight, the band is great as always. Bit of a weird set up on the stage, with Ben seated down left of stage (I believe that's what it is in theatre speak) instead of in the middle as is more common at shows, which kind of makes them all seem quite distant from one another. Other than that and the unfortunate technical hiccups experienced by bassist Tomer, the band and their songs are all on point. All the catchy songs that regular watchers of The Driers know and loves are here tonight, such as set opener Porchlight, the punky Fifty, the anthemic Lipstick Buds and the rave-inducing set closer Alarm. Guitarist Ronnie and bassist Tomer's vocal harmonies never cease to captivate me. The band also play a brand new song called Squeeze, which has an awesome groove in the chorus and made my face ache from smiling. 
    Even though the guys have been getting a slightly larger audience nowadays since their humble beginnings, it was really only myself and a couple of other friends of the band who were giving them any real support down at the front. Hopefully, those standing around at the back still enjoyed them and will see them again another time.
4/5

Photomat

    As well as coming here tonight to see The Driers (and to review a show somewhere new for a change) I wanted to check out a band I had never heard of before. That band is Photomat. I went into the show not knowing anything about them...and I still don't. 
   According to their bandcamp, their earliest recording, entitled Lekulam Yesh Ka'eleh (rough translation: Everyone Has Them/These) is from May last year but I still don't know how long they've actually been around. If their sound is anything to go by, they could have easily started in the late 90s/early 2000s. We've got here a girl bassist (Enav), a girl drummer (Noa), a guitar playing frontman with a trendy hairdo (Noam) and a samplist on the side (Alon) adding all the extra beats, keyboard melodies and other bits and bobs. That and the sound combined together had me thinking of the more electronic Britpop I used to enjoy. Actually, it sort of made me think of North and South, who I think only British people will remember from the TV show No Sweat that spawned the band.
   Photomat play electronic pop that has just enough edge to make it stand out form some of the other bands out here doing the same thing. Normally, I'm not a massive fan of Hebrew singing bands because I can't always fully understand when watching live, but that doesn't matter tonight. The melodies and the groove of the songs was enough to have me bopping along.  After checking bandcamp, the songs which really got my attention were Hakol Chutz M'ken (Everything But "Yes") and Hilacht Alay, Kesem (rough translation: You Walked All Over Me, Magic Woman). The former is an upbeat and catchy singalong (at least melodically for me, at the time) whereas the latter took the night's atmosphere down a notch to a sultry little number which beautifully built-up throughout the song.

   The band definitely have a few fans in tonight, who are standing at the front swaying and making up dance moves, but a few things bug me about this performance. Is one of them that the frontman forgot his words a few times? No. That's happened to me. Is it that he made a big deal about ruining the song? Yes. Although some people may have noticed, the most professional thing to do is just carry on. Luckily, the band continued and repeated themselves so that he could get back into it. Is another issue being the samplist? No. I even tried to introduce samples into Woolly Boy but haven't yet mastered it. Is it that the samplist was using beats which in comparison made the drummer look like she wasn't really doing anything? Yes. She seems like a very competent drummer, listening to the band through headphones and managing to hold the backbeat. However, she did just seem to be playing a simpler version of the electronic beats already provided. As a drummer myself, this just had me focusing on that a good amount of the time.
   The band in general were a nice surprise and definitely made this Britpop kid remember his youth. On further inspection, some of their lyrics are actually quite clever and relatable, which is always good. Whether this sort of thing really goes down well nowadays, I'm not too sure, but playing what you like to play is the most important thing. 
3/5

Live Review: Mad Choice/The Driers/Yotam Ben Horin @ Levontin 7, Tel Aviv [19th November 2014]

Mad Choice

The Driers

Yotam Ben Horin

I am pretty sure I have witnessed this exact same line-up before, only not at Levontin 7 but at the Koro. Playing a show at a venue the size of Levontin 7 gives a band/artist the chances of gaining a larger audience. In theory....

Yotam Ben Horin

Tonight's show starts off with a solo acoustic set from Yotam Ben Horin. Yotam gained recognition with his pop punk band Useless ID and is also making strides as a solo artist. I actually think it's a shame that every time that I've seen Yotam play a solo set, and even some of Useless ID's shows in recent years, that there is a lack of audience members when the place should be filled. Yotam is actually a big name...I mean..he has a wiki page, for goodness sake! Best thing about him is that he doesn't act it at all. I will see him at shows and he's just hanging out. No hiding away in a back room or surrounded by an entourage, just chilling out on his own.
Although his solo work takes a gentler pace than his pop punk material, he knows how to structure a song and how to write memorable choruses. One of my favourite songs played tonight is a song called Tension. It has a very memorable and meaningful chorus and he even does his own echoing within the song which adds to the song's essence. I hear that Yotam is moving to the states soon...which sucks for the scene. On a positive note, he will hopefully gain the right admiration he deserves as a solo artist.
4/5

The Driers

Whenever I talk to people about The Driers, I relate them to Band Of Skulls. This might be a lazy description. They both have 3 members, they both have male/female dual vocals and they both have really good songs. Whereas Band Of Skulls are more classic rock riff-laden with a slight psychedelic vibe, The Driers play 90s style alt rock which gets you dancing. They still have riffs, though, as songs like Porchlight show. Their songs have a very commercial sound but not in a bad way. Tomer (bass) and Ronnie's (guitar) vocal harmonies give the songs a sweet edge on top of the guitar/bass harmonies and the ferocity of Gideon's (Useless ID) drumming. Speaking of the drummer, boy likes to twirl his sticks! He's inspired me to try and get better at the whole drumming theatrics. Still not entirely sure what I'm doing, though.

Like with Yotam, I feel that The Driers are not getting the right recognition playing quite American sounding alt rock in the Middle East. If these guys were either from somewhere in the states or the UK, they would be signed to something like Warner by now and touring the globe. I am hoping that when their album hits, they get more worldwide recognition and that there will be The Driers T-shirts being worn at rock festivals.
4.5/5

Mad Choice

To round off the night, we get to my boys in Mad Choice. I have a close connection to Doh Doh, Ben and Zipik. When I moved to Tel Aviv, I contacted a few bands in the punk scene in order to get my foot in the door and make a few new friends. After one of the first shows I went to, I ended up going to a house party at Doh Doh's apartment. I got to know all 3 guys individually over time and they have made me feel a part of the scene. They were also very supportive of my first band in Israel, Side Defects. Our first show was on the same night Doh Doh's old band Beer7 had a reunion show. He still came by our show for the beginning of our set, took some photos and then apologetically said his goodbyes and ran to his own show. I will never forget that, nor will I forget that they got us a show with them and German band Schuettrunde. Aside from being great guys, the band are, like the rest of the line-up tonight, totally underrated in this country.

For those unfamiliar with them, Mad Choice play skater punk. At least initially they did. Nowadays they've expanded beyond that. In tonight's performance, as well as playing their punk hits like album track Safety Net and new song (yet already a crowd pleaser) You're Married, they play their more hardcore songs like Born To Play Fast and 4 Down and new tracks like Blue, which has a bit of new age indie feel in places, and Standard Definition, which flicks in between being an uptempo number with a techno beat to a heavy hitting groove jam. They might be one of those bands that seem to be singing about youth problems despite being of....a maturer age...but that's only because that is their lives. They skate, they play punk rock, they work jobs they don't like and that's what they write about. There were some of my favourite songs of theirs missing from the set tonight, but as always, I loved it anyhow.
4/5

The down point of the whole night was that this show was on a Wednesday night, so almost nobody was here. Unfortunately, a lot of the shows I have seen all three acts at seem to also be on weekdays and therefore have the same turn out, or lack of. Hopefully, one day they will all play to packed audiences and gain new fans and the recognition they all deserve.