Yotam Ben Horin has been a very busy bee the past couple of years. He's managed to get an album out for his hardcore band Spit, do extensive solo touring, work on new material for legendary Israeli punk band Useless ID and put out his latest solo album California Sounds.
The catchy and beautifully crafted title track of the album is now accompanied by a simple yet poignant video which sees Yotam playing guitar and singing by the hotel sign that the record's front cover was shot, as well as taking in a few local sights.
The song might be in a slightly different direction to what Useless ID fans would expect, but Yotam has been able to show his proper song writing chops for quite some time now. Also, sometimes you just got to slow things down a bit.
Yotam is currently on a massive European tour as part of Joey Cape's (Lagwagon) Stitch Puppy tour. The tour is in its final week which sees them in Austria, Italy, Switzerland and back in Germany.
Tonight sees me at Tel Aviv's Barby Club, one of the main venues for big acts just below stadium status, to see an acoustic set by Jimmy Eat World's Jim Adkins. Although only properly getting into Jimmy Eat World's back catalogue recently, I decided that this would be too much of an opportunity to miss out on.
Yotam Ben Horin
Due to not expecting the show to start on time and having to come to the Barby straight after work, I end up missing a good percentage of Useless Id's Yotam's acoustic set. I walk in to the sounds of Yotam's calming soothing vocals and gentle strumming to find the rock venue transformed into a vegas night club, with people seated around circular tables under the Barby's huge chandelier. I have a feeling that the set itself was not too different to that of a few days ago at the Not On Tour show (see review). However, there is less of the local punk scene here tonight, besides Useless ID bandmates and some who may have liked the band "back in the day". There's not as much singing along to hits such as Blood Pressure and Symptoms but there is still a good response and enthusiastic cheers as Yotam screams "Take, take, TAAAKE" during Blood Pressure. There's basically no-one else more perfect to support the solo outing of a popular band's front man than that of a local popular band's front man. I am pretty sure they are both equally honoured. 4/5
Jim Adkins
I'm not going to lie. Despite knowing the big hits from the Bleed American era, I pretty much overlooked Jimmy Eat World all these years. I didn't even realise that they were active a lot longer before that album. I tried to brush up on their material for tonight's show, but theirs so much it was impossible. Instead, I come into this show with an open mind as if I am watching a new act. As Jim Adkins graces the stage, he is greeted by a warm welcome from the surprisingly small turnout. Jim is a very presentable man and comes out onto the stage looking and behaving very refined. His set starts with what seems to be a new track no-one really knows, Love Don't Wait. The beautiful ballad helps to set the scene that this tonight is going to be something special. Despite being a new song for many, his strong vocals encourage cheering from the crowd as he reaches high notes. After some polite words, Jim continues his set with a good deal of oldies from 1999's Clarity, as well as a few songs from 2004's Futures, 2007's Chase This Light and their last album, 2013's Damage. There seems to be some old school Jimmy fans dotted around the room, cheering when they recognise intros and singing along to a good number of the songs, but the crowd in general just seem to be pleasantly and quietly enjoying the sultry tones of all the songs played tonight. Due to having done a bit of homework and listened mainly to Clarity prior to the show, I recognised the infectious On A Sunday and the sub-pop-like Lucky Denver Mint, which has people joining in on the "You're not bigger than this.." chorus as Jim joyfully strums away. Other songs that catch my attention include the song that is played in between the aforementioned oldies, Please Say No, Damage and You Were Good, all of which happen to be from the Damage album. Where both Please Say No and Damage are quite emotionally intense, You Were Good is bittersweet, being a tale of lost love sung over a bouncy melody. These three acoustic versions alone proved to me that I definitely need to give that record a listen. Sounds like it must be a great break-up album.
Among the Jimmy Eat World classic, Jim also plays brand new songs and covers, some of which he previously released through his "weekly single series" online. Hell and Get Right have more of that rocking Jimmy Eat World vibe whereas I Will Go is more reminiscent of 60s pop rock like Sunny Afternoon (The Kinks). The crowd get excited when hearing covers like Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (originally by Robert Hazard) and Only Girl (In The World) by Rihanna. I'm personally all for men covering songs by women and vice versa and it seems to also satisfy many others here tonight. He also plays some really old covers that go over my head, such as The Book Of Love (The Magnetic Fields), Make The World Go Away (Hank Cochran) and Give Me A Sweetheart (The Everly Brothers), but he still plays them with precision and gusto. He also plays Beautiful Is, which is a Jimmy Eat World b-side from the Chase This Light era. It sounds just as sweet and beautiful acoustically as it does on the original recording. The sing-alongs start up again as Jim plays Big Casino from Chase This Light, with the crowd joining in on the "Get up!" back up vocals, The Authority Song from Bleed American and Work from Futures. Personally, I wasn't expecting him to play anything from Bleed American, judging by what I had read on setlist.fm (more homework that I did.) Not only did he play The Authority Song but he then treated us all to what has to be the most famous Jimmy Eat World song there is; The Middle. As you'd imagine, this had people, especially the young women, up on their feet clapping and singing along. Let's face it, it's impossible not to enjoy this song. It would have been nice to have heard Your House or The Sweetness from the same albums, as those two are perfect for acoustic renditions. The fact he even played The Middle at all is a nice enough surprise. Although originally not knowing what to think of seeing an acoustic set of songs I am not all too familiar with, Jim Adkins deserved a much bigger audience tonight as it was definitely worth going. Hopefully, anyone who came here tonight just to hear The Middle also absorbed his writing brilliance and were then compelled to look through the band's back catalogue. His solo work is also impressive but I'm not too sure if it's anything I'd want to strictly follow. This was definitely a show for Jimmy Eat World super fans but anyone who appreciates when structured songs and a faultless performance, he is worth checking out. 4/5
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.
