My God, it's been a while! Not On Tour have, ironically, been on tour quite a lot as of late in honour of latest album, Bad Habits (see review). The rise in popularity has seen them touring Europe, playing headline shows, gaining support slots for big bands and playing some great festival line-ups. Tonight sees the female led pop punkers back on home soil. Along for the ride, is the legend that is Yotam Ben Horin, who is still stripping things down to basics playing an acoustic set.
Yotam Ben Horin
After his return to the US trying out his acoustic stuff on the road, Useless ID frontman, Yotam Ben Horin, returned to Israel a while back and has basically been playing solo shows non-stop, as well as a few shows with his more hardcore band, SPIT. He starts off tonights proceedings playing in front of the stage as everyone else stands around in a semi circle; standard. Whereas one of the last shows of his that I reviewed mostly consisted of slow ballads, tonight Yotam plays some Useless ID classics, like the uplifting Bring Me Down, the beautiful Symptoms and the rocking sing-along Blood Pressure, as well as new solo tracks and possible new Useless ID tunes, such as the catchy California Sounds and the highly political State Is Burning. Yotam is a captivating performer and it is certainly a great warm up set, with people singing along and smiling, but I'm sure everyone is eagerly awaiting Useless ID's return to the stage. 4/5
Not On Tour
After a brief break in proceedings, local legends, Not On Tour, finally take the stage and the Koro quickly starts to fill up as people hear the all familiar sounds of a band warming up. With enough people in the room, the band tease us with the intro to Hanged, Drawn and Quartered by friends Kids Insane. The intense build-up of said intro then leads into IWanna Be Like You (not a jungle book cover), where front woman Sima sweetly greets us over the extended intro. The song gets everybody singing along from the start. The band, as always, is on top form, with Sima's voice cutting through the air like a knife and Valer (guitar), Nir (bass) and Gutzy (drums) putting their hearts and souls into it. Due to being the first "home show" in quite some time, tonight's set is very long, as I can tell by looking at the setlist by Nir's feet. As the band rock out through their set, we get treated to an array of songs from the band's back catalogue, including a good percentage of new songs from Bad Habits. Opening act, Yotam, joins the band on stage for the first new song of tonight, No Communication. The thrashy, shouty number makes the place erupt as the band plays super fast and the two vocalists alternately spit politically tinged venom. Bad Habits is still a bit new to some people, so only a few have forced themselves to learn the lyrics and join in, but songs such as Sick Of This Mess, Different Kind Of Weather and Waiting In Line get a great response from the crowd. Songs like Write It Down and Gut Feeling might not have everyone chucking their weight around and falling over the place, but those who aren't afraid to have a little bit of a boogie. The material that gets the most response tonight are songs off of the band's N.O.T On Tour EP and All This Time album. The poppy sing-alongs, such as Just Forget It, All This Time, Fine and Did You Get Enough get everyone joining in and going a bit crazy on the dance floor. During Did You Get Enough, a guy standing next to me down the front actually loses his glasses due to the crowd's utter force. Upon seeing the aforementioned crowd member and myself eagerly searching on the floor, the band kindly stop and ask for all of us to help. As people get their phone lights out to search underneath and by the front of the stage, we hear some voices behind us. The glasses had somehow flown backwards about a meter to where some people were standing underneath the AC. Now that's skill! The now internationally covered to buggery, Darling, still gets the same enthusiastic reception as always, with almost the entire crowd pushing forward to have the voices picked up on Sima's mic. My personal favourite, Journey To The Ocean, is one of those songs that can make me break shit! This doesn't always go down too well with the local Tel Aviv crowd who are not too familiar with the "ninja" style of dancing, so tonight I contain myself to the best of my ability while still having to let out my aggression with a few air punches.
Besides Yotam, local legend, former You're Next front man and founder of the You're Next Records distro, Smiley, takes the stage, for what seems like the first time in years, to join the band on one of their heaviest tracks to date, Dirty Envelopes. He may not have sung it in a while, but the intensity in his voice is still their as he shouts "I WON'T PARTICIPATE IN YOUR DECAPITATION!" As well as this cameo, the band's punk take on the Grease classic You're The One That I Want and hearing songs from the self titled album are other personal highlights from tonight's performance. The musical cover has almost everyone around singing along and dancing, whether they intended to or not. Some of the early songs haven't really been played in a while. In addition to show staples such as the amazingly angry OK, What Now? and the brilliantly stupid/stupidly brilliant crowd pleaser, Don't Touch My Stuff, the band also play the punchy Baby You Such A Ho followed by the high octane Split The Earth. As with Journey To The Ocean, these songs make me explode, zooming through people without a care in the world. To those I may have bumped a little too hard, I'm sorry (not sorry.) It may be because everyone else was just a blur to me, but I didn't really see that many other people singing along or moving to these songs. Either they're not into the old stuff so much or just haven't listened to it.
After ending the main part of the set with other sing-along favourite, Oded, the band then starts an encore with the mental Silly Thoughts, the first song and video of theirs I ever heard/saw, which made me grin like a loon and join Sima on "DON'T STOP THINKING! USE YOUR HEAD!" This was followed by the bouncy titular track off the new album, Bad Habits, True Illness, with its infectious "Cover your ears with glue and stick to the plan" ending, and last song of the night, 90% Out. They play a little something for everyone tonight and I don't think anyone is disappointed. There are no major stuff-ups, not notes out of place and everything basically sounds as it does on record. The new songs will take a little getting used to but there's some crowd pleasers in there. I would personally love to hear more of the debut, some time, but considering this was the band's first show here since the official release of Bad Habits, it's good that they managed to squeeze some oldies in. Although not totally into the latest record, Not On Tour will never get boring live and are a must-see if they ever end up in a town near you. All photos courtesy of Beeran Production's video footage. 5/5
Some of you may have read recently about the filming of Slayer's Repentless video. The movie style filming took place at Sybil Brand Institute, a former county jail for female inmates. Not only did Tom Araya (vocals/bass), Kerry King (guitar), Gary Holt (guitar) and Paul Bostaph (drums) play to a boisterous crowd of "inmates" in the prison yard, but the site was also the scene to some pretty gruesome activity, played out by the likes of Machete himself, Danny Trejo, and legendary Halloween villain Tony Moran.
As people would expect from a Slayer video, there's a lot of blood involved. Directed by BJ McDonnell, the whole filming process apparently had a very film set like vibe about the whole thing, and the results prove it was worth it. Although Metallica played in a prison to real inmates for St Anger, not only is Repentless a much better song, but having the whole prison riot/murder spree concept is so much more interesting than a simple performance video. It's good to see that the band back on form!
I remember when Skindred's Babylon came out; I had never heard that mix of reggae, metal and punk rock done in such a way. Then again, I was too young and missed out on Dub War and wasn't yet that familiar with Bad Brains. Nevertheless, I still consider that debut and second release, Roots Rock Riot, great records. However, the records since then have been questionable and just lacked that punch in the balls that they had before. The band will release their sixth studio album, Volumes, through Napalm Records on 30th October. From it, comes Under Attack. Both the song itself and the video brings back memories of the Babylon era. The riff, although nothing special, is heavy and the whole vibe in general is energetic and tough. Benji's vocals have always been interesting and HR-like (Bad Brains), but in recent years, it just hasn't quite been the same. Here, that extra venom is back, especially in his rapping near the end. The auto-tune in the middle parts might be off putting to some but I think Skindred are one of those bands who can get away with it.
The video itself reminds me of the first time I saw the Nobody video; it's a similar concept. The band plays in a dark room to an audience of both moshers and dancehall/hip hop dancers. That to me is what Skindred was and I am glad that ethos of bringing those two worlds together is still intact.
The first time I ever saw either of these two bands was, funnily enough, also at a show they played together. It was some special event at a skate park in Tel Aviv. I had never seen or really even heard of these two bands before but I went along and even filmed part of both their sets. From thereon in, I've been quite a dedicated follower of both bands. Tonight, the two band's reunite to celebrate the Knee Please's debut album, Where's Ma Money.
The Great Machine
These stoners don't get enough recognition. The Great Machine are a band formed by two brothers, Aviran (bass/vocals) and Omer (guitar/vocals), who, at different points over the last few years, have also owned a venue and a rehearsal space. Many tend to class their music as "stoner", whereas others may say "psychedelic". In a way, their repertoire has consisted of a bit of both. Instead of the stage, the band are placed in a sort of triangle pattern on the dance floor. Although this makes dancing a little bit more difficult for onlookers, this is the way this kind of band should be playing. It makes it easier to focus on what everyone in the band is doing. Previously, they have been known to perform with female vocalist, Noga Shalev, whose enticing vocals made their sound go a little trippy at times. She seems to no longer be part of the band, resulting in the brothers and drummer Michael playing a heavier, more stoner and sludge influenced set. There's the odd song that I recognise from other shows, but the rest are either album tracks that I don't know or brand new songs. Either way, there is a fair bit of head banging as the trio rock out. Most of the time, Aviran's mic seems far too quiet and he is really only audible in parts of the song where he sings/talks over silence. Personally, it doesn't make that much of a difference as they could easily work just as well as a totally instrumental band. Vocals aside, the sound is fairly good and their playing over all is highly energetic and on point. I was entertained tonight. However, there was a point where I was so sure they were on a new song but they ended up doing the same bit from a good 3 minutes earlier. So this is either quite a progressive song or they added it in to confuse us. 3.5/5
Knees Please
The first time I saw this band play the skate park, they were a duo called Tape&Rape, a name which actually stuck until some months back, even after becoming a three-piece. Knees Please are essentially still the same band as back then, Alex (guitar/vocals) and David (drums), with a good amount of the same songs only with slight changes here and there. Bassist, Ben (Zaga Zaga), actually plays his last show with the band tonight and will be replaced by another Ben. The band prepare themselves in the same three pointed set-up as The Great Machine as more people start flooding in. After a few welcomes and stoned banter from Alex, the band kick off their set with album opener, Shit Back. This is a good example of the band's early grunge influences a la Melvins and Bleach era Nirvana; being all quiet one moment and then simply exploding into some very low and heavy riffs. Despite it's title, it lyrically comes off as one of the most serious and relatable songs they have. The band pretty much continues playing the whole of recently released debut, Where's Ma Money, in full, including other weirdly titled songs like I Came Blood and Sweaty Chicken in Ma Pants. Both songs are from the band's early days and also use that heavy grunge sound. I Came Blood has always been one of those songs that has lyrically made me go, "What on earth is this about?", as Alex seems to be describing a visit to the doctors because of bleeding genitalia. However, the lyrical content is so memorable that it get's people mouthing along. Sweaty Chicken.. still has Alex's mouth trumpet solo, which now works even better over their thicker and fuller sound. I would have loved to have seen someone actually turn up tonight with an actual trumpet... Other tracks from the album and the set that come from the Tape&Rape days include Ceiling, Mine and album closer Vacation. Ceiling is probably one of the band's most famous and popular songs, as drummer David pleases people everywhere by giving us "more cowbell" in both the intro. The song is pretty much how it used to be only with some lyrics changed. The song's groove has everyone in the place moving, whether it is just nodding their heads or fully dancing their socks off. Mine, originally "King Of The Garbage", has also had a bit of facelift, with some edited lyrics and added parts. The chorus still has that epic "I'm king of the wooorrld.." line, which gives the song the potential of being quite a hit if they ever get the right publicity.
Songs like Motherboard, Sleepy Time and I Lie are what I consider the highlights of the album and their set. New bassist, Ben (Belial), joins the band for Motherboard, a song I had never heard before listening to the album, despite apparently being an old one. Like with Ceiling, it has the most ridiculously cool groove that I had to bust some sort of move. After grooving in the intro, the band then plays a lot of heavy synchronised "stabs", which on first listen sounded sort of lazy and unimaginative but when played live, it makes you want to break stuff. Sleepy Time is a tune I recognise from previous shows, because I always mistook the intro for that of Teenage Kicks, only played in a slightly different rhythm. The song throughout has a bit of a swing to it, which is refreshing compared to the rest. I Lie is almost the band's quintessential grunge track, based on a steady rock beat but freaking out with an explosive chorus. It has an QOTSA feel to it; you can imagine yourself driving 100mph down a motorway in an open top car to this. In their set, the band also plays some brand new songs not on the record, such as Muddy, Barry The Lizard,The Sun and Go In Piss. Barry The Lizard especially stands out, with Alex's crazy vocals jumping along with the bouncy rhythm. There seems to be more of a sludge feel in the newer ones which makes the wait for the next album more exciting. After about an hour of rocking out, the band finish, all sweaty and tuckered, as the crowd beg for more. Ben bows out gracefully but the original 2 members take us back to their Tape&Rape days with We Said and its infectious "La la la-la" chorus. This was a nice way to end a set, showing how far they've come and that what they were is still a big part of who they are. I've got a lot of love for Knees Please, especially as a live band. Although the album still has some great heavy stuff to rock out to, there are songs that sound a little bit too similar. For example, Sleepy Time and Mine have the same starting chords, making the latter sound like an extension of the former, especially on record. This could have been done to create some sort of underlining theme, but on first listen sounds sort of lazy. The quiet-loud-quiet method also seems a little bit overdone here, despite it's proven effectiveness for decades. If you like bands like Melvins, The Jesus Lizard and even Helmet, check out these guys some time. Live: 4/5 Where's Ma Money?: 3/5
When it comes to bands having to live in the shadow of it's predecessor, there are a few that people can say have done it right. The demise of Operation Ivy gave us punk rock legends Rancid, Jimmy Page essentially turned The Yardbirds into Led Zepplin and Dave Grohl has had a good thing going on with Foo Fighters since the death of Cobain. Another name to add to that list is New Order. Factory Records didn't even think the former Joy Division members had a chance of making it without Ian Curtis until the success of the now legendary Blue Monday. The band have been greatly influential to many bands throughout the decades, including The Killers, who lifted their name from the fictitious band featured in the video for New Order's 2001 hit, Crystal.
Their new single, Restless, which was released for download on 28th July, comes from the upcoming album, Music Complete, due for release 25th September.
The song has that sound that electro/new wave sound everyone is familiar with but whether it's a future classic, I'm not too sure. The video, on the other hand, is quite memorable as it is arty and, quite frankly, a bit confusing. There seems to be a hint of historical storytelling but with a modern twist thrown in. I have a feeling this was directed by the same guy who was trying to get me to incorporate tank and machine gun sounds into a production of King Lear.
The song will definitely please long time fans and hopefully the album will do very well. Check out Restless below.
Now and again, I find some interesting stuff just by being online and taking a chance on something. Via a UK Pop Punk group on Facebook, a member of German band Planet Zero promoted their latest video for the song Zero Brew from their EP, Origin. Whereas most people consider pop punk to be about fast drumming and chugging breaks amongst whiney vocals, Zero Brew, although still incorporating some of those elements, is a bouncy summer anthem, similar to something like Third Eye Blind's Semi-Charmed Life or even Sugar Ray's Fly. Thing is, I didn't realise they were German at first. The mild sunshine and grassy river bank made me think of home, so I assumed they were at least from the Midlands. And then there's the vocals. Although I have used the word "whiney" to describe pop punk vocals, it's more that it's quite squeaky and high pitched. This is one of those cases where it actually works but is also a little bit deceptive of where they're from. I guess some bands do that, though. It makes you more international. It worked for The Beatsteaks. I'm hoping to get around to checking out their EP in full and tell you what I think of it.
You know the drill. Zaga Zaga play super short, super fast noisy hardcore. How To Be Cool describes those who think they don't need to work hard and sponge off of friends. I'm sure we all know at least one person like that. One person who has crashed at your place and eaten all your rice a bit too often. One person who thinks living in a squat full time makes them cool. It is if you don't need to go to someone else's place to shower, use the internet and eat a proper meal. The frantic energy behind Zaga Zaga's music goes perfectly well with the frustration of having to deal with such people.
The material that gets the most response tonight are songs off of the band's N.O.T On Tour EP and All This Time album. The poppy sing-alongs, such as Just Forget It, All This Time, Fine and Did You Get Enough get everyone joining in and going a bit crazy on the dance floor. During Did You Get Enough, a guy standing next to me down the front actually loses his glasses due to the crowd's utter force. Upon seeing the aforementioned crowd member and myself eagerly searching on the floor, the band kindly stop and ask for all of us to help. As people get their phone lights out to search underneath and by the front of the stage, we hear some voices behind us. The glasses had somehow flown backwards about a meter to where some people were standing underneath the AC. Now that's skill! 
