Yotam (Useless ID): Most of the times bands show up from abroad to play Israel, there’s a buzz

Originally from Haifa and found in 1994, the four hard-working punk rockers have gone from almost empty basements to the position of one of the most successful musical formations from the Middle East.

Their 2001 record called „Bad Story Happy Ending“ was recently released on vinyl for the first time thru SBÄM records. I had a unique opportunity to get some information from frontman Yotam not just about the re-release of their aforementioned classic.

Why the decision to re-release fell especially to “Bad Story Happy Ending”? Is this record considered some kind of milestone in the history of your band? Were the other older records among the selection also, or was it just an instant choice for you and you were sure about this album for quite a while?

“Bad Story, Happy Ending” was never released on vinyl and we’ve tried to release it over the years but it always fell through. When I realized we were approaching the 20th anniversary of the album, I spoke to the guys and we thought it would be great to get it remastered and up to date by Jason Livermore and release it with SBAM, who was totally into the idea. In a way, this album represents the beginning of us recording at a proper studio in the U.S with a producer and the first time I’m the main songwriter, as the other recordings leading up have all been done in Israel. Sonically, recording in the U.S always made sense more to us than recording in Israel back in the day. Technology was different as well though nowadays we can produce wonderful results even from a home studio. Also, the album was recorded to tape and we didn’t really add additional guitars so if you saw play live back in the day this is what we sounded like.

You mentioned that working on your band or also on your side project, Spit, helped you a lot with your mental health. Can we expect the new music in the future to include also a reference to what happened in your lives during this period of a pandemic?

When Covid started I was in Italy and was forced to say goodbye to Paola, my fiancée for the next four months, like many I fell into a depression of not being able to move as I travel a lot normally and decided to deal with it by communicating with people all over the world through Facebook lives, (it was her idea btw), once I got that going, I felt better and realized that it wouldn’t be too long until I would see her. I started thinking of all of my musical projects and how great it would be to take this time and really dig in deep and write for all three. I had enough material for my solo album which I went on to record this past April and will be released soon. SPIT, we managed to put together a 10 song EP which I ended up mixing. As for Useless ID, I started working on our next album exactly one year ago, so the feeling of desperation, a search for hope is all over the songs I’ve written. So many bands are rushing to put music out and hit the road, We’re kind of taking a step back from all of that and really want to put out a record we are proud of and not rush it so it’s not a big tragedy if it takes a few more months to write some more songs.

Many punk bands do not hesitate to refer to the political and social situation of the place they originally come from, you are no exception. Where do you think Israel is at the moment in terms of the quality of life of ordinary people, the state of culture, and, finally, how do you think the situation with a pandemic is developing in your country?

At the moment it’s hard to look at statistics and then look at the news. There are different restrictions in different places, for example if a person travelled and has tested 3 times negative I don’t think he should stay 14 days in quarantine. You know, stuff like that just doesn’t make sense to me, it happens in Israel but the rest of the world doesn’t act that way. The whole thing with the green pass is getting a bit more complicated in Israel as they’re changing the rules for that too, so let’s say for me personally who travels a lot I have to really read into the guidelines before I fly to Israel.

Slovak punk band Rozpor played a tour in your country some time ago and they were really pleasantly surprised by the full clubs, sold-out merchandise, and overall amazing and wild atmosphere. So can it be said that an Israeli fan is always really that grateful and passionate?

Most of the times bands show up from abroad to play Israel there’s a buzz, Israel is pretty developed many bands skip Israel on their tour schedule even though it’s super easy to fly over from Greece or even most places in Europe. You’ll most likely play a great show in Tel Aviv and head home, that’s all it is so when bands do come, the people show up.

The excellent documentary Jericho´s Echo – Punk rock in Holy Land from 2005 documented your scene, the individual problems of its representatives, or the overall state of society. Where do you think punk rock has developed in Israel since then?

I haven’t seen that movie since its release but the good thing is that with the way social media and technology work today, it’s much easy to tour especially in Europe. Back in 2005 there were maybe less than a handful of punks bands that would tour outside of Israel and now you don’t have to be considered a “serious” band in order to do that, you could just do it. With YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.. you could also be discovered rather easily if your content appeals to many, so that’s as far as that goes. My friend Haim owns an actual Israeli record label “Taklitim Holim” which releases Israeli Punk bands, that’s something that didn’t really exist before. I had a label with my brother for a short time just to put out our own music, there was another indie label years before that but it wasn’t really punk so I think Israeli punk has a slightly bigger presence on the map these days.

Which of your home bands do you think is worth the most attention today?

Ishay from Useless ID plays and sings in a band called Tabarnak that have been doing a lot lately. Kids Insane are a great band too featuring Corey, our drummer as the singer. Not On Tour who have been around for quite a while have been touring Europe a lot and releasing albums.

About your first tour in the USA, it is said that you survived, for example, thanks to dumpster diving. How did you actually get to your first string around the states and how did it all go?

Before I officially joined the band, the guys lived in the States for 8 months in the East Bay where they mostly played local shows and got a taste of what it’s like to be a band in the U.S for example, I discovered that in the U.S you don’t share your gear like you do in Israel. Everyone travels with their own backline but that was in the late 90’s nowadays if we tour with a band we’ll most likely share something just to save the hassle of the loading two ampeg cabinets every night. For the first tour we had this guy come along for the ride claiming that he booked us a two months tour and when we showed up, we discovered only one show was actually booked, so Ishay sat daily and called clubs and bands through MRR’s “Book Your Own Fucking Life” which is kind of like a punk rock phonebook to many DIY bands, promoters, etc that we used back in the day to get in touch with punkers all over the world. After around a month, we hit the road and it turned out to be a pretty cool tour and learning experience for me on how the band dynamic works when you’re in such close proximity with the same people day and night.

What do you enjoy most about life besides music?

I enjoy spending time and traveling with Paola first of all, we’ve been together for four years and don’t live in the same place since she’s working on an architecture degree and till Covid, I was constantly on the road touring. We managed to make this work which is crazy. I really like running at the beach, kickboxing, swimming when I can. Any kind of daily activity for one hour a day just does wonders. Drinking red wine and looking at the sunset ( Oh, what a sappy romantic I am) I enjoy good movies and good shows but normally leave that for the nighttime. During the day I just like being creative and working on something.