October 21st, 2008
Yesterday’s Monotonix Photos Explained
Yesterday when I posted Michael Alan Goldberg’s fabulous pictures of the Monotonix show at Pi Lam it hadn’t dawned on me that most of the people looking at them wouldn’t know what the hell was going on. Afterall, I’ve seen the band close to (no exaggeration) 20 times, written about them countless times, and have tried to spread their gospel wherever I could. Perhaps I’d forgotten that not everyone is familiar with what goes down at one of the Tel Aviv trio’s barn burners of a show. Then the emails started coming. Why is this band outside Pi Lam? Why is Doug Henning showing his ass?
I knew there needed to be some explanation given. So let’s…
First the band sets up, surveys the room. Guitarist Yonaton Gat usually stretches for a bit too, limbering up for the assault his body is about to take. The band tours incessantly, and all three members are fit as a fiddle. Gat and singer Ami Shalev are as tiny as birds.
The show begins, and so too does the chaos. It’s always great watching the people in the audience who are experiencing a Monotonix live show for the first time. Eyes wide, you can tell the only thing they’re thinking is “So this is what rock FEELS LIKE!” Then they wet themselves or cry.
Chances are you won’t get through a Monotonix live show without seeing Ami’s ass. He’s proud of the hairy thing.
Drummer Gever takes so much abuse during a show it’s a wonder he doesn’t cry himself to sleep. Every show he gets trash dumped on him, beer poured over his drums, Ami climbs on his back while he drums. He’s got a temperament that would make Ghandi say, “Man, I’m an asshole.”
Things begin to escalate during the show. Most of the time you’re watching Monotonix do their thing you’re thinking, “Ok. This is probably the best part of this show. It won’t get any rowdier than this.” Then a burly guy with a flower tatttooed on his side decides to cut loose, and more people show up. Theirs is the only show that gets more and more crowded as it goes on. It usually happens during the song “Summers and Autumns.”
See
Okay, now we’re outside. The last couple times I’ve seen Monotonix they’ve added a new wrinkle to their show. They carry their gear outside and the crowd follows. They’re Jewish Pied Pipers, taking the rock n roll mayhem to the streets. This is a Friday night on Fraternity Row at UPenn. When Ami stands on top of the kick drum held aloft by 100 or so kids in the middle of the sidewalk, it stops traffic. No one walks by. Instead, they whip out cameras and wonder aloud “What the fuck is going on?” And then they wet themselves and cry.
This really happened.
Next to Pi Lam, “the punk rock fraternity,” are other, douchey fraternities. Ami and Monotonix ran onto Phi Kappa Date Rape’s porch next store, breaking up—I shit you not—a game of beer pong. The Brothers didn’t seem to mind, instead just cracking grins and wondering aloud “What the fuck is going on” while wetting themselves and crying.
This is what UPenn’s Fraternity Row looks like when it has been taken hostage by three rockin’ Jews!
Ami then lead the group in what sounded like a Yiddish nursery rhyme or folk song, giving them a word to yell when he pointed at the crowd. I forgot the word, and I’m glad there are photos of this moment. I didn’t see it because I was laughing so hard my eyes narrowed to slits.
“Yes. We will do whatever you say!”
More Pied Piping.
Like lambs to the rock n roll slaughter!
Back inside Pi Lam—now twice as crowded than when the show began—things continue to get more and more insane. Brothers from Kappa Alpha Secretly Gay who’ve wondered in from next door shout “Show us your tits!!!!” between songs at the crowd. Utterly surreal.
Annnnnd scene…
3 Responses to “Yesterday’s Monotonix Photos Explained”
By Mike Murphy on Oct 21, 2008
Man, Penn sucks, man. Those guys are like, so entitled man. They get their punk rock from ISRAEL, man. Shit’s crazy.
By El Koshkin on Oct 22, 2008
I saw Monotonix on the 10th in Houston and I’ve been shitting blood ever since.