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"it is great to discover the other voices of israel. Behind the uniform chanting of the media, the patriotic education, the deification of the army and the political system which represents only the rich, free spirit is still alive. the message of this collection is that struggle is fun, because it offers hope." Prof. Tania Reinhart

Music

The total majority of bands on it are from the Left Bank’s club hardcore phase. We could have dug out for some obscure tracks from 91, but that would have postponed publishing this anthology for at least a year. We will get to that when we have the chance.
Additional credits: Eli, Rakefet, Anat, Ofer, Lisa

Autonomous Zone

USF (Urban Skate Fanatics)
Were formed by kids from Bat Yam and Ness Tziona (some miles southern to Tel Aviv) in early 1996. They played regularly at the "Gada Smalit" (Left Bank) before they toured the East Coast / Midwest of the US in the summer of 1997 (together with Nekhei Naatza) and broke up some weeks before the tour they released a demo tape which most of it was used for their posthumous " released by Volkstaat records in 1998. Some of those songs are recycled here.

PI TAPUH (APPLE PIE) (808 KB)

LO ROTHE (DON’T WANT) (1.36 MB)

PATALOGIA LAHAMONIM (PATHOLOGY FOR THE MASSES) (735 KB)

LAHDBIC ET KOL HAMANULIM SHEL MEHONOT HASIGARIOT HOOZ MEBAFACULTA LEMISHPATIM (TO SUPERGLUE ALL THE CIGARETTE MACHINES EXCEPT FOR THE ONES IN THE LAW FACULTY) (826 KB)

RON ARAD KALUA ETHELY LAAD (RON ARAD IS LOCKED UP AT MY PLACE) (850 KB)
SKATE BRIGADE (1.60 MB)

ANUS:
This Tel Aviv/Kiriat Ono band was one of the most popular bands of the israeli "punk explosion" of the early/mid 90 's even though their only recorded output was a song on the Israeli punk compilation cassette "Parvarotti" released in 1994. Formed in late 1993 they played very often in the Tel Aviv area until their demise in mid 1995. These two songs were recorded in 1994.

MITABEDET (SUICIDE) (2.98 MB)

NEFILA (FALL) (4.07 MB)

MY UNIFORM IS BLACKER:
existed for a brief time in early2000, playing one show only (in the Gada Smalit of course!) and releasing a CD- r from which this songs were taken The members were mostly from the Tel Aviv area .

PROMETHEAN AMOK (2.53 MB)(2.53 MB)
DRIVE THE FINAL STAKE (1.30 MB)
PERSUASION (1.91 MB)

GOAL NEFESH
Were from Rishon Le'Tzion (Israel's 4th largest city not far from TA) and like Anus , they never released anything besides their appearance on the "Pavarotti" compilation. They recorded a demo during their existence (mid 94-early 95) from which this song was extracted .

GOAL NEFESH (REPLSIVE) (1.31 MB)

THE ASTROGLIDES
From Herzlya come THE ASTROGLIDES. They were formed in and went through various line up changes playing mostly in The Gada Smalit (the Left Bank club and more recently in the "Patiphon" club in Tel Aviv. The released a CD- r in 1991 and an LP in 2001 on the Israeli indie label Fast Music. They still exist. Because of stupid copyright we could only put one song fuck Acum.

KABBALAH FUCKER (1.69 MB)

PUBLIC DOMAIN
Started in Haifa (the 3 rd largest city , in costal north) in late 1992 broke up in early 1995 and were Israel's first Straight Edge band They played only 2 shows released a split tape with Nekhei Naatza (1993 ) and had songs on both "Pavarotti" and "Break The Cultural Curfew" Israeli HC/Punk compilation 7 " which was released by the US label Beer City in 1995. The songs here were recorded for an unreleased 2nd demo

NEGATIVE SOCIETY (461 KB)
GROW UP (768 KB)
WHY BE SOMETHING THAT YOUR NOT (NEGATIVE APPROACH COVER) (783 KB)
WORKING CLASS (0.99 MB)

DIR YASSIN
Was made up from ex members of USF, Public Domain and Nekhei Naatza. Formed in 1998 they released a demo ( 1998) , a CD -r ( 1998) the “Durchbrechender Geist” 7” (on Germany's Thought Crime 1997 ) a self titled 7" (on Lengua Armada from the US , 2001 ) and appeared on several compilations worldwide. They toured West Europe in the fall of '99. These songs are unreleased.

NEHES LEUMI (NATIONAL ASSET) (1.49 MB)
UTOPIA DERECH RIGUL TASIYATI (UTOPIA THROUGHINDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE) (458 KB)
HITRASHMUT SOFFIT (FINAL IMPRESSION) (772 KB)
HATHILU OTAM MYTEHOM HASHICHACHA (SAVE THEM FROM THE ABYSS OF FORGETFULNESS) (808 KB)
DAKA DUMIA (A MINUTE OF SILENCE) (347 KB)

NISREFET
From the Tel -Aviv erea. Formed in1991 and broke up in 1998. They released a disk on the label of “The Third Ear” in1998 and recorded several demos that were never officially released.

MEVER LAZMAN HATSUK (BEYOND THE TIMEOF THE CLIFF) (6.49 MB)

NEKHEI NAATZA
Hailed from Lehavot Habashan & Dan , 2 "kibbutzim" in the Upper Galilee Paralyzed several times by line up changes they lasted from late 1990 until mid 1997. Their releases includes a split tape (1993 ) "Renounce Judaism" 7 " (Beer City 94' ) "Hail The New Regime" LP (Beer City 1997 ) and a split cassette with Italy's Muddle (1997) . Also appeared on "Pavarotti” and "Break The Cultural Curfew" , as well as several compilations abroad. Broke up after the US tour with USF . These songs recorded in 1997 were part of a planned 2 nd 7 " which remains unreleased

CARTHAGE KAHOL LAVAN (CARTHAGE BLUE AND WHITE) (1.46 MB)

A Brief History - The Left Bank

Before we laid our hands on it, The Left Bank was a living museum of sorts – a large function room in the second floor of a boring building in the centre of Tel-Aviv, that was owned by Hadash – the communist party. It was used mainly as a meeting place (going on since the second world war!) for party elders who maintained a real temporary autonomous zone there – a vacuum severed from time and from a reality on which they no longer have any influence. Saturday nights were dedicated to screenings of Russian films, attracting many local new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Chad Lenchner, active in Hadash as well as Reut* and the high school students’ letter group**, was practically the only activist linking the communists’ twilight zone to a world which was equally surreal perhaps, but at least able to be contemporary – the burgeoning underground of anarchists, punks and animal-rights activists, inspired by European and American scenes of the time – 1990.

Operating as a missing link, Chad initiated the turning of The Left Bank into a centre for alternative culture. In return he helped with Saturday nights – manning the projector and selling candybars at the counter… Thus dodgy types like us started roaming about. Yours truly was drafted as an “artistic advisor” or something. At the time I looked at the elders with contempt as rotting Stalinists and hated their demands to maintain the, erm, design of the place, based on stale black and white photographs from even staler socialist conventions. Looking back, they seem almost cute…my opposition to Lenin’s portrait looming over the bar seems to me today to be lacking the ability to appreciate absurd contexts. At some stage I almost put violinist and Hadash activist Ishay Kalmanovitch’s head through the large frame. However, I always liked the socialist-realist miniature standing on the bar.

The LB’s first life lasted until the summer of 91, with the gulf war and one bizarre end-of-the-world party in between. During that time the place was mainly a venue for underground music, and the first issue of “It’s All Lies” was produced. The sound quality ranged between disgraceful to non-existent, but on the other hand door and drink prices were kept to a market-breaking minimum. The most radical step, apart from choosing the bands, was the time of playing – around 8 in the evening instead of the usual past midnight times kept in all other clubs. This was due to having no operating license whatsoever and a wish to end all events as fast as possible before the neighbours and the authorities will notice. But it was also expressing our will to allow the audience to catch a bus home.

The beginning of the 90’s were critical – a second before grunge. Some of the bands that made their way to wider acceptance later on played their first concerts at the LB. I wouldn’t say they “sold out” because those particular people never shared our market analysis in the first place. They shared a certain spirit. Some of them were simply too insane to maintain a viable opinion anyway. Yours truly took LB stage for the last concert of Noon-Mem. Anarchist lyrics, four chords, and a lead guitarist in a toga. Testcard 225 scared the shit out of people with Sisters of Mercy style sunglasses and harsh industrial electronic. One of them is nowadays a member of Trance heroes California Sunshine.

The two acts to enter Tel-Aviv mythology were The Mukhtar and Plastic Venus. The Mouchtar was the first house resident; penning “The Moon and The Parthenon” and performing it solo every Friday night. It was a minimalist decadent cabaret with over the top vocals and the accompaniment of demented accordionist Yehuda Lazarovitch who later on played the march tune in Chad and Lisa’s delirious wedding ceremony, taking place at the LB as well.
Plastic Venus, a female-led Sonic Youth/Velvet/Mary Chain hybrid played in the LB twice. 60 people attended the first time, including rock critic Michael Rorberger who had his head torn off his neck and accordingly wrote a raving review in which he compared the LB to Rembetico cellars in Athens, Greece.

The second time was possibly the best LB night ever. 200 people filled the room to the ceiling. I was the soundman – I cranked it all up to eleven, got drunk and proceeded to use the console as a springboard. Plastic brought a couple of transvestite dancers and made use of the house’s ancient Soviet film projector. At the end of the show the police came and shut the place down, but nevertheless failed to wipe the smiles off our faces.

The resurrection took a few months. The forced secrecy gave space to different forms of alternative culture – experimental jazz nights (still going today), a range of political meetings, gatherings and debates, and fringe theatre. The Left Bank Theatre Ensemble was formed, with two productions – “A Free Night” and “Interview”. They took the shows to festivals in Europe and even won first prizes. I’m reminding you that everything I’m writing about was done 100% DIY. Yours truly, stuck between bands, put on his own performance piece “The Mityasering Artist”.

The frustration with being unable to hold distortion-oriented concerts led to an event calling on the city hall to finance a space for young bands. We didn’t mean that to happen too seriously, but we brought it up for debate. We put up the event in a nearby club - The Penguin –, which is mainly known for its importance in the eighties. We put Plastic Venus on the bill as well as Shalosh Cheit and Afor Gashum. Ori Drommer, vocalist with industrial hardcore masters Duralex Sedlex, did a spoken-word thing. He was followed by Plastic. Vocalist Ronit Bergman, frustrated with a useless full-of-himself soundman, started kicking monitors offstage. Robbie Forel, a mythological wise guy that contributed loads to the underground and owes me money to the present day, was in charge of the Penguin that night and pulled the plug. Familiar with his methods (physical intimidation), we made a move to the box with all the money. Nir grabbed it only to get his balls kicked by Robbie. It turned out Nir was serving as bait – Chad made sure beforehand that the money was stuffed in Tal Offek’s socks. The night concluded in a lengthy debate at the nearest police station starring Robbie, Chad, the Penguin’s owner who kept threatening Chad’s life, and a bewildered officer. The forces that be remained neutral, Chad returned Robbie his measured share, and for the first time in history someone got out with cash from a concert at the Penguin.

The LB kept on going in low profile until one stage, against all odds, the first proper hardcore-punk event was initiated. Bands like Nekkhei Na’atza were sick of playing venues with the above-mentioned ethics, alongside street punk bands attracting drunken, violent crowds. And so was born, in the mid-nineties, a scene consistent and creative, blossoming to this day. A new generation started running the place, who’s living spirit was embodied by folks like Yoni Massey, members of Nekkhei Na’atza and their act to follow Dir-Yassin, and loads of kids from the northern city of Haifa.

Parallel to those events that were dominantly straightedge, a “revolutionary tavern” was opened – a pub holding a range of radical books and fanzines – local and international. The only place in town allowing reading Israeli underground comics as well as the writings of Guy Debord, long before the Israeli intellectual left caught on. Most of the hardcore events had political themes and some were benefits to Palestinian and other causes.

In 98 I opened, with Ronen Idelman, the “beautiful people – boring city” exhibition. A documentation of Israeli underground bands’ posters. We were crediting our sorry asses off already back than as the show included the graphic side of the LB’s activity in the early nineties. The Fluorescents played in the opening, linking past to present.
In the recent year a new group of people, some involved with the periodical “Resling”, started holding video-art events, as well as contemporary cultural and political debates.

It would be difficult for me to evaluate the LB’s influence on culture and politics in Israel. I can only say that I’m happy the place exists and that I had the opportunity to be involved. I have only one regret - the only time I refused letting someone play – it was a balding forty-something weirdo with cowboy boots, playing a dangerous mix of country and horah (Israeli folk). He also shouted “hey!” a lot. He wanted to use the LB for a farewell show to his friends before leaving for the States. I think it was also his birthday. I threw him from all the stairs. I took myself too seriously – I was afraid of damaging the place’s artistic integrity – ha!

Avi Pitchon, May 31-05-2001

* An Arab-Jewish youth movement
** A group of high-school students who sent a letter to the defence minister at the time, Yitzhak Rabin, declaring that they will refuse being sent to the occupied territories as part of their military service.