Monkeying Around
With only a week to go before their highly anticipated sophomore album's official release, the Jewish Monkeys are revving up the promo engine or as The Jerusalem Post called it, Monkeying Around. In a recent interview with Ariel Dominique Hendelman of the leading Israeli English newspaper, Ran Bagno (accordion) and Gael Zaidner (vocals) shared their thoughts on the band, talked about a momentous performance in front of Syrian refugees and hinted at the fact that there already is a third album in the making.
"As a band, we started off with a more Balkan/Klezmer sound. Now it became more high energy, more exciting, more rock, more punk. It’s more of a blend of all of the places we are coming from. The band is a fusion of our stories; an Israeli salad", says Ran Bagno at one point. "I would like to emphasize that our sound is very Middle Eastern", Gael Zaidner points out.
Asked why it is so important to laugh at taboos, Bagno answers: "I think it’s the only way to deal with them. We can’t preach about things. If you speak about something with humour, it’s much easier to contain it in my opinion. We are a funny band. We have three singers in the front who are all very strong characters. It’s powerful. The audience is dancing and responding. When we see that, we know that something moved them. Some of our songs have very funny lyrics and we see the audience’s reaction to that. We see that they got the point."
Read the full interview here and give the Jewish Monkeys' second album "High Words" a listen while you're at it. Gut Shabbes!
More artist posts
Acoustic Appeal
Believe it or not, our very own Jewish Monkeys are back for more. After a long, forced hiatus – a common side-effect of the global pandemic – the raucous Tel Aviv outfit has just announced a quick visit to Germany, including three live shows, strictly unplugged!
On the heels of their latest album release arriving at the tail end of 2019, the group had scheduled an extended "Catastrophic Life" tour that tragically fell short due to international lockdown [...]
Too Little Too Late
Hanukkah is here and the Jewish Monkeys are back. After having the second leg of their "Catastrophic Life" tour obliterated by a certain global pandemic, the band locked down in its native Tel Aviv, keeping a low profile and waiting for the dust to settle. Restless by nature, however, this hiatus did not last and the group soon returned to the proverbial drawing board to get those creative juices flowing again.
Premiering today, is the spanking new companion [...]
Live Goes On
Following the release of their third album "Catastrophic Life", these past weeks have been positively hectic for our dear Jewish Monkeys. First, they embarked on a quick tour of Germany, the Czech Republic, France and Israel. Just ahead of their show at Paris' La Bellevilloise, French daily Libé/Libération wrote a short piece on them, which you can revisit here (if you are proficient in French). The article includes a charming quote by Omer Hershman, who [...]
Le Grand Bazar
Our dear Jewish Monkeys are currently on the road in Germany and the Czech Republic, wowing the crowds with their recently released third studio album "Catastrophic Life", which sees the band venture into unfamiliar musical territory. And we dare see, they seem weirdly rejuvenated.
Shortly before the album's official release, the Jewish Monkeys unveiled the suave new music video to album track "Le Grand Bazar", an upbeat and liberating afrobeat-flavoured tune [...]
Catastrophic Life: The Album
Thank G*d it's Friday! We survived another week, the world has not yet imploded and Agent Orange is still POTUS. Shabbat shalom everybody and l'chaim! Let us raise our glasses to life in all its glorious absurdity, "Catastrophic Life" that is, as our Jewish Monkeys release their triumphant third longplayer and kick off a string of live dates. After all, who better to comment on modern-day ennui than this band of sharp-tongued, middle-aged, manly manly [...]
Catastrophic Life
"How did I find myself in the back seat of your life / Why did it feel so good, when you stabbed me with that knife?" Ah, the undeniable of joys of holy matrimony, married life or hell, as some may perceive it. Tel Aviv's Jewish Monkeys take their latest single "Catastrophic Life" behind closed doors and into the realms of the subconscious.
Released last Friday, the hilarious companion music video, directed by the infamous A.T. Mann and produced by London's [...]
In Living Colour
Earlier this year back in March, Tel Aviv's Jewish Monkeys returned to Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic for a string of live shows, where they also performed the lead single "All the Great Things" from their forthcoming third full-length "Catastrophic Life".
It just so happened that they decided to record their kickoff concert at the state theatre of Mainz and turn their performance of "All the Great Things" into an official live video. Recently released [...]
Back For More
En route to their forthcoming third album "Catastrophic Life", our very own Jewish Monkeys are back in Germany for a short but sweet weekend layover and two live shows.
Boasting a new look as well as their recently released current single "All the Great Things", ze boyz will take to the stage today, July 20th, at the 100% organic and possibly also quite kosher "Bio erleben" festival in the northern Bavarian city of Nuremberg. And, what's more, you will be able [...]
Murphy's Law
We warned you last Friday. The Jewish Monkeys are back and paving the road to their forthcoming third album "Catastrophic Life", to be released in autumn. Which also means new music for all of us. Isn't life a beauty?
"All the Great Things" is the band's new single and first track off the new album and it too celebrates life in all its absurdity. The single is a catchy, Balkan-infused ska punk track, which features the Jewish Monkeys' new horn section and an [...]
All the Great Things
Great news from our favourite band of primates: Following their support shows for the one and only Shantel and his Bucovina Club Orkestar back in November, the infamous Jewish Monkeys stopped 'monkeying around' and headed back to their concrete jungle of Tel Aviv to work on album number three. Boasting a very promising title, "Catastrophic Life" is set to be released this fall. So stay put.
And no, we are not about to leave you hanging. Of course we've brought [...]
Roadtrippin'
Hot on the heels of an eventful summer, including another memorable show at Sziget, our Jewish Monkeys are well rested and ready to embark on another raucous roadtrip.
This Sunday (November 11th) they will rev up their musical engines with an exclusive gig at Frankfurt venue Das Bett, before they head off to the Netherlands next Wednesday (November 14th) to support the inimitable Disko Partizani and friend of the Greedy family Shantel and his Bucovina Club [...]
Back To Budapest
It has been a while since we last updated you on the current state of affairs concerning our jolly Jewish Monkeys, not since their tour support for Shantel, the Shantel remix of "Fever" and their last tour of Germany at the tail end of 2017 that is.
But the boys have not been monkeying around. Far from it: The band has been back in the studio readying new songs for album number three, the follow-up LP to their well received sophomore effort "High Words" [...]