As our Jewish Monkeys continue their pursuit of fame across Germany, performing live in Hanover tonight and in Hamburg tomorrow (check our Shows page here), we decided to reference a recent article by Michael Croland for young Jewish online magazine Jewcy, fittingly entitled "Mosh Your Tuches Off!". The pop culturally highly relevant piece embarks on a short exploration of current Yiddish punk performers or punk bands incorporating Yiddish elements, "Oy" or "Oi" being the most obvious common ground between the two. The piece names a handful of bands keeping the Yiddish punk spirit very much alive and is but an excerpt from Croland's book "Oy, Oy, Oy, Gevalt!", published in April 2016:
"Step inside a fascinating world of Jews who relate to their Jewishness through the vehicle of punk—from prominent figures in the history of punk to musicians who proudly put their Jewish identity front and center. Many key figures in punk’s history—including members of the Ramones, the Dictators, the Clash, Bad Religion, and NOFX—were Jews."
That being said and without yet having read it in its entirety, we believe this work to be of essential nature. After all, it also represents a large part of the Jewish Monkeys' artistic universe and acoustic heritage.