Who are they?
Aside from being Israel’s most exciting export, Monotonix is one of the most talked about live acts since Fucked Up frontman Pink Eyes began smashing bottles on his own skull. The garage rock trio, consisting of former Israeli army tank commander turned hirsute howler Ami Shalev, drummer Haggai Fershtman and guitarist Yonatan Gat, began its musical adventure in the less-than-auspicious environs of Tel Aviv back in 2005, but soon found themselves shut out of every club in the city for being simply batshit crazy. From there, they headed out on what seems like a never-ending tour of North America — when we catch up with Gat as the band heads from Vancouver to Boise, Idaho, he takes a long time trying to think of any place they haven’t played, saying, “We’ve been to every major city except for Miami” — where show after insane show has earned them a rather colourful catalogue of awestruck reviews.

So, how crazy are these shows, really?
Aside from reports of setting fire to cymbals, throwing trash cans and Shalev sticking an occasional microphone up his butt, their handful of Toronto gigs include an in-store at Sonic Boom which concluded with the band and the audience spilling out onto Bloor Street for a traffic-stopping drum-and-dance jam, as well as a gig at Wrongbar that was cut short after only 15 minutes when similar outdoor activities attracted the local police. When the band set up on the floor of Sneaky Dee’s during 2008’s NXNE, the show was a near-riot as Shalev hoisted himself up by an overhanging water pipe and spent the rest of the set crowd-surfing through a sweat-greased audience along with pieces of Fershtman’s drum kit. Those of us close to the action spent most of our energy dodging the headstock of Gat’s guitar.

The new normal
“It was like that since our first show, so we kept doing it,” Gat explains. “The moment the three of us got down on the floor and started doing that show [at a 10-band festival in Israel for some 100 people], we didn’t have songs that we like as much as we like our songs today, but the atmosphere was very similar.” Of course not everyone is cool with having 44-year-old Shalev — who looks a bit like a buff Charles Manson — seriously invading their personal space. “[Some people] don’t really know how to act at our shows so they just step backwards and stay pretty reserved,” says Gat of certain European crowds. “They don’t freak out as much so it’s a different type of show. We kind of chase people around the room more.”  

I guess we should talk about the music, right?
While it’s safe to say that Monotonix have been getting by on their already legendary live show, their aptly named debut album, Where Were You When It Happened? manages to live up to the hype. Written over a couple of months in New Orleans and recorded in San Francisco for Drag City, the album finds Monotonix at their most refined — perfecting the trashy blues grooves of their Body Language EP and adding a darker, post-alternative vibe. “I think the new record catches the atmosphere of the show. But it is a record, and it can’t sweat in front of you and spit beer and be in the room with 400 other people,” says Gat, adding, “I hope people will be able to look past the clichés of Monotonix, that ‘they’re great live but they can’t play their instruments’ or whatever.”