| Interview by Burt Wolf with Ishay, guitarist for the band USELESS I.D. Interview done November 27th, 2002. |
I'M NEW TO USELESS I.D., SO CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE A LITTLE BIT OF THE BANDS HISTORY?
USELESS I.D. started in '94, sucked, played local shows in Israel for a few years. We went on a U.S. tour for
the first time '96. Since then we had another 5 tours in the U.S., got to tour Europe like 5 times as well, played
fun. We have many records out & our new one will come out on KUNG FU RECORDS in January & it's called
"No Vacation From The World". Our best shit yet, we're really happy with this record.
WHY WAS THE NAME USELESS I.D. CHOSEN FOR THE BAND?
We came up with the name a long time ago & to be honest, the name isn't something very interesting & I don't
have anything funny to say about it anymore, so we should just move on, I guess.
WHO OR WHAT ARE SOME OF THE INFLUENCES IN YOUR LIFE & IN CREATING YOUR MUSIC?
Of course growing up in the Punk Rock scene, we idolised just about every Punk band, so I guess most Punk
bands that stayed around & kept kicking ass like BAD RELIGION, NOFX, THE VANDALS & such have
influenced us a lot, but musically it's hard to say if we are influenced by anyone anymore, as we all listen to a lot
of different types of music for so long now & everyone got his own influence that it's really diverse & crazy.
HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE & SOUND?
I find it hard to describe it, but as for our new record, I can say that the song writing is much better than on
anything we did before & that we got some heavier sounds going on now that we never had before on our
records as well & while it's still Punk & fast & catchy as hell, it's also much more experimental & new then
most Pop Punk records that I buy lately.
HOW DID YOUR DEAL WITH KUNG FU RECORDS COME TO BE?
Before we were on KUNG FU we released a split CD with THE ATARIS on the label & since that one did really
well & KUNG FU kept hearing from people that they want to hear more from our band. I think they figured it
will be a good idea to have us on the label.
I ONLY HAVE ONE OF YOUR RELEASES, SO COULD YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT EACH OF
YOUR RELEASES?
We release our first 7 inch record in '95 on a small label from California & since then we released many 7 inches
& splits & stuff, so I won't talk about these & none of them is really good any way. Our first record is called
"Dead's Not Punk" & we recorded & produced it & then released it on our own, so it's not really the one record
you'll wanna hear, but for some reason a lot of people like it & wanna get it so we let some labels of friends of
ours re-release it soon. So if you think it's a good idea (I don't), get it. After that we had a split with THE
ATARIS & it's called "Let It Burn" & it's just 8 songs from each band, so it's not very long or anything & it's
pretty good. Our first record on KUNG FU is called "Bad Story, Happy Ending" & it's the one USELESS I.D.
record that you should get cuz it's got 15 punky fast songs & it's just fun & I like it a lot. We have the new
record coming out soon & I'm sure we'll keep on putting out records & stuff, but that's all we've done so far.
USELESS I.D. started in '94, sucked, played local shows in Israel for a few years. We went on a U.S. tour for
the first time '96. Since then we had another 5 tours in the U.S., got to tour Europe like 5 times as well, played
fun. We have many records out & our new one will come out on KUNG FU RECORDS in January & it's called
"No Vacation From The World". Our best shit yet, we're really happy with this record.
WHY WAS THE NAME USELESS I.D. CHOSEN FOR THE BAND?
We came up with the name a long time ago & to be honest, the name isn't something very interesting & I don't
have anything funny to say about it anymore, so we should just move on, I guess.
WHO OR WHAT ARE SOME OF THE INFLUENCES IN YOUR LIFE & IN CREATING YOUR MUSIC?
Of course growing up in the Punk Rock scene, we idolised just about every Punk band, so I guess most Punk
bands that stayed around & kept kicking ass like BAD RELIGION, NOFX, THE VANDALS & such have
influenced us a lot, but musically it's hard to say if we are influenced by anyone anymore, as we all listen to a lot
of different types of music for so long now & everyone got his own influence that it's really diverse & crazy.
HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE & SOUND?
I find it hard to describe it, but as for our new record, I can say that the song writing is much better than on
anything we did before & that we got some heavier sounds going on now that we never had before on our
records as well & while it's still Punk & fast & catchy as hell, it's also much more experimental & new then
most Pop Punk records that I buy lately.
HOW DID YOUR DEAL WITH KUNG FU RECORDS COME TO BE?
Before we were on KUNG FU we released a split CD with THE ATARIS on the label & since that one did really
well & KUNG FU kept hearing from people that they want to hear more from our band. I think they figured it
will be a good idea to have us on the label.
I ONLY HAVE ONE OF YOUR RELEASES, SO COULD YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT EACH OF
YOUR RELEASES?
We release our first 7 inch record in '95 on a small label from California & since then we released many 7 inches
& splits & stuff, so I won't talk about these & none of them is really good any way. Our first record is called
"Dead's Not Punk" & we recorded & produced it & then released it on our own, so it's not really the one record
you'll wanna hear, but for some reason a lot of people like it & wanna get it so we let some labels of friends of
ours re-release it soon. So if you think it's a good idea (I don't), get it. After that we had a split with THE
ATARIS & it's called "Let It Burn" & it's just 8 songs from each band, so it's not very long or anything & it's
pretty good. Our first record on KUNG FU is called "Bad Story, Happy Ending" & it's the one USELESS I.D.
record that you should get cuz it's got 15 punky fast songs & it's just fun & I like it a lot. We have the new
record coming out soon & I'm sure we'll keep on putting out records & stuff, but that's all we've done so far.
WHAT IS THE SCENE LIKE IN ISRAEL? IT
DOESN'T SEEM TO BE A PLACE THAT WOULD
HAVE A BIG SCENE?
back & there's a lot of good bands to check out like
MAN ALIVE, PUNKACHE, BETZEFER, D.P.A.,
BEER 7 & many more. We weren't here for 6 months
cuz we were touring a lot & then we came back & the
whole Punk scene got much bigger & there's much
more shows then there were before & it's pretty nice
here.
DOESN'T SEEM TO BE A PLACE THAT WOULD
HAVE A BIG SCENE?
back & there's a lot of good bands to check out like
MAN ALIVE, PUNKACHE, BETZEFER, D.P.A.,
BEER 7 & many more. We weren't here for 6 months
cuz we were touring a lot & then we came back & the
whole Punk scene got much bigger & there's much
more shows then there were before & it's pretty nice
here.
YOU'VE NOW TOURED THE U.S & EUROPE A FEW TIMES. HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE
TWO & WHICH DO YOU PREFER?
It's hard to tell, as things are different in one place in the U.S. Compared to the other as well, but I can say for
sure that Europe is easier to tour in & also in the U.S. everyone seems to care for or like what ever is hyped now
& in Europe people actually judge the music & the scene by what their taste are REALLY like.
ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO ARE SOME
OF THE BANDS YOUR CURRENTLY INTO?
I like a lot of un-Punk bands, but they are usually Rock bands like WEEZER, JETS TO BRAZIL, PAVEMENT,
THE PROMISE RING, GRANDADDY & such, so it's still like noisy & stuff & some people in our band like,
Guy & I do really like reggae a lot, so that's another thing & Yotam really likes a lot of Pop music like Elvis
Castello & such.
WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF USELESS I.D. DO WHEN NOT DOING WORK FOR THE BAND?
Guy works in a record store, Ido is a D.J. & he plays mostly dub & reggae & me & Yotar are currently
unemployed, so we really don't do much...I play a lot of guitar & hang out with friends all day & Yotam does the
same, maybe one day we'll get a real job, not now!
DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE & WHAT YOU WERE DOING WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD
ABOUT THE 9-11-01 ATTACKS ON THE U.S.? WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE LIKE IN ISRAEL? ANY
COMMENTS ON THIS TRAGEDY?
I was at home on the internet. It was shocking...there's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world all the time so it
actually took me like a few days to actually realize what happened.
IF YOU WEREN'T IN USELESS I.D. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE DOING NOW?
Most likely I'd just be playing in another Punk band, hehe!
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE NEXT FROM USELESS I.D.?
Hopefully a lot of touring. Everyone should check out our new CD "No Vacation From The World" when it
comes out. We have 2 new songs on mp3.com so you should check them out.
WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU STARTED ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL
YOU DO ONCE IT'S DONE?
I was listening to that M.T.X. record & soon my ex-girlfriend is coming here. Should be weird.
WE'RE DONE, THAT'S ALL THE QUESTIONS I HAVE FOR YOU. THANX A LOT FOR ANSWERING
THESE QUESTIONS. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO ADD TO CLOSE OUT?
Everyone feel free to write me if they want to know anything about USELESS I.D. or the Israeli Punk scene!
TWO & WHICH DO YOU PREFER?
It's hard to tell, as things are different in one place in the U.S. Compared to the other as well, but I can say for
sure that Europe is easier to tour in & also in the U.S. everyone seems to care for or like what ever is hyped now
& in Europe people actually judge the music & the scene by what their taste are REALLY like.
ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO ARE SOME
OF THE BANDS YOUR CURRENTLY INTO?
I like a lot of un-Punk bands, but they are usually Rock bands like WEEZER, JETS TO BRAZIL, PAVEMENT,
THE PROMISE RING, GRANDADDY & such, so it's still like noisy & stuff & some people in our band like,
Guy & I do really like reggae a lot, so that's another thing & Yotam really likes a lot of Pop music like Elvis
Castello & such.
WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF USELESS I.D. DO WHEN NOT DOING WORK FOR THE BAND?
Guy works in a record store, Ido is a D.J. & he plays mostly dub & reggae & me & Yotar are currently
unemployed, so we really don't do much...I play a lot of guitar & hang out with friends all day & Yotam does the
same, maybe one day we'll get a real job, not now!
DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE & WHAT YOU WERE DOING WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD
ABOUT THE 9-11-01 ATTACKS ON THE U.S.? WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE LIKE IN ISRAEL? ANY
COMMENTS ON THIS TRAGEDY?
I was at home on the internet. It was shocking...there's a lot of bad stuff going on in the world all the time so it
actually took me like a few days to actually realize what happened.
IF YOU WEREN'T IN USELESS I.D. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE DOING NOW?
Most likely I'd just be playing in another Punk band, hehe!
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE NEXT FROM USELESS I.D.?
Hopefully a lot of touring. Everyone should check out our new CD "No Vacation From The World" when it
comes out. We have 2 new songs on mp3.com so you should check them out.
WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU STARTED ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL
YOU DO ONCE IT'S DONE?
I was listening to that M.T.X. record & soon my ex-girlfriend is coming here. Should be weird.
WE'RE DONE, THAT'S ALL THE QUESTIONS I HAVE FOR YOU. THANX A LOT FOR ANSWERING
THESE QUESTIONS. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO ADD TO CLOSE OUT?
Everyone feel free to write me if they want to know anything about USELESS I.D. or the Israeli Punk scene!
