Useless ID return to Australia this week as they tour in support of their most recent album ‘Symptoms‘ through Fat Wreck. They are joined on this run by The Decline from Perth. WA is where it begins on Friday night at The Prince Of Wales in Bunbury before heading up to Perth for the Blood Rock Fest on Saturday at The Rosemount Hotel. Adelaide is up next on Sunday at Crown & Anchor. Next week they continue through Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney and Brisbane. Tickets are available for all shows. This week in The Hotseat, we caught up with Ishay from the band to answer our questions. Expand this post to take a read of his answers.
Got Spotify? Listen while you read…
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THE BASICS
Name : Ishay Berger
Band : Useless ID
Job In Band : Guitar, Some vocals, MC.
Website Address : useless-id.net
HOME
Hometown : Haifa, Israel.
Hometown is best known for : Making punks leave town and move to Tel Aviv.
Best venue in your hometown : Totally R.I.P.
Favourite show you’ve seen in your hometown : Either NOFX or Frenzal Rhomb.
Favourite show you’ve played in your hometown : Either Frenzal Rhomb or NOFX
THE BAND
How did the band first come to exist? We were young and didn’t think we’ll need the money.
How long has the band been going? Almost 20 years… the band is now older than we were when we started it!
Any particular story behind the name? Well, it was inspired by an old skate movie called “Useless Wooden Toys”, we later heard of a band called just that, so it’s good we changed it up a little.
What’s your most recent release? Tell us a little about it… We put out an Album called “Symptoms” through our favorite records label – Fat Wreck Chords a couple years ago, we are already at work writing a new album so we’re very excited about it.
Got a personal stand out achievement of your band to date? Well, just making music and touring for so long as a band of friends and getting to play with bands that we love is amazing for us. Ummmm, For me personaly it was pretty rad when Markey Ramone said in an interview that he is a fan of our band. Cannot ask for much more, really.
OFF THE STAGE
What was your first introduction to music that made you think seriously about playing it? Fresh fruit for rotting vegtebles, Nevermind and Selling England By The Pound – pretty much.
Any particular band / album or song that you personally credit as a major influence? Anything Bad Religion has been influential and amazing, same now as 20 years ago.
Your first band name, and what style did you play? My first band was called “911 pigs”, and we were very bad punky/funky hardcore, I mean, it was BAD.
Most prized music related item you own? The record collection, for sure…the music made by others is what makes me want to keep doing our own, music gear means MUCH less to me.
When you’re not doing band related stuff, what are you usually found doing? I work at a record store, babysit dogs and hang out with my girl!
The thing you most look forward to just before a tour is… Of course not having to go to work is a big one, and getting gnarly with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time WHILE not having to be at work is also a big deal!
The thing you least look forward to before a tour is… The boredom, the driving the flying and I guess for some of us. The hangovers!
ON THE STAGE
When on offer, what’s your one must have item on the rider? Hummus is ALWAYS making us all very happy when we’re away from home.
Favourite place you’ve toured… and why? We come from a very bad country when it comes to our “band life”, the punk scene in Tel Aviv is tiny and most people are very worn out of going to shows so… everywhere we go to is treating us better than at home and so… everywhere is VERY MUCH our favorite – as long as it’s not in Israel.
Most memorable show you’ve played? and why? Tons of them… we got to tour a lot with great and crazy bands like The Vandals, Lagwagon, Strung Out, Die Toten Hosen, The Gimmies…never ending list of insane nights… It’s awesome, I can’t point out a crazy good night, they were mostly ALL crazy good nights!
Got a favourite song to play live? I like playing them all, but it’s always more fun to play a song that we didn’t plan on playing – such as a request that isn’t on the list…
Any embarrassing on stage moments come to mind? One time in Tokyo I had an ice cube in my mouth as we got on stage. As soon as we started playing I spat it on the floor and sure enough, 5 seconds later I found myself on the floor with a half broken – totally out of tune guitar and a sore back, all in the first 30 seconds of the show.
Any pre-show rituals? Pretty much selling T-shirts at the merch stand, actually.
What do you find is the hardest aspect of touring in a band today? The flying is always horrible, the borders…all this shit, it’s just not cool going through it all after doing it for about 100+ times…
RIGHT NOW
Last song you listened to? Listening to a new Kim Gordon album right now and it’s SHIT.
Last album you acquired? I got the new Snuff album, and it’s GREAT.
Which band or album is currently on high rotation? Girls Against Boys, which I haven’t been listening to in like 10 years. Great band.
Tell us an up and coming band or artist you think we should go and listen to right now? Crazy Arm from England, amazing band.
What’s on the cards for the next few months for the band? Touring in Japan, Austraila, re-issue of our first 7′ coming out in the U.S and… working on a new album for the band!
IF ONLY…
You can pick any one album for your band to cover in full, what would it be and why? Anything by The Ramones, because I already know how to play all of these songs, on all instruments… loving the down-stroke!!!
You can pick any one band / artist to cover one of your albums in full, what would it be, and why? I would like to have New Model Army to re-arrange and record anything by us, because I’m obsessed with them so that would be COOL!
One band you wish you were able to see live but never had the chance? Spitboy, Extortion and Rattus.
One venue you have yet to play that you would love to? Slim’s in San Francisco. I just miss this town a lot, really, so, any club we did not play in the Bay Area yet – I would like to go play!
The chance comes up to fill in for a member of a band for one tour, which band would it be, and why? This is too hard, I would love to be in about 8000 bands, I’m a big big music geek and I learn quick + I know a secret language that I cannot wait to use while being in a van full of people that don’t understand it.
A headline tour overseas comes up, tell us two bands you’d take along to support your band. Mike TV from England and Not On Tour from Israel.
PLUG TIME
Got any final words? We have a song on the Tony Sly tribute album that is out now on FAT, we all loved Tony and No Use and were very close to them, so this LP means a lot to all of us, we recommend all punk rock fans to check this one out when it comes out, and see you all soon at a Useless ID show!
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USELESS ID – ‘Symptoms‘
Available now on Fat Wreck through Shock.
Order online now [Here].
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USELESS ID
With Guests THE DECLINE
NOVEMBER
8th – Prince of Wales, Bunbury [18+] Doors 8:00pm
9th – Blood Rock Fest, Rosemount Hotel, Perth [18+] Doors 2:30pm
10th – Crown and Anchor, Adelaide [18+] Doors 6:30pm
12th – The Workers Club, Melbourne [18+] Doors 7:30pm
13th – Great Northern, Newcastle [18+] Doors 7:00pm
14th – Hot Damn, Sydney [18+] Doors 8:00pm (Door sales only)
15th – Crowbar, Brisbane [18+] Doors 8:00pm
—> Tickets available today.
—> For more information, visit [Here].
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