Nashville Music Blog

Lance Conzett

Check out the slideshows for more photos: Monotonix; Turbo Fruits and JEFF the Brotherhood.

Thanks to antics such as setting fires inside Springwater and collectively stage-diving off Exit/In's bar when opening last year's Silver Jews show, Monotonix--Israel's answer to Lightning Bolt, messy spectacles, The Sonics and The Stooges--have built quite a reputation for galvanizing Nashville crowds with shenanigans unprecedented in their derring-do. Combining their brazen approach to rock 'n' roll with the youthful stoner-punk vigor of JEFF the Brotherhood and Turbo Fruits--both flagship bands of Nashville's D.I.Y. scene--is a match made in heaven.

We hit the Rock Block before show time and retreated from the inconveniently frigid outside temperatures to the comfort of the merch booth, where we thawed out and took a look at fresh copies of JEFF's Heavy Days and Turbo Fruits' Echo Kid--both of which are hot out of the record plant and ready to facilitate world domination. Normally headliners, JEFF kicked off the show. With lovable bravado they commanded the crowd to unfold their arms and get down to their fusion of psych-punk, Krautrock and brotherly love. As we watched Jake Orrall tower atop his amplifier, we knew exactly which local band of brothers we were really jealous of.

Turbo Fruits have spent the last few weeks on tour with Monotonix and it shows--15 dates supporting a band who risk life and limb to entertain has inspired them to up the ante even more. This was especially apparent in frontman Jonas Stein, who smoothly pulled off moves such as midair splits and crowd-jumps, putting his guitar around a showgoer before re-entering the stage via back somersault--all without missing a beat. Bassist Dave McCowen and drummer Matt Hearn--formerly of The Tits--have found their groove with Stein and it shows.

Lance Conzett

For those not familiar with a Montonix performance, here's a primer: They play in the crowd, on the bar, up in the balcony and basically anywhere else that is not the stage. They attempt any acrobatic stunt that will scare you into thinking you're about to witnesses a spinal injury. They drench as many people as they can in alcohol, and they never stop rocking in the process. Given their previous exploits in Nashville, expectations for a dangerously good time were high.

The set started with singer Ami Shalev entering the crowd atop our hands before creating a space dividing us in two. He then emptied a trash can on drummer Haggai Fershtman before wrestling with him in what looked like a recreation of the uproarious sex scene in Borat. Next, the band launched into a pummeling onslaught of fat beats, unintelligible vocals and a wall of buzz-saw Mediterranean riffs. As is customary at a Monotonix show, the crowd began throwing their drinks at the band. From the outside it looked like a rock group was being swallowed by a volcano of beer and ice. As they climbed on top of audience members and scaled the walls of the club, the crowd pushed, pulled and herded in various directions while band members were momentarily swallowed in the mass, only to re-emerge in another corner of the room. Ten minutes into the show we were soaked, bruised, deafened and screaming for more.

This display continued for close to an hour. It was hard to tell which way was up or down, but there was a point at which a minor scuffled seemed to break out between an overzealous fan and Shalev. This inspired his repeated declaration of "Never fuck with an Israeli." Monotonix's music may get a little same-y after a while, but their show never loses steam--for them, these performances are their art. People are more likely to say Monotonix are the best band they've ever seen before saying they're the best band they've ever heard. But this Israeli trio is just fine embodying all the disgusting primal glory of rock 'n' roll recklessness in a live experience that's beyond cathartic, and Fun with a capital F.