The Mothers Anger

This definitely is not your parent’s hard rock, but thankfully I believe it will not be our children’s either (which I predict to be much worse).

Why? That is because Mother’s Anger has a good ability to meld unlike many new bands. Whether that be between instruments and vocals, or just soft and hard the band has that blended quality too it. That does not mean that the album is a run-of-the-mill and meant to satiate everyone’s appetites, but this is one of the first hard rock CD’s in a while that has been, well not full of music-less shouting. Instead of which, Mother's Anger decided to go with, more of a rarity really, music quality.

“Do you know who you are” they ask? Sure, this CD will not redefine you as a person, I don’t believe, but it is definitely a good grab. - Mugz Magazine

God’s Chosen People have their homeland and rock ’n’ rollers have one too. Ilan Starkman and David Rapaport met 11 years ago while attending high school in Tel Aviv, Israel. The two discovered a common interest in rock music and began playing in Hebrew-language bands influenced by American and British groups such as Led Zeppelin, the Doors and the Beatles. Years passed and members came and went, but the Starkman/Rapaport core remained. They continued writing songs together as a two-piece, the former moving behind the kit and the latter remaining on guitar, and began writing lyrics in English.

Rapaport, aka sTITch, experimented with a home-spun tuning method that allowed him to sound at times like three or four guitarists playing at once some songs even come complete with head-scratching bass lines (how’s he doing that?) and heavy-distortion crunch that could easily be confused studio magic (it’s not). Starkman pounded away with a frenetic, self-taught enthusiasm reminiscent of Nirvana-era Dave Grohl. The result was a garage-punk dish that makes up for trite second-language-poetry lyrics and lethargic, grunge-affected vocal melodies with unique song structures and the let’s-take-on-the-world enthusiasm of a high school band eager to climb out of the basement. The two-piece called themselves the Motherfuckers and set out to conquer the Israeli scene.

“People in Israel call us heavy metal,” says Starkman, aka Jimi Nostalgia, of his band, now called the Mother’s Anger, a name that has personal resonance for the members but that they also felt would be more palatable to English-speaking crowds. “The scene there [Israel] is weird. There isn’t really much of a crowd. The country is smaller than New Jersey, and only a small percentage of people are interested in the music.” The lack of opportunities to play shows and a peer-pool of bands that Starkman describes as “soft and diluted” prompted him and Rapaport to bring the show west. They sold all their earthly possessions (minus, of course, their hearty supply of vintage gear) and headed off to New York, where they purchased a brown 1973 Chevy van that now acts as their home as they crisscross the States. The van, it’s worth noting, has a built-in sink.

During their first U.S. tour, a demo recorded back in Tel Aviv made its way into the hands of Dionysus Records honcho Lee Joseph, who was immediately taken with the band’s sound and story. After signing them, he brought them to Los Angeles to record, where he introduced the Mother’s Anger to Detroit native Michael Davis.

“He was sent from heaven,” Starkman says of the former MC5 bassist, who also adds low end and vocals to a track on their self-titled debut, which is in stores now. “We didn’t even know the MC5 before that. We had him play his music for us. We saw the movie [MC5: A True Testimonial]. We were completely shocked. We watched it twice in a row we couldn’t believe all they’d been through. He told us a lot about the Detroit scene back in the day we didn’t know that much about the Stooges either. He introduced us to [MC5 drummer] Dennis Thompson. After we cut the album, when we went on the road, people started saying we sounded a little like the MC5 and the Stooges. It’s amazing how much he influenced us.”

While the group has a kindred connection with Detroit in addition to having worked with Davis they cite the Demolition Doll Rods as one of their favorite bands, the White Stripes as a major reason they believed the two-piece format could find success and say they’d love to move to Detroit if only it were warmer here their Israeli pedigree remains at the heart of their identity. But despite coming from a place that is politically charged, to say the least, the Mother’s Anger isn’t interested in pushing any agendas. “Of course the political climate we were around growing up is in the music, but we’re not a political band,” Starkman says. “Music has no boundaries. It’s really heartwarming: You can be from wherever and connect with people wherever."


Reviewer: Jonathan Mahalak

- Detroit Metro Times

"SCREAM" -- THE SONG BEGINS WITH SLOW HEAVY GUITAR, and drums playing an almost military cadence, but soon shifts into a rapid-fire sonic barrage with an intensity that makes it hard to imagine that it's just two guys playing. It's the first track on an eponymous album by an Israeli drums and guitar rock duo known as The Mothers Anger.

Drummer Jimi Nostalgia and guitarist David sTITch are currently on the road on what Jimi refers to as "the endless tour," traveling around the Americas in a brown 1973 Chevy van with just enough room for their gear, a couple of beds and a sink. "We've been out for two and a half months this time out, did like 52 shows," said Jimi, calling from Arizona, where the guys had just gone to see the Grand Canyon. "It's unbelievably crazy, but it's cool. We like it. We love touring and traveling. We like driving, even like staying in the van.

"The American rock `n' roll culture is so integral to the society it's unbelievable, people from all walks of life get into the music so much. In Israel it's not like that. There's a lot of musicians, a lot of good bands, but not really much of a crowd for rock `n' roll. It's a small country, smaller than New Jersey, but with 6 million people: one million are Arabs and another million are really religious Jews, and none of them care for rock `n' roll." How do Americans respond to a band from Israel? "We meet people here and they say, `You're from Israel, how's the political situation there?' They assume that a band coming from such a place has some sort of political message or agenda. We're not a political band -- we don't really get into it -- but we grew up there, so definitely the situation influenced us. It shows in the way we sound, the energy on stage and in the content of the lyrics."

That said, the band's sound tends toward dark and foreboding. "Even the happy songs sound dark," Jimi concedes. "All the songs were written in Tel Aviv in the context of the Israeli culture, the Israeli streets. South Tel Aviv, where we live, is a nice place, but it's also a harsh place: harsh reality, harsh living, you know."

Before stripping down to duo format, Jimi and David were part of The Jiggles, a five-piece rock combo in Israel. "We played '60s rock, sort of like Beatles and Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin -- in Hebrew, rock `n' roll in Hebrew. We put a record out, then things happened, people came and went. "A few years later David and I were playing on our own in our rehearsal room. We wrote all these songs, just drums and guitar, with words in English; we didn't know what to do with it. We decided we had to start playing shows, just the two of us, so we did, in Israel, but as I said before, there really isn't much of a crowd interested in our type of music in Israel. We decided we had to go to America to play our music.

"So last year we came over with a couple of guitars, bought a van and drums and started setting up shows on the Internet. It just started rolling and rolling. We ended up doing 85 shows across America from New York, over to L.A. up to Seattle and back to L.A. then back to New York. We made a record in the middle of the tour; a demo rolled into the hands of Lee Joseph from Dionysus Records; he liked it and brought in Mike Davis from the MC5 to produce it. The whole experience was amazing, so much fun."

That tour was followed by a brief trip home, although they soon came back to the U.S.A. At this point, the guys are having so much fun in America, they are not in a hurry to get back home, in part because it's not easy living in a place where a suicide bomber could end your life at a moment's notice. "It's on your mind all the time, but you just suppress it," says Jimi. "It's insane feeling as if you could explode at any time. You can't really live that way, so you try not to think about it, or the mental strain would kill you. It makes you so edgy, and a lot of people in Israel are edgy, very competitive -- the temperature is hot and the characters are hot. It's intense over there."

As you might guess, The Mothers Anger's music tends to be kind of passionate. "We like to make intense music," says Jimi. "Especially in live performance. Come see us play. You will see."


Reviewer: Bob Doran - North Coast Journal

The Mother's Anger is calm, just quite busy (Chicago Tribune)

Special to the Tribune
Published October 8, 2004

So where does the Mothers Anger, an indie-rock duo from Israel, currently call home?
"We're living in a 1973 Chevyvan," says drummer-vocalist Jimi Nostalgia, calling from a tour stop in Tennessee. "We did 26,000 miles on it last year; we toured the whole United States."

Crisscrossing America again on their second stateside tour, Nostalgia and guitarist-vocalist David sTITch--known collectively as the Mothers Anger--have just released their self-titled American debut on Dionysus Records. The duo's new release was produced by Michael Davis of legendary Detroit rock outfit the MC5.
"We grew up on American and British music and rock 'n' roll, but we still sound different," says Nostalgia, who grew up in Tel Aviv. "People ask us how we characterize our music, so we usually say electric psychedelic rock 'n' roll with Middle Eastern influences."

All the tracks on the Dionysus release are sung in English. A couple years back, the Mothers Anger released a record in Hebrew in their native Israel. But the band was eager to explore.
"Israel is really small. It's smaller than New Jersey," says Nostalgia. "There's a lot of really, really talented musicians, a lot of great bands, but there are no crowds for it.... We decided we wanted to live our dream and come to America where there's endless space and endless crowds for our music."

Reviewer: Chrissie Dickinson - Chicago Tribune

Rock n' roll duo The Mother's Anger makes its way from Israel to Hamtramck with a little help from MC5 bassist Michael Davis. We dropped Davis an email and asked him about the band and how he got involved with them. Here's what he had to say:

Hello Ryan,
I am pleased that the band is back in the U.S. and that you get a chance to see them do their thing. While Angela was sharing an office with Dionysus Records, a demo came to the office from Honduras, where the band was kicking off an esoteric tour of the Americas via a '73 Chevy van. They were seeking a record deal as they passed through Los Angeles some time later in the year. The label was interested, and asked me if I might want to produce the session.

I had recently produced the Swedish band Dollhouse, and as there are only two guys in The Mother's Anger, it seemed like it would be an uncomplicated production.

That said, once I heard the music I became totally a part of doing the project. They had a raw passionate sound, melody in their songwriting, and an amazing drummer. When they got to L.A. and I met them, I soon realized that these two bonded characters were a unique and special force, very deep, very commited, very strong.

I kind of fell in love with all of it. We did the record in three sessions at a killer studio called Sonora Sound in Los Feliz; a place used by Rancid. I play bass on a track called "Like It Here". Otherwise, Stich plays guitar and bass on the rest of the record, and sings all the leads, with Jimmi doing the amazing backup vocals and the out of control drumming. In addition to production of the record, I also did a tune-up on the van, and guested at one of their L.A. shows. Last I saw them, they were heading out for New Orleans, and eventually back to Israel.

These guys are for real. I expect they will build a fan base wherever they appear. If the record gets any amount of airtime, it could breakout in the big league. Go see them, you won't regret it.

Best to all youz guys in the Motor City,
Michael

Thanks to Michael for taking a minute to give us the lowdown. The Mothers Anger will be at Small's in Hamtramck this Wednesday, October 6 with Detroit band Nitro Dynamite. - Mike Davis, MC5

Israeli duo The Mother's Anger is the garage rock lovechild of Nirvana and The Stooges, their no-nonsense guitar and drum style emanating a similarly dangerous, non-conformist edge. The NYC-based band's self-titled debut album (Dionysus Records) was produced by Michael Davis, bass player for legendary Detroit rockers MC5, which might account for its primal, breast-beating ferocity. Man, screw the Stripes and crank this one up!

Reviewer: Bill Picture
Published on Thursday, November 11, 2004

- The Examiner, San Francisco

What a racket (The Boston Globe)
Local H does it. The White Stripes do it. And Mother's Anger joins the club. And what club is that you ask? The club of rock duos who rock heavily and make you think it can't just be two people up there making all that racket.

Mother's Anger is guitarist-singer David sTITch (ne: Dudee Rapaport) and drummer-singer Jimi Nostalgia (ne: Ilan Shtarkman) and they come from a place we Americans may consider a hotbed, but not exactly a hotbed of rock 'n' roll: Israel. And they sound like a band from Detroit -- rough, raw, raucous. Their US debut album was produced by ex-MC5 bassist Michael Davis. (They previously put out a Hebrew record in Israel; this one's sung in English.)
The down-and-dirty duo has relocated to New York, and they're in the midst of a massive tour spreading their brand of mayhem, which is not unrelated to the kind of sound Nirvana had in its early days.
As their moniker suggests, there's a bit of anger in this mix and these dudes will toss out more than a few cuss words all in the name of good rock 'n' roll rebellion.

October 13, 2004
Reviewer: Jim Sullivan - Boston Globe

Israeli duo leaves country to rock USA (The Observer & Eccentric - Detroit)

This story first appeared in:
OE Regional Thursday
Thursday, September 30, 2004:


A singer named sTITch stands on stage with his microphone in hand and screams:

"I'm not afraid."

"I'm not afraid."

"I'm not afraid."

It captivates the audience's attention, and soon even first timers watching the band Mother's Anger are singing those words too:

"I'm not afraid."

The lyrics are from the song, Requiem 4, off Mother's Anger's self-titled album on Dionysus Records. The two-piece, electro-psychedelic, hard rock band with Middle Eastern undertones left Israel a few years back because of its weak rock scene. Today, band members live in their van, endlessly tour the country, have never had a bad experience here and especially love Detroit.

Mother's Anger is performing at Small's bar in Hamtramck on Wednesday, Oct. 6, a laid-back hipster club that's packed with artists, musicians and unpretentious types. It's at least the band's fifth time performing in the Detroit area within the past year.

"Living in Israel, we dreamt of coming to Detroit," sTITch said. "Because of the music ... the White Stripes, The Stooges, MC5 ... even Eminem. ... It's fascinating to see the industrial city that gave birth to it. Detroit is like a rock n' roll steamroller ... and we wanted to be part of it."

And they are. They came to Detroit purely as tourists, made friends and played with the Demolition Doll Rods. Now they perform here quite often and are known as the wild twosome - and one has the wild hair.

Nostalgia's hair grows so high that the band is quite humorous about it and displays photos of his coif on its Web site, www.mothersanger.com.

They're proud to be two wandering Jews who drive an old '70s Chevy van, own some cool vintage music equipment and have a burning desire to rock.

The band's CD also has a Detroit connection: It was produced by Michael Davis of the MC5, who also laid down backing vocals and played bass on the full-bodied, raw track Like It.

"Some people tell us we sound a little like the MC5, and that's a compliment," sTITch said.

Influenced by MC5, The Stooges, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, Mother's Anger creates a funky, hard, trippy sound mixed with some anger and beautiful dreams.

Although the style of Mother's Anger is harder and less blues-oriented than the White Stripes, sTITch said Jack White was a tremendous influence.

"With the White Stripes we realized you can sound like a full band with just two people, it helped us," sTITch said. "(Drummer Jimi Nostalgia) and I couldn't find anyone in Israel crazy enough to drop everything and move to the U.S. to live in a van, so we did it ourselves."

In 1999, sTITch and Nostalgia had a record deal with NMC, Israel's second-largest label and released a Hebrew record that sold quite well. Still, sTITch said Israel's rock scene isn't thriving.

"There's a lot of good musicians in Israel, but rock isn't mainstream," he said. "People like softer, easier music, maybe it's because life is hard there, with war, maybe the softer music is a way to escape daily life."

But it wasn't enough for the two musicians with a decade-old friendship. Sure they love their country and miss their families, but the U.S. is also home.

"We are playing our music with no restrictions and no boundaries. Sometimes we miss home ... 'cause Israel is a crazy, crazy place - and you can get a feel for it in our lyrics. ֺIt is truly a place like no other place in the world." Nostalgia said.

Israeli press responded fondly to the band's brand of nonconformist rock, stating in the Globe's Next Generation newspaper that "they have cranked up some distortion peddles, turned the speedometer up a nudge or two and abandoned the holy Hebrew for the international English. Now they are going abroad where there is room enough for sTITch's endless walls of guitars and Jimi's hectic drumming combining an endless variety of styles ('60s, progressive, drum and bass). The two just call it rock n' roll, emphasizing the difference between their perception and the Israeli perception of what rock music is."

"We've been across the U.S. a few times now and people ask us to tell stories of the good and bad people we've met ... but we haven't met one bad person, not one," added sTITch. "So we plan to tour until we're too tired to do it anymore. For us, it's all about getting on that stage with no song list, and just playing and making that connection with the audience and together releasing energy."


Reviewer: Lana Mini - Observer & Eccentric, Detroit

Shalom, MF
It sounds like a bad, grade school ethnic joke: what do you get when you cross a pair of Israeli hard rockers with MC5 bassist Mike Davis? No, not John Sinclair pulling weeds at the kibbutz – instead, you have Mother's Anger, a twosome who sound like a foursome (or at the very least a threesome), and a measure of rock 'n' roll chaos, with a dab o' Hebrew, to do ya.

The Dionysus recording artists oughtta be made honorary Americans (though god knows who'd want that after the recent presidential election) – their rock combines a soupcon of Amphetamine Reptile, a dash of Homestead Records, and a tad early Sub Pop. They're reaching out to you with an all-English self-titled debut – the least you could do is return the favor.


Reviewer: Sarah Han - the San Francisco Bay Guardian

When guitarist David sTITch and drummer Jimi Nostalgia decided to ditch the Hebrew of their debut and leave their native Israel for the spoils of rock America, the Mother’s Anger was already the alternative toast of Tel Aviv. For them it seems a welcome challenge to adopt the nomadic, no-name lifestyle of domestic garage bands, even if they are a duo in a duo-ridden landscape. Fortunately what they play is not regurgitated blues or, despite being produced by Mike Davis of the MC5, regurgitated Stooge.

On their second self-titled record, it appears grunge either arrived 10 years too late or has remained vital in the hearts of Israeli youth. I’ll theorize a bit of both; songs like “Now You’re Gone” and “Heart of the Sun” blister with the visceral-yet-melodic fuzz of early Dinosaur and Bleach-era Nirvana, while “Loser” and “Down” earnestly crib the era’s stock riffs. Live, the duo tends to shed any particular influence and simply rocks with a passion and mysticism that could only come from a place where music isn’t a commodity.

The ever-evolving Blue Revision and Boxcar Satan round out the bill.

10/7/2004
Reviewer: Kevin Elliott - Columbus Alive