Entertainment, Music, We Love Music

We Love Music: Monotonix @ Comet Ping-Pong, 2/4/11

Monotonix at Comet 018
All photos by author

So this is what anarchy feels like.

Even with over 700 shows under their belt, Monotonix’s show on Friday night at Comet might’ve been the best chance to catch them on this tour. For reference, their show earlier this week in L.A. attracted 600 fans to a tiny venue – the cops ended up shutting down the show. Comet, on the other hand, can only hold 120 people in the back room. The show was sold out around 11pm, and the staff were kicking out people who didn’t have tickets, to stay within fire code.

For those lucky enough to get in, Comet’s back room was ideal for vocalist Ami Shalev’s antics. Sure, I’m a big fan of Monotonix’s brand of garage rock – noisy, positive, exciting, with energetic drums and dirty guitar licks. But a Monotonix show is more performance art than concert. The packed crowd offered a platform for Ami to climb around the room on our arms and shoulders, using every bit of space in the room from the floor to the rafters. I’ve never seen a band so utterly destroy the 4th wall between band and audience.
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Hot Ticket: Monotonix @ Comet Ping Pong, 2/4/11

Monotonix - [2011] Not Yet

If you’re looking for a “unique” experience on Friday night, you can’t do much better than seeing Israeli garage-rockers Monotonix at Comet. Their debut album was a well-received collection of fuzzy riffs and some barely intelligible shouting. If you like Monotonix but you haven’t seen them live yet, you are a fool. Their music is just background noise for the performance art of their singer Ami Shalev. He jumps off drum sets, asks people to throw garbage at him, and generally causes a ruckus. This man is a tank, taking abuse from the audience (and himself) in show after show. He’s the embodiment of rock ‘n roll excess.

After getting banned from every club in their hometown of Tel Aviv, Monotonix has been touring the world almost nonstop since their debut 4 years ago. Right now, they’re touring in support of their new album “Not Yet”. Oh, and Ami recently broke his arm at a show in Florida (I’m shocked that this is his first show-stopping injury), but I can’t imagine this group turning down their intensity for a stupid reason like that. Comet should be the perfect venue to see these guys, as they’ll be right there on the floor with the audience.

The openers Federation X and Pujol from Nashville bring more garage-rock flavor to the bill. Monotonix probably invited them just to have more people to help clean up after their set.

MONOTONIX
w/ Federation X, Pujol
Comet Ping-Pong
Friday, Feb 4th
$12