Useless ID, a punk band originating in Israel who first kicked into gear in the mid-’90s, sound, when in concert, like they’re channeling urgent energy that simply must find an escape —And now they have a double LP capturing a 2019 performance in Israel at the Barby in Tel Aviv, where they’ve repeatedly returned over the years. Called Live In Tel Aviv, it’s an April drop from Double Helix Records.
The group’s approach to punk, long since led by Yotam Ben Horin on vocals, is exuberant. Their songs are the sort where it’s difficult to not sing along, or at least move, feeling uplifting no matter the frustrations sometimes reflected in their wide-ranging lyrics.
It’s the idea put to sound both that you can get through this, whatever might be posing such a challenge, and that cracking through the metaphorical fog to the shining light on the other side is, in fact, already happening. As curated by the group for their setlist captured on Live In Tel Aviv, the music of Useless ID has the energy of a friend cajoling you out of a slump.
Life, in short, often isn’t so bad. While moving boundlessly ahead, the rhythmic choices by Useless ID feel more rejuvenating than confrontational, often hinging on bits of song that are undeniably catchy, and the band sound sharply focused, sharing emotional arcs through these tracks to which it’s easy to attach. Crafted hooks lead the way, with the music here sticking to a fierce but steady tempo. The instrumentals suggest Ben Horin’s fellow musicians in Useless ID are themselves shouting along, and while the communicative power in the guitars, bass, and drums obviously isn’t captured in ordinarily spoken language, you get it.
Sounding unbounded, ambitious, and assured, it’s great! Below, see what Ben Horin has to say about the well over two decades Useless ID have been a band and their new live recording, Live In Tel Aviv.
Being active for this long, do you feel like Useless ID as an entity is just immensely intertwined with your lives themselves now? Is it something you see yourselves doing foreseeably into the future?
Well, it’s been such a part of all of our lives for so long. Some of us got into this band as teenagers. And, into our 20s, into our 30s, people shape shift and change during these times, and we managed to keep up with all the changes. I mean, nothing too drastic. It’s just that people grow up, and they decide where they want to live or where they want to be most of the time. Or in my case, marry an Italian woman. So that puts Italy on the map for me. So I’m constantly going back and forth between Italy, Israel, and the U.S.A., like this triangle.
I mean, we’re not 100% active because we don’t live in the same place, but when we are together, everything just falls into place. My whole idea with this live recording is like, we were on fire. We just played a slew of shows with Descendants and a bunch of shows in Europe, and we were just on it. So I told the guys, what do you think if we just record this show, and hopefully it’ll come out in the future? I didn’t know it was going to come out on Double Helix (Records). It was just kind of on the side. And then, when I came to Jeff (at the label) with the idea, like, “We have this recording we did right before Covid; well, what do you think?” they were all about it. They were like, oh, hell yeah, we love it. They heard a rough mix. So it spiraled from there into this being released.
[…] I think it’s a point in time where many of the bands from our era, and bands even older than us like Strung Out and Lagwagon, I think they’re like—They’ve been a band for longer than us. I think it’s at a place where people have the band, and they have their personal life, but you still find a way to make it work. I don’t think it’s just us. I think many, many people, many bands kind of fell into this situation at some recent point.
When all of us are collectively in Israel, we do a show, and it’s a great time, and everything falls back into place pretty quickly. It’s like one rehearsal in, and halfway through, we sound like what we sound like.
As for the specific show captured on this new, live album, can you share more about what from it stuck out to you?
We had a handful of shows with Descendants. Right before that, we were on tour with Good Riddance. I felt that we were just on fire, you know? I think it always takes us like—If we don’t play for a while, it’s like three shows. The first show’s always like, OK, tomorrow’s going to be better. And then by the third show, fourth show, we’re on it; we’re tight. Everyone knows what he’s doing. And it’s just like second nature; you don’t think about it. You’re just there, present. I think we collectively felt that we were there again.
This was a 25th anniversary show for us in Israel. To be honest, I didn’t think we would make it past the 10 or the 15 or the 20, but it happens, like certain stuff happens in life. You make another album; you tour; life happens; another year goes by, and suddenly, we’re at the 25. So I think it was in the back of our minds, who knows what will be? The Ramones, I think they stopped at 22. The Ramones said they were going to stop at 20, but then they went on for three more years. So I think we were kind of in that mindset of well, maybe we could, if we want to stop. But I think we just love punk rock so much. We love this band, and we love playing shows, and we love traveling to Japan and playing shows in Israel and playing shows in Europe that it just—We keep a special place for it.
[…] When I was in my 20s, or even when I was in my late teens, it was weird for me when people would say, “Yeah, I’m not into punk anymore.” I always used to think, “How could you not be into punk anymore? How could you just stop and, like, erase that part of your life?” Because it’s more than a style of music. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a mindset. I play a lot of acoustic shows, and it fulfills me. I love that intimate thing, and I love playing alone, but then when I get on stage with Useless ID, there’s nothing more fun than that energy and being in a room with people and screaming my ass off and finishing the show drenched in sweat. You feel alive. That’s what punk does to me. If we were in, like, a slow rock band, I don’t think I’d get that.
There’s certainly something special and communal about the live energy reflected on this new record coming out from Useless ID.
Throughout the years, many of these songs kind of shape shifted into different versions of themselves. You release an album, you start playing the songs live, and as time goes by, you’re like, why didn’t I play that on the record? Or why didn’t we sing this way on the record? So I think the fans will get that from this Useless ID live thing, these morphed versions of several tunes. Some are played faster because that’s what happens when you hit the stage, and you’re amped, and you’re good to go. Who thinks about tempo, right? And I think that just adds to the hardcore punk element, which we have instilled in our bones.
[…] Even with my acoustic songs, they tend to be rather short. Two minutes 30—I it’s three minutes, or if it’s three 20, I’ve got to be saying something or doing something that I haven’t done or that’s worth keeping the person’s attention for that long.
In general, you seemed to indicate it would be somewhat of a surprise for your past selves how things have progressed with Useless ID.
There’s definitely an element of surprise in my life. On a personal note, the more years that went by, I didn’t think I would meet someone that would understand this very weird way of living. I live on airplanes; I’m, like, all over the place, but she gets it. And we got married, and I didn’t think that would happen. So there’s that. And with the band, we were always hard workers. We always showed up to the tour; we always gave it our 100%. And everything else that came along with it, even signing to Fat Wreck Chords, like, 10 years ago, that was a big milestone for us because that was a goal. That was, like, something we wanted to achieve. And to think of it that it’s four dudes from Israel, one of the weirdest places on the map. I mean, it’s not even Australia. It’s this little, tiny place in the Middle East. To get in with those guys, to get in with those bands that we grew up listening to—That was a big deal. So anything else that’s coming along, we’re just thankful for it.
It also sounds, in retrospect, like you and the other folks in Useless ID would say you’ve found a lot of reception for your music over the years.
Flying to Japan for the first time, that was really out of left field for me personally. It’s kind of like our third, but our first proper, label-released album was released on Kung Fu Records. It was called Bad Story, Happy Ending. And then we had a trip to Japan, and then we were like, holy shit, people care about us here. How weird is that? Then we kept going like almost back every year, and it’s become like a second home for us. So we have this special connection with the Japanese crowd. Every time we get that email, “Are you guys ready to go?” — it’s a no-brainer. Everyone’s just stoked. We’re stoked to go there, hang out with the people, go sightseeing, hit up the record shops, and just have a ball. Japan’s great.
[…] I’ve seen so much of the world, and the first time I decided to take a proper vacation, which I’d never really done, I just flew to Thailand because Useless ID have never been there. We’ve been to Australia, we’ve been to Russia. Well, I don’t think I’d do a vacation in Russia now, but we’ve been to Russia, we’ve been to Europe several times. We’ve been all over the place. I’ve been to Brazil as well, not with Useless ID. I was like, where haven’t I been yet? Let’s go there. The whole punk thing and the traveling, that’s one of the things. But another thing is the community. It’s like people that you’ve met along the way, friends in bands. So every time we find ourselves in Brakrock in Belgium or Sbam Fest or one of these festivals, it’s always like, we’re just hanging out with a bunch of buds backstage. Honestly, it’s a super cool time and everyone’s cool. Everyone’s down on earth and everyone’s friendly. That’s punk rock.
Useless ID have covered a lot in their lyrics, but when it comes to the more politically and socially oriented songs, do you feel like those are very connected to your roots in Israel? Or do you think of those sentiments as more things that affect everybody from everywhere?
From my personal experience and I think our personal experience, we experience this political thing in Israel, which the world views as what the media sells to them. It was so in our face, in my face back then in 2015 that I was like, I can’t even write about love songs now or personal stuff because this is affecting my life right now. So I just really wanted to capture the essence of what it is to be living in a country where religion is being forced on you, and there’s the fanatical right-wings and all that stuff, and suicide bombings, and it’s just like one big shit-show, mostly due to politics and all that stuff.
[…] I remember once Trump was elected, people were posting on Facebook [the 2016 album from Useless ID called] State Is Burning, but Americans were posting it. So I was like, ah, so the original message from Israel traveled there and now they kind of see, they’re feeling the same from what’s going on in the U.S. So it’s interesting. It’s interesting. I think we felt obligated to make our political statement, kind of like you can’t really beat around the bush. You are a band from Israel. You do play punk rock, you do play hardcore. So it was time to shed some skin and go into it.
When it comes to the current state of punk and hardcore like Useless ID create, do you feel optimistic about how things are going? Do you see a lot of stuff coming out lately that feels inspiring?
I mean, it’s changed over the years. Now you can become an instant star on TikTok, and you just have to throw something out there, and suddenly everyone knows you. So I guess that has its advantages. But, I don’t know. That’s a big question. I think with Useless ID, we know how to do what we do. If anything else transpires, it’s always like a bonus. Like in 2016 going on tour with NOFX, that was a big deal for us, you know? And touring with No Use for a Name over the years and Lagwagon and all these bands. So now the state of music, I don’t let it really influence me because I want to stay pure with what my original intention with music was.
I don’t try to do what people are doing now and what’s accepted and what’ll make you big. I don’t know what makes you big. But I do know that I love songs. I love songwriting. I love singer-songwriter stuff. I love punk rock and alternative and hardcore, and many other things. So I’m trying to keep it special, because I’ve had some years where I didn’t want to write a song. Not years, but times, certain times where I was like, I need a break from this thing. I always find the love for it.
[…] I just don’t want to give too much time to that, like to be a slave of that. I feel like people are kind of like slaves to their images on their social media, and then they have to live up to that, and then they feel like they owe people something in return for watching them, or sending them money, or telling them how they look, or telling them they gained weight, or they lost weight, or they look older. It’s so weird to me. So I try to stay clear of that.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Jackson
