{"id":16638,"date":"2011-12-16T15:35:53","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T22:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=16638"},"modified":"2014-12-14T10:18:50","modified_gmt":"2014-12-14T17:18:50","slug":"shmemel-party-like-you-mean-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=16638","title":{"rendered":"Shmemel: Party Like You Mean It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ness Ziona (a smallish town somewhere in the middle of the country) may just become Israel\u2019s Liverpool, as home of Shmemel<\/a>, an 11 member band whose signature song Helium for the Masses expresses the mood of the moment. Rough, brassy, wildly energetic and outrageously comic, a typical Shmemel concert draws crowds of fans who sing along with the band, mimicking their antics, and dancing their way to ecstatic delirium. At their recent InDNegev performance they had an audience of thousands singing, cheering, doing the Shmemel Applesauce dance, and just about every kind of gyration one can imagine, including the Hora.<\/p>\n

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Shmemel\/Photo: Gali Catalan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Shmemel concert is amazing fun; their seductive zany rhythms send a current of joyous movement through the room, the kind of instant happy one wishes could be packaged and brought out as needed for celebrations as well as down times (oh, yeah, they have a CD<\/a>). Yet if one can possibly stop jumping up and down for a moment to listen to their lyrics, there is a strong subversive streak running through the songs. Who are Shmemel and what drives their music? Midnight East sat down with Dror Waidman and Yaniv Raveh to talk about the band in Dror\u2019s Tel Aviv apartment, accoutered with acoustic sponges on the ceiling, a tiny red piano, a friendly flat mate, and a broken refrigerator enjoying a second life as a bookshelf.<\/p>\n

The two musicians met at the Ness Ziona Conservatory and have been friends ever since. With different musical tastes \u2013 Yaniv is into Guns & Roses, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, to name a few, while Dror favors singer-songwriters like Leonard Cohen, post-Beatles John Lennon, George Harrison, Tom Waits, Tom Lehrer, Matti Caspi and Shlomo Gronich \u2013 they have been collaborating for several years before coming up with the configuration that is Shmemel in 2007. \u201cTen years ago Dror came to me and we started playing around with songs,\u201d said Yaniv, \u201che said I want a band with 12 people in it, and I laughed at him\u2026 but the talent I saw in Dror\u2019s writing and creativity wiped the smile off my face and I saw that it really could happen.\u201d The first song that Dror brought to Yaniv was called \u201cShnitzelim,\u201d despite the intriguing potential of a song named for the ubiquitous Israeli lunch fare; Yaniv describes it as \u201cquite dark, very different from the kind of songs we do now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shmemel\u2019s mix of youthful hedonism and solid songwriting may be due in part to the slow evolution of the band. \u201cSomehow we messed around for about five years,\u201d said Yaniv, \u201cand by that time my brother (Eyal Raveh) was old enough and knew how to play well enough, and the drummer (Ran Genez) and trombonist (Maayan Milo) \u2013 they are all childhood friends. There\u2019s an 8 year age difference between us. When they were about 19 they were playing really well, I wish that I could have played as well when I was their age! Then we started to bring more friends. Dror brought Shem Hamami who he met in the army in a military ensemble, Ori Tabachnik, who is also another childhood friend from the conservatory and Liad Cohen the trumpeter grew up with us. I met Michael Schwartz and Yonatan Rubin at work \u2013 I teach at the Ness Ziona Conservatory.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a strong Ness Ziona core, most having gone through the mill of the conservatory, Dror describes the band as \u201ctribal, like a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Dror, Shmemel is about \u201cbringing everything that is fun for us to the stage.\u201d One can discern different musical influences in their style, yet at the same time, he points out that \u201cthere is an ironic perspective in the texts and in the music. The music sometimes looks aslant at music itself, when we do barbershop it\u2019s somewhat of a parody.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dror Waidman – Shmemel at InDNegev 2011\/Photo: Ayelet Dekel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dror recalled that the title song of their album, Helium for the Masses \u201cwas originally written for a nonsense play that I wrote while in the army that never got off the ground \u2026originally I wrote it as a critique of humor now its become the opening song to our concerts, and that is what I sell: Helium for the masses.\u201d The song opens with the greeting \u201cWelcome to the illusion\/the fantasy is about to begin\u2026\u201d and goes on to say \u201cit doesn\u2019t cost much for a few smiles.\u201d It\u2019s an ironic tour de force as it critiques both the performer selling the illusion and the audience eagerly consuming it, while at the same time creating just the kind of fantastic performance that has the crowds raving and dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was written by a kid who was critical from a more cynical, young perspective,\u201d recalled Dror, assuming a super-serious demeanor and admonishing, \u201cYou\u2019re laughing at nonsense!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe connotation is of opium for the masses, something intended to camouflage reality,\u201d Dror continued, reflecting, \u201cThat\u2019s OK. I\u2019m all for helium for the masses, the masses deserve some helium, they have so many bad things in their lives, they deserve a bit of helium as well\u2026 and opium is ok too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe create in a time when no one cares,\u201d said Dror, \u201cI try to get people to enjoy the music and have fun, and if they get a message along the way \u2013 all the better.\u201d
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\nThe band\u2019s songs range from \u201cVan Gogh\u201d, a paean to one of history\u2019s more bizarre token\u2019s of love, performed in a manner that evokes the late great Janis Joplin, to a lively song about a piano player who can\u2019t play, a rousing song called \u201cA Tale in Memory of the Shabbat\u201d, \u201cShe\u201d a poignant ballad of unrequited love, \u201cNegative Development\u201d –\u00a0 a happy sounding tune that tells us how everything is degenerating fast, and the popular \u201cHannah Zelda\u201d, Chaya Frankel\u2019s tale of Rabbi Kalman\u2019s Hannukah odyssey as he tries to get everything his beloved wife Hannah Zelda needs in order to finally make him the levivot<\/em> (latkes) he craves.<\/p>\n

Dror describes the Shmemel sound as \u201cBalkan\/Jewish\/Soul-Funk\u201d and their influences are many: Beatles, Kaveret, James Brown, Ray Charles, Janis Joplin, Goran Bregovi\u0107, Gogol Bordello, Blues Brothers, Otis Redding, Beach Boys, Meir Ariel\u2019s lyrics, \u201cArik (Einstein) and Shalom (Hanoch) are always there somewhere, they are the Beatles of Israel,\u201d the Apples, Boom Pam, Amy Winehouse and the Muppets.\u00a0 \u201cI really love the Muppets,\u201d Dror confessed, \u201cthe band tries to be Muppets much of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost all of the band\u2019s material is original, and usually begins with Dror, who composes lyrics and music in parallel. \u201cThey usually come together,\u201d he said, \u201cif they don\u2019t then there is a problem in the music\u2026if I don\u2019t sing to myself then the structure goes to hell\u2026I simply write strange words.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Yaniv & Dror – Shmemel at InDNegev 2011\/Photo: Ayelet Dekel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yaniv described the next step, saying, \u201cWe sit in the studio and sketch it out, he says where it takes him, I listen and try to understand what attracts me in the music and we try to find a consensus or compromise. We record a sketch then we bring it to the band and they reject everything. Then we build something new together, but there is an internal framework already in place that guides us. When we tried to work on songs from scratch it was very hard – 11 opinions in one room!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet Yaniv affirmed, \u201cEach person has his word and opinion and place in the song, sometimes it comes with a lot of pain, sometimes it comes with great fun, we always want it to be fun, but there are arguments\u2026in every song you can hear something from each person, everyone has touched the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of Shmemel\u2019s appeal onstage is the sense of spontaneity and friendly hilarity they exude, like a group of friends who enjoy hanging out and fooling around. Listening to Dror and Yaniv talk about the evolution of the different songs on their album, it is clear that this might also be a good description of the atmosphere in the studio. \u201cVan Gogh\u201d originated in a recording session for another song \u201cZipa,\u201d a Balkan style version of a traditional children\u2019s tale. Yaniv recalled, \u201cWe were playing around with voices in the recording and I opened two channels, panning one left and one right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dror continued the story, saying, \u201cThere were lots of background sounds in Zipa and at the end of the song one of my background voices said \u2018This is the left ear\u2019 into the left channel\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Yaniv completed Dror\u2019s sentence, explaining, \u201cAnd when you heard it through the headphones you heard it on the left\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I thought hmmm\u2026what song can I write about the left ear? Van Gogh cut off his left ear\u2026\u201d Dror mused, \u201cit was a time when it was very easy for me to write songs you\u2019re more creative when you\u2019re young, you\u2019re less serious\u2026wait, I just said that I was more serious when I was younger \u2013 I\u2019m contradicting myself\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shmemel at InDNegev 2011\/Photo: Guy Privas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Silly and serious by turns, Shmemel creates some serious magic onstage, and they love performing. \u201cThere is nothing like it,\u201d said Yaniv, \u201ceven if we hate one another the moment before we go on, once we are onstage it all disappears and we are in a different place.\u201d Recalling their performance at InDNegev, in front of a crowd of over 2,000 people, Yaniv said, \u201cIn Helium, towards the end of the song Shem and I lead the audience, raising and lowering our hands, and everyone joined in – my heart exploded… if I could freeze that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shmemel is: Dror Waidman \u2013 vocals, Yaniv Raveh \u2013 guitar & vocals, Shem Hamami \u2013 guitar & vocals, Eyal Raveh \u2013 guitar & bass, Ran Genez \u2013 drums, Michael Schwartz \u2013 keyboards, accordion, vocals, Liad Cohen \u2013 trumpet and vocals, Ori Tabachnik \u2013 baritone saxophone, Gal Dahan \u2013 alto saxophone, Yonatan Rubin \u2013 tenor saxophone & vocals, Maayan Milo \u2013 trombone & vocals.<\/p>\n

More Shmemel: website<\/a>; bandcamp<\/a>; myspace<\/a>; facebook<\/a>; youtube<\/a><\/p>\n

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Ness Ziona (a smallish town somewhere in the middle of the country) may just become Israel\u2019s Liverpool, as home of Shmemel, an 11 member band whose signature song Helium for the Masses expresses the mood of the moment. Rough, brassy, wildly energetic and outrageously comic, a typical Shmemel concert draws crowds of fans who sing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}