Once, just once, it would be kinda phat if Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys handed the reins over to Ozzie Osborne for a cameo. Just one song cause Dan’s kickass. Dan would still be in on the festivities – his hickory-cooked riffs are needed for the collaboration and they could cover themselves with some thick Delta mud and just roar. Or, as a substitution for that idea and to keep our foods separate, we could just listen to Israel’s Monotonix. Will Oldham believed in this band enough that he e-mailed us months ago and warned us that they were coming to our town and suggested that we bring them in for a session. It didn’t work out, but we like that they set things on fire. As part of what we’re calling “old homes” week – welcoming a number bands back to the studio for encore sessions (Alela Diane, Tilly and the Wall, The High Strung, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, The Donkeys and The Subjects all this week) – we’re dealing out some old, old, old interviews. We get buried from time to time.

The Daytrotter interview:
You’re a long way from home dudes. What are you enjoying over here?
Yonatan Gat: We love travelling, meeting people and getting exposed to some of America’s weird sides. When you tour you don’t really meet the “real” people most of the time, you just meet music lovers. It’s like living in this huge bubble where everybody likes Captain Beefheart and treat you real kind just because they liked your show. We get some glimpses of real America at times, sitting at Waffle House diners in Tennessee. The difference is fascinating and astounding. Oh, and we love playing shows every night.

Do you get temporarily insane when you perform live?
YG: When it’s a good show we do.

What’s the music scene like in Tel Aviv?
YG: It’s evolving. Used to be a black hole, now more little venues, house shows, small labels and better bands start popping out. We always try to support them, play with them and encourage them. We play a lot of shows in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem and we made our last album in Tel-Aviv.

If you were to make a greatest moments in Monotonix show history, what would the scenes be? Do you all still have your eyebrows and arm hair? I’ve seen the photos of you guys playing with fire.
YG: So many great moments for me. Vassar College 20 kids piled on top of me and Ami during the show; Knoxville, Tennessee a guy in the audience set himself on fire; SXSW everyone was holding Ran (drummer) on his bass drum in the air until he was hanging from the rafters. So many great moments for us, we can barely remember them all. Almost every show has a great moment.

Have you ever trashed a house?
YG: Some salad was tossed…

How many shows did you play with Will Oldham? Where were they? He seemed to take a shining to you. Could you sense that?
YG: Just one show, but we hung out with him a lot. He’s a great guy, and he seemed to like us. He and Ami (our singer) are almost the same age and they seem to have weird subjects in common (like a deep knowledge of Queen’s discography). He’s an incredibly nice guy, a hard worker and a genius songwriter.

Are you at all into Black Sabbath?
YG: YES! Especially Paranoid.

Monotonix Official Site