Ishay Berger (; born July 8, 1978, in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, Israel) is an Israeli musician best known for his work as the lead guitarist for Israeli

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

Useless ID Useless ID () is an Israeli punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 197 ...

and the bassist of

brutal death metal Brutal death metal is a subgenre of death metal that privileges heaviness, speed and complex rhythms over other aspects, such as melody and timbres. The genre was pioneered in the early 1990s by Suffocation and other groups from New York including ...

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, e ...

act Whorecore.

Professional career

Useless ID (1994–present)

Berger was one of the founding members of

band

, when the band was formed in Haifa in 1994. He founded the band as the lead guitarist, along with lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Guy Carmel, bassist Adi Alkavatz, and drummer Ralph Huber. Only two years after their formation, the band was already touring worldwide independently, mostly in the United States, but also Europe and Japan. The band released its first full-length album, '' Dead's Not Punk'', in September 1997, through the band's own independent label Falafel Records. The band's second full-length album '' Get in the Pita Bread Pit'' was released in 1999, also through Falafel Records, and ''Let it Burn'', the band's split album with

The Ataris The Ataris are an American punk rock band from Anderson, Indiana. Formed in 1996, they released five studio albums between 1997 and 2007. Their best-selling album is '' So Long, Astoria'' (2003), which was certified gold. Their high-charting s ...

, was released in April 2000 on

Kung Fu Records Kung Fu Records is an American independent record label founded in 1996 by Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald of the punk rock band The Vandals. Founded in order to release a record by the Riverside, California band Assorted Jelly Beans, the l ...

and was the last to feature the band's rhythm guitarist Guy Carmel on lead vocals. This was when bassist Yotam Ben-Horin took the role of lead vocalist and lead composer and songwriter for the band. Following the band's split album with The Ataris, the band was offered a

record contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

in Kung Fu Records. The band then went on to release their international major releases, in all Berger played lead guitar as well as singing backing vocals: '' Bad Story, Happy Ending'' (2001), '' No Vacation from the World'' (2003), '' Redemption'' (2005) and most recently, the band's critically acclaimed and successful album '' The Lost Broken Bones'' released in October 2008, through their new label –

Suburban Home Records Suburban Home Records and Distribution is a record label based in Denver, Colorado, United States. The label was founded in 1995 by Virgil Dickerson, and is known for focusing on vinyl releases and bands in the pop-punk and alt-country genres. Its ...

. On all of these albums, Ben-Horin also wrote the majority of the material. On January 27, 2011, Useless ID played their last show in support of ''The Lost Broken Bones'' at the Barby club in Tel Aviv, Israel, before taking off to record their new album at the

Blasting Room The Blasting Room is a recording studio in Fort Collins, Colorado. Founded by members of the punk rock band All in 1994, it is owned and operated by musician Bill Stevenson (Descendents, Black Flag, All, Only Crime) and Jason Livermore. The ...

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The population was 169,810 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an i ...

. The band entered the Blasting Room on February 2, 2011, to begin recording the new album.

Whorecore (2010–present)

Upon Whorecore bassist Evil Haim leaving Israel to travel the Far East, and mostly

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, Ishay Berger who was his co-member in the comedy punk trio Bo La'Bar was chosen as his replacement as a bassist in Whorecore until Haim returns. Ever since joining the band in late 2009, Berger had the chance to play with the band in such big events as the Hellelujah Open Air in

Herzliya Herzliya ( ; , / ) is an affluent List of Israeli cities, city in the Israeli coastal plain, central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it had a populatio ...

in April 2010, the Showdown Festival in Tel Aviv, playing alongside his own main band Useless ID in May 2010, supporting

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1988, now based in Tampa, Florida. The band has released sixteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radio ...

in Tel Aviv on July 8, 2010, playing the Summer Carnage Festival alongside Aborted, System Divide, The Fading and many more on July 21, 2010, and supporting

Parkway Drive Parkway Drive are an Australian metalcore band from Byron Bay, New South Wales, formed in 2003. Parkway Drive have released seven studio albums, one EP, two DVDs, a split album and one book, titled ''Ten Years of Parkway Drive''. The band's la ...

on their only Israeli show at the Barby club in Tel Aviv on November 25, 2010. On April 19, 2012, the band released "Alai", the first single off the band's second studio album '' Makot''. The single saw the band taking a different musical direction, towards more of a

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

sound, rather than the

and

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

sound they embraced on their previous releases.

Bo Labar/Tabarnak band members

*Ishay Berger – lead vocals, guitar *"Evil" Haim Benyamini – lead vocals, guitar (mostly with Tabarnak) * Matan Cohen – guitar, backing vocals *Guy Geller – guitar, backing vocals *Yair Kampel – bass, backing vocals *Jonathan Harpak – drums, percussion *Corey Ben Yehuda (w/ Tabarnak) – drums, backing vocals ;Former members *Nir Doliner – guitar, backing vocals

Discography

w/ Useless ID

''For a full discography, see Useless ID Discography'' *'' Dead's Not Punk'' (1997) *'' Get in the Pita Bread Pit'' (1999) *'' Bad Story, Happy Ending'' (2001) *'' No Vacation From The World'' (2003) *'' Redemption'' (2005) *'' The Lost Broken Bones'' (2008) *''

Symptoms Signs and symptoms are diagnostic indications of an illness, injury, or condition. Signs are objective and externally observable; symptoms are a person's reported subjective experiences. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature ...

'' (2012)

w/ Bo Labar

*'' Bong Rock'' (2011) *'' Shtaim'' (2012) * Gimel (2013)

w/ Whorecore

*'' Makot'' (2012)

w/ Tabarnak

*Morris Academy (2018) *Tabarnak Sharim Tabarnak (2020) *Hok HaShalosh (2023)

References

External links

Useless ID's official siteUseless ID's MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Ishay 1978 births Living people 21st-century Israeli male singers 20th-century Israeli male singers Punk rock guitarists Israeli punk rock singers Israeli heavy metal bass guitarists Israeli male singer-songwriters Israeli singer-songwriters 21st-century bass guitarists