Yidcore are an Australian Jewish

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 from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, formed in 1998. Known primarily for playing punk covers of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and Israeli songs, the band started writing more of its own material in later albums.

Logo

The band's logo is a variation of the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...

logo (which in turn is based on the

seal of the president of the United States The seal of the president of the United States is used to mark correspondence from the president of the United States to the United States Congress, U.S. Congress, and is also used as a symbol of the presidency itself. The central design, based ...

), with the names of the band members in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. The

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

is replaced by a

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

with a

menora Menora may refer to: *Menora (dance), a Siamese folk dance *Menora (planthopper), ''Menora'' (planthopper), a flatid planthopper in family Flatidae *Menora, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth *Kfar HaOranim, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank ...

above its head, the apple tree branch replaced by a shofar, the arrows replaced by the Magen David and the writing "Oy Vey, Let's Eat" instead of "Hey Ho, Let's Go". The logo can be seen on the album cover of Yidcore's compilation ''Rocket to Rechovoth''. The band's mascot is a rubber chicken called Scrambles, which was usually taped to lead singer Bram Presser's

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

on concerts. It is now part of the Jewish Museum of Australia's collection.

History

The band formed in the late 1990s at Mount Scopus Memorial College, with their first public performance coming in 1998 at an event organised by the Australasian Union of Jewish Students. Yidcore's first self-titled album was released in 2000. In 2002, the band released the ''Great Chicken Soup Caper'' EP, which contained a song, "Why Won't

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. Primarily a comedic leading actor in films, List of awards and nominations received by Adam Sandler, his accolades include an Independent Sp ...

Let Us Do His Song?", in which Presser laments about Adam Sandler not giving him permission to cover The Chanukah Song. In November 2003 the band arrived in Israel for its first tour of the country, and released the live/rare tracks album ''Scrambles: New, Live, Rare and Classic Shtick'' to celebrate the tour. ''New, Live, Rare and Classic Shtick'' included a version of Skrewdriver's "White Power" titled "(Song Formerly Known As) White Power", with anti-racist lyrics. In 2004, when Yidcore returned to Australia, they put out the ''Adam Slander'' EP, in which they cover the Chanukah Song as "The Punk Rock Chanukah Song". The following year, the band released a double album, titled '' Eighth Day Slice/Fiddlin on Ya Roof'', via Rubber Records. The band again arrived in Israel for a second tour, and this time released the compilation ''Rocket to Rechovoth'' to celebrate the event, in reference to

album ''

Rocket to Russia ''Rocket to Russia'' is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, and was released on November 4, 1977, through Sire Records. It is the band's last album to feature original drummer Tommy Ramone, who left the band in 1978 ...

'', using the Israeli city of

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

. The band's third and final album, titled ''They Tried to Kill Us. They Failed. Let's Eat!'' was released in 2007, again via Rubber Records. The 16-track album contained only 2 covers of Israeli songs, plus a cover of the World War II anti-fascist song " Zog nit keyn mol". In April 2008 Yidcore went on their third and final Israeli tour, and released a new EP, titled ''The Hummusexual E.P.'', given away for free with every band merchandise purchased at the tour.

Break-up and reunions

Yidcore decided to disband in 2009, with Presser quipping "how many circumcision and hummous jokes can you make before it gets sad?" The band played their farewell show on 17 December 2009 at the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda, Melbourne. In 2011, Yidcore reunited for a show at The Arthouse in Melbourne on 7 April. In 2013, Yidcore opened up a

Blogspot Blogger is an American online content management system founded in 1999 that enables its users to write blogs with time-stamped entries. Pyra Labs developed it before being acquired by Google in 2003. Google hosts the blogs, which can be acc ...

website offering free downloads of all their albums except ''Scrambles: Live, Rare and Classic Shtick'', on the grounds that Scrambles found it too poor sounding even in 320 kbit/s mp3. In 2019, Yidcore announced a performance to take place on 8 September at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

Discography

Studio albums

* 2000 - ''Yidcore (album), Yidcore'' (Swell Records/Big Daddy Distro) * 2005 - '' Eighth Day Slice/Fiddlin on Ya Roof'' (Rubber Records) * 2007 - ''They Tried to Kill Us. They Failed. Let's Eat!'' (Rubber Records/EMI)

EPs/Splits

* 2002 - ''The Great Chicken Soup Caper EP'' (Swell Records/Big Daddy Distro) * 2003 - ''The Adam Slander E.P.'' (Little Big Music/MRA) * 2004 - ''Attack of the B-Killers'' - split with

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 ...

, Man Alive,

Atom and His Package Adam Goren (born January 14, 1975), known by his stage name Atom and His Package, is an American singer, songwriter, musician and teacher. He has released more than 18 albums under various aliases. His music is identifiable by its heavy use of ...

(Boomtown/MGM) * 2008 - ''The Hummusexual EP'' (Speck Records)

Compilations

* 2003 - ''Scrambles: New, Live, Rare and Classic Shtick'' (released independently) * 2005 - ''Rocket to Rechovoth'' (Speck Records)

DVDs

* 2005 - ''Wind Beneath my Wings'' (Rubber Records/Boomtown)

Notes

References

External links

Official homepage

Yidcore's blog, offering free downloads of most of their discography

(22 December 2005) {{Authority control Jewish musical groups Australian punk rock groups Victoria (state) musical groups Jewish punk rock groups Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups disestablished in 2009 Musical groups reestablished in 2011 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Musical groups reestablished in 2019