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ubbed the "kinkiest cock 'n' roll sensation in the Middle East," four-piece Israeli outfit The Genders wields a provocative mix of sleaze and politics. Formed in Tel Aviv in 2004, the band (comprised of Amir Neubach, guitar and lead vocals; Orr Kahlon, drums and vocals; Nahi Ninyo, guitar; Tanny Clapsaddle, bass and vocals) started laying down tracks for their debut album, Rockin' in Ramallah, after a suicide bombing attack shook the building that housed their home studio. While they initially formed the band to keep people's minds off the "shit that's going down right under [our] noses," in Neubach's words, their just-released follow-up CD, Virgin No. 72, is anything but escapist. Songs like "Assassination Fascination" and "Dome of the Rock" are merciless toward both settlers and terrorists.
    English isn't an official language in Israel, but Neubach, the band's spokesman, says he never considered writing in Hebrew. The quartet now boasts a bigger fan base in North America than at home. Currently on tour in the U.S. and Canada, Neubach spoke with Hooksexup about the group's new album, the hot women on their website, and post-concert orgies. — Viva Sarah Press

Why "The Genders"?
It's just a cool name. We had a girl for about a day but she was [former bassist] Ofer Korichoner's ex-girlfriend, so the chemistry wasn't that good. We liked the name, though.

You're from the Holy Land, but your sound is American rock n' roll.

People don't know what to expect from us being from Israel. Half the time they expect we're going to be stereotypical Middle Eastern types donning a keffiyeh or kippa. They expect someone different look-wise; they expect a different kind of music. It's always surprising for the American audience that we are a rock'n'roll band that looks and sounds like a rock'n'roll band.

Your songs mix sex and politics. How do people react?
The lyrics that are audible are the funny one-liners that people like . . . "Honey, take my hand/And put it on your mammary gland" ("Mammary Glands") or "Hey baby, my name is Horatio/I perform cunnilingus in return for fellatio" ("Horatio"). They get the catch phrases but they don't get the politics. I wouldn't classify our lyrics as political. Our lyrics are about here and here is all about war and politics. Every song is from a different viewpoint. "Virgin No. 72" is from the suicide bomber's point of view."Rockin' in Ramallah" is from some guy in Ramallah's point of view."Horatio" is from a settler's point of view. We're not a political band but obviously politics seep through. Naturally, in Israel, if you're going to write about your environment you'd have to be an ostrich to not sing about something to do with politics.

So, The Genders are keen on giving North American fans an authentic view of Israel?
Americans look at Israel from a movie point of view, that we're fighting one another in a desert. They have a romanticized view of what's happening here. People see Israel as the evil empire in the Middle East. They don't see the physical boundaries on a map and think, "Well, how could this little insignificant dot be the evil empire?" What they think is Israel is this big imperialistic country that's conquered the whole of the Middle East. The rural areas in America don't know anything about Israel and that's why it's good for us to go there. We show them that what's going on here has more to do with their culture than they think. For good or bad, we're very Americanized

The Genders sing in English, not Hebrew. Are you aimed at an American audience or an Israeli one?
I don't think we're aimed at anything but we love American music. I think nowadays every songwriter writes to his own record collection. Nobody's John Lennon anymore. You don't make up a genre. We are aimed to the American audience in the sense that the music we love to hear is American roots rock. Even if you're from Sweden like the Hellacopters, you can sound just like an American band.

In your lyrics you skewer settlers, terrorists, etc. Is anything sacred?
No. [Laughs.] Maybe the Holocaust. [Pauses to think.] No, we did the "Swastika on your T-Shirt" song. It wasn't really about the Holocaust, but it was about Nazism. One of my former bands had a song titled "Concentration Camp Rock". It was a take on "Jailhouse Rock". I'm a third-generation Holocaust survivor. We're allowed to make jokes about things that are sacred to us, but if somebody else makes a joke it's crossing the line. I can't say "nigger," but I can say "kike." And we say that a lot. On stage we say, "What's up kike?" to one another and shock Americans.

Virgin No. 72 is the name of your new album. The title track song includes lyrics, "I'm on the bus and I'm ready to explode/ One look at you, I could blow my load. . .I want 'em all to look just like you/Baby be my virgin number seventy-two."
[The suicide bomber] is on the bus, he's looking at the Israeli chick who's half naked, and he's thinking, "Yeah, that could be one of my virgins, I'd like to have her," as he blows himself up. It's all about sex. It's pretty obvious that all these suicide bombers if they had a girlfriend or even a dirty magazine and some alcohol and some friends and maybe smoke a joint and listen to music, they wouldn't be blowing themselves up. Any teenager needs some form of self destructive activity. So smoke a lot of cigarettes, drink till you're sick, and have weird sex with more than one partner, but don't blow yourself up. Give yourself a chance.

Most of your lyrics are tongue-in-cheek. Do listeners get them?
It doesn't matter if they get it or not. There are two levels to my songs. It doesn't matter if people don't know about the 72 virgins [promised to Muslims upon entering heaven]. It sounds cool. The song "Horatio" is about a Jewish settler in the West Bank. It's enough that listeners know what fellatio is to get one level of the song. "Stick to My Guns" is a rock anthem. "At nineteen, you're a killing machine,/ And there's no shortage of M-16s/ Baby, where I come from that's rock 'n' roll." Most people don't care about the lines with the M16s. Anything that sounds like a rock'n'roll lyric is a rock'n'roll lyric. If you manage to say something through the back door that's what you do for your own artistic merit. I can't write something that's not true. I can't live in a rock'n'roll fantasy world and write about hookers and doing coke because I don't do that. You write about stuff that you know. Most of the sex lyrics are "I wanna," not "I'm doing it."

Any controversy to your lyrics?
Not yet. Bring it on. In America the only controversy we had was in 2004 during a concert when we said we're from Israel and one girl in the audience yelled out there is no Israel and that the country is Palestinian land.

What about in Israel?
English is a foreign language to most Israelis. The Israeli media write articles about us touring in America. They don't write about what we say in our lyrics. The only way Israeli radio and TV is going to open up to The Genders is when they hear about us, ironically, from America. There was some controversy about my liner notes which I thought were pretty benign. I wrote how cool it would be to hang out with hot Arab chicks in Ramallah. I also wrote about the Israeli army making life miserable for about a million Palestinians and I still stand behind that. They are miserable. If the Israeli army wasn't there they'd be less miserable. I don't know if they wouldn't be miserable at all, because they'd still be poor.

Your music has been described as punk. Are you angry?
We're not a punk band and we're not angry at all. We're a rock band. I think there's a void in rock music right now that's begging to be filled by a real rock'n'roll band like Guns 'n' Roses in the '80s and '90s. People need rock'n'roll. They need leather pants and tattoos. Not that we have tattoos, but we have the leather.

Your website features hot bikini babes.
Truth be told, seventy percent of our traffic is because of them. The Sleazegrinder from Boston suggested we have a page with Israeli chicks because they're hot. They give Israel a good image.

You're married with a child. How does your wife deal with the fact that you're singing about sex?
It's not the singing about them that worries her. Being on the road is tough for a couple. Obviously there's partying, and the temptation is there. I think there are a couple of things that keep you grounded. You know you're going to call your wife and kid in the morning. I want to call and sing a lullaby and put my daughter to sleep over the phone. You're not going to do that with three blondes in your bed.

But the three single guys in the band . . .
A lot of sex goes on. Certain band members have left a lot of broken hearts in the United States. We have been invited to orgies, I'll say that. They love the accent: "Me Israeli guy, you American woman, we have sex long time now." That said, we are all respectful to women. The macho attitude is not real. We're actually a bunch of good Jewish boys from good Jewish homes.  n°

© 2006 Viva Sarah Press & hooksexup.com