Mashina
Mashina are an Israeli pop rock band which was active from 1983 to 1995, and then again from 2003 to the present. The band is considered by many to be Israel's most important and influential rock band. Their musical style took inspiration from ska and hard rock, among others.
The band was formed in 1983 by lead vocalist Yuval Banai and guitarist Shlomi Bracha. In late 1985, the band released its first album, self-titled, in which, alongside Banai and Bracha, bassist Michael Benson and drummer Iggy Dayan participated.
After the album was released, keyboardist Avner Hodorov joined the band, and its lineup has remained unchanged since then. The band achieved great success and popularity, but in 1995 it disbanded. During its farewell performance on July 18 of that year, a tragedy occurred at the Arad Music Festival, where three teenagers waiting for the performance died due to the overcrowding at the entrance.
Until its disband in 1995, the band released seven studio albums and one compilation album. In 2003, when the band resumed its activities, it has since released two live albums and three additional studio albums.
History
The Band's Formation
Yuval Banai and Shlomi Bracha first met in their youth, and later sang together for five months in the rookie base of the Artillery Corps in Shavei Shomron. During their off-duty hours from the army, the two used to hang out at the "Penguin" club, and influenced by the bands that played there, they decided to form a band. Initially, Banai rejected the idea of forming a band, claiming he didn't know how to sing. However, he eventually agreed, influenced by the bands Minimal Compact and Jean Conflict of Rami Fortis. This decision was made after Bracha insisted that Fortis also didn't know how to sing, according to Banai's claim.Later on, Banai recounted:
"I arrived there pretty dispirited, to that base, and they put me in a room and said to me, 'This is your partner, Mr. Shlomi Bracha'. And there, in Shomron, the Mashina band was formed. I spent five months there with Shlomi, who was a sergeant of operations in the artillery. I had a tape recorder and music, and he had a guitar. I liked to listen to music, and he liked to play in the room. So, one day he said to me, 'Listen, I play. You have a good voice; maybe you can sing from time to time'. And that's how we started writing songs, songs of despair such as: 'When will we be released, when will the war end...'"At the military base, Banai and Bracha started writing the songs that later were included in the first album of the band, including "Rakevet Layla", "Karim Abdoul Zemer", "Atid Matok", and "Optikai Meduplam". The band had its first performance at that base, where Banai sang and Bracha played the guitar, accompanied by a drummer and another guitarist. The name of the band, "Mashina," was chosen before the performance. When Banai and Bracha asked their friend in the base, who came from the Soviet Union, how to say "Table of Despair" in Russian, he replied with "Mashina Vremeni". Mashina Vremeni is also the name of a popular Russian rock band.
After the release of Banai and Bracha from the army in 1983, the foundation for the band began to take shape. Through friends, Banai met guitarist Oren Eliazeri and bassist Michael Benson. Benson distanced himself from the band's initial style which was somewhat alternative, but suggested Nivi Lifshitz as the drummer. The band started rehearsing with a lineup that included Banai, Bracha, Eliazeri, Lifshitz, and keyboardist Rami Haimov.
Later, Lifshitz left, and instead of her, Dudi Levin joined the band. With this lineup, the band performed several times at the "Penguin" club, and their performances were successful. In these performances, the band sang songs composed by Banai and Bracha during their military service, with most of the songs in English. The performances were characterized by punk and ska styles, influenced by the flourishing new wave bands in Tel Aviv. They integrated motifs from the new wave style with Eastern and oriental themes. Keyboardist Rami Haimov continued to play with the band for a short time and then left to study at the Juilliard School in New York.
In one of the band's performances at the "Penguin," Michael Benson watched, and afterward, he asked to join the band. At his request, drummer Igi Dayan was also added, replacing Dudi Levin. The atmosphere during the band's rehearsals at that time was quite tense, and many disputes arose between Banai and Bracha. The tensions escalated when Bnei took on the lead role in the movie "Makat Shemesh," and as a result, he was absent from rehearsals for several months. In March 1984, the band's last performance with its original lineup took place at Cinema "Dan", and upon finishing the performance, the band members announced its breakup. The breakup was part of a wave of rock band dissolutions that played in Tel Aviv clubs during that period and part of the fading rock scene.
After the breakup, the paths of the band members diverged. Banai, Eliyazri, and Dayan formed the band "Shalom Hatzibur," which played in various clubs in Tel Aviv. Their performances did not achieve great success, but Banai expressed his art in them. The band released two radio singles, both written by Banai and composed by Eliyazri: "November 1" and "Yanshuf Al Anaf Gavoha". Simultaneously, Bracha and Benson formed the band "HaChazit HaAmamit". As part of this band, Bracha created two songs that were later included in Mashina's debut album, "Aval Ein" and "Balada LeSochen Kaful", originally written in English. During the same period, Dayan and Benson participated in several additional recordings, such as in the album by Danni Bassan.
In 1985, Banai, Bracha, and Benson coincidentally met, decided to revive the band, and scheduled a performance for Purim of that year at the "Penguin" club. Eliyazri attended only this performance and subsequently left the band. Thus, the lineup for the debut album of "Mashina" was formed, consisting of Banai, Bracha, Benson, and Dayan.
Initial Success
The first two songs recorded by the band were sketches for the songs "Optikai Meduplam" and "Rakevet Layla", composed by Bracha during his military service. The song "Optikai Meduplam" was originally titled "Difficulties in Agriculture," and the band initially performed a different version of the song "Rakevet Layla" in their performances at the "Penguin" club, with a different set of lyrics. Bracha was not satisfied with the lyrics, so Banai passed the song to his brother, Ehud Banai, who rewrote the lyrics.In their search for a record company to produce their album, the band members encountered a refusal. Ronnie Brown from the Helicon company expressed interest, but the company was then in its infancy, and without enough money to the band a worthy contract. Following this, the band members recorded the song "Optician Meduplam" professionally, at DB Studios. Based on the music on the albums of Danny Bassan, Rami Kleinstein and Rita, Michael Benson met the technician Reuven Shapira, who worked on the recordings as a technician and as a production partner. At the same time, the band recorded three more songs: "Night Train", "Because she didn't feel like it" and "Ballad for a double agent". In June 1985, the band's first radio record, "Opticai Meduplam", was released to radio stations. The song was a success, following which Udi Hennis of NMC was convinced to sign the band.
At the end of July 1985, the band's second radio record, "Because she doesn't feel like", was released. After that, the band members recorded the rest of the songs on the album, which was released in November of the same year and was called "Mashina". Close to the release of the album, the song "Night Train" was released as a single, which was a great success and is considered one of the band's biggest hits.
Most of the album's songs were written and composed by Bracha, from which "Atid Matok" and "Ballad for a double agent" were also published. Another song from the album that was a success was "Anna", written by Orly Silbersatz, who later became Yuval Banai's wife, and composed by Banai and Dayan. The musical arrangements were performed by all the members of the band together with Reuven Shapira, except for the song "The cannon rings twice", which they arranged together with Yaron Becher. The joint work of the band members in the arrangement of the songs continued in all her other albums.
The band's debut album was a great success, reaching platinum album status within six months, on August 28, 1986, for selling 50,000 copies. Later, its sales reached about 65,000 copies. Following the album, Mashina won the title of "Band of the Year" in the annual Hebrew hymn parade of Reshet Gimel for the Jewish year 5566.
In the preparations for the tour that accompanied the first album, the band members were looking for a keyboardist, and Benson recommended Avner Khodorov, whom he knew from his military service. Khodorov was in the United States at the time, and when he returned he met with Benson and Barcha for rehearsals, and was accepted into the band as a hired player for the performances.
Khodorov's addition to the band enabled the inclusion of another musical instrument in its performances, a saxophone, which he played in addition to keyboards. The first song of the band in which Khodorov participated was "She argued with him for hours", which he wrote while working on the first album. The song, which was not included on the album, was recorded in January and released as a single in April 1986. This song was also a success.
On February 28, 1986, the band started a concert tour, at the "Sapir" cinema in Kiryat Bialik. These performances were a great success, and all their tickets were sold in advance. Following their success, the band moved on to perform in larger venues as well, such as the Heichal HaTarbut in Tel Aviv, where the band performed for the first time on April 21. The tour ended the day before the end of the summer vacation, on August 31, 1986, in the Yarkon Park, with crowd of about 50,000 people, or between 200,000 and 400,000 people according to other estimates. The performance was opened by Danni Bassan, a former T-Slam member.