Yidcore

Yidcore are an Australian Jewish punk rock band from Melbourne, formed in 1998. Known primarily for playing punk covers of Jewish and Israeli songs, the band started writing more of its own material in later albums.

The band's logo is a variation of the Ramones logo (which, in its turn, is based on the Seal of the President of the United States), with the names of the band members in Hebrew. The eagle is replaced by a chicken with a menora 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 on concerts. The chicken has since fallen apart, which was the reason for Yidcore's breakup.

History
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 Let Us Do His Song?", in which Presser laments about Adam Sandler not giving him permission to cover The Chanukah Song.

In 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 Ramones album Rocket to Russia, using the Israeli city of Rechovot.

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.

Yidcore played their final show on 17 December 2009 at the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda, Melbourne. The final show resulted in the decapitation of Scrambles the rubber chicken. Yidcore's final show was supported by Madonna, The Duvtons & The Disables.

In 2011, Yidcore reunited for a show at The Arthouse in Melbourne on April 7. The chicken was taped back together. It is now part of the Jewish Museum of Australia's collection. In 2013, Yidcore opened up a Blogspot website, ostensibly run by Scrambles the Rubber Chicken, 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 320kbit/s mp3.

In 2019, Yidcore announced a performance to take place on 8 September at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

Discography

Studio albums
 2000 - 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, Man Alive, Atom and His Package (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
 TheAge.com.au article about Yidcore (22 December 2005)

Category:Jewish musical groups
Category:Australian punk rock groups
Category:Victoria (Australia) musical groups
Category:Jews in punk rock
Category:Musical groups established in 1998
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2009
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2011
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2011
Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2019