What's it like to make music in Israel?
Ah! Well the scene in Israel is basically very small. It's a very small country, and basically it's not a Western country. It's an Eastern country. So we don't have a lot of rock and roll bands and it's so small that you can't tour there because there's - I dunno - 3 or 4 venues that you can play rock and roll in. So if you want to tour you have to fly to Europe or to the UK or to the US or whatever.

There's not really a scene, but right now I've got a feeling that things are getting better because people are aware that, "Alright..we need to do something about this because we can't just stay in Israel. We need to go out." That's what we've done and I know that there's not a lot but a few bands right now that are touring - I mean 3 or 4 bands - touring Europe. Not a lot of Israeli bands tour the UK and the US. More Europe. I mean Germany, Netherlands, a little bit of Eastern Europe, but UK and US no because it's hard to get there.

"The scene in Israel is basically very small... There's about 3 or 4 venues that you can play rock and roll in."

Do a lot of bands come to Israel?
I can't say there are a lot of bands that come to Israel. There are some, but mostly big bands, famous bands. There aren't really underground bands who come to Israel on a basic schedule. Because it's hard. If you're touring Europe and you're on a route through Europe, you can't go to Israel. You need to fly there and it costs a lot of money. It's out of the way. You can't take your van and drive to Israel.

Is there a lot of trouble with the police when you play shows there?
Yeah. We're banned from most of the venues in Israel because y'know the police came they said that we're too loud or too wild then [makes cut the show gesture]. It's hard.

Do you still get to play quite a lot of shows there?
Mmmm...not a lot. I mean usually when we come back to Israel after we tour we do one or two shows. That's all. In very small places. Smaller than this one.

Can you tell me about touring with Silver Jews?
Actually we did two tours with them. One right here in the UK and Europe and one after it in the US. They're good friends of ours. They're on the same label that we're on. In some ways it's weird because they've got a very different crowd from us, but it's okay because we get the chance to be exposed to another kind of crowd. It was fun because they were kind of different shows. It's less wild like this; it's more musical and artistic in a way. So it was fun. And they're really nice people.

"I think the thing that really makes us different from other bands is that we come from Israel and we don't try to ignore it."

Why do you think you've managed to find international success?
I could say that we've got international success, but I think the thing that really makes us different from other bands is that we come from Israel and we don't try to ignore it. We're going with it: with the bad accent, with the bad English, with the energy, with everything. There's a lot of bands that come from foreign countries to the UK and the US and try to pretend that they are Americans or English people. We aren't trying to do it the same way as people do here. We'd rather do it our way. Sometimes when we play shows people think we're singing in Hebrew, because the accent is so bad. Whatever, I think that explains why people noticed and paid attention to us: because we are different; because we are Israelis and not trying to ignore it.

Where did you get the inspiration to perform the way you perform?
Everything...I dunno. From food, from girls, from music of course, from the vibe that we had in Israel. There's not one specific thing. The thing that really inspires me is when you go to see a show and the band are really into the show. Becoming one unit. It's very powerful. When I see another show, that's the thing that gives me inspiration. Just to see a band that's really into it. It doesn't matter what genre of music they do. Just people who are really into it. And people who are honest about it. That's what inspires me.

Do you ever get negative reactions to your style? Have you ever got into a fight because of it?
No. Maybe one. It happened, but it was a long time ago. It's very surprising that we don't get into fights.

How is Monotonix's music created?
Usually we create it together in the rehearsing room. Sometimes it comes from a jam. We make it together, but there's no rules about it. Sometimes it comes from a drumbeat, sometimes from a guitar lick, sometimes from a vocal melody. There's no rules about it. They aren't written by somebody sitting at home playing the guitar and writing the song who comes to the practice room and shows everybody the chords. It's a jam or a drumbeat or whatever. That's the way we write out songs.

Have you been making any more stuff recently?
No. When you're touring it's hard to write songs. It's almost impossible. There's a few people that can do it, but for us it's impossible. Because the way that we create our songs is in the practice room and everything, you can't do it while you're touring. So right now we're going to take a break and we're going to be in Israel for two months. We're going to do a few festivals in the US and the UK. Then after two months in Israel we fly to New Orleans for a month and a half to practice more and write new songs.

Are you planning a new release?
Yeah. I hope it will be an album, but I can't say. I'd prefer an EP with good songs to an LP with songs that shouldn't be there because you want an LP. That's not so good.

Do you have any advice to finish with?
Eat shit. It can't be that 100 billion flies are wrong [amazing cackle].