Mashina during their heyday.

If you ever wondered where all the Israelis are in Boston, look no further. On May 21, members of Boston’s Israeli community (and two American-Jewish 20-somethings) gathered to welcome legendary Israeli rock band Mashina, which played a special concert at the Roxy. We had special inside access—here’s the scoop on the concert, music and famed band members. 

Mashina hails from Tel Aviv, Israel, and is touring the United States and Canada until June 1, wrapping up with a final performance in Washington, D.C. The band ruled the music charts from 1984 until they broke up in 1995. In 2003, the members decided to get back together, and Mashina has been taking back the Israeli music scene ever since. Their latest album, which racks up as the 12th for the band and boasts new, original music, was released in May 2005. The band also has a recent single called “Zebra.”

Even though Mashina has been awarded numerous gold and platinum labels in Israel, the band members are as modest as can be, which is rare when such stardom has been achieved. During the concert, we perched ourselves on two plush, velvet stools, Diet Cokes in hand, and sat back to enjoy the show. Lead singer Yuval Banai seemed to be having just as much fun as his devoted fans (most of whom were swinging their hips and arms wildly at the edge of the stage), dancing around, matching the audience’s twists and shouts with inimitable energy and letting the crowd sing occasional lyrics. Shlomi Bracha on electric guitar and Michael Benson on bass guitar jammed head-to-head and took turns rocking out on impromptu solos to the beat set by drummer Yigal Dayan.

The band played a vast selection from their myriad albums and stayed for an extended encore. After the show, we were lucky enough to snag a couple minutes with the band backstage, and we have to say, the rock stars’ laidback, cool, Israeli attitude was a refreshingly far reach from the glitz, glamour and drama of the American music industry. 

We walked up the narrow staircase to the dark and smoky velvet couch-lined balcony of the theater—the band’s post-show crash location. There he was—strategically placed, cigarette in one hand, the other on his hip—lead singer and chief tuchus groover Yuval Banai. The band gathered for a quick photo-op with us (check out the shot), made fun of our camera (all in good jest, of course), questioned our ethnicity and asked where they could find the hot Boston night scene.

After we pointed them in the right direction (we think), we bid shalom and headed out for a couple slices of pizza. We were pleased to find other hungry concert attendees at the pizza joint (hold the pepperoni, please!) and had fun discussing the band and their music. What could be better?

Check out the band’s website and brush up on your Hebrew at mashina.com. Buy Mashina albums and check out tour dates here and here.

Marissa Grey and Liz Imber are JVibe’s editorial interns. Marissa's favorite band is Jarabe de Palo because she loves Spanish music. Liz loves singing, Scotland and reading crime thrillers.