Xoter (Eng: Rod): a long, slender stick (for cleaning the muzzle of a firearm, a tank gun, and a bong)

Ram Inon Ben Ya’akov (bass) and Tomer Attias (guitar) formed the Xoter trio in 2021. It is currently active in Jerusalem.

Xoter is a messed up creature, failing to portray the garbage that is being a Jerusalemite—God complexes and religion mixed with political and ethnic identities, tangled up with self-hatred and shamelessness, leading to a unique sound and distorted songs.

The ensemble’s philosophy explores the connection between the solemn and the absurd. Its weapons include asymmetric rhythms and dissonant intervals, screened by distortion and high volume and accompanied by the screaming he hears in his fevered head.

Early Years is a retrospective of the period when Yonatan Schwartzman (drums) joined the ensemble. We changed, and Xoter changed with us. Cynicism made way for seriousness and fear of what is to come. The sounds of artillery fire Xoter heard along the northern border on mount Odem inspired slow, random actions. Xoter learned about waiting and anticipation. He heard the caterpillar tracks breaking the ground and breaking rhythm, and the systems screaming and warning him against rockets and Kornets. He saw the Khan Yunis tunnels and imagined the sounds of rape heard by the walls there, and he suppressed them. He thought about the Viet Cong, and the effect it had on the Americans. Xoter used to be a creature full of hate and oddity. He has grown old and become something that wants to be human but cannot remember what exactly is happening to him.

Special thanks: Dan Weinstein, Tomer Attias, Yonatan Schwartzman, Atzmon Avrahami

Ram and his band “Xoter” will perform on July 16th at 20:00 PM at the Panther Hall, Beit Canada, Shivtei Israel 22 st.

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