If groove, escalating energy levels, and plain old life-affirming vibes are your musical fix then G-Nome is a band you should catch in full free-flowing stride sometime. In fact, that time could be nearer than you think when the G-Nome Project crew appears at the Zappa Club in Jerusalem on December 29.
The show closes the forthcoming Lightfest 2024 festival, which comes with the exegetical titular addendum of “A Hanukkah Celebration of Music and Unity at Zappa Jerusalem.” The event is being produced by Hedgehog Entertainment, with the Jerusalem Municipality and Nefesh B’Nefesh firmly and actively behind the initiative. The triptych bill for the evening opens with Nuriel, which producer Yosef Gross describes as “a band redefining Jewish music with soulful harmonies and modern flair.” And there is more fun – and fireworks – lined up with the delightfully named Shlepping Nachas troupe doing their jolly stirring turn in there, too.
The accent will be very much on the unbridled path to music-making when G-Nome takes the stage. For US-born-and-bred Yakir Hyman and his pals extemporization is the unapologetic way to go.
“Improvisation is a big part of what we do,” the guitarist states, adding that matters can occasionally get a little out of hand, in the best sense. That may very well be the case on December 29. “What is funny about the Lightfest festival is when they gave us our set time – I'm not sure if it is 60 minutes or 70 minutes, whatever it ends up being – we looked at each other and we were like, OK that's enough time for three songs,” Hyman laughs.
It is, he says, about the pure joy of just upping anchor and letting fly any which way.
“The fun thing about listening to what we're doing on the monitors is it is like listening to your favorite band but you're actually the ones playing it, which is a very good experience.” Sure sounds like it and one which, no doubt, the audience at Zappa will get, too. There's nothing like catching a group doing its thing full steam ahead and throwing caution well and truly to the wind. The joyous outpouring when a bunch of artists jell and are really on it together is generally infectious and pervades every corner of the room.
Hyman hopes that will be the case at the Hanukkah gig, noting that the compositional bedrock is in place to allow it to happen. “The songs are great, but they lend themselves to these really open-ended experimental landscapes to improvise on top of.”
G-Nome: So much more than a jam band
G-Nome has been termed a “jam band” although the guitarist shies away from that somewhat.
“I don't think the word 'jam' does it justice. Yes, it is a jam, but it really is musical conversation going on.” Hyman feels the group's forays into the unknown are more about seeking out new creative pastures than just hanging out and having a good time together with instruments to hand. “Everyone says like ‘Come to a jam.’ Then you go and nobody's listening to each other. It is a bunch of people just playing on top of each other. All we are doing, especially when the soundman has done his job properly and we can really hear each other, is reacting to each other. One person may take the lead at one point, but the key is listening to each other, then moving together. What we focus on is moving together as a unit.”
That suggests immersing themselves in the moment and not keeping track of how long they have been at it. Hyman invokes a poignant observation by a celebrated and venerated senior member of the rock fraternity. “We just take it moment by moment. There's a quote from [Grateful Dead founding member] Bob Weir who says the best experience while playing is when time just disappears. You come out of this improvisational thing, it could have been two minutes or 30 minutes, you have absolutely no idea what happened.”
Audiences seem to keep tabs and dig that, as G-Nome has undertaken several successful tours of the US since its founding around 13 years ago – besides its more sporadic performances in Israel.
“We have played in the States way more times than in Israel. We were this Israeli entity that went to tour in the States and we were more well-known there than here. We probably still are.”
But Hyman and the rest feel it is time to beef up their profile in the country they chose to live in. Only drummer Eran Asias is a bona fide sabra, while keyboardist Eyal Salomon and bass player Zechariah Reich were also born stateside.
The ongoing challenging state of affairs here, Hyman says, has prompted the gang to consider focusing more of their attention on the domestic front.
“We are looking to shift now because we want to stay close to home. We love Israel and really want to serve the country we love so much and live in.”
That doesn't just apply to serving up some heaping helpings of compelling musical streams of consciousness. Over the past year, both Hyman and Reich have taken several months out of their family life and musical engagements to serve in the IDF reserves. The guitarist says that was a trying time for all concerned but has left him more focused on the job in hand. “That was a big big thing, and distracted from a lot of things. We spent over half a year in the army and that came on the back of major tours in the US. We had to figure out how to move forward from that. The war, of course, took its toll, but it also gave us a lot of clarity about how we want to progress.”
At one point, the very existence of the band hung in the balance.
“We questioned if we really want to move forward, and the answer to that was a resounding ‘Yes,’” Hyman chuckles. “That was nice, and now we get to choose how to do that. At the ages of around 40, there's beauty in making sure that, whatever we're doing, we are having fun and we are enjoying each other.”
Hyman was fired up by the work of such guitar luminaries as Phish co-founder Trey Anastasio, the late great Duane Allman, and Jimi Hendrix, as well as the Memphis soul music he heard on his dad's LPs.
“The first time I heard Duane Allman's playing I said I want to sound like that, like water flowing,” he recalls. Getting to a state of unchecked outpourings has been the way to go for Hyman ever since.
“There are guitar players where you can tell when they move between the notes. And there are guitarists whose notes just fuse together. That is sort of my approach to the instrument. It is less about the notes and more about ‘How can this thing sound like liquid? Just go with the flow,” he laughs.
That should be the name of the game throughout the Lightfest proceedings, for artists and audiences alike – just grabbing a ride with the groove and insouciant vibes induced by the sounds of the bands as they strut their stuff. With all we have been through since last October, taking some time out at Zappa sounds like just what the doctor ordered.
Gross certainly thinks so. “Hanukkah celebrates light overcoming darkness, and this festival channels that same energy – uniting diverse bands and audiences in a shared celebration of inspiration and joy.” Well said.
For tickets and more information: did.li/291224
