Ear Intriguers // Gogol Bordello

For some people, home doesn’t have to have GPS coordinates, four walls or even be a solid structure. Home is more of a notion and it can be found in something less physically tangible, like memories, or in this case, music. Being born in Ukraine and then finding himself in Poland, Hungary, Austria, Italy and Vermont before settling in New York is bound to have given Eugene Hutz, frontman of Gogol Bordello a nomadic tendency. Carrying his music with him has given enough roots to make a mighty impression on all the places he’s visited, without any of these places taking ownership of him. He’s so nomadic by nature that just 12 hours from this print deadline and an interview with Mr Hutz scheduled, the man is knowhere to be found… Nobody could have told the story of Gogol Bordello more eloquently and uniquely as Hutz, but his wandering spirit cannot be contained today, so we’ll do our best to tell it ourselves…

Aged just 14, there was one event that changed the courses of many lives as well as Eugene’s own – the catastrophic Chernobyl disaster. Being brought up near Kiev in a family descended from the Servo Roma gypsy tradition, Hutz and his immediate family were forced to flee the country and seek political refuge in the aforementioned countries before finding stability in New York, an abrasive contrast to his Soviet upbringing. It was the early 90s, and Hutz had his ears opened to a new world – of punk music. Energised by the fast pace, political stance and musical aggression, he put his traditional music behind him and let the culture of New York take hold of him. With its strong immigrant society, it wasn’t long before Hutz found original members Vlad Solofar, Sasha Kazatchkoff, American Eliot Fergusen and the only other surviving member to the line-up we know now, Sergey Rjabtzev on fiddle, a former theatre director from Moscow.

This collective of multicultural performers quickly found an outing for their new-formed musical offerings, but at first, only at the numerous traditional Russian weddings around New York. While these were standard in construct, the band began to develop and hone a sound that you would recognise as the gypsy punk of today, with an injection of pace and some punk attitude. Notably at the same time, the uncontainable personality of Eugene Hutz was starting to make an impression, and he became a DJ with a very hip following in downtown New York, a scene that would give Gogol Bordello their initial exposure.

Fuelled by what Eugene saw as a tired American culture in search of a new sound, the band released their debut single, ‘When the Trickster Comes a-Poking’ at the same time as the country was lauding his Roma-inspired dress sense and handlebar moustache; he was a new fashion deity which gave him the power to start making noise. After the well received single, the band saw the release of their debut album, ‘Voi-la’, which spawned the energetic anthems, ‘Start Wearing Purple’ and ‘Sacred Darling’ and saw Grinderman’s Jim Sclavunos (ex Sonic Youth and The Cramps) on production.

Relentless touring and a legacy of recorded anecdotes from Hutz were the drive behind the momentum the band’s status saw, and they quickly developed more than just a cult following, gathering legions of fans at every stop. Watch Margarita Jimeno’s documentary on the rise of the Gypsy punk leaders, which followed the band for around six years, and you won’t fail to notice how as the band played, the people followed, perhaps giving birth to the name of Hutz’ other documentary appearance, in Pavla Flesicher’s ‘Pied Piper of Hutzovina’, a story of Hutz’ return journey to his home of Ukraine; a revisitation of the roots that’ve inspired the sound we know now. Fleischer, after a brief relationship with Hutz, was so enamoured and captivated by Hutz that she constructed the film as a way of remaining close to him. This was to prove tumultuous as Eugene’s breadth of emotions were documented both on and off camera.

The band by now had a change in line-up and were touring beyond America to include Europe, where the momentum gathered pace. They released ‘Multi Kontra Culti vs. Irony’, their second LP before signing to SideOneDummy Records in 2005. Releasing the EP ‘East Infection’ early that year, they went on to put out the album that signified the growth of their revolution by its title, ‘Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike’, later in 2005. The regular releases were entirely cushioned by the world of touring, which saw them grow their allies across countries, in venues and at festivals, the most notable being their invited performance with Madonna at Live Earth in London in 2007. There they performed a collaboration of Madonna’s ‘La Isla Bonita’ and Gogol Bordello’s ‘Pala Tute’, a song that has only just been released on their fifth studio album, ‘Transcontinental Hustle’. Seen by millions, it affirmed their nonchalant iconic status and developed a relationship with Madonna that would see Eugene earn his second acting film role (after ‘Everything is Illuminated’), in Madonna’s directorial debut, ‘Filth and Wisdom’.

In the same year, the band enjoyed added exposure with other key festival dates, including playing Reading / Leeds for the first time, whilst pedalling their fourth album, ‘Super Taranta’, an album inspired by a trip to Siberia according to Hutz. The album again spawned Gogol Bordello classics, including ‘Wanderlust King’ and the insightful ‘Supertheory of Supereverything’, a rejection of existentialism and religion as Hutz has described it, which is just one song that illustrates their deeper philosophical messages that often get swallowed by the vigour of their delivery.

Moving on to the present, and Gogol Bordello have been accepted into American music royalty, by being signed to Columbia Records. With this recording deal under their belt, they saw the release of their fifth studio album last month, the aforementioned ‘Transcontinental Hustle’. The interim between the fourth and the fifth had seen Eugene fall for the same incentive that inspired some of his previous travels, and followed a girl to Brazil. Having lived there for a couple of years now, the foundations of each respective band members’ cultural sound, from Israelis to an Ethiopian and even a Scot, was added to by a new Brazilian carnival-inspired sound that Eugene had become enchanted with. Adding arguably one of the best producers of all time, Rick Rubin, he managed to get the best out of the mix of sounds, whilst being quintessentially American himself, he stripped away elements until he got the very essence of all the dualling sounds to co-exist perfectly.

Emma Roberts

Touring extensively this spring and summer, Gogol Bordello come to the UEA on the 10^th May before hitting the world’s festival circuit. For tickets, go to www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk.