by Tina WhelskiThere’s method in Eugene Hutz’s madness. And with the release of Super Taranta!, more people are noticing that.
“It’s about fucking time,” says Gogol Bordello’s eccentric band leader. “For years I’ve been reading that my strength is that I’m insane. It’s like smart people at some point have to start realizing that my main strength is not that I’m insane. It’s that I’m actually a pretty fucking good songwriter. That’s the fucking thing that holds everything together.”
But the Kiev-born visionary admits his gypsy punk trans-global rebel rock is a lot to digest.
“I’m pretty psyched that people are starting to see into the band, way past not only its wildness and rowdiness, but actually seeing the hypnotic side as well,” says Hutz. “It is truly a huge band mental-wise, physical-wise, people-wise, and message-wise. If I would be somebody who experiences Gogol Bordello as an outsider, it would probably take me a couple of years as well to wrap my head around it. Maybe I would never wrap my head around it, hopefully. Maybe I haven’t wrapped my head around it now.” (laughs)
Part of the band’s vast appeal lays in the fact that Gogol Bordello is more of a “culture” than a band, according to Hutz. As the tireless performers continue to attract higher profile gigs (like this year’s Live Earth in London’s Wembley Stadium, Coachella, Bonnaroo and Glastonbury) and witnesses its global fan base grow it is possible Hutz is right.
“International recognition and being on the road so much brought us a lot of new extended family,” say Hutz. “It’s a great thing for us because we’re the kind of artistic unit that doesn’t rely on media information about culture and doesn’t rely on DJ’s or some other source of information to hear what’s happening in the world. So it’s much more of a first-hand information kind of process. And that’s how we like it. Consequently, the friends we make and the people who influence us, or we influence, is on the level of a much more authentic bond. It’s pretty exciting to finally make friends with a lot of our heroes and then discover that a lot of them are actually your fans! And then go on to the next level of collaborating and actually in a larger sense realizing that even before meeting each other we were sharing a very similar creative wavelength.”
The unorthodox blend of musical backgrounds and nationalities between band members Sergey Rjabtzev (violin), Yuri Lemshev (accordion), Tommy Gobena (bass), Eliot Ferguson (drummer), Oren Kaplan (guitar), Pam Racine (percussion, dance), Elizabeth Sun (percussion, dance), and Hutz (vocals) is at the heart of every connection. And Hutz believes the band makes a good artistic family because everyone enjoys their own opportunity to shine.
“When the band was just being made, I had a vision for it and I had to be quite controlling about executing it,” says Hutz. “When the band developed, the need to be controlling about it actually fell off, which freed up a lot of space for musicians’ personal styles. That was actually when I think the band actually started to live its real life. Another thing is that because I, being the melodic core of the band, am from Eastern Europe, I always write songs that are instantly recognizable as Eastern European, but yet it’s the whole other line-up of musicians that makes that sound universal. It makes it Eastern European music that people can dig down in Brazil and down in Japan, you know what I mean? That is directly the work of the band. That is the bass lines of Thomas and the guitar of Oren that makes the sound universal. It’s the way that people process information within the band.”
Whether playing gypsy stomp, Flamenco rhythms, speed metal or anything in between, Gogol Bordello’s supercharged trip across musical barriers is ultimately driven by Hutz’s multiple personalities and witty lyrics.
“This album is quite a chameleon,” says Hutz about Super Taranta! “I think all the best albums are. It has a very direct, yet very abstract feeling to it. There are several characters really. The guy who sings “Super Theory of Super Everything” is a different guy than who sings “Dub the Frequencies of Love.”
You might wonder if success will cause Gogol Bordello to lose its anarchic edge. Since 2005’s Gypsy Punks Hutz has explained how reggae and gypsy music created by poor people with nothing to loose first inspired him. Will he still relate to their desperation?
“I don’t really worry about things like that because it’s just not how I think,” says Hutz. “What I write about comes off not only my own personal experience but from the experiences of that extended family. So even if I at this point got all my papers in order, I’m mostly surrounded by people who don’t have them in order (laughs) and there are many different layers and pockets in this topic. The desperation that you’re talking about is not necessarily something that was driven by one particular hardship or another. It’s more of a philosophical thing. There’s a philosophy of life that I write about that’s basically at war with most of the layers of society and culture at the present day. So I don’t see the end of the mother fucking work! The poverty is not the only issue. What about all the rich people who are fucked! (laughs). Of course the poor suffer the most. But that is only one of the layers in the picture…You have to realize that the band, no matter how big it will get, it will always play what it wants to play, how we want to play it and with who we want to play. Nobody tells this band what to do. That in itself is what inspires kids and fans. It fucking inspires me man!”
Gogol Bordello performs at Terminal 5 on November 3.
Watch Gogol Bordello perform "Wonderlust King."
“It’s about fucking time,” says Gogol Bordello’s eccentric band leader. “For years I’ve been reading that my strength is that I’m insane. It’s like smart people at some point have to start realizing that my main strength is not that I’m insane. It’s that I’m actually a pretty fucking good songwriter. That’s the fucking thing that holds everything together.”
But the Kiev-born visionary admits his gypsy punk trans-global rebel rock is a lot to digest.
“I’m pretty psyched that people are starting to see into the band, way past not only its wildness and rowdiness, but actually seeing the hypnotic side as well,” says Hutz. “It is truly a huge band mental-wise, physical-wise, people-wise, and message-wise. If I would be somebody who experiences Gogol Bordello as an outsider, it would probably take me a couple of years as well to wrap my head around it. Maybe I would never wrap my head around it, hopefully. Maybe I haven’t wrapped my head around it now.” (laughs)
Part of the band’s vast appeal lays in the fact that Gogol Bordello is more of a “culture” than a band, according to Hutz. As the tireless performers continue to attract higher profile gigs (like this year’s Live Earth in London’s Wembley Stadium, Coachella, Bonnaroo and Glastonbury) and witnesses its global fan base grow it is possible Hutz is right.
“International recognition and being on the road so much brought us a lot of new extended family,” say Hutz. “It’s a great thing for us because we’re the kind of artistic unit that doesn’t rely on media information about culture and doesn’t rely on DJ’s or some other source of information to hear what’s happening in the world. So it’s much more of a first-hand information kind of process. And that’s how we like it. Consequently, the friends we make and the people who influence us, or we influence, is on the level of a much more authentic bond. It’s pretty exciting to finally make friends with a lot of our heroes and then discover that a lot of them are actually your fans! And then go on to the next level of collaborating and actually in a larger sense realizing that even before meeting each other we were sharing a very similar creative wavelength.”
The unorthodox blend of musical backgrounds and nationalities between band members Sergey Rjabtzev (violin), Yuri Lemshev (accordion), Tommy Gobena (bass), Eliot Ferguson (drummer), Oren Kaplan (guitar), Pam Racine (percussion, dance), Elizabeth Sun (percussion, dance), and Hutz (vocals) is at the heart of every connection. And Hutz believes the band makes a good artistic family because everyone enjoys their own opportunity to shine.
“When the band was just being made, I had a vision for it and I had to be quite controlling about executing it,” says Hutz. “When the band developed, the need to be controlling about it actually fell off, which freed up a lot of space for musicians’ personal styles. That was actually when I think the band actually started to live its real life. Another thing is that because I, being the melodic core of the band, am from Eastern Europe, I always write songs that are instantly recognizable as Eastern European, but yet it’s the whole other line-up of musicians that makes that sound universal. It makes it Eastern European music that people can dig down in Brazil and down in Japan, you know what I mean? That is directly the work of the band. That is the bass lines of Thomas and the guitar of Oren that makes the sound universal. It’s the way that people process information within the band.”
Whether playing gypsy stomp, Flamenco rhythms, speed metal or anything in between, Gogol Bordello’s supercharged trip across musical barriers is ultimately driven by Hutz’s multiple personalities and witty lyrics.
“This album is quite a chameleon,” says Hutz about Super Taranta! “I think all the best albums are. It has a very direct, yet very abstract feeling to it. There are several characters really. The guy who sings “Super Theory of Super Everything” is a different guy than who sings “Dub the Frequencies of Love.”
You might wonder if success will cause Gogol Bordello to lose its anarchic edge. Since 2005’s Gypsy Punks Hutz has explained how reggae and gypsy music created by poor people with nothing to loose first inspired him. Will he still relate to their desperation?
“I don’t really worry about things like that because it’s just not how I think,” says Hutz. “What I write about comes off not only my own personal experience but from the experiences of that extended family. So even if I at this point got all my papers in order, I’m mostly surrounded by people who don’t have them in order (laughs) and there are many different layers and pockets in this topic. The desperation that you’re talking about is not necessarily something that was driven by one particular hardship or another. It’s more of a philosophical thing. There’s a philosophy of life that I write about that’s basically at war with most of the layers of society and culture at the present day. So I don’t see the end of the mother fucking work! The poverty is not the only issue. What about all the rich people who are fucked! (laughs). Of course the poor suffer the most. But that is only one of the layers in the picture…You have to realize that the band, no matter how big it will get, it will always play what it wants to play, how we want to play it and with who we want to play. Nobody tells this band what to do. That in itself is what inspires kids and fans. It fucking inspires me man!”
Gogol Bordello performs at Terminal 5 on November 3.
Watch Gogol Bordello perform "Wonderlust King."
Watch Gogol Bordello perform my favorite "Start Wearing Purple" at Glastonbury 2007.
and performing "Super Theory of Supereverything."
and with Madonna performing "La Isla Bonita."
Interview originally published in The Aquarian Weekly.
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