Gogol Bordello

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Gogol Bordello
Eugene Hütz and Yuri Lemeshev performing as part of Gogol Bordello at the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins, Colorado, 14 October 2005
Eugene Hütz and Yuri Lemeshev performing as part of Gogol Bordello at the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins, Colorado, 14 October 2005
Background information
Origin New York, New York, United States
Genre(s) Gypsy punk
Gypsy folk
Folk punk
Years active 1999–present
Label(s) Rubrick, SideOneDummy
Associated acts Balkan Beat Box
Website www.gogolbordello.com
Members
Eugene Hütz
Sergey Ryabtsev
Yuri Lemeshev
Thomas Gobena
Oren Kaplan
Eliot Ferguson
Pamela Racine
Elizabeth Sun
Pedro Erazo
Former members
Karl Alvarez
Rea Mochiach
Sasha Kazatchkoff
Vlad Solovar
Ori Kaplan
Susan Donaldson

Gogol Bordello is a multi-ethnic Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of New York City that formed in 1999 and is known for its theatrical stage shows.[1] Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music, as its core members are immigrants from Eastern Europe. The band incorporates minor-key accordion and fiddle (and on some albums, saxophone) mixed with cabaret, punk, and dub as well as multiple languages. Phill Jupitus has once described the band as "a bit like The Clash and The Pogues having a fight... in Eastern Europe,"[1] while Kenneth Partridge of The Hartford Courant described lead singer Eugene Hütz's voice as "somewhere between that of Borat and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog".[2]

Contents

[edit] History and influences

Nikolai Gogol, the band's namesake, was an ideological influence because he "smuggled" Ukrainian culture into Russian society, which Gogol Bordello intends to do with Gypsy/East-European music in the English-speaking world.[3] "Bordello" refers to a brothel or a "gentleman's club". The band was originally titled Hütz and the Béla Bartóks, but Eugene Hütz says that they decided to change the name because "nobody knows who the hell Béla Bartók is in the United States".[3] The band played their first show as the unofficial band at an after-hours club called Pizdetz on Ridge Street, where they became the house band and DJ Hütz became the house DJ.[3]

Gogol Bordello's first single was released in 1999, and since then they have released four full-length albums, and one EP. In 2005 the band signed to punk label SideOneDummy Records. The band has toured tirelessly throughout Europe and America on numerous international festivals and toured with such diverse bands as Primus, Flogging Molly, and Cake. In an interview with NPR, frontman Eugene Hütz cites Jimi Hendrix and Parliament-Funkadelic as among the band's main musical influences.[3]

[edit] Singles and collaborations

  • The recording of "Start Wearing Purple", on their first album, "Voi-La Intruder" pioneered their UK success.[citation needed]
  • Their song, "Occurrence on the Border", was featured on the 4th Punk Rock Strike compilation put out by Springman Records.
  • "Start Wearing Purple" was re-recorded and a video was produced for their third LP, Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike and became their first North American single. The song and variations thereof can be heard throughout the 2005 movie Everything Is Illuminated. The song is also the unofficial theme song of the Baltimore Ravens.
  • James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA), whose colors are purple and gold, has used the song during the JMU Dukes' 2008 home football games.
  • "I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again" has a short interlude of an arrangement of Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) in B minor played on strings.
  • "Not a Crime" and "Wonderlust King" were chosen as the second and third North American singles, both accompanied by a music video.
  • "Through The Roof 'n' Underground" is featured several times in the movie Wristcutters: A Love Story. (In which one of the main characters is based on Eugene Hütz.)
  • "Ultimate" was featured during in NBC's tv series Chuck in the episode Chuck Versus the Undercover Lover.
  • "Wonderlust King" was featured in the trailer for the Morgan Spurlock documentary Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?.
  • "Wonderlust King" was also featured in the trailer for MotorStorm: Pacific Rift".

Several of the band members also take part in a dub and electronic side project with members of Balkan Beat Box entitled J.U.F. (Jewish-Ukrainian Freundschaft).

Eugene Hütz has also collaborated with the Kolpakov Trio and recorded music with them.

Gogol Bordello have also collaborated with Madonna (see below).

Eugene Hütz wrote the introduction for the 2008 Subculture Books release of Taras Bulba by Nikolai Gogol.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Television

The band was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live (March 22, 2006 and September 5, 2007), on The Late Show with David Letterman ( July 31, 2007), on The Henry Rollins Show (August 10, 2007), and on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (July 30, 2008). They have also appeared on the Later With Jools Holland show (BBC Television)

The song '60 Revolutions' was featured on season 2 episode 12, 'Trapdoor' of the TV drama Life.

[edit] Music festivals

Gogol Bordello has appeared in many festivals worldwide throughout the past decade. However, a significant step towards greater publicity was made when Eugene Hütz and violinist Sergey Ryabtsev joined Madonna on stage. Hütz and Ryabtsev performed "La Isla Bonita / Lela Pala Tute" with Madonna at the London Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007.[4] Gogol Bordello made its first appearance at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 1st, 2008. The band has also played Coachella and Bonnaroo 2007 and 2008. They also performed with Les Claypool and Kirk Hammett in SuperJam of Bonnaroo 2008 where the songs of Tom Waits were performed. Gogol Bordello also performed on the first day of Virgin Mobile Festival on August 9, 2008. They performed in Austin for ACL 2008 on September 26th. They performed at the L.A. Weekly Detour Festival on October 4, 2008 along with bands such as Data Rock and The Mars Volta. They also performed at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2008 in San Francisco on October 5th, at Tim Festival on October 24th and 25th occurred in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Optimus Alive! in Oeiras, Portugal on 10 July 2008.

[edit] Film

Eugene Hütz was interviewed in Kill Your Idols, a 2004 documentary on New York's alternative scene.

In Liev Schreiber's 2005 directorial debut Everything Is Illuminated, which stars Elijah Wood, the role of Alexander Perchov was played by Eugene Hütz. It also includes other Gogol Bordello members. The band's music was also the backbone of the soundtrack for the 2006 film Wristcutters: A Love Story where a main character played by Shea Whigham was named after and based on Eugene.

The band's lead singer Eugene Hütz starred in the documentary film The Pied Piper of Hutzovina, about his journey through Europe and back home as a gypsy musician.

The entire band has been featured in another directorial debut - Madonna's film Filth and Wisdom, starring Eugene Hütz as one of the main characters. Madonna also allowed Eugene to add his own dialogue into the script.

[edit] Line-up

[edit] Current members

[edit] Former members

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

[edit] Singles

[edit] Compilations

[edit] Side-projects

[edit] Filmography

  • 2005 - Everything Is Illuminated - Eugene Hütz plays one of the main characters in the movie and members of the band (Sergei Ryabtsev, Yuri Lemeshev, Pamela Racine) make appearances.
  • 2006 - Wristcutters: A Love Story - "Eugene", played by American actor Shea Whigham, is partly based on Eugene Hütz, whose music ("Through the Roof and Underground" and "Occurrence on the Border") features in the film as that recorded by character Eugene's old band.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Gogol Bordello at bbc.co.uk" (Web). www.bbc.co.uk. 22 June 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2007/artists/gogolbordello/. Retrieved on 2007-07-09. 
  2. ^ "New Music Reviews" (Web). 16 August 2007. http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_RelishArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352388035&path=!news!yesterday&s=1037645509099. Retrieved on 2007-08-24. 
  3. ^ a b c d "Gogol Bordello: Music from 'Gypsy Punks'". In Performance. 2006-04-29.
  4. ^ Bowen, Rebecca (2007), "Gogol Bordello and Madonna continue collaboration", Paste (magazine) (News online), 10 July 2007, http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/article/4447/news/music/gogol_bordello_and_madonna_continue_collaboration, retrieved on 2007-07-23 
  5. ^ "Gogol Bordello". Official MySpace Page. MySpace.com. 11/10/2006. http://www.myspace.com/gogolbordello. Retrieved on 2006-10-11. 
  6. ^ Cooper, Ryan (2007). "An Interview with Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello" (Web). About.com. http://punkmusic.about.com/od/interviews/a/Eugenehutz.htm. Retrieved on 2007-09-09. 
  7. ^ Billboard, Allmusic
  8. ^ "Filth and Wisdom (2008)" (Web). www.imdb.com. 7 August 2007. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1042499/. Retrieved on 2007-08-07. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Gogol Bordello
Eugene Hütz · Sergey Ryabtsev · Yuri Lemeshev · Oren Kaplan · Thomas Gobena · Eliot Ferguson · Pamela Racine · Elizabeth Sun · Pedro Erazo
Studio albums
Singles
EPs
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