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Riding the wild horse

Gogol Bordello roars into town loaded for an 'alchemical explosion'
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By James Scanlon
For The Prague Post
November 21st, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
A role model for Roma? Hutz, center, proudly flies the Gypsy flag.
Gogol Bordello

When: Saturday, Nov. 24, at 8
Where: Divadlo Archa
Tickets: 440 Kč, available through Ticketpro, Ticketportal and at the venue

Arrogance should never be applauded — unless, of course, you’re Eugene Hutz. “I’ve got an ego like a wild horse, and I ride the horse every time we do a gig,” he bashfully claims.
But don’t think for a moment this is bravado. Hutz is merely explaining the wild manic persona required to be lead singer of Gypsy punk outfit Gogol Bordello.
For almost a decade now, Hutz has been steering the Bordello machine in his inimitable, brash way. In July, the ego most certainly landed as Hutz got to share the stage of Wembley Stadium in London with the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna. Billed as “Live Earth,” the concert was aimed to draw attention to global warming, but Hutz and Madge really stole the show with a most stirring rendition of La Isla Bonita.
Speaking from his home in New York, Hutz explains how it all came about. “My phone rang and she was on the line,” he says casually. “She’s been a fan for years. Every time we were playing in London, we would hear that she would probably come to the show.”
The title of Gogol Bordello’s latest disc, Super Taranta!, is allegedly culled from an extreme form of traditional Italian music once played as a treatment for hysterical women. In many ways it gets rid of the political baggage that weighed down the band’s previous effort, Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike, and broadens the sound base.
“It’s a cross-pollination of mysticism, therapy, artistry and sensitivity — all the ingredients that make up Gogol Bordello,” Hutz says of the latest effort. “There’s also a lot of spiritual parallels. We’ve always had a special connection with the Italian crowds. It all contributed to the title.”
As for Super Taranta! shooting off in a new musical direction, Hutz is keen to point out, “All our albums are different. We are that band you unmistakably recognize, but with a lot of variations. I was never interested in being a band like AC/DC, The Ramones or The Cure, who play the same sort of music for 40 years. Every Gogol Bordello album creates a world of its own. Live on it for a while, and then move along.”
With Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, The Moodists) at the production helm, tracks like “Forces Of Victory,” “Wonderlust King,” “Super Theory Of Super Everything” and “Alcohol” (Hutz’s favorite pastime), there’s not only tongue-in-cheek humor, but dark cynicism.
“It adds to the mysticism,” Hutz says. “It’s much more advanced, much more panoramic, and shows the different interests of Gogol Bordello as a band. If Gypsy Punks was the poster, then Super Taranta! is the painting.”
A descendant of the Sirva Romany Gypsies in the Carpathian Mountains, Hutz was brought up in Ukraine but emigrated with his family after the Chernobyl disaster. After being pushed and shoved around many refugee camps, he eventually settled in New York City, where he put the band together.
He still claims to be at the forefront of the Gypsy punk revolution, despite the fact that it’s really only the fiddle, accordion and his outrageous mustache that maintain the Gypsy brand image. But, to his credit, Hutz’s aim has always been to apply his own rules and leave traditional Gypsy music to the old folks. His interpretation is raw, through Nick Cave and Manu Chao’s back door, and it’s for a younger generation of fans with attitude.
“The critics don’t know anything,” he scoffs before suddenly polluting the phone line with unprintable expletives. “What’s important is that Gypsy kids — Roma all over the world — are coming to our shows and celebrating our flag going up. They’re also celebrating the idea that we’re pushing the Romany culture in a new, positive direction.”
Pavla Fleischer’s road movie about Hutz, The Pied Piper Of Hutzovina (recently screened at the MOFFOM festival in Prague), more than scratches beneath the surface, revealing what really makes him tick. And Hutz continues to make serious inroads elsewhere as an actor, landing a role in a new film directed by his pal Madonna. He can’t reveal much at present, but it allegedly features a fictionalized version of the man himself, as a singer who’s into everything from cross-dressing to Gypsy music. Gogol Bordello also appears.
For the band’s latest excursion to Prague, expect nothing short of a beer-fuelled rock circus. “We’ll be bombing people with material from our new album and it’ll be like an alchemic explosion,” he says.
And will the famous ego be on display?
“I live a very extroverted way of life,” he admits. “I never got into rock ’n’ roll for all the women, but I guess it’s ended up like that. Let’s just say, there are conventional and fun-tastic and unconventional ways of life. Guess to which one I belong!”

James Scanlon can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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