Another band that many Celtic punk fans love.
(From Wikipedia)Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring.
Much of the band's sound is inspired by Gypsy music. The band incorporates minor-key accordion and violin (and on some albums, saxophone) mixed with punk and dub.
The band has appeared in a number of independent films, most notably in 2005's Everything Is Illuminated in which the lead singer, Eugene Hütz, co-starred with Elijah Wood in a dramady and adventure story about the Nazi purges in Ukraine. The entire group was present for one shot in which they played a brass band.
Gogol Bordello contributed the song "Start Wearing Purple" to the film's score.
"Gogol" comes from the name Nikolai Gogol. As one of the most influential writers in Ukrainian and Russian literature, Gogol paved the way for the likes of Kafka and Dostoevsky. He also serves as an ideological influence for the band because he "smuggled" Ukrainian culture into Russian society, which Gogol Bordello intends to do with Gypsy/ East-European music in the English-speaking world. "Bordello", in Italian, 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". The band played their first show as the unofficial band at an after-hours club called Pizdetz where they became the house band and DJ Hütz became the house DJ.
Gogol Bordello's first single was released in 1999, and since then they have released five full-length albums, and one EP. In 2005 the band signed to punk label SideOneDummy Records. On 27 April 2010
Gogol Bordello made its major record label debut with
Transcontinental Hustle on Rick Rubin's American Recordings, a subsidiary of Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment. Many of the songs on
Transcontinental Hustle were inspired by Hütz's move to Brazil.
The band has toured tirelessly throughout Europe and America. They have made appearances at 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. They have mentioned
Manu Chao, Fugazi, Zvuki Mu, Karamelo Santo, Sasha Kolpakov and
The Clash as influences as well.
In August 2010 the band was rumored to participate in the Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, but the band soon denied this.[5]
Gogol Bordello performed seven shows with System of a Down throughout May of 2011.
Most recently, they performed live at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival 2011, located in Manchester, TN for Bonnaroo's 10 year anniversary. At Bonnaroo they played a 1.5 hour set in the middle of the night and performed with Devotchka.
Gogol Bordello has appeared in a multitude of American and international music festivals. 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.
Line-up
Current members
Eugene Hütz (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion) - Ukraine (founding member)
Sergey Ryabtsev (violin, backing vocals) - Russia (since 2000)
Yuri Lemeshev (accordion, backing vocals) - Russia (since 2001)
Oren Kaplan (guitar, backing vocals) - Israel (since 2000)
Thomas "Tommy T" Gobena (bass backing vocals) - Ethiopia (since 2006)
Elizabeth Sun (percussion, backing vocals, dance, general performance) - China/Scotland (since 2004)
Pedro Erazo (percussion, MC) - Ecuador (since 2007)
Oliver Charles (drums) – USA (since 2009)
Former members
Pamela Racine (percussion, backing vocals, dance, general performance) - USA
Eliot Ferguson (drums, backing vocals)
Karl Alvarez (bass)
Rea Mochiach (bass, percussion, electronics and beat programming in the studio, backing vocals) - Israel
Sasha Kazatchkoff (accordion)
Vlad Solovar (guitar) Romania
Ori Kaplan - saxophone, (co leads Balkan Beat Box with Tamir Muskat), backing vocals, (no relation to Oren Kaplan) - Israel
Susan Donaldson (percussion, backing vocals, Dance, general performance)
James Ward (accordion) - Scotland
Andra Ursuta (percussion, backing vocals, Dance, general performance) - Romania
Katheryn McGaffigan (fill-in percussion, backing vocals, Dance, general performance)
Discography
Albums
Voi-La Intruder – 1999 (Rubric Records)
Multi Kontra Culti vs. Irony - September 2002 (Rubric Records), 2XLP - December 2006
Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike - August 2005 (SideOneDummy Records), 2XLP - March 2006
"
East Infection"
Super Taranta! - 10 July 2007 (SideOneDummy Records) US #115,[12] UK #67, 2XLP - July 2007
Live from Axis Mundi - 2009 (SideOneDummy Records), Live album with DVD
Trans-Continental Hustle - 27 April 2010 (American Recordings) UK # 66, US #62, CAN #79
EPs
East Infection - January 2005 (Rubric Records)"
http://www.gogolbordello.com