by MARK SLUTSKY

“I would never put us in the category of a rock show,” says Eugene Hütz. “To me, if you say ‘rock show,’ I see four guys with the same haircut standing on a stage, totally fucking full of predictable boring poses, tapping their feet—and then a technician comes out and touches up the cords and everybody goes home.”

Sporting the best moustache in the music business, Hütz is the frontman and lyricist for New York-based Gogol Bordello, who prefer the term “gypsy punk cabaret” for their notoriously frenetic and theatrical live shows. Composed of musicians from Israel, Russia and the Ukraine, where Hütz was born to Roma (Gypsy) ancestry, the group manages to evoke the spirit of Emir Kusturica, King Tubby, the Ex, James Chance and the Pogues, often at the same time.

“If you’re onstage performing, you might as well use the fact that you’re in front of people, and give them something,” Hütz continues. “In that sense we’re very close to Parliament/Funkadelic. As ridiculous and faraway as that sounds, they were one of the biggest influences on Gogol Bordello. Delivery-wise, and philosophy-wise, they’re so along the same lines. Ever since I listened to them as a little kid, I’ve thought, that is the kind of band I want to have—except, how can I do it with our means, and our music, you know?”

According to Hütz, there’s a common denominator in the various musical ingredients that make up the Gogol Bordello stew. “Our music is mainly a combination of three styles which came out of the outskirts, the ghetto. Primarily it’s Eastern European gypsy, then it’s punk, then it’s reggae. The history of those three kinds of music show that they’re all a creation of poverty and social frustration. They’re also the most passionate forms of modern music. So naturally, we’re inclined towards combining them, you know? The larger picture of it is that on top of just playing music, our music is also a vehicle for our message.”

Back in the (former) USSR

Hütz gained a measure more fame last year when he co-starred as Alex in Liev Schreiber’s adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Everything Is Illuminated. But his cinematic interests don’t end at acting in indie movies. More recently, he’s been working on a documentary project of his own with filmmaker Pavla Fleischer. “It’s a documentary about my trip to Gypsy camps in the Ukraine and Hungary, though we ended up going as far as Siberia. I’ve been going to the Ukraine a lot lately, but to go to the countryside, where the Romany population lives, that was my first time in 15 years. It was important for me to check in and see who’s still around, and to see how things are shaping up since the whole collapse of the East Bloc.

“A lot of Gypsies were looking at it as an opportunity for things to get better, but as I saw, things have gotten worse. In terms of attention not being paid to any Romany issues, it’s fucking ridiculous. It really amazes me because it’s such a huge part of the population in the Ukraine, and you will never see anything about it. The problems that have been there for like 40 years are still there. Like segregated education, which is practically useless. They literally educate Gypsies in segregated schools, which are taught in the Hungarian language, and from then on there is no other educational institution that’s in Hungarian. It’s like a gate to keep that minority down.”

And despite—or maybe even via—the booze-fueled party factor of a Gogol show, Hütz hopes that he’s making an impression on the audience’s attitudes as well. “The band really gives it all every time, and I think that’s a fair way to communicate with people. You come and you give them the best party you can possibly make, and on top of that, you hope they go home with something to think about as well.”

Of course, they can go home with the wrong idea as well. “I always have to stop people who are from the West who are talking nonsense like, ‘Yo man, I listened to your music and I want to go and get down with the Gypsies and celebrate and drink lots of vodka!’ It’s like, I guess you didn’t listen into our music far enough. Because Gypsies ain’t gonna celebrate with you when you come. We first have to get to a point of celebrating something!”

With Panic & the Rebels at le National tonight,
Thursday, Feb. 16, 9 p.m., $15, all ages

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