Mix hypnotic, Russian gypsy melodies with gritty, pirate-punk vocals, and you get an authentic, unique sound that could only come from Gogol Bordello. The eight-piece band is currently touring North America to promote its new album, Trans-Continental Hustle; the group will head overseas in mid-November. Their theatrical, high-energy shows have fans all over the world in agreement: this is one band you should definitely ‘hustle’ to see.
Gogol Bordello was formed in 1999 in New York City, though its members hail from all corners of the globe: Ukraine (lead singer Eugene Hutz), Israel (guitarist Oren Kaplan), Ethiopia (Thomas Gobena), Ecuador (percussionist Pedro Erazo), Scotland (percussionist/dancer Elizabeth Sun), Russia (violinist Sergey Ryabstev and accordionist Yuri Lemeshev) and the USA (drummer Oliver Charles and percussionist/dancer Pamela Jintana Racine). Sure, they play one hell of a show, but this band of merry men and maidens can also act – they credit 2005’s Everything is Illuminated, starring frontman Hutz and actor Elijah Wood, as increasing the band’s visibility around the world.
I recently got the opportunity to interview Thomas Gobena, bassist of Gogol Bordello.
MC: Can you elaborate more on the band’s name, which comes from Ukrainian author Nikolai Gogol and the Italian word “bordello,” which means “gentleman’s club”?
TG: Nikolai Gogol was a Ukrainian/Russian writer who helped export the culture outside of Ukraine, [so for us] it’s like we’re taking our music and exporting it to the world. “Bordello” also means chaos.
MC: Gogol Bordello is famous for its theatrical stage productions – where do you draw the inspiration/concepts for those?
TG: Just like our music, it comes from so many different cultures – we all come from different countries – so it’s a very honest performance. We’re bringing ourselves onstage and the crowd drives us through the energy that they have, and the energy just goes back and forth…
MC: What’s going through your mind before you go on stage? What do you try to deliver to the audience with each performance?
TG: Basically, we try to be better musicians everyday and do a good job of entertaining people. I mean, people pay good money to see us, so we make sure to give 110%. Unless we have that honest relationship with the audience, it’s not working out.
MC: Please tell me about your 2009 side project, The Prester John Sessions – what was your inspiration behind it?
TG: I’m Ethiopian and I come from a musical culture… I’ve always thought about a side project but [having been] all around the world, I wanted to do it from my perspective. I’m inspired by reggae, jazz, funk and everything in between, so when I said I was gonna do a side project, I wanted it to come from me and have all those elements.
MC: Will you do another similar project in the future?
TG: Absolutely. There are many other influences that I can’t feature on just one album, so it might not come out with the same kind of stuff, but I don’t really know that yet… I’m actually in the process of writing right now and when times allows, maybe I’ll put it on Facebook.
MC: What have been some of your most memorable performances/moments since Gogol Bordello began?
TG: The one thing that comes to mind is this past December, we played the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was zero degrees and an audience of 20,000 people.
MC: Oh yeah, COP15! I know there was a lot of political controversy surrounding that conference, with many climate activists getting arrested and whatnot. Did the political chaos have any effect on your show?
TG: We like that people are expressing their views, and we support that all the way just as we express our views, but our responsibility is to play our music and make sure it comes out professionally.
MC: What new/emerging artists are you into?
TG: Unfortunately, since we’re on the road quite a bit, I’m not up-and-up on who’s coming out, but there are a lot of great bands we see on stage all over the world…
MC: Where do you find new music?
TG: Usually when we travel, it’s hard to go to a certain venue [to discover new artists], but [when we stop in certain cities] we actually like to research different record stores and see what’s new or popular in that place.
MC: Here’s a question I got from a fan on Twitter: how does it feel to be in a band so influential to so many people around the world?
TG: I don’t know if there’s any word for it because we have such a beautiful and very intelligent audience – it’s a blessing to play music for a living.
MC: What can we expect from Gogol Bordello in the near future?
TG: Well, we just put out Transcontinental Hustle so we’re focused on pushing that, but we’re always writing new material… We strive to get better everyday, so expect much better, fluent expression and musicianship.
Gogol Bordello plays tomorrow night at the Roseland Theatre in Portland, Oregon.
MC: Can you elaborate more on the band’s name, which comes from Ukrainian author Nikolai Gogol and the Italian word “bordello,” which means “gentleman’s club”?
TG: Nikolai Gogol was a Ukrainian/Russian writer who helped export the culture outside of Ukraine, [so for us] it’s like we’re taking our music and exporting it to the world. “Bordello” also means chaos.
MC: Gogol Bordello is famous for its theatrical stage productions – where do you draw the inspiration/concepts for those?
TG: Just like our music, it comes from so many different cultures – we all come from different countries – so it’s a very honest performance. We’re bringing ourselves onstage and the crowd drives us through the energy that they have, and the energy just goes back and forth…
MC: What’s going through your mind before you go on stage? What do you try to deliver to the audience with each performance?
TG: Basically, we try to be better musicians everyday and do a good job of entertaining people. I mean, people pay good money to see us, so we make sure to give 110%. Unless we have that honest relationship with the audience, it’s not working out.
MC: Please tell me about your 2009 side project, The Prester John Sessions – what was your inspiration behind it?
TG: I’m Ethiopian and I come from a musical culture… I’ve always thought about a side project but [having been] all around the world, I wanted to do it from my perspective. I’m inspired by reggae, jazz, funk and everything in between, so when I said I was gonna do a side project, I wanted it to come from me and have all those elements.
MC: Will you do another similar project in the future?
TG: Absolutely. There are many other influences that I can’t feature on just one album, so it might not come out with the same kind of stuff, but I don’t really know that yet… I’m actually in the process of writing right now and when times allows, maybe I’ll put it on Facebook.
MC: What have been some of your most memorable performances/moments since Gogol Bordello began?
TG: The one thing that comes to mind is this past December, we played the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was zero degrees and an audience of 20,000 people.
MC: Oh yeah, COP15! I know there was a lot of political controversy surrounding that conference, with many climate activists getting arrested and whatnot. Did the political chaos have any effect on your show?
TG: We like that people are expressing their views, and we support that all the way just as we express our views, but our responsibility is to play our music and make sure it comes out professionally.
MC: What new/emerging artists are you into?
TG: Unfortunately, since we’re on the road quite a bit, I’m not up-and-up on who’s coming out, but there are a lot of great bands we see on stage all over the world…
MC: Where do you find new music?
TG: Usually when we travel, it’s hard to go to a certain venue [to discover new artists], but [when we stop in certain cities] we actually like to research different record stores and see what’s new or popular in that place.
MC: Here’s a question I got from a fan on Twitter: how does it feel to be in a band so influential to so many people around the world?
TG: I don’t know if there’s any word for it because we have such a beautiful and very intelligent audience – it’s a blessing to play music for a living.
MC: What can we expect from Gogol Bordello in the near future?
TG: Well, we just put out Transcontinental Hustle so we’re focused on pushing that, but we’re always writing new material… We strive to get better everyday, so expect much better, fluent expression and musicianship.
Gogol Bordello plays tomorrow night at the Roseland Theatre in Portland, Oregon.
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