Gogol Bordello coming to Edmonton

Tip to Edmonton's Ukrainian community: Forewarned is forearmed.

... these guys sound like a mad klezmer band in a head-on collision with the Sex Pistols on the way to a Jamaican rave, over which can be heard the braying, sneering, cursing, heavily accented voice of one Eugene Hutz, Ukrainian by birth, Gypsy on his mother's side and punk the whole way through. "

The band's material generally has an anti-social, anti-celebrity, anti-establishment attitude. Sure sounds like punk.

So OK, you know what to expect.

Told there's a huge Ukrainian population in Alberta, Hutz - who's never been to Alberta - says he knows already. He laughs as if it should've been obvious, "I know my history of Ukrainian immigration."

Somehow I don't think you'd want to take your Baba to see them... although, you never know.

More illumination here.
As of now, Gogol Bordello has developed cult followings in places such as South America, France, England and Sweden ...

“I don’t want it to be like Eastern European kind of ‘boom-cha, boom-cha’ polka bands,” Hutz says. “That kind of stuff bores the sh** out of me. ...”

Guess that means leave your vyshyta sorochka at home? Well, you probably wouldn't wear it to the movie theatre either.

Hutz was given the chance to test his acting capabilities by playing an aspiring rapper opposite Elijah Wood in Everything Is Illuminated. .... “Lately, I’ve been receiving more scripts, but now I’m getting tired of reading them because all the parts are these bad Eastern European guys who, like, spread biological weapons ... They are so predictable."

Astute observation from someone so [ahem] anti-establishment and anti-celebrity. Oh well, they're just trying to earn a living. I suppose we shouldn't take them any more seriously than they take themselves.

“We create our own world, which is what artists usually do. You have to create your own example of freedom ...,” proclaims Hutz. “Did you hear that America is going to nuke Canada? I heard about it on a television show, and I want to say that I strongly disagree. We’re going to come up there and save you. I heard it with my own ears, so I want to tell people to watch out. Just listen to Gogol Bordello and you’ll be safe. Spread the news, please.”