Gogol Bordello with special guest Amigo The Devil

Since 1999, international punk band Gogol Bordello, led by Ukrainian frontman Eugene Hütz, has been filling up rooms with an energy that could run a whole city. A lifelong lover of the punk scene growing up in Ukraine, Hütz finally found himself where he felt he belonged, in New York’s Lower East Side in the late 90s, where he went to shows and later performed at the legendary CBGB. Crashing at friends’ apartments and playing acoustic sets in NYC Ukrainian bars, his group steadily grew to an 8 piece multicultural band, combining Eastern, Western and Latin traditions. Since then the band has lit up stages around the world alongside System of a Down, Primus, Rancid, Dropkick Murphys, dueted with Regina Spektor, and cut albums with legends Rick Rubin, Steve Albini and a forthcoming album with Nic Launay.

Russia's war in Ukraine is personal for Eugene & the band, who have been tirelessly advocating for Ukrainian solidarity, partnering with Nova Ukraine, ArtDopomoga, and putting together benefits with Patti Smith, The Hold Steady, Suzanne Vega, Magnetic Fields, Matisyahu and more. Additionally, they collaborated with Bernard Sumner on a cover of the Angelic Upstarts “Solidarity” with proceeds going to the Ukrainian Soldiers Recovery.

In 2024, the Vice documentary Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story (Executive Producer Liev Schreiber) won multiple awards at film festivals such as DOC LA, Tribeca Film Festival and Warsaw International Film Festival and barnstormed across the USA with Eugene and Sergey Ryabtsev performing and doing Q&As. Hütz has also appeared in arthouse films such as Liev Schreiber’s Everything Is Illuminated with Elijah Wood, Filth and Wisdom helmed by Madonna.

Gogol Bordello’s forthcoming record, We Mean It, Man!, is due out in March 2026. For this album, Hütz set out to blend post-punk textures and aggro to Gogol Bordello’s free-wheeling gypsy-punk. He chose to work with the production team of Nick Launay (Gang of Four, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Idles) and Adam “Atom” Greenspan (Nick Cave, Idles, Flogging Molly) to accomplish this goal. Together with his long running band, they knocked out twelve super punchy and hook-laden songs. The title track, “We Mean It, Man!” is all pile-driving punk intensity which crescendoes into no-wave sax skronk. “No Time For Idiots” is a Strummer/Jones-esque riff-punk with a giant chorus payoff. “Life Is Possible Again” voices an optimism against the dread of the Ukraine war. “Solidarity” features New Order’s Bernard Sumner on the Angelic Upstart’s Solidarność-punk anthem updated to address the Ukraine war effort. This is the album and political message the world needs now.

Danny Kiranos, the Nashville-based songwriter behind the Amigo the Devil project, has somehow managed to meld the worlds (and fanbases) of traditional folk, country music, rock, and metal into one.  The sonic experience is morbid, yet poetic and oddly romantic.  His unique artistic perspective and ability to connect with audiences has allowed him to amass a dedicated, cult-like fan-base. Loaded with sing-alongs – and an unsuspecting dose of humor to make otherwise grim topics accessible for fans of every genre – the songs still remain deeply rooted in the tradition of story-telling…something that seems to be a lot less common nowadays. Attending an Amigo the Devil show is an experience: you become one with a wildly prophetic man, armed only with his entrancing voice and a banjo, and bear witness to an astounding performance that will stick with you for a long time.

A key figure in the U.S. ‘murder folk’ scene, Kiranos was initially influenced by the likes of Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Godspeed! You Black Emperor.  Following a number of well-received single and EP releases, the debut album by Amigo the Devil ‘Everything Is Fine’ was produced by Ross Robinson, renowned for his work with major league hard rock/metal acts such as Korn, Slipknot, At The Drive In, and Glassjaw. The album also features drummer Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Prophets of Rage) sitting in on the entire recording session.  

His follow-up record and latest release, ‘Born Against’, reveals him to be more than a one-trick pony stylistically. “Every new record is an opportunity to sit and think about how much has changed in your life and the world around you,” Kiranos says. “It’s a new opportunity to bring in both new and old influences. I really wanted to dive into ideas that I’d either been avoiding or ignoring within myself and figure out ways to align them with music I grew up listening to. Influences that may have been set aside in our older recordings.”

Kiranos, who grew up in Miami in a multicultural household, decamped to Dallas to record the album at the venerable Modern Electric Studio with Beau Bedford (Texas Gentlemen). This marked the first time Kiranos had explored some of the world music he'd long loved, including Eastern European folk and Australian country (“It has such an amazing sound to it,” he says of the honky-tonk of Down Under. “The rhythms are so dry and brutal.”) Kiranos felt Bedford was the only producer who could draw those sounds out of him. Together they entered the studio with merely the skeletons of the songs Kiranos had written. One by one, they fleshed them out in wildly inventive fashion. To say they threw the kitchen sink at this album would be an understatement; these guys threw the whole damn shack. 

“The Fellowship” – as Amigo’s die-hard fans refer to themselves – continues to grow with each new show played and album released.  His continued connection with audiences and unique, empathic lyrics are sure to carry Amigo the Devil into the hearts of many more. There is hope in the volatile, peace in the macabre, and light not just inside the tunnel but all around, and Amigo the Devil is here to tell us how.