Gogol Bordello

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.

New self-proclaimed “post-punk renai-dance” group, Puzzled Panther is led by the synergetic songwriting duo of Victoria Espinoza and Kay BonTempo, which also features Brian Chase of YYYeahs on drums and Eugene Hutz on guitar. The band has been described as “New York’s buzziest band that artfully mixes essential NY influences such as Sonic Youth and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with psychedelic indie dance a la Madchester”. Puzzled Panther is rapidly making a name for itself as a tireless touring entity with their electrifying performances across the USA and Europe.

IF YOU STOP YOU DIE -

Rock n’ Roll will never be a lazy man’s game. PONS is here to set the record straight.

With an extreme approach to touring that exists in a limbo between BOOK YOUR OWN LIFE and monastic obsession, PONS’ abstracted no wave has had a grip on the underground since the band’s arrival in Brooklyn in 2021.

Named “NYC’s Hardest Working Band” in 2022 (and the runner-up in 2023) by Oh My Rockness after playing 150+ shows worldwide, PONS’ rhythm-centric, digitized no wave has quickly become a must-see in the NYC underground.

Once a duo hashing out blunt garage rock, then a guitar-drum-percussion trio shredding minimal, technical noise, PONS now exists as an avant-dance project revolving around a cast of collaborators and the band’s main brain/common thread: Jack Parker.

With their dashing look and salesman’s eye, the group has supported notable acts such as A Place To Bury Strangers, Lambrini Girls, Geese, Vundabar, Gustaf, and more. As esoteric in their style as they are in sound, PONS was also recently featured in Hedi Slimane’s 2024 Celine campaign alongside the legendary Yves Tumor and Peaches.

BEAR WITNESS TO PONS.