Eugene Hutz Issue #25

The Gogol Bordello frontman and Everything Is Illuminated actor has something to say about break-dancing, drinking with monks, and being a sex symbol

By Shaina Feinberg
Published: September 1st, 2005 | 4:06pm

Meet Eugene Hutz. He’s the 33-year-old, tall and lanky, and famously mustachioed frontman of the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. Gogol Bordello is known for their chaotic live performances that include large amounts of alcohol, shouting, crowd surfing, and feverish dancing.

Hutz also is starring in Liev Schreiber’s film, Everything Is Illuminated, which is based on the bestselling novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. In the film, Hutz plays Alex, an America-obsessed Ukrainian man-child. Hutz, who emigrated to New York from the Ukraine in 1989, is very similar to the character he plays — a mishmash of Eastern European and American styles; he sings in Russian and English and he speaks with a thick accent. When he says “fucked,” which he says often, it’s pronounced “fhucttt.”

Gogol Bordello’s third album, Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, came out in August from SideOneDummy. I caught up with Hutz on a leg of the band’s U.S. tour in July.

Where are you guys?
I think we are in Oregon. But it is hard to say. I don’t really keep track of the kilometers.

Have you been doing a ton of interviews?
Yes. But I don’t mind them. Interviews, I am realizing, are just part of the whole shebang.

In the movie, you don’t sport your world-famous moustache. Is it back now?
Yes! Of course! What? Are you kidding me? That has been back for many months now.

There’s a pretty amazing dance scene in the beginning of the film. Is that you dancing?
Whoa, you’ve seen the film already?

Yes.
Well, I did some of the dancing … one thing I learned on the set of that movie, let me tell you: I completely cannot fucking break-dance. I took lessons for three weeks, from a professional. Three weeks! And I couldn’t do it. My body just couldn’t learn it. And I’d thought, “Of course I can do it!” There’s so much acrobatics in my life. Why not this? But I couldn’t get my body to do it. It was very frustrating to me, because usually I learn things very quickly. It’s not hard for me to learn things.

How did you make the transition from music to acting?
Well, really, I am not convinced that there isn’t acting going on with the music. If you’ve seen Gogol Bordello then you will know that there is quite a bit of acting going on with that. For me, it was always a component of my music, so really it was just a matter of time before the right part came along. With Gogol Bordello there is so much improvisation. And there was a lot of improvising in Everything Is Illuminated. I think that is necessary. Improvisation. You need to be willing to improvise and have people improvise if you are interested in getting real feelings and making real moments happen.

A lot of articles about you focus on how strongly you dislike irony. Is that what you spend most of your time thinking about?
(Laughs) Let me say I think about girls more than I think about irony. Look, don’t get me wrong, I believe that irony has its place. Irony brings out colors that are not brought out otherwise. But what I am saying is this: If irony is your way of life, then you are fucked.

When you’re not working on an album or filming, how do you spend your time?
I like to spend the first three to four hours a day working on ideas. Maybe through my music or costuming or choreography. It’s hard to control your own brainstorming, so I like to just let it go and see what comes up. I used to be a real perfectionist, and I would try to control everything.

Your live performances seem so loose and not controlled at all.
Well, it’s a rage against your own perfectionism — that’s what I’m doing. It used to be that I wanted everything to be so fucking perfect, and then you can’t do a thing. But this — with the band — it is me trying to get away from having to be perfect.

What do you read?
I am a selective reader. I think you have to be. There are so many people — they just read whatever comes to them. But not me. I have to choose very carefully what I am reading. I never read newspapers. I believe in firsthand experiences. That is what I like to do — I like to gather information. I am always taking information in from around me. That’s how I get ideas. What is Harper’s going to really be able to tell me about Siberia, eh? I was just there. I went to Siberia, and I saw what it was like. Everybody thinks I am so political because of my lyrics. But I’ve never gone to a seminar on politics or studied politics. I just look at what’s around me. I went to the Buddhist monks, too, and I saw what they were like. I drank with them. I saw what they drink and no one is going to fucking tell you that in a magazine.

What do they drink?
Vodka. The cheapest vodka available.

Are you a big drinker?
I love to drink! Many people, they drink to shut down. But I drink to cool off. I just want to cool off a little. Not too much. Just enough where I can start doing stuff.

What’s it like to be a sex symbol?
What? Am I really? I don’t know about that. I mean, I am very happy with that side of my life, but I didn’t realize that I was a sex symbol. Wow.

You used to DJ at the Bulgarian Disco in lower Manhattan. Will you still have time for that?
Yes! Of course. I love DJing at the Bulgarian Disco. I will continue to do that. When I get back, after tour, I will be there on Thursdays.

What other projects are you working on?
Well, there is an unfinished book, and that is something I would like to get back to. But for now I am doing stuff that takes less time to get out there.

Where do you live?
I live in the East Village and I love it. Even now, when it is polished up quite a bit, I still love being there. It is a great place to live and to be yourself.