OnMilwaukee.com: You've worked with music (from underground gypsy punk to DJ work to Live Earth with Madonna) film (with "Everything is Illuminated"), and fashion (Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs). What's the next medium you plan on conquering?
Eugene Hutz: I don't look at it as a linear timeline. It isn't leaping from one thing to the next, so I can't say where I'm going to go next. I see it as all working together. It's an evolution. And you mentioned a lot of names in there, but really it's been all about Gogol Bordello the entire time.
OMC: You went from underground gypsy punk to working with Madonna. Fans seem to be confused by this, but for you, how big was that leap?
EH: I think it seems that you are confused. It wasn't a leap for us, playing Live Earth. It wasn't controversial at all. It was just a chance to get Gogol Bordello in front of as large an audience as possible.
OMC: We spoke with DeVotchKa earlier this year and you've toured with them before. They take a lot of influences from outside of American pop and rock music, but their heritage isn't as immediately diverse as yours. You announce, proudly, where the members of Gogol Bordello are from. How do you think their experiences affect the music?
EH: The personal experience is the biggest part of the music. It's what writes the music. But when I see bands like DeVotchKa playing outside of American influence, I think that's great. But it has to be genuine. When we get up on stage it's not because somebody wrote us a script and told us what to do. We wrote our own script, and it was all about the music.
OMC: How do you keep up your extreme energy through every show? I've seen you live a few times and each time is no less enthusiastic. Sergey and Yuri seem to be your strong, unspoken pillars. Where do they find the energy to keep up with you?
EH: It's because after 10 years this band is a family and the energy comes from the support of everybody. These are musicians for life. They didn't just play guitar in college. The energy comes from the intense focus and concentration on the music. We've been doing it for so long it's not a struggle. It all comes natural.
OMC: "Start Wearing Purple" has a appeared on two albums, as well as "My Strange Uncle." Elements of "Onto Transmigration" find their way into "Dub the Frequencies of Love." Why the repetition?
EH: Well, nobody heard the first album. It was self released back in 1999 and we were just a small New York band, so we wanted more people to hear it. As for "My Strange Uncle," that was just a demo. It was recorded with Rubric Records and we needed to get it off that label, so it gave us a chance to continue to evolve the song. "Onto Transmigration" was created for (the album) "J.U.F." and I put into "Dub the Frequencies of Love" because it was something that just came out of my head at the time, and I spewed it out and it took on a life of it's own.
OMC: I thought you might be going for a folk aspect, where there is no one version of the song.
EH: It's nice to be able to take our music and continue to evolve with it. When we come out with the live album that'll have the next version.
OMC: So you've collaborated with Balkan Beat Box and just mentioned a possible live album. Care to give any information on that?
EH: I've been living down in Brazil for about half a year now, so the collaborations I've been looking forward to have been working with a lot of the local people here. With some of the traditional stuff here they're playing some of the fastest music in the world at 240 beats per minute. That's faster than Slayer. I look at them and wonder how the f*ck they can do it, you know? There's many awesome collaborations that are taking place right now, with some of our favorite artists. We kinda suddenly entered -- well, not suddenly. Only 10 years and here we go. We've just arrived at this stage where we're making collaborations with all of our favorite artists. How much more exciting can it be?
OMC: Finally, what is your drink of choice these days?
EH: I do have a new favorite one. It's Cashasa. It's Brazillian. 42 (percent) alcohol and very similar to Polish Black Pepper Vodka, in effect. It's just tasty as hell!
OMC: Okay, thanks! I'll let you get back to preparing for the show. We'll see you there tonight.
EH: Wicked, man. I'm looking forward to the show.
Jason McDowell grew up in central Iowa and moved to Milwaukee in 2000 to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
In 2006 he began working with OnMilwaukee as an advertising designer, but has since taken on a variety of rolls as the Creative Director, tackling all kinds of design problems, from digital to print, advertising to branding, icons to programming.
In 2016 he picked up the 414 Digital Star of the Year award.
Most other times he can be found racing bicycles, playing board games, or petting dogs.
