Eugene Hutz: from a childhood spent roaming the refugee camps of eastern Europe to taking punk rock all over the musical map

"We're like a family bordering on a political party," Eugene Hutz says of his Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello. The 32-year-old Ukrainian singer's group has gained a cult following, and the band is currently primed to take its cultural revolution to the next level with the release of Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike (SideOneDummy), their third album.

Fittingly, each of Gogol Bordello's eight members comes from different parts of the world--but it's Hutz's heritage that defines Gogol Bordello. After fleeing Kiev with his family in 1986, in the wake of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Hutz spent the next seven years moving across Europe through refugee camps and experiencing his first taste of traditional Gypsy music. He reimagined the folk instruments mixed over his black-market Western punk records--and from that blend the band's sound was born.

It was this same Eastern European pastiche that attracted actor Liev Schreiber, who wound up casting the singer in his directorial debut, this month's Everything Is Illuminated, based on the acclaimed 2002 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. As Alex, a Ukrainian translator obsessed with American culture, Hutz provides much of the film's comic relief. "I knew nobody could play that role better than me," he says sincerely. "This is my upbringing--I am that guy."

Caroylyn Murnick last wrote about Jesse Bradford in the July issue.

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