The true spirit of punk music is about non-conformity. So when you have 386 bands all playing the same 3 chords and sporting identical hairdos, it is no longer punk in anything but a merchandising label.

Enter 2 bands that not only epitomize the nonconformist manifesto but bring a level of diversity and virtuosity previously unheard of in punk or even rock for that matter: Flogging Molly & Gogol Bordello.

Often referred to as the bastard children of The Pogues, Flogging Molly take the finest traditions of Irish music and boot it up the arse with electric guitars, pounding drums and a truckload of punk attitude.

Combining punk, gypsy music, and Brecht-ian cabaret, Gogol Bordello tells the story of New York's immigrant diaspora through a mixture of debauchery, humor, and surreal costumes. Bandleader Eugene Hutz's taste in music was spun out of listening to black-market bootlegs of rebels like the Birthday Party and Einsturzande Neubauten while growing up in his native Ukraine.

After an epic seven year trek through the refugee camps of Eastern Europe he arrived in New York and formed Gogol Bordello, with the band quickly evolving in to the sonic carnival – and unstoppable live force – that it is today.

"Band of the weekend and it's Friday afternoon? Yes, Gogol Bordello took the lead early on, scoring high with bags of energy, banging on red buckets, having top ‘taches, and generally, just being the fantastic Gypsy punks that they are and with more swagger and nerve than the rest of the world. 5 out of bloody 5!" 
(NME Review Of Reading Festival)

Be prepared for a three-ring circus of surreal stimuli and punk ethos when Flogging Molly & Gogol Bordello hit Australia this April!