Gogol Bordello
From the age of nine I spent a lot of time in Hospital with a bone disease, by my twenties I was in pain 24/7, had a cane and was registered as disabled. In 2005 the last of the 25 operations I had were massive, but changed my life. With an entire new knee in my left leg, and 6 months into recovery I went to see @gogolbordello for the first time, it was also the first time in a decade I’d gone to a gig without a cane. I went down the front, I’d learned some Ukrainian to shout at the band “Я люблю тебе, ти мамка” which mean I love you, mother fucker”.
Eugene passed the mic into the crowd to sing a song and I grabbed it and shouted down the mic, Eugene’s face lit up and and my heart exploded with joy, as the perfect combination of punk, of love, of joy, of rebellion and friendship was performed for the audience of Manchester Academy 2. I made a promise to myself that night, that this band would be my friends, my family one day.
Later that year my career at the NME took off, and I was catapulted into my dream world, a life in music. It gave me the opportunity to get to know Gogol and we did become like family. This culminated in a trip to Brazil, where I was tasked with shooting the album cover for Trans Continental Hustle. That week was like a dream.
Gogol Bordello connected me to music in a way that resonates with my soul, who I am once I shed away all this worry. Music is love, music is connection, and when i was with them, I’d never felt more connected to music, to what my soul feeds on, to what I am.
Gogol Bordello’s music was about togetherness, unity, rebellion, a great big fuck you to all those cunts in charge, and hug with your bestest friends all at the same time.
I breathed it in, I lived it. I was in my element.
It was absolutely everything.
