Ukrainian-born musician Eugene Hütz, leader of the New York-bred band Gogol Bordello, readily admits he first found it shocking when he came across images of his old friends armed to the teeth in battle in the current war with Russia. “It was particularly alarming that somebody you used to jam and rock out with is now on TikTok with a rocket launcher,” he said. “But after that initial blow, it quickly settled in that this is part of the historical DNA of Ukrainians. Being a self-sufficient warrior is at the center of our identity. This has always been in us.”
Hütz’s life epitomizes that. His defiant spirit began in childhood, when his family struggled to resist the soul-crushing influence of the then Soviet Union in the 70s and 80s. Starting in adolescence, he found a voice for his maverick character in punk rock, leading him to play in hardcore bands in Ukraine before emigrating in the 90s to America, where he eventually formed Gogol Bordello in New York. The arc of his story provides a personal hook for a new documentary, Scream of My Blood, only to place it in the far broader context of Ukraine’s history of resistance as well as the current battle for its right to exist. “My life story is used as a vehicle to tell the story of a people,” Hütz said.
