Gogol Bordello Get 'Stronger' With Rick Rubin's Help

Gogol Bordello doesn't need to make their steamrolling brand of gypsy punk any more intense, but if anyone could improve upon their critically acclaimed sound, it's Rick Rubin. The legendary knob-twister lended his magic touch to the wild New York collective's latest, as-yet-untitled album, due out in early 2010. Bordello bassist Tommy T (aka Thomas T. Gobena), who also has a solo album of Ethiopian-flavored music out in November, tells Spinner that their new material is "stronger, more rocking and fierier."

"He's a genius. He's a person who's absolutely confident and absolutely believes his instincts. And that means he's going to bring the best out of you," Gobena says. "His instincts are deadly -- you can see that through his work, many years through many styles."

Gogol Bordello's music has long been a hyperactive mix of cultures -- band members are from Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Scotland, Poland, Ecuador and Gobena's native Ethiopia -- blended and boiled into a groove-heavy punk rock stew. With Rubin, said Gobena, the goal was to mine to the core of each song for more cohesive, unified jams.

"[Rubin] builds a song from the ground up. It's not about a riff, it's not about this or that," he says. "The whole thing is about a song."

If Rubin managed to capture Gogol's onstage explosiveness, chances are we'll be singing his praises once again. After all, it's the band's live experience that's pushed Gogol Bordello to become festival mainstays and theater sellouts all over the world. Gogol shows become more than concerts -- they're more like earthquakes that follow the band to every venue they play, physically shaking the crowd for hours then letting them wander out in disbelief.

It's amazing, then, that the band's first live album didn't come out until this fall. 'Live from Axis Mundi' dropped last month and was compiled from two New York City shows at the end of a 2007 tour. To Gobena, it was simply the right time.

"Our live show is hard to capture. You've got so many moving parts and all that energy. But we knew the band was kicking and sizzling and we were finishing the tour in New York -- we were home, the band was tight. This was the time," he says. "We played our hearts out the first night and f---ing partied all night. We destroyed. The next day we were tired, but you look at the footage and the second day was beast, insane, on fire."

'Axis Mundi,' while certainly the best document of Gogol's live show, still serves as only a reminder, an imitation of one of the best performing bands around today. Like the best live albums, it is a loving tribute to something entirely bigger than itself, like a beautiful photograph.

"We bring it onstage 100 percent every day. And guess what -- the audience is like 'Yeah? Well, this is how we feel it too.' And then boom! It's a give and take. Everything we bring onstage, the audience gives it back," Gobena says. "And it goes on forever."

Though forever might seem a bit lofty, we'll take "for many years to come" happily.

Tommy T CD Listening Party