5 REASONS TO GO SEE

1 Everyone needs some gypsy punk in their lives and that’s exactly what Gogol Bordello are. Formed in NYC’s Lower East Side at the arse-end of the last millennium, the eight-piece loonfest is made up primarily of Eastern European immigrants, blending accordion and fiddle with cabaret, punk and rock. Sounds great, eh?

2 They were originally called Flying Fuck Which pretty much tells you all you need to know about the band’s attitude to life. On hearing them, Phil Jupitus described the band as ‘The Clash having a fight with The Pogues in Eastern Europe’, which pretty much tells you all you need to know about their music.

3 They’re also film stars OK, ‘stars’ is stretching it a little, but the band’s frontman Eugene Hutz and drummer Pamela Jintana Racine appeared in the adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated alongside Elijah Wood (who also happens to be Racine’s boyfriend - funny coincidence).

4 They’ve got bonkers side projects Several members are also in JUF (Jewish-Ukranian Freundschaft) alongside members of Balkan Beat Box, where they dish up dub electronica gypsy folk sort of stuff. Kind of.

5 And they play a fire bucket Hutz regularly puts a fire bucket on top of his microphone and beats it to within an inch of its sorry life, making an almighty racket in the process. Which is, needless to say, great.

Gogol Bordello play with Bedouin Soundclash, Danko Jones and Disco Ensemble as part of the Eastpak Antidote tour at Barrowland, Glasgow, Wed 1 Nov.