Combining elements of punk, gypsy music, and Brechtian cabaret, Gogol Bordello tells the story of New York's immigrant diaspora through debauchery, humor, and surreal costumes. Leader and singer Eugene Hütz's taste in music was spun out of black-market tapes of the The Birthday Party and Einstürzende Neubauten in his native Ukraine. After being evacuated to Western Ukraine in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster, Hütz became enamored of the mystical, outsider qualities of gypsy music.