Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
February 21, 2008 issue
A Little World Punk Anyone?
New Orleans’ Zydepunks Play Black Cat Burrito Friday
Story by David Brewer
Since the unleashing of raw, propulsive, anger- and angst-filled noise by the likes of The MC5, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Clash and plenty of other angry young men and women during the last nearly 40 years, punk music has found favor around the world. For New Orleans quintet the Zydepunks, the band has taken music from around the world and injected it with unbridled punk energy.
This Friday, February 22, the Zydepunks will return to Boone for their first-ever show at Black Cat Burrito. Joining the band will be Knoxville indie rockers the Royal Bangs. The show will start at 10:30 p.m.
When the Zydepunks formed in 2004, founder and Northern Virginia native Juan Christian Küffner was busy writing electronica music when he decided to try something decidedly un-electronic. Born to a German father and an Ecuadorian mother, Küffner studied French in school and spoke four languages by age 12—skills he now puts to good use in the Zydepunks.
“I just wanted to do something different,” said Küffner. “It started off just as a hobby, playing with friends and different people.”
Küffner’s idea of different meant more than simply playing a more organic type of music. “Different” meant finding a sound that had not previously emerged from the culturally rich New Orleans while still drawing from the city’s musical traditions. Yiddish riddles, Irish ballads, Cajun punk and original songs in Spanish and German all appear in the band’s musical gumbo.
With fiddles and accordions blazing atop a raucous rhythm section, Küffner’s vision developed over the course of a few shows into what the Zydepunks call “New Orleans Cajun Irish Breton Klezmer Slavic Zydeco.” However, where most world music tends toward bouncy and positive vibes, the Zydepunks married their music to an urban energy and attitude typically associated with the sounds of underground London and New York.
While the band’s sound is far too diverse to trace to any single handful of influences, Küffner noted his fondness for now-defunct European world music band Mano Negra, as well as some similarity to Gogol Bordello.
“We’re not quite as heavy as Gogol Bordello,” said Küffner. “[Lead singer Eugene Hütz] and I are about the same age. I can tell that he and I listened to a lot of the same records.”
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina unleashed her wrath on the city of New Orleans. The city’s thousands of musicians watched helplessly as their homes filled with water and the scene that provided their income floated away.
“We were ready for bigger things and when the hurricane hit, that was it for a while,” said Küffner. Although the band’s original lineup didn’t survive the ordeal, Küffner wasn’t interested in watching his hard work go down the drain.
“I wasn’t going to let it go,” said Küffner. “It was not an easy time to live around here.”
Nevertheless, the Zydepunks continue to gain notoriety in their hometown while adding fans all over the Southeast and beyond. The band has been a festival favorite and is gearing up for New Orleans’ Jazzfest while preparing for their second trip to Europe in the coming months.
“I just like to play what we play and if people respond to it, it’s cool,” said Küffner.
For more info on the band, click to www.zydepunks.com or www.myspace.com/zydepunks.
Want To Go?
Date: Friday, February 22
Time: 10:30 p.m.
Location: Black Cat Burrito
Cost: $5