“You can expect an unhinged, ganza-tronic musical experience full of all kinds of artists of different genres… It’s definitely a family affair, a lot of surprise guest situations. We’re all friends and we all genuinely love to collaborate,” says Puzzled Panther of the Casa Gogol Holiday Tour, this year’s edition of gypsy punk legends Gogol Bordello’s annual year-end East Coast run. Like last year, the tour will feature a number of NYC acts from the newly relaunched Casa Gogol Records, including Puzzled Panther, who kick out an eclectic brand of post-punk that has recently been taking inspiration from the Madchester scene. They will be joining Gogol Bordello as direct support on opening night of the run, in addition to our local show, December 30th at Brooklyn Bowl (with labelmates Pons handling opening duties).
I’m chatting with Victoria Espinoza and Kay Bontempo of Puzzled Panther (which also includes Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hütz and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Brian Chase) via Zoom, in addition to singer/songwriter Grace Bergere, another member of the Casa Gogol family, who Jim Jarmusch fucking loves and who will also likely make an appearance at Brooklyn Bowl, in addition to opening the Port Chester and Baltimore shows. “I would say that you should come to every single night, follow the tour, because every night will be different, and no night will be better than any other night. They’ll all gonna be great!” exclaims Grace.
Just about a year ago I was chatting with Gogol Bordello founder and mainman Eugene Hütz, ahead of last year’s tour and amidst the relaunch of Casa Gogol Records, whose first go-round included artists like A Tribe Called Red, Mariachi El Bronx, and our own Man Man. After a handful of 2023 singles, the label was preparing to release Puzzled Panther’s self-titled debut EP, which came out this April, and Grace Bergere’s LP A Little Blood, which dropped in October.
“It’s just awesome to be part of this legacy of all these amazing bands,” says Puzzled Panther. Although they’re also all quite excited to be in the company of their present labelmates. “Those are my two best friends in the whole world,” Grace says of Victoria and Kay, before Victoria adds, “Korey Kinston, the drummer of Gogol Bordello, has this amazing Drum Brigade, and the motto of Drum Brigade is, ‘Camaraderie Over Competition,’ and I love that! I always apply that to Casa Gogol, because the music world and music business is such a competitive place, and everyone on Casa Gogol, we don’t wanna just be local bands, we wanna go further, but we’re helping each other go forward.”
After each opening a show on Gogol Bordello’s jaunt last year, Puzzled Panther and Grace Bergere have spent 2024 solidifying their family status with labelmates. “The whole concept has kind of been that the stable of Casa Gogol artists will tour with Gogol Bordello. We all have the chance to open, do a couple different tours. It’s been an amazing year,” explains Puzzled Panther, noting that on a May run that had Grace and Casa Gogol outfit Mary Shelley doing support (with Puzzled Panther doing some guest spots), Victoria stepped in to sell merch for Mary Shelley while Kay handled Grace’s tour managing duties. “It’s such a cool environment, it’s so nurturing. I mean, I think it’s the best thing ever!” says Victoria.
Each act also notes that the experience of playing these live dates over the course of the past year has provided them the opportunity to enter new chapters of their careers. “When I look at videos of us playing a year ago to now, it’s like two different bands,” says Puzzled Panther, while Grace tells me that the chance to support Gogol Bordello and Jon Spencer last year is something she still kind of can’t believe: “When I was onstage, it was this crazy experience where I really had my eyes closed and I feel like I saw my whole life sort of passing before my eyes, realizing that everything I had done up until that point was in service of that moment. And now I get to do that again two more times, and I’m really psyched, ‘cause I love both of those bands so much!”
While Victoria, Kay, and Grace are currently enjoying bestie status, their time together in the Casa Gogol family is still relatively new. Puzzled Panther began just a little more than two years ago, when Kay and Victoria met at a screening of 2008 documentary Gogol Bordello Non-Stop attended by Eugene and the band. As a huge fan of the band, Kay attended alone, but befriended Victoria throughout the course of the evening, going on to bond over New York bands and become fast friends, before Victoria quickly lured Kay away from her current band to start their own group, as Kay explains to me: “We just became really good friends. Eventually she showed me her music and she came and saw the band I was in. And then after a while, she’s like, ‘What if you weren’t in that band anymore?’ [laughs]… Say no more! I’m outta here! And we joined forces, and we found the collaboration to be really fruitful.”
Shortly after their meeting, Victoria invited Kay to come see Grace (who they didn’t know at the time) at the Jalopy Theatre, although Victoria confesses that actually approaching Grace was a bit unnerving:” I remember Grace was just so cool that afterwards I was too scared to talk to her…” However, Grace admits that the encounter was fully mutual.
“It’s so funny, because we had the same exact experience of each other. I remember I was onstage, and I looked out and these two gorgeous, powerful women were entering the room, and I was like, ‘Oh no, who are they?’ and I was immediately intimidated by their beauty. And then we spoke afterwards, and I thought that they were way too cool to talk to me. And then it turns out that they thought I was cool, too [laughs].”
*Get your tickets here.
