SUMONE PRODUCTIONS presents the epic music video for Polkapocalyptic featuring The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band. Filmed in Berlin 2009. Written produced and directed by Nathan Taare and Dylan Bakker. Music from The Benkas debut album ‘Polkapocalypse‘.

‘Too Drunk to F**k’ is the second single to be released from The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band’s debut album ‘Polkapocalypse’ and is their version of the much loved Dead Kennedy’s song.

Hailing from the slums and ghettos of Auckland, New Zealand (the Prague of the South), The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band bring their unique brand of highly theatrically East-European Apocalyptic Debauchery to those in need, wherever they may be. At a live performance one can expect spontaneous combustion in the audience, clothes thrown off in frivolous rampage, macabre stories, legs turning into snakes, much musical and physical inebriation, and dancing, dancing, dancing…
Having just returned from neing based in Berlin for five months, the band will be returning to NZ in December for an epic 30 date ‘Gypsy Fever’ summer tour before touring Australia and Europe in 2010 to promote the release of their album in those territories.

Their previous music video for the song ‘Dance of Death’ stayed in the top 5 most watched videos for over a year on NZ music website Amplifier.

The live segments in this clip were filmed during a frenzied Gypsy Fever gig at the Kings Arms in May 2009.

Director Campbell Farquhar has been working as a freelance editor since he left film school. He’s worked on TV programmes, short films and three digital feature films. he also makes his own films, mostly abstract experimental pieces featuring animation, dance and explorations of movement. This is his third music video.

In early 2008, The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band officially released their first ep, Danse Macabre. Since then they have been busy whipping audiences into frenzies with their crazed gypsy/east European sounds performing at Prana, Jambalaya, Parihaka, AK09, Cross St Carnival, Fleetwaters and Splore Festivals as well as undertaking three highly successful national tours which saw them playing to packed houses all over the country. During this time, the Benkas have also supported many popular NZ acts including The Hot Grits, The Mamaku Project, An Emerald City and The Jews Brothers and in March 2008 they had the honour of supporting international act Beirut in Auckland.

Polkapocalypse features four original songs, four traditionals and 2 covers by the Tiger Lillies and Dead Kennedys. Three of the tracks were recorded live by acclaimed engineer Andre Upston for Radio New Zealand at the Monkey Magic launch at Galatos, Auckland in May 2008. The other seven were recorded by Jamie Newman aka Cinema 90 at a remote studio north of Auckland over three hot steamy days in March this year.

Following release shows in Wellington and Auckland, the band are spreading the chaos further, heading Europe-wards to be based in Berlin from the end of May onwards… World Domination is just around the corner… The brothels shall be the parliament, the Graveyards the Houses of Commons…. a new era is upon us…

Review for Polkapocalypse

With a sound based around accordion, clarinet, electric guitar, and lashings of laughs (they do a beautifully inebriated cover of the Dead Kennedy’s Too Drunk To F***), Polkapocalypse is theatrical, rebellious and fun party music.
NZ Herald

Imagine Spike Milligan jamming with gypsies over a crate of vodka. That’s a vague approximation that really does the manic appeal of Polkapocalypse a disservice. The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band (from Auckland) marry whimsical traditional eastern European arrangements with the type of macabre, obscure and amusing lyricism that will either impress or repulse. Scare your neighbours, frighten the kids, and petrify the pets with a high-volume dose of Polkapocalypse. Bizarre Balkan beats, ruthless Russky rhythms and a Dead Kennedys cover.
Otago Daily Times

The Polkapocalypse is nigh!

In April 2008, The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band officially released their first ep, Danse Macabre. Since then they have been busy whipping audiences around NZ into frenzies with their crazed gypsy/east European sounds performing at Prana, Jambalaya, Parihaka, AK09, Cross St Carnival, Fleetwaters and Splore as well as undertaking three highly successful national tours which saw them playing to packed houses all over the country. During this time, the Benkas have also supported many popular NZ acts including The Hot Grits, The Mamaku Project, An Emerald City and The Jews Brothers and in March 2008 they had the honour of supporting international act Beirut in Auckland. Danse Macabre stayed in the IMNZ top 40 for several months and the video for the single, The Dance of Death, has been in the top five most watched videos on Amplifier for the better part of a year.

On May 11th, 2009 they released their highly anticipated album ‘Polkapocalypse’ followed by one final sold out show in Auckland before the band took flight for Berlin where they will be based for the next six months. Upon their return they will be touring NZ again over summer  2009-10 and playing several major festivals.

The new album fully captures the unique and thrilling experience that is a Benka performance and contains 3 originals, 5 traditional songs and two covers (The Crack of Doom by the Tiger Lillles and Too Drunk To F**k by The Dead Kennedys). Seven of the songs were recorded at Balckbridge Studios by Jamie Newman during a hot, steamy weekend in March and three are sizzling live recordings made by Andre Upston for Radio New Zealand at the Monkey Magic launch at Glatos in May last year. A music video for ‘Too Drunk to F**k’ will be released late May.

Review

With a sound based around accordion, clarinet, electric guitar, and lashings of laughs (they do a beautifully inebriated cover of the Dead Kennedy’s Too Drunk To F***), Polkapocalypse is theatrical, rebellious and fun party music.
NZ Herald

Following a frantic and explosive year of touring, festivals and crazy parties, The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band finally unleash their first music video . After sellout crowds across the country, including an extensive month long tour of the South Island in the summer, and spots in festivals such as Prana (where the band played brought in the New Year), Jambalaya, Parihaka and Splore, those unlucky to have missed out on the band’s outrageous live show now get a chance to experience there debaucherous shenanagins close up. Ryan Heron directs the video for The Dance Of Death, the single off the bands current ep Danse Macabre, which has already enjoyed successful radio airplay, including spending 5 weeks the Kiwi fm top ten. With this release, the band are starting polish up material for their next album, to be recorded in August, and have plans to travel to Europe in 2008. All of the key traits of the Bordello Band experience are on show in this rampant clip: crazed dancing, audiences driven wild, bare chests, virtuosic playing, and dancing, dancing, dancing…

Director Ryan Heron spent 18 months circumnavigating the globe on a boat in 2006-7 shooting footage for the Earthrace series and since then he has been busy shooting and editing for a range of companies including C4, MTV, Screentime, Television Spaceman, Cream Media, Two heads, Film Construction and Curious films.

The sensational Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band have just released their first ep, Danse Macabre. Please buy it so that they can send money some back to their poor families in the old country.

Hailing from the slums and ghettos of Auckland (the Prague of the South), The Benka Boradovsky Bordello band is a highly theatrical musical group specialising in music of Eastern European, Gypsy and Jewish flavour, along with some Western European influences. With music ranging from old to new, originals to standards, vocal to instrumental; they are remarkable in their ability to get everyone up and dancing, regardless of age, musical taste, or level of drunkenness. Benka’s globetrotting voice sings in a wide variety of languages, with lyrics in Russian, Greek, Serbian, Romani, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, English and more. If references are necessary, they sound like Tom Waits, Shane McGowan and Franz Kafka drunk too much vodka and thought they were in 1950’s Yugoslavia.

HISTORY:
After first emerging from an alleyway behind Auckland’s Wine Cellar sometime in the May of 2006, under the guise of Kapitan Shakirov’s Krazy Klezmerim; there has been a vague aroma in the air… a sprinkle of klezmer and a lingering hint of the Eastern Europeanesque with an exhalation of the Romani, well disguised behind the scent of whiskey and sweat. But when the Kapitan himself, Mr Daniel Dumnov, embarked on a trip back to his native Russia, the band had to reform, and Benka furtively grabbed the reins. Through other tribulations, such as The Blackbird winging off to the Bourne of Mel, Benka Boradovsky brought several new players under his bearded wings and the band is now ready to continue spreading its lingering and addictive scent across the country. Since then, the Butterfly has flown off to the Ton of Welling. Benka Boradovsky has since stopped hiring virtuosos named after winged creatures. With the capture and assimilation of Anna Rehkitz, the deer, on the flute, the band is now ready to put into motion its plans for domination…

“Got to be the best gypsy band I’ve ever heard. And I just got back from two years travelling around Europe!”
- random punter

BAND MEMBERS:
Benka Boradovsky – Clarinet, Vocals and licentious flirtations.
Anna Rehkitz (The Deer)- Flute and coy glances.
Philka Cherbyakov (The Worm) – Lead Guitar and devilish grins.
Senka Senyaglaze (Blue Eyes) – Bass Guitar and hats at jaunty angles.
Yelyena Yareiach (The Moon) – Percussion and feminine wiles.
Sometimes: Mauritz Pappillon (The Butterfly) – Violin and unnecessary puns. (Wellington based)

Reviews

The Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band is the most un-kiwi sounding kiwi band imaginable. While the title Danse Macabre comes from the French translation of The Dance Of Death, the EP sounds more like it hails from around the campfire of an Eastern European gypsy camp. Although four of the five tracks are traditional compositions it is still no mean feat that they have all the essence of another time and place. The band justifies this cultural discrepancy by calling their hometown Auckland “the Prague of the South”. Emanating seemingly unlimited passion and desire, the group’s charm is also rooted in their playfulness. This spills right down into the fact that after the instruments are credited, their band roles are allocated from licentious flirtations to coy glances and devilish grins. Best served with a generous helping of alcohol, preferably vodka, to get in the generously lubricated spirit of the recording.

***** Sharyn Croft, Groove Guide

Listen: Benka Boradovsky Uncharted Interview