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guignol [geen-yol ] = literally, in the parlance of the treacherous French, a puppet, or figuratively, a tale of the macabre and fantastic either petite or grand.
"...by operating within the realm of centuries-old European traditions and then taking that music into a punk setting, they've created something that sounds at once completely familiar and completely new." - Artnoise
"Guignol, featuring members of World/Inferno and the Raymond Scott Orchestrette, performs eerie accordian pieces with art-house stylings.” – CitySearch
“hard-hitting klezmer quartet with accordion, clarinet, tuba, and killer drumming” – The New Yorker
“esoteric and edgy performance rock” – Boston Globe
“Guignol serves up a combination of punk, jazz, folk, tango, klezmer, cheap red wine, woolly pinstriped suits, newsboy caps and one waxed moustache." - Times of London
...but you knew that, you crafty little buggers. What you’ve got here is not really one of those bands puffed up with self-importance with some political or countercultural snake-oil to sell. Why there’s not even a singer! What you’ve got here is the raucous, theatrical, spastic and melodramatic soundtrack for singing grifters, murderous marionettes, and grease-painted gutterballs. It’s an oom-pah wedding, squealing and lyrical, that hits like punk rockers and sings like a gypsy camp.
Guignol played its first shows in February 2002 under the name the Nothing Machine, backing up the fire-breathing, maggot-eating Lucky Devil Circus Sideshow from Coney Island every weekend at CBGBs. Since then we've opened for bands including Annie Anxiety, Against Me!, Gutbucket, Barbez, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and more. Our self-titled debut, recorded with Danny Shatsky at Vibromonk Studios in Brooklyn (Firewater, Gogol Bordello, Big Lazy), came out in 2004 on Third Story Records; followed by the Guignol/Nanuchka split EP "Drink The Best Wine First" in 2005 and the full-length collaboration "Guignol & Mischief Brew Fight Dirty" in 2009 on Fistolo. We're playing a squat, punk rock flea market, or dingy basement near you.
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