When singer Gino Srdjan Yevdjevich left the ravaged by war Sarajevo and settled in Seattle in the mid-90s, he hauled two things in toe- his immense vocal and songwriting talent, and his relentless ambition to create. Little that he knew that after starting Kultur Shock in 1996, he’s not only going to become the beating heart of one of the most consequential genre bending bands of the last couple of decades, but also the de- facto grandfather of a movement that people casually refer to today as gipsy punk. For the following 25 years, Kultur Shock will embark on a never ending path of experimentation, will mix Balkan folk melodies and bizarre meters with face melting metal and blood pumping punk rock, will be lyrical, obnoxious, political, irreverent, while respecting every influence they’ve had to make the sevdah more sevdah, the rock more rock, and gipsy punk-metal what it currently is- a Kultur Shock. To describe Kultur Shock’s style and sound, people usually refer to Gogol Bordello, System of a Down, Dubioza Kolektive, Manu Chao, The Pogues, or Band of Four. None of that does the band a justice, because Kultur Shock’s sound and approach to music is literally in a league of their own. The band released its first three studio records produced by FNM’s Bill Gould on his KoolArrow Records between 2001 and 2006. Since 2007, Kultur Shock is self- produced and self- released on its own label, and has put out four LPs, one EP, and 3 live albums. Currently, a collaboration between the band and Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles records is in the works, with the expectation of vinyl re-releases of some of their albums, as well as a new record in 2022. Kultur Shock is 25 years old. Due to COVID, the band had to postpone with a year its plans to celebrate that milestone on the road with its fans, including Europe and selected US cities. The band believes that only a club tour can deliver the close connection with the audience at such an important anniversary, hence their plan to embark on the road in the spring of 2022.   With over a 1000 shows under their belt, Kultur Shock’s most important festival appearances include: Bumbershoot (Seattle), Victoria Folk (Canada), Sziget (Budapest), Exit and Ritam Evrope (Serbia), Sayanskoe Kolco (Siberia, Russia), Festival of Peace (Kazan, Russia), Esperanza (Belgium), Fest am Berg and Wilwarin, Folk’n’Fusion (Germany), Senglar Rock, Castellbisbal, Capdepera and Pireneus Sur (Spain), Fete de la Musique, Festival de la Boheme and Les Musicaves (France), Ariano Irpino and Arezzo Wave(Italy), Summer Lab (Italy), Lent (Slovenia), Rock Otocec (Slovenia), Schengenfest (Slovenia), INmusic (Croatia), Spancirfest (Croatia), Sarajevo Film Fest (Bosnia), Stufstock and IRAF (Romania), Spirit of Burgas and Hills of Rock (Bulgaria), Taksirat (Macedonia), and Nilufer Festival (Turkey).