Seattle based cabaret-punk klezmorim The Debaucherauntes are lighting a fire under the new revival in the Pacific Northwest. Led by KlezKanada’s 2017 inaugural Krechts Factor Yiddish song competition winner, powerhouse vocalist, violinist, and writer/arranger Miles (Mai Li Pittard), the group is known for it’s powerful dance grooves with the tilt-a-whirl tempos, heavy Waitsian whiskey-soaked singalongs, neo-vaudevillian stage presence, and heartbreaking krechts-ballad melodies. One part punk rock cabaret circus band, one part fantasy queer bar mitzvah from a Lower East Side that wasn’t quite–the klezmer-and-Yiddish-song rooted blend of sound pulls in punk, cabaret, electroswing, vaudeville, electronica, late Romantic orchestral influences and even occasional trip hop and hip hop beats. It all flows seamlessly from saucy, to wild, powerful & gut-wrenching in echoes across current times and distant pasts.
Since forming a solid core in early 2013, the group has accomplished much. They are a pillar of the regional klezmer scene, have produced 2 albums and 5 tours, been interviewed in the book Punk Rock Hora, have been featured in Jewish in Seattle’s Spring 2019 issue, and they performed alongside luminaries Daniel Kahn (Berlin), Oktopus (Montreal), Jinta-La-Mvta (Tokyo), Geoff Berner (Vancouver), Mostly Kosher (LA), and Professor Gall (Portland, OR). Performing a deep repertoire of traditional music from Yiddish, liturgical, and diasporic sources, original music, and style-appropriate refurbished pop, the instrumental 5 piece (violin, accordion, guitar, sousaphone, and drums) shines in its versatility and eclectic backgrounds. The supergroup of Balkan, calantano, hot jazz, metal, Americana, classical, theater, and klezmer musicians delight in blurring lines of new and old, high art and low brow, and even English and Yiddish, fitting in new originals effortlessly alongside reimagined old standards. Their 2015 Kickstarter for their debut studio album blew away expectations, featuring an entire brass band and spawning their first tour down the West Coast, producing the song that would sweep the first Krechts Factor in 2017, and winning hearts across borders on the West Coast, Canada, and abroad.
Check out more about the band over on the Bio page.
