Quel Bordel’s Caribbean cruise line origins

New arrivals to San Diego, musicians included, often compare and contrast where they’ve been to where they’ve landed. But Jakvoich Skolnick, who plays guitar and a few other things for Quel Bordel, has more in his rear-view mirror to ponder than most. “I was born in a little Jewish village outside of Kiev, Ukraine,” Skolnick explains. “When I was two years old, my family relocated to southern France, where I was exposed to French folk music and gypsy jazz, mixed in with Ukrainian and Russian folk music as well, and a healthy dose of good old-fashioned American punk rock.”

Eventually, “I arrived in San Diego at the age of 27, after I had spent several years as the guitarist on a Caribbean cruise line. I had met the de la Rosa brothers on vacation and, after one day jamming on the beach, we made the same amount of money in tips that I would make for a week on the cruise. We thought we had something magical, and I agreed to relocate so we could be together and try out the full band thing. The rest is history.”

That lucrative jam session got him in tight with Aaron and Allen de la Rosa, Filipinos based here in town. Violinist Olivia Buscemi (no relation to Steve) joined up, as did drummer Nick Sitar (the obligatory sex symbol). Thus was born a band which can truthfully advertise itself as “a Ukrainian, two Filipino brothers, a classically trained violinist, and a punk rock drummer.” Though the name Quel Bordel sounds like it should mean “What a whorehouse,” Skolnick says it actually translates from French as “What a mess,” or, literally speaking, something more obscene. “It seemed like the logical name.”

The new album, Dinner For Derelicts, is self-recorded and produced, with Skolnick calling it “our take on a traditional gypsy jazz record. We had the honor of getting it mixed and mastered by TJ Rivera, legendary producer and engineer. We have five originals and five covers on there, mixed in pretty good, and it’s exactly what you would imagine a world punk band trying to do a gypsy jazz record might sound like.”

It’s their first full-length to feature no vocals. “When we came up with the idea to do an all-instrumental album, it was right at the pinnacle of the pandemic, and everyone yelling at each other, political opinions tearing people apart. We figure there’s enough shouting and screaming going on in the world already right now, so we wanted to give our fans some chill music to have dinner to, and give everyone an excuse to just chill out and enjoy each other’s company. We all could take a moment and just vibe out to some sweet tunes over a good meal.”

However, he stresses that “this doesn’t mean that the band is changing their style permanently by any means. Rest assured the Quel Bordel that you know and love is still there, and coming back with new world punk tunes very soon. We just wanted to do something totally different for a minute. Okay. America?”

As far as immediate future plans go, they play this month at the Shamrock in Murrieta, and they also frequent the Holding Company in Ocean Beach. “Both of those venues are our local homes, and we play each at least once a month. From there, we have plans to continue our circuit of gigs we had before the pandemic, playing locally 100-plus times a year in California and doing a few tours here and there. When things are safe and good for touring again, we will reschedule our European tour from 2020 that was canceled. We also have plans to re-do the U.S. and Canada ASAP. For now, we’re content to be playing locally and working on more new music.”