Gulag Vakation is not just a name of a band. Gulag Vakation is a grand idea of which the band is but a small part. An idea that has inspired a fantastic musical story and a series of songs styled on the folk traditions of Ukraine, Moldova, Russia and Catford.

The people of Miserigrad, a deprived but fictitious community, situated in the wilds of Kolyma, eagerly await the opening of a McDonalds restaurant. It will be the first in the entire Russian Arctic, a source of great pride and excitement, although you wouldn’t know it. That’s because the folk of Miserigrad are famously impassive, muted, dare I say, – miserable. But despite their diffidence, it’s hoped the occasional Happy Meal will change the town for the better.

The Mayor of Miserigrad has other fixations. He’s a conceited sociopath who wears a “Make Miserigrad Great Again” baseball cap. He has ambitions to get rich and he has a plan. Just a few kilometres from the town lies a former labour camp, complete with a redundant gold mine. He’ll open the camp to western adventure tourists, so they can experience life as a gulag inmate. Renamed Uncle Josef’s Holiday Camp, according to the Mayor, this innovative enterprise is sure to be a huge money-spinner but will it?

Come witness this unlikely story unfold through the emotive melodies and meticulously descriptive lyrics of Gulag Vakation’s Uncle Josef’s Holiday Camp.