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Vice Blog

NEXT SATURDAY NIGHT DENGUE FEVER!

Even without hearing their music, it's hard not to like Dengue Fever. Five hairy guys from California on various instruments fronted by a proto-glamorous Cambodian chanteuse, they play Cambodian surf-inspired psychedelic rock like tripped-out, south-east Asian water gods who can shred. They're coming to Australia for the Melbourne Festival so we spoke to Senon, the bass player, to get a better insight into his unconventional bi-cultural ensemble.

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Vice: Hi Senon, I imagine you're asked this all the time but as I don't know the answer I'm gonna go ahead and ask it anyway: What prompted you to name your band after a tropical disease which is a serious pain in the ass for people in over 100 countries?
Senon: Well, the first time our keyboard player, Ethan, heard this style of music, he was traveling through Cambodia and the guy he was with happened to contract the illness. It was actually as they were heading back to Phonm Penh to seek treatment — his friend was in a cab, deathly ill, and he'd be like "oh I think I'm going to die, but what's this music coming out of the radio?" When Ethan told us the story, it became kind of like the catalyst for us starting the band so we just went with it.

That's great. I think it's also referred to as Breakbone fever.
Yeah, apparently because it feels like your bones are being torn apart.

Sounds hideous. So you've played in bands before Dengue Fever but were they 60s style Cambodian psych style as well?
The thing is that I live in Los Feliz, near Silverlake and Echo Park, where a lot of musicians live I guess. When we formed Dengue Fever in 2001 I was really aware that the general musical atmosphere was really weak and that people didn't have confidence in the music they were making. When Zac and Ethan told me about their plans for the band and asked me to play bass, I was super excited. Then in our search for a singer we held tryouts and it was just so much fun. When we found Nimol, our current singer, the energy she gave out was instant. People started going crazy for our shows, which was really rare at the time.

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Bringing on a Cambodian singer, did you have any problems culturally?
In the beginning it wasn't so easy. There was a huge language barrier because Nimol didn't speak a word of English; I mean not even "yes" or "no". As she was getting to know us she brought along a big entourage and the translator she used was this really young Christian girl who was often opposed to our ideas. In the early stages, we could be in this tiny rehearsal space with ten Cambodians hanging out in 150 degrees while they did their math homework. It was a very bizarre way to begin.

Now you play songs in English and Khmer, right?
Since our first album, which was all covers, we've mainly recorded original songs. Since that first record and with Nimol's English improved, we've been mixing in English more and more. We'll always sing in Khmer but just determine which songs go better in English as we go.

I can imagine Quentin Tarantino using your music in one of his films. Have you ever thought of sending him a copy?
Well, I'm pretty sure he's aware of us, but I hope someone holds a gun to his head and demands that he plays our music exclusively in his next movie. That would be fine by me.

That could be a scene right there. How has your music gone down in Cambodia?
The first time that we played there was at this ghetto shantytown in Phnom Pehn which has now been bulldozed I believe. We set up a stage in the middle of what was essentially a camp and put on a concert. Most of the people there had lived through the Khmer Rouge and we played this music, which was familiar to them but obviously not quite in the style that we play it — a little more raw and with a lot more edge. I think it really touched a lot of people.

Did Nimol's family come to watch?
Yeah, she has a lot of friends and relatives there a so it was very overwhelming for her. They were expecting her to be on a Madonna trip because she left the country to become an American pop singer. But then she was back there with these American guys playing old Cambodian songs and traditional music. We all received a lot of props and appreciation from the older folks as well as the younger people. It was pretty intense.

I can imagine. Did you do anything else over there?
Well we collaborated with a group of kids at this remote old school, which was literally the only thing still standing in that shantytown, and it was just one of the best experiences I've ever had. Since then I heard those same kids have had the opportunity to travel to England to perform and I think that when we were there they realised music could be their passport out of there. It was obviously entirely different to playing to a bunch of comparatively privileged kids around America and Europe.

Awesome. Dengue Fever will be playing to a bunch of comparatively privileged kids in Australia at the Melbourne Festival on Saturday, October 10, 2010, along with The Break, and Johnnie and The Johnnie Johnnies. Info at melbournefestival.com.au

TOM LAW