Miss Chhom Nimol, far right, lead singer of Dengue Fever posed with bandmates.Friday, February 29, 2008
BY PETER GENOVESE,
BY PETER GENOVESE,
Star-Ledger Staff
WORLD
WORLD
"Lost in Laos," the opening track on Dengue Fever's self-titled first album, sets the tone for what lies ahead: a moody, mysterious, driven blend of alt-rock, Cambodian pop and party music that sounds like a soundtrack to a Phnom Penh-based spy thriller, or an Asian spaghetti western.
Even the members of Dengue Fever -- five guys from L.A. and a female lead singer from Cambodia -- are not quite sure what to call their brand of music.
"Crazy psychedelic dance party rock'n' roll," offers Senon Gaius Williams, bass player for Dengue Fever.
It's as good a term as any to describe Dengue Fever, which grew out of a 1997 trip to Cambodia by keyboard player Ethan Holtzman. Holtzman fell in love with Sin Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea and other 1960s Cambodian pop singers, returning home with an armload of cassettes and forming a band with his guitar-playing brother, Zac; horn player David Ralicke, drummer Paul Dreux Smith, and Williams.
Their plan was to hire Cambodian singers as backups, but once they heard Chhom Nimol, a noted singer in her native Cambodia then playing in clubs in Long Beach, Calif., they decided to move her front and center.
"We told the other singers (who auditioned) that Nimol would come," Williams recalled. "They said, no way would she show up for these American dudes. When she did show up, all the singers were like, 'I'm late for something,' or 'I feel sick.'
"As soon as she started singing," Williams added, "the ceiling opened up and an angel dropped in."
Chhom, who sang in Khmer on the band's first album and switches comfortably from her native language to English on the band's third album, "Venus on Earth," was at first wary of the band. She found Zac Holtzman's "big beard" intimidating -- "like some crazy white guy," she recalled, laughing. At the band's first show, at the L.A. club Spaceland, she admitted to being "nervous."
Now Chhom appears on stage in shiny, glittering silk garments, and seems supremely sure of herself -- and of the considerable spell she may cast on the males in her audience.
Dengue Fever's big break came in 2005, when they were invited to perform at music festivals in Russia and Portugal. A promoter who saw the band perform at South by Southwest in Austin was surprised to find Holtzman and his buddies, well, alive.
"He thought we were a band from the '60s and that we were dead. When he discovered we weren't, he invited us to Moscow," Williams said.
The band's trip to Cambodia in November 2005 is the subject of a documentary, "Sleepwalking through the Mekong," which will screen at UnionDocs in Brooklyn on Monday.
"The 10 days we spent in Cambodia were pretty intense," said "Sleepwalking" director John Pirozzi, speaking by phone from Rome. "They had one show set up, and that fell through. But the band has this Southern California mentality; they go with the flow."
The band's second album, "Escape from Dragon House," is a near-flawless record, filled with catchy melodies, hard-charging guitars, soaring horns and Chhom's sinuous, sensuous voice.
"How can I be such a fool/to be in love with you?" she sings at one point, her voice charged with heartbreak and longing.
The album's title is a reference to the 22 days Chhom spent in jail in California in 2002; she was stopped at a routine customs/immigration check outside San Diego and found with an expired green card.
"It was very scary," Chhom recalled. "I think I'm going (to be sent) back to my country."
All legal and other troubles behind them, the members of Dengue Fever are now celebrating their latest album and new-found critical acclaim.
"2008 is going to be all touring," Williams said. "We may do some recordings, some live stuff. It'll keep us busy the rest of the year."
The band's lead singer, meanwhile, sounds like she has found the right band and stage for her rich voice and magnetic presence. And she doesn't mind Zac Holtzman's "big beard" any more. The two, in fact, appear on the cover of "Venus on Earth," Chhom perched demurely on the back of a Holtzman-piloted motorbike.
"Do you know 'I'm Sixteen'?" Chhom said of a fast, furious tune on the band's first album. "We want to sing rock'n' roll like that."
"He thought we were a band from the '60s and that we were dead. When he discovered we weren't, he invited us to Moscow," Williams said.
The band's trip to Cambodia in November 2005 is the subject of a documentary, "Sleepwalking through the Mekong," which will screen at UnionDocs in Brooklyn on Monday.
"The 10 days we spent in Cambodia were pretty intense," said "Sleepwalking" director John Pirozzi, speaking by phone from Rome. "They had one show set up, and that fell through. But the band has this Southern California mentality; they go with the flow."
The band's second album, "Escape from Dragon House," is a near-flawless record, filled with catchy melodies, hard-charging guitars, soaring horns and Chhom's sinuous, sensuous voice.
"How can I be such a fool/to be in love with you?" she sings at one point, her voice charged with heartbreak and longing.
The album's title is a reference to the 22 days Chhom spent in jail in California in 2002; she was stopped at a routine customs/immigration check outside San Diego and found with an expired green card.
"It was very scary," Chhom recalled. "I think I'm going (to be sent) back to my country."
All legal and other troubles behind them, the members of Dengue Fever are now celebrating their latest album and new-found critical acclaim.
"2008 is going to be all touring," Williams said. "We may do some recordings, some live stuff. It'll keep us busy the rest of the year."
The band's lead singer, meanwhile, sounds like she has found the right band and stage for her rich voice and magnetic presence. And she doesn't mind Zac Holtzman's "big beard" any more. The two, in fact, appear on the cover of "Venus on Earth," Chhom perched demurely on the back of a Holtzman-piloted motorbike.
"Do you know 'I'm Sixteen'?" Chhom said of a fast, furious tune on the band's first album. "We want to sing rock'n' roll like that."
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