Dengue Fever are back for one show only in Cambodia, after their recent Thai debut at the Pelupo Festival, their first return to the Kingdom since 2016. Initially inspired by the Cambodian Golden Era sounds of the likes of Ros Sereysothea and Pan Ron, the California-based band has over the years developed a hypnotic, world-music infused style, still graced by the Khmer (and sometimes English) lyrics and unmistakably Khmer melodies and phrasing of singer Chhom Nimol. The day after their appearance at Meta House for a screening of the documentary about their very first visit to Cambodia in 2005, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, LengPleng sat down with Ethan Holtzman (keyboards) and David Ralicke (horns) to talk about how they got this far.
LP: So watching the doco must have been an experience.
DR: Ethan did not make it, but I was there. It was great! I haven’t seen it for a number of years; I can’t even remember the last time. Part of me was reticent to go, but a friend of mine who’s playing drums on this tour hadn’t seen it. And I’m so glad that I went.
EH: I should have gone, I was just tired. I had my own Night Market session instead.
DR: It was really great to revisit some of the magical moments of that first trip, things that I haven’t thought about for a long time. I’m not a fan of nostalgia, but what dawned on me was that it was a great moment for reinspiration about the band. And some stories I just forgot.
LP: The first experience of Cambodia is always so intense.
DR: It’s so awesome. There was a fan who was sitting next to me during the screening, a younger person born and raised here, watching the film, and it makes me nostalgic for when he was younger in Phnom Penh. This is a document for him in his town.
David, Nimol, Senon and Zac at the Meta House post-screening Q&A
LP: The change you would have seen in Phnom Penh – back then it was completely flat, no high rises.
DR: I think three stories was the tallest building.
EH: Just driving from the airport to here yesterday, eight or nine years ago we were here – all these bridges are built, all these buildings.
LP: Your line-up has stayed more or less the same since the beginning, is that right?
EH: We’re all original members. Dave came along to our first show to sit in, and then it just worked.
DR: Then I wouldn’t leave.
EH: Our drummer has a serious job in LA, he wanted to come but couldn’t take off the time. So to replace him we have Adam, an incredible musician – Berklee School of Music, plays with Jack Johnson – so he really has the sound down.
LP: That stability hasn’t prevented you from evolving, you never seem to be stuck in a creative rut.
DR: Last night at Meta House someone asked about our creative process – we are a group of people that have evolved together, like a family. So how we create is very personal, and we’ve created a world over all these years, as a social group. Making this art in our little corner of the universe.
EH: When we first started to perform live we played all over each other. Now we’ve got a lot more space, and learned to feature one instrument at a time. Let the vocals go.
LP: What does your touring schedule look like these days?
DR: In the earlier days we were touring more, trekking across the US. Over time we found where our audience lives – certain parts of the east coast, the west coast has always been open to us. We get occasional international shows. But our intent with touring is less about quantity and more about quality.
EH: We have a great booking agent, and she does exactly what we want. So weekends are good, if we get a good show, a festival, and there’s something we can build next to it, a show or two or three, then we’ll do that. Try to go no more than ten days at a time – everyone’s got families.
Credit: Marc Walker
LP: How did COVID affect the band?
EH: We kind of separated for two or three years, everyone was scared to be around anybody, to get into a studio at close quarters. But we had started recording the later record Tin Mong at Pipes Canyon near Joshua Tree, so we had a bunch of material that we’d started, and then COVID happened, and we were on hold. Then slowly it was, like, what if one of us goes in with the drummer/engineer? And Dave records at his house, so that could be sent in. Eventually we climbed out of it and finished the record.
DR: The work was happening at a very slow rate.
EH: A lot of bands broke up during COVID. A lot of divorces – people being stuck at home. Actually, it was really nice to have no traffic, clean air in LA…
LP: Are there side projects that band members work on?
EH: Dave is a session player, so he’s always doing other projects.
DR: I do a bunch of different stuff. I have my own ambient experimental music project called Space Between Clouds. I perform with another group where we do live music scores but we don’t know what the movie is going to be. I got to play on St Vincent’s latest record, that was pretty amazing. And I play every Tuesday out at Venice Beach, I’ve done that for 20 years.
EH: Our bass player, Senon Williams, has started playing with Acetone – I hear the guitar work is amazing. They just did a couple of little tours.
DR: Also Zac Holtzman (guitar) and Senon are having an art show here in Phnom Penh on Thursday. Senon’s other personal project is the art. And Nimol is always doing a lot of Cambodian gigs.
The Holtzman/Williams pop-up exhibition, Shadow Boxing, is on tonight, Thursday, at FT Gallery from 5 pm.
Tickets for the Chew & Bash concert with Japan Guitar Shop on Friday are now premium class only. Check out more of the history and discography of Dengue Fever, including the most recent release Ting Mong, at their website.
Credit: Marc Walker