Ethan:
Yeah. We traveled, Senon traveled in Cambodia as well, and we lived there, and there was
some Cambodian music we were listening to, and we just decided to figure out a couple of
them. Zac would hum them, and we would figure out the music, first just the three of us.
And Senon’s said, “If you guys need a bass, or just someone just to sound like a
bass player, I’ll come once or twice so you can see what it sounds like, with a bass
player.” (everyone laughs) And then Nimol…we had other singers lined up. We went
to Little Phnom Penh in Long Beach, and just scoured the scene. We went to every night
club there was down there that had Cambodian singers, and we auditioned them, and some of
them didn’t speak any English and were like, “No.” And others were like,
“Yeah, we’ll do this,” and they came down, but when Nimol showed up, they
all stopped singing, or got sore throats.
Paul Smith: One of ’em left, didn’t she? Just took off…
Senon Williams: What’s kind of weird about Cambodian music, even
now, is that it’s psychedelic. Nimol gave me--remember that DVD of karaoke, the DVD
that you’re in? It’s just so psychedelic. Even the new stuff. Just
like,soundstages, with smoke coming out and shooting colors--surreal kind of, with these
huge fake flowers.
Steve: Why is that? What is it about
Cambodia, or Cambodian music, or the scene that keeps that stuff alive still? Any
thoughts?
Zac: The humidity.
(everyone laughs) Maybe the need to
fantasize, or…
Ethan: There’s a definite cultural difference between Vietnam and
Cambodia. Like, if you’re in Vietnam, everything’s still Communist, and heavy,
and everything’s censored. But you go into Cambodia and anything goes. And then
Thailand’s just like a blending of them both.
Steve: Was this was you were struck by?
Ethan: In Cambodia? Yeah, I was blown away by the country and by
everything that was there.
Steve: Did you know anything about the cultural stuff, anything at
all, when you went?
Ethan: I didn’t know anything about it.
Steve:
Then how did you get exposed to the music? You just went and bought a record, or…
Senon: Well, in
Cambodia they have music stores, like little flea markets you go to, and they have a guy
with one boombox, a mixer with all these cables coming out of it, making dupes.
There’s music going on everywhere. It’s pretty musical…
Steve: So you all just showed up, and
you were surrounded by this stuff.
Ethan: The cooler
stuff I heard actually was from up in the northern country. I had an eight-hour truck ride
down, so that was when I was hearing some of the Cambodian ’60s music.
Steve: I get the impression you got a
pretty good education in this for you to be able to come back and know which songs to
play. Was there someone guiding you through, telling you what you had to listen to and
what you could ignore, or…
Zac: We just kind of
learned chords. (everyone laughs)
Senon: I think the thing is, now, this next record’s going to be
mostly original songs. Our first record is like an introduction, a beginning.
Ethan: A launch pad.
Steve: But now you feel like it’s time to find your own voice?
Ethan: Nimol is still singing in Khmer, and there’s some stuff that
mixes English, and there’s some stuff that’s taken on an identity itself, coming
from the songs, but…I mean, obviously we’re American, and we listen to some
stuff from other places, so it’s kind of changing a little bit.
Steve: Was that the plan all along, to
work your way towards originals, or was this just kind of lark at first, and you were
gonna see where you ended up?
Zac: That was the
plan, but due to the language barrier, everything was ten times longer because she
didn’t speak any English in the beginning. It was like, “hello” and
“goodbye.” (laughter)
Senon: “Thank you,” maybe.
Ethan: The originals, I think Zac wrote the lyrics in English on two of
them, and then we had to have them translated. And we had to have them done more than
once, because the first person we gave it to didn’t do it properly--he did it
phonetically, and she had to learn it in Khmer, and you know, we weren’t sure if it
was right, and later we found out something was off a little, and had to redo it…
Zac: Later we found out she just threw out my lyrics and wrote her own.
(everyone laughs)
Steve: So you just decided you could do better?
Nimol: Yeah. |
