(Courtesy of The Hydrant)

Balinese band The Hydrant is living the dream and feeling great.

In April, Balinese band The Hydrant toured Las Vegas, where the group’s particular brand of music — old-school rockabilly with a good amount of boogie — felt like a homecoming of sorts.

After all, band leader, vocalist and guitarist Marshello’s greasy slicked-back hair, snarling lips and penchant for swiveling hips owe a great deal to the King (Elvis Presley, for the uninformed) as much as other kings from the time of the rockabilly musical genre – Brian Setzer and the Reverend Horton Heat.

Marshello and his buddies — Adi (upright bass), Vincent (guitar) and Christopper (stand up drums) — performed at the annual Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, which runs for three days and has been held for the past 19 years by American DJ Jim Ingram.

With over 50 bands performing, the band felt it managed to stand out and bring a touch of Balinese culture to the event, wearing ethnic-inspired scarves of sorts on their belts while they played the gig in their usual grease-rocker outfits.

“The crowd lapped it up,” said band manager Rudolf Dethu, who used to manage the now-massive punk band Superman is Dead and was with the band during the trip.

According to Dethu, the crowd was so into the show that they called the band back for an encore.

“‘We want more, we want more, we want more’,” said Dethu, mimicking the crowd and still completely taken by surprise by the response.

Even though The Hydrant played a few other small shows around the Los Angeles area (including the Lubitsch bar in West Hollywood), the Las Vegas show was particularly eventful for the band members as many of their heroes played at the festival, including Brian Setzer and his rockabilly orchestra, who headlined the event, and surf music icon Dick Dale.

Another point of pride for Marshello and his bandmates was the fact that The Hydrant was not only the first Indonesian band to play the event (and to tour Vegas for that matter), but was also one of only two Asian bands at the festival.

“I’d like to think that being able to perform in Las Vegas is the fruits of our labor – the hard work we did for many years,” said Marshello, pointing to the band’s 12 years on the underground scene.

“For years we consistently existed in a track that we felt was right, and now it has lead here — a show where we are able to perform alongside Brian Setzer, who we greatly admire.”

The positive reception ensured Marshello that his band’s hardheadedness in playing the sort of music that does not exactly make them millionaire rock stars back home was the right move.

“The reception we got at the show, and at our other shows in Los Angeles, instills this confidence in our own music, letting us know that we should continue to work hard to achieve our rock ‘n’ roll dreams,” he said.

It certainly was determination that made the tour possible. Bass player Adi had been consistently sending emails to Ingram since 2013, letting him in on what the band was doing to promote itself.

For two years he never got a reply. But that did not deter Adi who, with the band, has managed to play shows in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria, armed with little more than determination.

The perseverance paid off in August last year when Ingram suddenly emailed to ask whether Adi and his friends were willing to fly out to Vegas and play at his festival.

In disbelief, Adi told his friends and the band’s management, who all agreed to go but realized that the cost of taking a whole band and crew to the US — which Ingram was not going to cover — was something they needed to quickly figure out.

With only a few months to go, the band began working hard, playing as many shows as they could, putting their fees and money from merchandise sales into the band’s piggy bank.

They also played a final crowd-funding gig a month before they left, which did not make as much money as they hoped but, combined with their savings, was enough to get the band to Las Vegas.

While there, the band also managed to shoot some stock footage at Death Valley in California, for music video and documentary purposes.

For Marshello and his buddies, the tour strengthened their bond and confidence as bandmates.

“We are pretty sure we played a good show. Good enough at least that we hope to be invited next year for the event’s 20th anniversary!” he exclaimed.

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