Dennis A. Amith interviews Asia 4 (2002)

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     Raising eyebrows. This is what the Southern California based group known as Asia 4 is doing all over the world with their music.

     Asia 4 is comprised of four Vietnamese Americans who are determined to show the world that good music and performances are not limited to other male dance groups such as N*SYNC, Westlife and the Backstreet Boys.

     But what separates this group from other male dance groups is that Asia 4's music is inspired by their culture and the popularity of Asian pop music with a mix of techno, pop and rave.

     I review a lot of music from Asian and Asian American groups. When I received the latest album from Asia 4, their music immediately caught my attention. Their music is well produced, well sung and I enjoyed many of the songs in their album.

     While doing research on this music group, one word came to mind and that was "determination". Their determination is evident in their music and live performances. Their goal to not only show America what they are made of, but to show the world that Vietnamese do possess artistic ability and talent.

     I recently had the opportunity to interview the talented members of Asia 4.

DENNIS:  Hi guys, can you please introduce yourselves and tell me where were you all born and raised?
CARDIN:  Cardin Nguyen.  Born in Saigon, Vietnam and raised in Houston, Texas. I currently reside in Orange County, California.
EVAN:  Evan Le.  Born in Detroit, Michigan and I currently reside in Orange County, California.
SPENCER AND JAMES: Spencer and James Nguyen.  We were both born in Da Nang, Vietnam and raised in Fountain Valley, CA.

DENNIS:  What kind of atmosphere did you grow up in and were you each brought up with a strict Asian/Vietnamese upbringing?  Also, how did your parents react to you wanting to be performers?
ASIA 4: Our upbringings greatly influence how we are today.  Each of our parents are very supportive of our dreams and did not put a lot of pressure on us.

DENNIS:  You have people from all over the globe who enjoy your music .  How does that feel?
ASIA 4:  It feels great!  It’s a wonderful feeling when you finish a song on stage and hear the reaction from the crowd knowing that they can enjoy and relate to our music.  Since we write and produce our own music, the appreciation from the fans for our hard work is extra special.

DENNIS:  Is there a leader in the group? 
ASIA 4:  We don’t have a leader but Cardin is the person who brought everyone together since he was the first to sign on with Asia Entertainment in Garden Grove.  He basically deals with every aspect of the group and makes sure the group has new songs to sing since he is the main composer and songwriter of Asia4.  A friend of ours acts as our Director of Promotions and Marketing and handles all the promotions and bookings of the group, as well as the maintenance of our web site to keep the fans up to date on what we are up to. 

DENNIS: Are there certain responsibilities delegated to each member of the group?
ASIA 4: We all work together as a team and no one is delegated for a particular role.  We all have our strengths and weaknesses and we’ll each play on our strengths to benefit the group.

DENNIS:  What moment or what experience in your lives made you want to pursue a life in music? 
ASIA 4: We love music.
CARDIN: I noticed that there weren't any good Vietnamese singers that represented the youths of America.  Of course, there were many English performers in the Vietnamese industry who were all singing cover songs.  With my musical background, I decided that if those artists can get on the music videos of Thuy Nga or Asia Entertainment, I can too.  So, I submitted a demo to Asia Entertainment and the rest is history. 
SPENCER:  Me and Evan had already appeared in Thuy Nga’s Year 2000 celebration video (“We Like to Party”) singing with their exclusive singer, Tommy Ngo under the name “the Gin-Sen" but we were not given the recognition we deserved for our talents as individuals.  We did not stay long with Thuy Nga and shortly joined Cardin to form Asia 4 along with another member.  My brother, James was introduced at the time of the group’s second video to replace one of the original members because it did not work out with him. 
ASIA 4:  From then on, the group has appeared in more than ten videos with an upcoming video release scheduled for June 2002.  We will be filming four more music videos this year with various release dates.

DENNIS:  Would any of you like to pursue a life in television or movies?

ASIA 4:  That would be great but for now we will stick with our music and see how far it takes us.  There is quite a difference in music produced in Vietnam and outside of the country, but we very much would like to focus our music towards the Asian American music industry as well.
ASIA 4 (L to R): James, Spencer, Cardin and Evan.

DENNIS:  Do you and the others have any role models in the music industry?
ASIA 4:  Babyface.  For the way he sings, writes and produces music.

DENNIS:  Let’s talk about your music.  I listened to many of the songs and I’m very impressed from the songs that I have heard.  Since your music is pop and I’m guessing your routines involve a lot of dancing, is it hard to sound good and dance at the same time?
ASIA4: Yes, definitely!  It takes a lot of practice to sound good and to follow dance routines at the same time.  We have a regular routine and practice several times a week to make our dance moves more crisp and together as a group. 

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