Interview: Chest Fever on Bringing The Music of The Band to Syracuse

Chest Fever, the official revival of The Band, will be performing at Funk n’ Waffles on May 8 as part of their ‘HOW DOES IT FEEL’ tour, bringing the music of The Band and Bob Dylan around North America. 

Dan Cervantes, the Chest Fevers band leader, talked to NYS Music about their upcoming tour, being a revival band, and what inspires them to keep hitting the road.

Below is the edited transcript of the interview.

You’re a revival group of The Band with a stamp of approval from their estate and Robbie Robertson, which is really neat.

Yeah, we started Chest Fever in 2022, love playing the music, and are really fortunate to get to do it. We can’t wait for the upcoming tour, which kicked off last week, and this is our first time doing a celebration of Bob Dylan and The Band. You know, obviously, with The Band having its roots in backing Bob Dylan.

What drew you to the music of The Band in the first place?

You know, they’re kind of, as a musician, not for all musicians but for musicians and rock and roll, maritime, Bruce Rock, they’re kind of a definitive band. They’re from that golden era of rock and roll, classic rock. They were the kind of band everyone looked up to, in a band with, and everyone wanted to be around. 

They’re a band of five dudes that everyone was as skilled as the next person. It’s like these guys were just so unique, in terms of themselves and what they did. 

I love that. I think it’s a great way to describe them as well. So, is this your first time performing in Syracuse, or are you coming back around?

It is our second time performing in Syracuse. We actually did a show at a brewery, Middle Ages. It was a great show, actually, it may be one of the few times in the last four years since we started touring that we couldn’t get our piano through the door, so we had to use a digital piano, but we tour with a real piano. 

Very specific memory of the venue we played. I twasn’t the biggest crowd, to be honest, but the crowd that was there loved it. When we did ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, ’ everyone in the front joined in, locked arms, and started swaying. Never seen that happen in my life. It was really cool.

I’m a photographer by trade, and I’ve never seen that either. That’s really, really cool. 

Yeah, we’re really looking forward to coming back and playing Funk n’ Waffles. I heard it’s a cool spot.

I love Funk n’ Waffles. You should be able to get the piano through there. What do you hope fans take away from seeing you guys live?

You know, I don’t know, they just enjoy it. And maybe let others know and keep a positive spirit up, and there are still bands out there doing what we do. We’re really stoked. We like presenting a show, we like to think that when we were a bit younger, I’m 39, not the oldest or youngest. But when I was a teenager, I hoped there was still a band out there playing rock. More than anything, we just hope people have a good time. 

Absolutely, and by the looks on your guys’ social media, it seems like everyone really enjoys it. 

Yeah, we’ve been having fun.

Is there a favorite song you guys enjoy performing? Or does it change per performance?

I think it changes by performance, by city, by night, by set. It’s a totally different set than the last tour, before we did Bob Dylan’s 1966 Albert Hall show. So for me, it was actually great to be in the audience and watch a local guest artist (every show a local artist does Bob Dylan’s songs) do ‘Just Like A Woman’ because it’s one of my favorite songs.

Is there anything hard about being, I don’t know, do you consider yourselves a tribute band or a cover band?

I suppose you’d say tribute, although you know, we’re starting the coin in that we’re the band that plays The Band, for marketing, it’s complicated. So we might say tribute is the way to define it.

So, from my understanding, ‘Chest Fever’ is one of their singles. How did you guys land on that being the name of the band?

Well, we always loved the song ‘Chest Fever’. It’s always been a really interesting song and title. I always like to give my wife credit, and she’s like, “I think that’s the sexiest song by The Band.”

Charley Orlando will be Syracuse’s special guest for Bob Dylan for the night. Cervantes says the band is “Stoked to have him there and join us on stage and play the songs with Bob Dylan with us.”