Vengabus returns Yes, the music is cheesy, admit The Vengaboys, but it’s also a lot of fun. Brace yourselves: these 90s pop sensations are heading our way. By

Grant Smithies.

It is, depending on your inclination, a work of pure pop genius or the sound of civilisation ending, right before your very ears. The beat thumps like a tequila headache. There are lyrics your 3-yearold might dismiss as too simplistic.

You can feel your IQ dropping as the song progresses, but that doesn’t stop you tapping your foot.

This is Euro dance-pop at its most mindless and puerile, but the title is Mensa-level genius, boiling down the entire history of recorded sound to four little kick-drum thuds: Boom, boom, boom, boom.

Yes, The Vengaboys are back, and heading this way. I imagine them in their native Holland as I write, loading up the Vengabus with costumes, streamers, glitter, jars of rollmops and assorted good-looking mates. And they’re off. Next stop: Hamilton, then Auckland, at the end of this month.

‘‘Oh, I just cannot wait!’’ says founder-member Robin Pors, who just got back home after a whirlwind tour through India. He speaks softly in heavily accented English, with an undertow of playful camp, as if he has one eyebrow permanently arched. ‘‘New Zealand will be a blast! We always love to make music to start a party for the lovely crowds, wherever we are. I’ve been doing this nearly 20 years now, and it’s always as much fun as it was on my first day.’’

The band was strapped together in 1997 by Dutch DJ duo Danski and Delmundo, who then drafted in a crew of more photogenic youths to front their songs, each with their own trademark look. Lead singer Kim Sasabone generally wears some sort of crop-top and cargo-pants arrangement fashioned from teensy offcuts of army camouflage material. Dancer Denise Van Rijswijk favours a disco jumpsuit. Pors is a sailor, complete with little nautical hat. And the other bloke – initially Roy, later Donny – is a cowboy.

‘‘I think we have been successful for so long because we are always festive, you know? We help people relieve some stress and have some fun. People love our songs, even though they may be cheesy. I know the word ‘cheesy’ sounds a bit negative, but I mean it in a positive way. I mean that we don’t take ourselves too seriously.’’

No, and it’s just as well. Lyrically, The Vengaboys are no threat to Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan. Musically, their beats and melodies do not send assorted cutting edge composers and producers lurching for the phone book, eager to engage copyright lawyers.

The Vengaboys are in the business of big dumb fun, and there’s no shortage of takers. They’ve sold upwards of 25 million records to date, many of them in our own backyard.

Besides the UK and their homeland in Holland, the only other place Boom Boom Boom Boom hit No 1 was here in NZ. It is by far their biggest-selling song. ‘‘Yes, and it’s our favourite to do in a show. The audience goes out of their minds! When that song starts, I can’t even hear myself anymore because of all the screaming, and everyone’s iPhones come up to film it. It’s crazy!’’

There are other hits. We Like To Party (The Vengabus) is a celebration of hedonistic urges and public transport, set to a cartoon techno beat. We’re Going To Ibiza is a globeconquering slice of pallid Euro reggae. Ditto the steel-drum heavy Uncle John From Jamaica, whose video features sexy chamber maids dancing around a holiday resort in the tropics. Set in more snowy winter climes, the video to Shalala Lala features busty German frauleins in lederhosen serving up steins of milk in an alpine bar, attended by gratuitous dwarves. And