Dengue Fever set to play at Make Music Pasadena
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Brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman weren’t deterred when people asked them who was going to listen to songs in Khmer.
They started with covers first, inspired by Cambodian rock musicians of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s: Ros Sereysothea, Sinn Sisamouth and Pan Ron. Tapping Chhom Nimol, a singer who came from generations of Cambodian performers, from a Long Beach nightclub, along with three other musicians, they formed Dengue Fever 11 years ago.
The band will be performing June 16 at the free festival Make Music Pasadena alongside Grouplove, Grimes and Cults. Zac Holtzman, who plays guitar and sings in the band, chatted on the road between shows in Boston and New York.
On the attraction to Cambodian music: “For me, it was this cool combination of familiarity of the surf guitar and psychedelic rock and garage rock aspects that were combined with traditional-style Cambodian singing. It was done in a very peaceful way.”
On translating: “There’s less of a language barrier now, but back in the beginning, we translated songs from English into Khmer, and all of a sudden it would become a short novel, so we had to whittle our songs and make them shorter and shorter, and turn them into these little haikus for them to come out right.”
On dancing: “Sometimes, there’s a lot of Cambodians in the crowd, and they start either climbing up on stage and singing songs with us or usually, they’ll start circle-dancing. It’s a big, sort of slow dance that almost looks like tai-chi, and they do it in a circle. I love it when that happens.”
On favorite spots in Los Angeles: “I like going for bike rides in Griffith Park and in the hills of Burbank and Altadena, like up behind Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It’s incredibly steep and it just pushes you to get to the top of that mountain; and coming down is like a crazy roller-coaster ride.”
“I also think we have the best taco truck, probably in Los Angeles, right on Alvarado and Glendale. That’s one of the best tacos in Los Angeles as far as I’m concerned.”
On naming the band after a virus: “The first time we went to Cambodia, they were like, ‘Why, why? It’s so bad. Why’d you name yourselves Dengue Fever?’
“It reminded us of dance fever, or disco fever. But we got the name when Ethan was traveling in Cambodia and his traveling companion got bit by a mosquito and got dengue fever. When they were taking him to the hospital, they were traveling down some really bumpy back roads and the driver was playing this music up front, and it was all this music he was inspired by.”
Dengue Fever at Make Music Pasadena
Where: Playhouse District Eclectic Stage, 23 S. Madison Ave., Pasadena
When: Saturday, June 16, 4 p.m.
Info: Free admission; www.makemusicpasadena.org/program.html.