Interview: Zac Holtzman (Dengue Fever)

For a short time before Pol Pot and his totalitarian Khmer Rouge regime came to power in the mid-1970’s, Cambodia produced groovy psych pop music in the spirit of The Searchers’ “Love Potion No. 9” and Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man”.

About a decade ago, brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman, who play guitar and Farfisa organ, respectively, became aware of such music. They recruited the elegant and talented Khmer-singing Chhom Nimol from Long Beach and, joined by like-minded sonic travelers, started playing covers of Cambodian songs as the band Dengue Fever. Dengue Fever has gone on to write and record several albums worth of similarly groovy original songs, with their latest album being 2011’s Cannibal Courtship.

Concert Review: Dengue Fever and oso

Review of Dengue Fever and oso concert at SOhO, Santa Barbara on 1/7/10