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Slideshow: Dengue Fever on Stage

comments | Filed under: music Quick Hits: Dengue Fever - Check Local Listings

  • Lead vocalist Chhom Nimol sings in both Khmer and English, her voice and lyrics ranging from the ethereal and nostalgic to the edgy and comic.

  • You can’t miss bass player Senon Gaius Williams. He’s as tall as a basketball player and bounces around the stage like a kid on a pogo sick.

  • David Ralicke plays sax, trumpet and flute for Dengue Fever, switching the sound from the exotic to hard driving rock.

  • Ethan Holtzman, keyboardist, co-founded Dengue Fever with his brother Zac after backpacking through Cambodia.

  • Zac Holtzman tunes “Mastadong,” his handcrafted, hybrid Cambodian-American guitar, under the watchful gaze of Jimi Hendrix.

  • Nimol comes from a family of singers in Cambodia and she has grown increasingly comfortable taking center stage with her adopted American rock band.

  • “Family Business” is a caustic critique of people profiting from the weapons trade: “Infrared thermal tracking sidewinder/It’s just a family business.”

  • Dengue Fever has developed a loyal following, especially at The Fillmore.
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Our slide show features Dengue Fever on stage at The Fillmore in San Francisco, a setting where the L.A.-based band clearly feels right at home. The photos were taken by Mirissa Neff, who was very busy that night in three roles: interviewer, photographer and warm-up act as DJ Felina. Mirissa’s hazy, brightly colored cell phone images capture the mood of a Dengue Fever concert, which can feel like a strange dream, swirling with burning incense. They can be soothing and hypnotic on one song, hectic and ominous on another with a kind of “Pulp Fiction” undertone.

The band performed songs from their new album, “Cannibal Courtship,” their debut on the Fantasy/Concord Music label.

Dengue Fever’s Website

The Fillmore

Segment presented by Sound Tracks.

All photos by Mirissa Neff, a reporter for Sound Tracks and Quick Hits, as well as an art director, photographer, and professional dj. To see more of her work go to mirissaneff.com.

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