Bios
Dengue Fever
Dengue Fever is in the vanguard of an emerging global pop sensibility, making music that's both familiar, yet eerily unique. Fronted by Cambodian pop star Chhom Nimol, who sings in Khmer and English, the Los Angeles sextet blends the rhythms of '60s Cambodian pop - heavily influenced by American surf, rock and early psychedelic garage bands - with their own eclectic mix of American and international styles.
Unlike the world music bands of the late 80s, Dengue Fever is more concerned with a universal groove and breaking down musical barriers than with notions of authenticity. There are echoes of Bollywood soundtracks, Ethiopian soul, American R&B, Cambodian folk, Spaghetti Western weirdness and girl group angst in the mix, but the resulting concoction is all their own.
In addition to vocalist Ch'hom Nimol – who sang regularly for the King and Queen of Cambodia – Dengue Fever includes Farfisa organist Ethan Holtzman, his guitarist brother Zac (ex-Dieselhed), horns David Ralicke (Beck/Brazzaville), bassist Senon Williams (Radar Bros.) and drummer Paul Smith.
The band's imaginative sound grabbed listeners from their first appearances. Dengue Fever's uncommon pop/world music sound has garnered critical acclaim since "Escape From Dragon House" debuted. In 2005, the editors of online retail giant Amazon named their record #1 International release of the year. In 2006, Mojo (U.K.) named the same album into their Top 5 World Music releases of the year. The New York Times, Associated Press, Pitchfork, Los Angeles Times, BBC, Reuters Television, Spin, NPR and other influential outlets have praised the band's psychedelic Khmer Rock sound.
More recently, European outlets such as French magazines Monocle and Chronic'art, the London Observer have extensively covered the band. Their music has been featured in a number of film and television shows including CITY OF GHOSTS, MUST LOVE DOGS, BROKEN FLOWERS and twice on the Showtime hit series, Weeds.
Dengue Fever has spent much of the last two years touring the globe, winning over new fans in the United States, Cambodia, Canada and Europe. The band played high profile U.S. festivals Globalfest, Bumbershoot, Halleluwah, Global Union and the Chicago World Music Festival, as well as two European festivals, Sudoeste in Portugal and the Afischa Weekend in Moscow.
Dengue Fever have also recently toured Cambodia and chronicled their trip in the upcoming documentary, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, a long awaited homecoming for Nimol and an odyssey for the rest of the band.
John Pirozzi, Director
As a director John Pirozzi has made music videos for Queens of the Stone Age, Calexico, Victoria Williams, Vic Chessnut, Earthlings, Dengue Fever and the Japanese Metal band Outrage. As a Cinematographer he has numerous documentary credits including Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man which premiered in Sundance last year, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession with a premier in Canne, Too Tough To Die: A Tribute to Johnny Ramone, Speed Racer :The Story of Vic Chesnutt and the forthcoming Bling A Planet Rock which explores the Diamond Wars of West Africa. John's Cinematography credits also include the feature films Broken English by Zoe Cassavetes, Matt Dillon's City of Ghost for which he was the 2nd unit Cinematographer and Kimberley Pierce's Boys Don't Cry for which he shot the distinctive time lapse photography.