DENGUE FEVER TO RELEASE EXCLUSIVE NEW MUSIC VIA B&W SOCIETY OF SOUND SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE THIS JUNE AROUND EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
Material Recorded at Famed Real World Studios Available for Digital Download for only 30 Days by Songlines Best Newcomer Nominee
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOS ANGELES, CA & BOX, ENGLAND (May 11, 2009) – Los Angeles-based Cambodian-American rock band Dengue Fever (www.myspace.com/denguefevermusic) announced today that they will be releasing previously unavailable music via Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound (http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/) in support of European tour dates beginning June 18 at the Scala in London, England. The tracks will only be available to B&W Society of Sound subscribers for 30 days beginning June 24.
Dengue Fever also announced their first European dates of 2009 in support of these new recordings. Additional dates are to be added but here is a confirmed itinerary so far:
6/18 @ The Scala, London, England (w/ Don Letts)
6/19 @ Ekko, Utrecht, The Netherlands
6/20 @ Festival Mundial, Tilburg, The Netherlands
6/23 @ Registraur, Munich, Germany
6/25 @ John Dee, Oslo, Norway
6/26 @ Peace and Love Festival, Borlang, Sweden
6/30 @ Apolo 2, Barcelona, Spain
7/01 @ Sala Sol, Madrid, Spain
7/03 @ Festival De La Cite, Lausanne, Switzerland
7/04 @ Me You Zik Festival, Luxembourg
Dengue Fever recorded and mixed ten tracks over two sessions at Real World Studios in Box, England during breaks in the band’s 2008 European tour. The first session comprised studio recordings while the second was recorded live at a private performance held at Real World. The tracks, which amount to an album’s worth of material at more than 40+ minutes of music include: “The Province” (new song), “Tiger Phone Card” (new arrangement), “Mr. Orange” (new arrangement), “Hold My Hips” (new arrangement), “Doo Wop” (never-before-recorded studio version), “Pow Pow” (live), “Sober Driver” (live), “New Years Eve” (live), “Seeing Hands” (live) and “One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula” (live).
Bowers & Wilkins are working together with Real World on a unique and exciting collaboration called the Society of Sound where specially commissioned albums are made available to members through an exclusive and unique subscription-only music download club. Dengue Fever have been invited by Peter Gabriel's Real World to be one of the chosen artists, and their Society of Sound album will be available as a glorious high quality lossless digital download for one month beginning on June 24. B&W are a global leader in high-end speakers and audio systems and their passion for sound make them a natural partner for Real World in the pursuit of outstanding music from all corners of the world.
ABOUT DENGUE FEVER
Dengue Fever (http://www.myspace.com/denguefevermusic) is Chhom Nimol – who sang regularly for the King and Queen of Cambodia - Ethan Holtzman (keyboards), Zac Holtzman (guitar), David Ralicke (horns), Senon Williams (bass) and Paul Smith (drums). The band’s music has been featured in a number of film and television shows including CITY OF GHOSTS, MUST LOVE DOGS, BROKEN FLOWERS, HBO’s hit series TRUE BLOOD and twice on Showtime’s, WEEDS. They have released three albums, Dengue Fever, Escape From Dragon House, Venus On Earth and released their DVD/CD soundtrack to the documentary Sleepwalking Through The Mekong on April 14, 2009.
For more information, press photos, album art and more, please contact Joshua Mills, It's Alive! Media,
323-464-6314, josh@itsalivemedia.com or http://www.itsalivemedia.com
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For booking information outside the Unites States and Canada, please contact Ross Morrison at Primary Talent, +44 (0) 20 7400 4500, ross@primary.uk.com or http://www.primary.uk.com/
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For booking information within the United States and Canada, please contact:
Ryan Craven at The Kork Agency, 510-658-4455, ryan@korkagency.com or www.korkagency.com http://www.korkagency.com
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BIOGRAPHY
Dengue Fever - Sleepwalking Through The Mekong
DVD/CD Soundtrack (April 14, 2009)
Dengue Fever's psychedelic take on the Cambodian pop sounds of the 60s makes them one of rock'n'roll's most unique success stories. They draw enthusiastic crowds from LA to the UK, from Maui to Moscow, and leave critics rummaging through their thesauruses looking for new superlatives to describe their sound. The band's latest release, the documentary feature film Sleepwalking Through The Mekong (DVD/CD Soundtrack) continues the story and evolution of the band as they travel to Cambodia as the first Western group to perform the music of Cambodia since the fall of the Khmer Rouge. Sleepwalking Through The Mekong has received an enthusiastic reception at international film festivals, as well as the Tucson Film Festival, the Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles, the Hawaii International Film Festival and the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.
Brothers Ethan (keyboards) and Zac (guitar) Holtzman started Dengue Fever in 2001 when they discovered they shared a love for the Cambodian pop music of the 60s. After adding sax man David Ralicke (Beck/Brazzaville), drummer Paul Smith and bassist Senon Williams, they went looking for a Cambodian singer. Enter Chhom Nimol, who performed regularly for the King and Queen of Cambodia. Her powerful singing, marked by a luminous vibrato that adds exotic ornamentations to her vocal lines, and hypnotic stage moves based on traditional dances, complimented the band's driving Cambodian/American sound.
The Cambodian pop music of the 1960s seems an unlikely template for an American band, but that sound captivated Ethan Holtzman during a trip to Cambodia in 1997. Before he flew back to L.A., he picked up every cassette of Cambodian pop from the 60s he could find. Back home, Zac Holtzman had just returned to L.A. after living in San Francisco for 10 years. He'd been listening to a compilation of Cambodian pop and when the brothers reconnected, they decided play their version of Cambodian rock. They hung out in the Long Beach Cambodian community to find a singer.
“We saw Chhom Nimol at The Dragon House,” Zac Holtzman recalls. “She was already a star in Cambodia and made a living singing traditional music at Cambodian weddings and funerals.” Chhom wasn't sure she wanted to sing with Americans, but Dengue's dedication to the sounds of Cambodia won her over. Chhom's singing and the band's Americanized Cambodian psychedelia created a strangely familiar and totally distinctive sound. Dengue Fever was an immediate hit, both in the Cambodian clubs of Long Beach and regular LA rock venues.
The band's eponymous debut was mostly covers of Cambodian classics: a tribute to the singers and songwriters who were killed by the Khmer Rouge. Their second album, Escape From Dragon House, written almost entirely by the band, was more psychedelic, freer, looser and more experimental than the debut. Chhom Nimol's powerful vocals, with lyrics delivered mostly in Khmer (pronounced “cam – aye”), showed an impressive melodic range, complimented by the band's relentless grooves. It also incorporated the rhythms of 60s Ethiopian jazz, another style that used American rock, funk and R&B as its template. The album featured “Ethanopium,” a cover of a tune by Ethiopian singer Malatu Astatke that was used by Jim Jarmusch in his film Broken Flowers. “One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula” was later featured on the soundtrack as well as the Showtime series Weeds . Their third release, 2008's Venus on Earth, consisted entirely of original material, with several songs performed in English, furthering the band's overall goal to fuse American and Cambodian styles.
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