We’d like to know a little bit about you for our files, however we don’t like regurgitating press releases or asking the easy questions. No-one gets out of the Tone Deaf Interrogation lightly, so just hold still, grit your teeth, clench your buttocks and be still while we put on the rubber gloves, apply the thumbscrews, and pull out our thermometer while you open up and say ahhhhhhhhhhh… Truthful answers only or we drink your rider while you’re on stage. Guitarist Zac Holtzman from Dengue Fever answers our questions.
We don’t want to know about the bands your press release says you’re influenced by. Take us back to your bedroom when you were 14. What band posters did you have on the wall?
Let’s see……..so I guess I would have been in 8th grade. I was listening to the Talking Heads and the B-52s. Also
your typical Hendrix, Beatles, Zeppelin, Floyd. Oh that was also around the time when I went to my first live rock show at the Troubadour to go see a punk rock band called the Grim. I had some other good friends that got me into stuff like Crass, The Sub Humans, the Clash. Combat Rock got a lot of play.
What’s been your worst gig and why are you glad there’s no footage of it on Youtube … yet?
Worst gig was at a cult based commune in Sedona Arizona. Their leaders name is Gabriel of Sedona (like Jesus of Nazareth). The book Gabriel wrote was placed by our bed side to try and lure us in. At the show there was no booze allowed, and everyone from the cult was doing this crazy hippy dancing in their Tivas. It looked like a Tai Chi class gone wrong. The members of the cult all had names from classic sci-fi and fantasy movies. I could go on and on but that was one of the most uncomfortable situations we’ve been in.
Tomorrow’s payday, so we’ve only got $A20/$US18/£14/€10 to get you drunk. Where do we go and what do we buy with it?
To the weed dispensary to pick up a sack of Sour Diesel.
Love The Beatles?
Get the latest The Beatles news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
What releases have you put out? Are they million sellers or do you still have a few boxes of them sitting gathering dust under your bed?
We’ve put out about five albums and no they’re not collecting dust, we keep running out and having to order more. It’s obviously not in the millions, but we’re managing to not do anything else but our music, which is cool because we love to tour and we love to record. Right now we’re in record mode for our next album that should come out some time next year.
Suppose we put a gun to your head and force you to kiss a member of another band. Who, which band and why?
Willie Nelson
You’re touring Australia. We know how much visitors are afraid of our native animals, so what is your greatest fear? Getting attacked by a) a snake b) a red back spider c) a bluebottle jellyfish d) a crocodile or e) a venomous drop bear?
Spider in the bed at night is not too much fun.
Dengue Fever play at The Forum on Sat 16th October, as part of Melbourne Festival’s Beck’s Festival Bar. Tickets are $20. Find our more info on the Beck’s Bar website, or visit Ticketmaster for tickets.
