In the collective imaginary rock bands rehearse in dark dusty basements, with plenty of booze and other substances at their disposal to “enhance” their creativity. I certainly didn’t expect anything different when I first listened to Sangvar Day’s alternative rock tracks on line. I called the band to answer their ad for a singer and the drummer, ‘Juju’, told me: “Yeah, let’s meet at the French elementary school. We’ll jam there. It’s perfect”.
And there I was, in a clean
white-walled music classroom with history posters and pictures of
kids on the walls, adding a bluesy touch to the angry sound of the
band. “Those are all original pieces. What do you think? Can you
sing on them?” Julian, the main songwriter, asked me. Most pieces
were a mix of Julian’s diabolic guitar riffs married to Juju’s
funky drumming mayhem - not exactly what I was used to but they had
been looking for a singer for months and I was looking for something
hard. The songs quickly started to come together and along with them
came our first gig.
Sharky Bar was fond of Sangvar Day even
before I was part of the band. The managers hired us for a gig
immediately when they heard the band had a new singer. What they
probably didn’t know was that the new guy (yeah, that would be me)
didn’t even have the time to put together some decent lyrics. I had
all the melodies in my head but no specific words to voice them. On
the night of the gig I got up on stage hoping that everyone was drunk
enough to ignore my collage of meaningless words. I had experience on
my side because I had frequently come up with random lines on stage
back in Italy. Most of the crowd at Sharkys however would be native speakers
and, therefore, I wouldn’t be able to fool them.
Luckily that night
the audience seemed to be more interested in the band’s sound and
attitude than (the lack of) my poetic skills. People welcomed the
songs with head-banging and shouting, and glasses were raised in
appreciation. At the end of the concert, proud to have gotten away
with it, I realized that I hadn’t run that big of a risk. If people
were interested in pretty lyrics, they would have been home listening
to some James Blunt tunes, not unleashing their demons with us.
We played Sharky several times before
venturing into other venues - Cherry Bomb, Equinox, and Slur Bar
followed. Every time we were paired up with other bands. Seasoned
guitar masters and punk teenagers alike - we hit the stage hard and
convinced everyone of the fact that the rock scene in Cambodia is a
serious thing. At the beginning we often opened for Splitter, one of
the veteran bands on the hard rock scene. With their wall of sound, a
frontman who seems to be dancing with Satan when on stage, and plenty
of powerful originals - they always put on a great show. It was hard
for me to live up to the infernal vitality of Splitter’s lead
singer Sean because I was coming from a songwriting background and
was used to sitting with a guitar on my lap.
After months of concerts our identity
was consolidated and we were ready to answer the famous, hated and
constantly-asked question: “What do you sound like?”. Personally,
I agree with those who say our sound is in debt to bands like Rage
against the Machine, The Incubus, Pearl Jam and The Red Hot Chili
Peppers - after all I grew up with albums like “Blood Sugar Sex
Magik” and “Ten”. However, if you ask Mat (our eclectic bass
player) or Juju, both of whom have a more progressive-rock
background, they’ll probably say something completely different and
we’ll all end up in a fight. Fights happen every time we modify one
verse in a song, or choose a track list for a concert, with absurd
conversations and explanations to support our claims. It’s like
going back to being teenagers - sometimes we are just arguing for the
sake of it.
We owe a lot to Cambodia for the
inspiration our songs. The rage you hear in our music comes from
living here in the Kingdom - even if we haven’t included Khmer
traditional elements like most of the more popular bands are doing at
the moment. Our lyrics often refer to the politics of Cambodia. For
example, the song ‘Mekong Drums’ talks about the construction of
huge hydropower dams on the Mekong River. This dam will have a
horrible impact on Cambodian people. These are complicated themes -
but I must say that it was relatively easy to give words to our
songs. There is plenty to talk about when you live in Cambodia. On
any given day of the week you may encounter prostitutes, corrupted
cops, fugitives and other characters.
Rob, from Sangvar Day
Very nice sounds and lessons you explained here. thanks for such interesting and useful info. Maton guitars is only a best brand to learn these specific sounds.
ReplyDeleteReally Nice Post! Thanks for Sharing this this amazing post its really helpful. Really informative no doubt about it. Geek Squad Tech Support visit for more information
ReplyDelete