Certain styles of music
make me drink quicker. On a
particularly frenetic night in Phnom Penh last weekend, I stood at
the bar watching seven local rock bands perform short sets of songs
in quick succession.
The first band, Sexploited, set the tone of the night with
ringing punk guitar chords and boisterous drums and bass. Then the
singer came on. Laura Snook immediately commanded the
attention of everyone in the crowded room, stalking around her stage
and growling the lyrics to a track by Scottish punk band 'The
Exploited'. By the time the second song had begun, the 'mosh pit' was
populated with happy, bouncing revellers.
One-drink-per-band seemed
like the proper rate of imbibement,
but
during the second band's set, things seemed to be moving on a little
too quickly. Could we continue to sustain this level of rock'n'roll
abandon? Dirty Jacks'
frontman, Tin, was
writhing around on the floor like Jim Morrison. When
he starting throwing microphones across the stage, the
sixteen-channel mixing desk tumbled from its perch and hit the ground
with a bang. Incredibly, it
continued to work perfectly while
lying inverted on the stage.
Someone handed me another
margarita.
![]() |
'Boom-Baar' - drummer extraordinaire. pic: Bleys Bolton |
I
think the turning point came
when someone offered me a shot of 'whisky'. It didn't taste much like
whisky but the label on the bottle said 'Mekhong'. I'm surprised
that this stuff can be sold legally. Things got a little clouded
after that. Five more bands played. They
were all good. Though my faculties were impaired, a
few lucid thoughts did flit
briefly across my frontal lobe. It
reflects well on the Phnom Penh music scene that seven bands as
eclectic and rocking and diverse as these are all happening right
now. It is puzzling,
however, to think that there is currently no out-and-out hardcore
rock venue in Cambodia. Where can
these bands regularly play? Is there some underground basement venue
I don't know about, where
Cambodian bands like The Anti-Fate,
Sliten6ix and Dirty
Jacks are
meeting up on weekends to put on shows?
Another
thought was: I hope Boom-Baar
is getting paid tonight. The
well-loved Phnom Penh drummer doesn't seem to be
able to say 'no' when someone asks him 'can you play in my band'. At
the Sharky Bar Battle
of The Bands, he
played four different sets in four different groups in four different
styles of
music...
and
he pulled it off adroitly. One
of the bands Boom played in, Splitter,
deservedly took the winner's title and the cash. There
would have been a 'stewards' inquiry' if Boom had not
also picked up the individual
award for best performer.
One
of the runners-up on the night, French hardcore band Sangvar
Day,
are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut EP
release. Keep an eye on the pages of Leng
Pleng
for
an in-depth review. You can see Boom-Baar behind 'the tubs' again this Saturday when he plays Sharky Bar with Oasis tribute band Mad-fer-it.
The Cambodian Space
Project have
been ensconced
in Kampot for the
last couple of weeks, rehearsing
with the cast and crew of Hanuman Spaceman.
This
brand-new musical work will receive its first
ever performances this Friday and Saturday at Kampot
Traditional Music School. I
will let CSP's Julien
Poulson
describe the project in more detail:-
![]() |
Cast and crew of Hanuman Spaceman. pic:
David
Rosenberger
|
“Hanuman
Spaceman [HS]
is
devised as a shape-shifiting, mind bending fusion of sounds, cultures
and story lines - all
clashing and morphing. Essentially it's all about a monkey that
stumbles across Soviet-era space-junk in the Cambodian countryside.
He discovers the power of technology and suddenly jumps at the chance
of being the first monkey on the moon. But alas, not all goes as
planned. HS is a show that is somewhere between rock-opera and jungle
cabaret and it's development is happening first in Cambodia at the
Khmer Cultural Development Institute [KCDI],
also
known as Kampot
Music School, where the HS team has been encamped for the past two
weeks, developing the show from page to stage.
It brings together Australian theatre production company Intimate Spectacle with: Brazilian director Carlos Gomes, The Cambodian Space Project, sound designer Rob O'Hara (Mute Speaker), puppet creator Tom Whittaker, Katharina Glynne (Lightbox Gallery), the teachers, students and community of Kampot Music School and a whole host of talented contributors based in Kampot. Needless to say, it's been a hive of activity with the building of rocket ships, space monsters, colourful props and costumes. A musical thick-shake of Khmer traditional, Cambo psych-rock, electro beats and, not least, the great Master Kong Nay - who even makes an appearance via satellite link to sing a foreboding tale for the eager young space tripper about the pitfalls of intergalactic travel. It's happening at KCDI on both Friday and Saturday nights - doors open 7pm, Hanuman comes alive at 8pm sharp. Entry by donation.”
It brings together Australian theatre production company Intimate Spectacle with: Brazilian director Carlos Gomes, The Cambodian Space Project, sound designer Rob O'Hara (Mute Speaker), puppet creator Tom Whittaker, Katharina Glynne (Lightbox Gallery), the teachers, students and community of Kampot Music School and a whole host of talented contributors based in Kampot. Needless to say, it's been a hive of activity with the building of rocket ships, space monsters, colourful props and costumes. A musical thick-shake of Khmer traditional, Cambo psych-rock, electro beats and, not least, the great Master Kong Nay - who even makes an appearance via satellite link to sing a foreboding tale for the eager young space tripper about the pitfalls of intergalactic travel. It's happening at KCDI on both Friday and Saturday nights - doors open 7pm, Hanuman comes alive at 8pm sharp. Entry by donation.”
![]() |
Phil Javelle |
A one-off gig will be taking place at Doors Phnom
Penh on Saturday night when Phil
Javelle
and Joe Wrigley
team up with violinist
Graham Kemish
and piano-accordionist/cor anglais player Peter
Schwaderer
(a cor anglais is an instrument similar
to an
oboe)
for
some 1940's and 1950's-style American swing and rock'n'roll music.
Regular Jumping
Jacks
players Andy Potter
and
Aymen Ghali
complete the sextet named Kapow!
Hot String Band.
You
can also catch the Jumping
Jacks
at Sharky Bar
on Friday night, before the band departs for some dates in Saigon
next week.
Michelle Flemming
will be playing her last gig
in Cambodia for a while when she hits Wish You Were Here
Guesthouse on Otres
Beach 2 in Sihanoukville on Sunday evening. Michelle
has a really great voice and a lot of stage presence. She doesn't
need a band to be able to
shine and usually just
accompanies herself with some very understated acoustic guitar work.
Sunday will be the last chance to hear her before she returns to
Europe.
Until next time, stay safe out there and... see you around the traps!
CLICK HERE FOR LATEST GIGS
JOE WRIGLEY
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