CSP back in town: 10 - 11 September 2010

I had every intention of keeping the updates coming from the Cambodian Space Project's tour of France, but it didn't happen.  The tour had a life of its own, the stories of which will continue to be told until the beards are grey and the children grown.  Already it is difficult to distinguish between the myth and the reality.  The fragmentary visual record that has graced Facebook hints at the revelatory experience for those who were there.   We never stop flying: Paris-Nantes-Confolens-La Rochelle-Dinan-Rennes-Jugen Les Lacs-Nantes-Paris.  

However, the band is now back in its Phnom Penh home.  A lucky few caught our first return performance, hardly advertised, at La Camaguais on Street 5 on Friday 3rd - what was supposed to be a small-scale French line-up reunion but turned, unexpectedly but delightfully, into the whole magilla, still shaking off the road dust and jet lag.  Then there was another soft start, Expresso Thmei at Lotus Blanc this last Friday, feeling strangely underpowered after the weeks of adrenalin-filled line-up changes. 

Actually, my drum kit was busier than me over the weekend, loaned out for the Cambodian Cowboys' debut at Chinese House on Thursday, and then Lost Highway on Friday, before it ventured across the river to Maxine's for the next chapter of the CSP's multiple-stage return festival.  Snow kept the numbers down to 50, to prevent the place lurching into the Tonle Sap, but it was a great crowd to play to nonetheless.  We cranked through three sets, throwing out new songs and jams as we went, possibly one of tightest and best sounding gigs we've done.  It's great to have ace-wielding Space Commander J back on the flight deck.  Canadian Adam joined us with some very tasty percussion, and the rest of the usual cast of thousands made their presence felt. 

There's a lot of live music going on in Phnom Penh in the coming weeks, and I hope to hear some of it and be able to report on something other than the CSP ... but probably not next weekend unfortunately.  See you at Alley Cat on Friday, Equinox on Saturday, or near another stage somewhere soon.