Railway Station rocks, and other events: 3 - 6 June

Way back last Thursday, so long ago I can hardly remember, the Hellhounds played their last for a while at Sharky Bar - a break forced by the temporary departure of the Swedish Ambassador for a good two months.  This hardworking jack-of-all-axes will be sorely missed by the musical community of Phnom Penh.  We gave him a good send off from Sharky and know that the Hellhounds will rise again.

Friday night, back at Sharky again, was another familiar instalment in the saga of the Lazy Jazz Drunks, including line up changes within an hour of taking the stage, and a general shortage of traffic police on the stand.  Still, we saw - and heard - the highly entertaining bass debut of the Mythical Dude amid some thumping and valiant blues rock complete with false endings, a brief guest singer, and some weird and wonderful jamming on an extended Whole lotta love.   Some pics are here:  Sharky Blog

The big night of the week of course was Saturday, when the much unused Phnom Penh railway station was converted into a party venue, including a train trip off to a rice field, where the Phnom Penh Hot Strings delighted the delightable crowd, then returning to a great gathering of people who rocked out to the Cambodian Space Project on the platform.  This is well documented here and here.  A great night that was only hampered by the DJs coming on too early  ; )

Then on Sunday the public debut of Espresso Thmei took place at Paddy Rice.  And not such a bad crowd for a Sunday night either.  The pocket-sized version of the CSP mixes in a number of brand new songs with the regular CSP repertoire, and, through the different and more acoustic setting, brings the lovely voice of Srey Thy well to the fore.  And it's a pleasure to play.  And Thy's newest biggest fan wrote it up as well.

see you around.

FTA back on the beat ... 28 - 29 May

Friday night was a mixture of the new and the old.  The Velkommen Inn hosted Bayon Blues, with the acoustic blues fireworks of Little Duke, the sensational Kristin on vocals, and the everywhere-at-once Bong Thom squeezing and bending away on the harmonica.  Good old traditional blues, played damn well - a nice clean crisp sound.  You can be forgiven for wondering if you're in Phnom Penh at all.  Then it was a short step up the river to the Chinese House where the Mekong Pirates juggernaut were making their presence felt.  A huge crowd helped set the night alight, but it turns out I missed some serious wildness at the end of the night by succumbing to the need to sleep and heading home early.

On Saturday night Chinese House again the venue of choice.  The Bong Thom dot Com tenth anniversary party featured four bands:  Bayon Blues, the Hellhounds, the Cambodian Space Project and the debut of Espresso Thmei (technically just the CSP pocket-size edition, showcasing Srey Thy's vocals with acoustic guitar and a little harmonica).   The Hounds stuck to the straight and narrow with guest Canadian Dave on bass, and the CSP continued to refine its post-electric sound, with Bong Sak on a smaller but no less effective drumkit, and encouraging to the front the clarinet of Bun Hong. 

So here's the call, people:  please send in gig reports,  let us all know where it's happening and who's doing it.  It was great to see writeups from new contributors at the end of last month, keep them coming.   See you next weekend somewhere. 

Seems to be mostly about endings: 18 - 20 March

Another blistering performance of The Hellhounds was witnessed by a select crowd at Sharky Bar last Thursday, complete with wandering/wondering wayfarer Johnny Pilgrim standing in.  A boisterous couple of sets with some new material, including a bounding Who do you love and a cheeky Women are smarter which morphed juicily into a half-remembered Iko Iko.   This effort was followed up by a surprising number of the same songs (WDYL and Folsom Prison Blues, for example) when the very same stage was taken up by some of the very same personnel in my farewell performance with the Lazy Jazz Drunks.  Ian the Punk and Tall Tom were in fine form as we jukeboxed (as noted by Mythical Dude and his compadre) our way through three sweaty sets, sometimes being a bit more jazzy than previously considered possible:  we even stumbled through an impromptu Fly me to the moon.   Helping out on a few tunes was Song, a drummer of great technical skill and demolition techniques. I slowed the tempo in the later stages to perform a short tribute to the late Alex Chilton, whose death I had heard of only that afternoon, then we ramped it up again for a big finish, drumsticks and sweat flying in all directions. 

And finally, in a weekend of endings, Saturday night saw the final Phnom Penh performance of the current line up of the Cambodian Space Project, with the Space Commander taking off for Europe for a few months.  We packed ourselves into one side of the bar at Equinox and made merry with a percussion heavy couple of hours that managed to evade the attention of the Too Loud police, although also somehow evaded the Sound Quality police as well.  Technical knowhow had established a really good sound check sound that somehow evapourated in a prolonged screech of wireless microphones, a tangle of cables and a reliance on sonic bravado so well known to the long-suffering fans and members of the CSP.  We look forward to future efforts with a greater concentration on PA mechanics and better selection of PA hiring firms.  p.s. the sound was marginally better at the final performance of the weekend, at Tassilo's wedding at the Himawari, but the curfew was even earlier. 

And so the Cambodian Space Project heads north east to the surreal island of Hong Kong ... from whence reports will emanate next week.  Which is a good time to renew my call for reviews of the shows I don't get to, or even alternate reviews of the shows that I do.  This blog oughtn't be restricted to just one view, please share your thoughts. 

Seeya when I'm back in PP.

A special mid-week blog ... due to the quiet weekend coming: 2 and 4 March

It was a double birthday celebration, it was a documentary film night, it was a video shoot ... Chinese House hosted Call and Response, a film about human trafficking, followed by who else but the everywhere-at-once Cambodian Space Project.  As I was one of the birthday celebrants, I made damn sure I was doing something fun:  we set up with two drum kits and pushed through a long thumping rhythm-heavy set while squeezing the 9 piece band onto a stage surrounded by dancing and drinking.  The Breton Bandit is continuing to find his feet, I am continuing to grow my hair, Ratta-Man is continuing to find new and unusual ways to appear and disappear at will, Bong Jay is continuing to lose his mind as the time begins to run short with so much still to do, The Lovely Irene continues to walk straight from work-mode into performance-mode, The Swedish Ambassador is still fairly Swedish and was also a celebrant, Bong Sak keeps it steady on the beat, McSwashbuckle makes the good times roll, Srey Thy just gets more glamorous ... somehow we have to get through this month and life will be quieter. 

Last night The Hellhounds renewed their acquaintance with Sharky's, blue cheese burgers and Johnny Pilgrim with a lively couple of sets with a good crowd and a drummer who pushed the soundcheck back an hour due to his non-attendance.  Lots of old favourites and a couple of new ones, up to and including some blasters like Who do you love, Shame Shame Shame, Dead Flowers, sounding better than ever.  And no broken strings to report!  The year of the tiger is boding well. 

It's a quiet weekend coming, but next weekend the CSP are on the road to Siem Reap.  Come for the fun, stay for the madness!

A lowkey blog about the weekend that I felt particularly crook but somehow kept going: 25 - 27 February

The Hellhounds worldwide tour of Sharky's continued on Thursday night despite the absence of Bong Thom, and with the addition of last week's special guest Johnny Pilgrim. We ran a stripped back setlist, pushing the wildness quotient up a bit but really missing the mandolin. And I wasn't so well, which didn't help. Still, the blues went down pretty well, as ever. And Mythical Dude got through a whole set -- hell, nearly the whole night -- without breaking a string, but stumbled at the last hurdle.  Which brings me to a fundamental question:  if Jimmy Hellhound ever broke a string, would the world cease to be?


On Friday afternoon the Cambodian Space Project took itself on the road to Sihanoukville, to participate in Khmarnival, an AIDS education outreach event involving some fabulous dance, pantomime, circus acts and clowning by young former street kids. Pretty inspiring stuff. We came onto the stage after dark, following two mixed bands of the young and enthusiastic -- and what a stage. It was huge, like playing a stadium. Everyone was wandering around wondering what to do with all the space. Way up the back, miles away, and miles high on a drum riser, I felt like Ringo. A great view, but it was so dark I could barely see the crowd. We played until bedtime. And then stayed up for a cleansing beverage or two.

Saturday night we were all back in Phnom Penh, and a stripped down and perhaps more relaxed CSP played at The Alley Cat's last Saturday of the month buffet and prize drawing. Elsewhere in town the Lazy Jazz Drunks and Lost Highway played Sharky's, and then the LJD took a stab at an after midnight gig at Candy Bar. No reports in yet on those adventures.

It looks like a quiet weekend coming up, and perhaps my health can last for more than a day at a time. Preparing for a big finish for the CSP's current trajectory: Siem Reap on 11 - 13 March, Maxines on 20th, and 3 dates in Hong Kong to go out with a bang … before coming back for more in August.

See you about.

Pilgrims and Keppers: 18 - 20 February

It was another thumping night on Thursday as The Hellhounds took to the stage at Sharky Bar, pumping through the weird, twisted and wonderful repertoire that keeps growing funkier.  Mythical Dude managed to break some kind of record with broken strings, showing real dedication to his endless quest for justifying the employment of a personal string-changing roadie.  We welcomed to the stage one Johnny Pilgrim who played some rattling rambling 1952 National guitar chug-chug excitement and took even the wheel to lead us through It's all over now - because the best performances are the unrehearsed ones.

On Saturday the Cambodian Space Project took its outreach programme to Kep.  After a set at the local Ecole Francaise, where I played official photographer, we headed for Kukuluku on the water, and set up for a big night.  Embarrassed by numbers, despite the absense of Bong Thom, we assembled with a three-guitar, two bass, accordion, drum and percussion line-up ... while the carnival.  A couple of punching sets, with a mystery bass player showing up at the end of the first, looking something like Santa Claus' kid brother, and playing the crap out of the funky band favourite, Miss you.  We also hurriedly rehearsed and brought to the stage a new song, Pan Ron's I'm unsatisfied, and the next morning the intrepid production crew headed out to shoot a music video for it.

Here's a couple of shots from later in the day, when the band got to stand around and look interesting.  Perched atop a crab, for example ....  photos courtesy of the fabulous Marc Eberle, space project documentarist.

Look out for the video soon.

This Thursday: Hellhounds at Sharky Bar

This Friday: CSP plays Khmarnival in Sihanoukville ... flamenco at Equinox on Friday night -- Jose de Lopera (guitar and vocals) and Mark Chattaway (mandolin) and maybe Eric on percussion

This Saturday: Stiff Little Punks at Sharky, supported by Lazy Jazz Drunks

See you near a stage soon

Happy New Year of the Tiger: 11 - 14 February

The long long weekend began with The Hellhounds on Thursday night at Sharky Bar. Another in a series of incremental changes to the sound, as the rhythm section gets to know the material and begins to take liberties, funking things up a bit and getting a bit of wildfire tearing through the list. We had a most vociferous and indulging crowd along, encouraging us to put that extra bit in (and I'm not just talking about the bluecheese and bacon burgers).


On Friday night the Lazy Jazz Drunks returned to the stage -- the first gig since the gunshot -- playing a birthday party at the Pickled Parrot. With the assistance of a prepared-beforehand setlist, and despite the insane new year traffic and the lack of a guitar strap for Tall Tom, and with the Swedish Ambassador on bass rather than keyboard, we burst into action with a good sound (applause at the soundcheck!) and a dancing crowd for a couple of decent sets until the PA speakers unexpectedly gave up about 20 minutes too early. Still, it was fun while it lasted.

But then things got really serious -- I hopped on a moto down to Tamarind on 240 Street, where the Mekong Pirates were crammed into a tiny space for a special send-off concert for Marion and Dom. Even unamplified the size of the group means the sound is big. They'd been playing for a while by the time I got there, and the place was rocking. Dancers were shaking and swaying in the narrow space between the band and the wall, drinkers were sneaking inbetween the dancers and the band to get to the bar, the crowd spilled out into the street. Funky Phnom Penh indeed!

Then the Cambodian Space Project hit the road on Saturday for the Lunar New Year, heading south down into Takeo Province to a small village to play a ricefield special. A huge wedding PA was brought in for the occasion, food and beer laid on and we were generally treated royally. Srey Thy was not so well, but soldiered on for a long set that in the absence of our usual three-strong guitar army found me playing six-string, and I proceeded to pull out some Chic-like funky rhythms over the dub reggaeish grooves. And in a new first, we added The Breton Bandit on piano accordion, and even had Godfather L, carried away by the excitement and the anonymity, making an unexpected return to the stage after 20 years of avoidance. But what happens in the ricefield stays in the ricefield.

D'Sco: The Geckos of Love, with bonus guest drummer Bong Sak, then tore up the night with a prolonged bluesrock bashing interspersed with growling sweetnesses to the general bewilderment of the crowd, the Swedish Ambassador pumping out some hot licks and tasty wah-wah.

On Sunday we stayed on the road, heading out to Chroy Chongvar to play a great big extravagant birthday party. A timely visit to the doctor had Srey Thy raring to go, even pushing the tempos along aggressively. Tired but rejuvenated by an enthusiastic and audience (there was even some very brave interpretive dance going on during Whisky Cambodia, good to see) we played long and hard and … actually, we just had a bloody good time. We dispersed into the night in three tuktuks, with The Breton Bandit squeezebox-serenading us across the Japanese Bridge, and the PA truck loaded to the sky with well-travelled gear, and came to land at a little place on 172 Street where I eventually left the crew to their own devices. Unfortunately, some of us have day jobs.

Here's looking forward to the Space Mission to Kep next weekend, and the return of The Lovely Irene.

Happy new year of the Tiger, let it be a bold and courageous one.

Rooftops of Phnom Penh; raised, appraised and launched from: 4 - 7 February

The first in the Hellhounds' Spitting, Drooling and Snarling February Thursdays Tour of Sharky's kicked off the weekend with bonus new tunes, an involved audience and even some dancing over by the pool table.  The new commitment to harmony vocal sounds is really starting to pay off, particularly with Mythical Dude's encouragement that we include Dead Flowers in the list - it sounded like we'd been playing it for years, rather than never before. 

Friday night the Cambodian Space Project played al fresco on the rooftop at Studio 182, an evening characterised by the appearance of a small army of sound-technical personnel who dashed around underfoot plugging and unplugging things as the night draped itself around us.  An extended soundcheck grew gradually into a sound ... not entirely sure it was a dramatic improvement - but my ears are not always to be trusted.  A large, dancey crowd enjoyed a set and a half of crazy psychedelic Khmer space rock before the neighbours complained and we had to bring the party to a close.  We started it up again on Saturday night under the headline Whisky Cambodia at La Croissette.  Again, I was fortunate enough to be able to sit out a few numbers and enjoy the band from the front, with Bong Sak thumping the skins for us: somehow we were in the very rare state of having the same lineup on successive gigs. 

But this lineup is about to change again, as the Cambodian Space Project is temporarily losing one of its khosmonauts:  The Lovely Irene is preparing to sail on the evening tide, undertaking a project to further economic links between Cambodia and Western Europe, also to spy and search out trade secrets with other Space Projects to assist with improving the Khmer design, which is currently largely restricted to attaching a rocket to a tuktuk.  The irreplaceable elegant lefthanded hat-wearing charm that brought such a bloom to the front line of the band will be missed by all of us.  We wish her well, bid her safe passage and fair winds, with the unspoken trust that the fairest of these winds will be those that float her back to us.  To mark her departure, crowds were assembled, two boats were lashed together, and the Cambodian Space Project clambered aboard to send her off in style on a Sunday cruise of the Tone Le Sap.  A fiercely good time was had.  Now, the next project is how to organise playing on a boat roof .... a launch pad for a most spectacular liftoff.

The friends, the road, the magic: 28 - 31 January

It was the last Thursday in January, and the last date of the Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger Hellhounds 2010 Tour of Sharky Bar.  And the playing was of a highest uber-ian quality, and the audience was keen and engaged, and the Mythical Dude was standing up, and Bong Thom was having out of body experiences, and the Swedish Ambassador was grooving it up, and Jimmy Hellhound was howling and cussing and there may or may not have been some cowbell, and there was certainly some awesome harmonising, like a bunch of old country folk sitting around on someone's porch with big clay bottles of homemade cider ... and they saw that it was good.  

And lo they did book the Hellhounds for another month of Thursdays!  This will be known as the Sharky's Scratch, Snort, and Drooling Blues Sessions, but will probably still involve blue cheese and bacon burgers at certain junctures.

Friday night was the annual Green Night at META House, an environmental awareness event, with a number of presentations on Copenhagen, Tonle Sap fisheries and solar lighting, and some musical interludes courtesy of singers from Cambodian Living Arts (a first for karaoke at META House) and the now-you-seen-them-now-you-see-them-again Cambodian Space Project.  The CSP as usual played with too many people, too loud, for too long, had too much fun, and had to be dragged off the stage with shepherds crooks.  So why are we all so happy?  

Because Space Commander Bong Jay won a solar light.  Because it was a great night.  Because the neighbour didn't stop by to tell us to shut up.  Because ...

Because the next morning we all got on a bus and headed down to Otres Beach, Sihanoukville, to play Saturday night on the beach between Mama Ying Yang and No Name while it was still possible to do so (i.e. prior to evictions).  We got to soundchecking as the sun went down, looking out over the water, pulling out our collective hair over the difficulties of managing generators, wedding-size PA stacks, bus-sized amplifiers -- and this was a stripped-down, low-fat, streamlined machine of drums, bass and guitars with nothing too complicated going on.

We played a good solid sweaty hour-plus-long set (much of which no one can actually remember) to a beach full of dancers in various stages of enjoyment, from the fanatical to the merely engaged.  Was there some fire twirling going on nearby?  Waves broke gently on the beach, relentless and soulful like the Swedish Ambassador's bass playing.   Some beautiful Apsara dancing broke the chain of rock'n'roll, but then CSP played a rather crisis-ridden set (even less of which can be remembered) for about 45 minutes, which seemed to work by sheer force of personality rather than any musical chops, before we imploded under our own weight and had to disperse to the bar and to sleep.  Some good tunes though, and we note an increasing tendency towards the epic and anthemic which may have to be closely monitored.  The Our Biggest Fan award goes to The Baron Bruno, who later enthused about listening while indulging in the luxurious expanse of the Gulf of Siam under the full moon to the howling and the pounding ... we could all have been anywhere that night, but we were where we would have chosen.  Blue benevolent ghosts were watching over us. 

Sunday came, and with it a busload of orphans who frolicked on the beach and the sand and were treated to a double bill of D'Sco: The Geckos of Love (unrehearsed, unshaven, and exremely willing) and the Cambodian Space Project (ah, beach life ... from the bed to the bar to the sea to the stage to the bar ... repeat when necessary).  The gleeful performance of Srey Thy, the bouncing of Gildas McSwashbuckle, the effortless swaying of The Lovely Irene, the fierce guitar of the Space Commander, the all-encompassing Swedish Ambassador, the enthusiastic but flawed self ... from the rear of the stage the silhouettes were sharp against the shining sea, the music lifting off into the air like hello-aliens-here's-a-time-capsule-of-Otres-Beach, on a mission to the stars.  Coming soon, at the speed of sound, to a constellation near you.

A quiet weekend for once: 21 - 22 January

The Hellhounds were glad to welcome the Swedish Ambassador back on bass playing & hat wearing duties on Thursday night at Sharky's. It was great to have my rhythm section buddy back filling in the holes that I leave behind in the grooves occasionally. We slipped into the old patterns as easily as we downed the bacon and blue cheese burgers beforehand. Now, if we can only get a couple more channels in the mixer, the vocals can gather together as well ... expect some new songs when you drop in this Thursday.

Friday night I dropped in at The Cavern and chanced across Shangri-la, a cross-cultural trio made up of Russian Dave and some very good young Khmer players, a drummer and a keyboard player/singer. They played a well-rehearsed, tidily arranged collection of songs, and seem to walk the fine balance between pleasing both expat and local audiences. I'd like to see more fire, but hopefully that can be added once they're up and running. Oh, and in the contemporary Phnom Penh music tradition, there was some great hat wearing. The Cavern are promoting live music Friday nights at present, and I am looking forward to seeing what turns up.

Subsequently on Friday I popped by at Memphis to catch up with the mysterious Repris de Justesse, about whom nobody seemed to have any information at all, and was most disappointed to find it was just another 70s covers crowd-pleaser touring band - perhaps that's harsh, but I allowed them a song and a half to fail to impress me and left. Bad timing, really: I had to get up the next morning and move house. 

(Invasion of) Australia Day on Tuesday - Cambodian Space Project live at Snow's (Maxine's) across the river from sundown!

From burger-fuelled hounds to a cake for a pachyderm, via piracy: 14 - 17 January

Another big weekend kicked off with the continuation of the Hellhounds' January Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger Thursdays Tour of Sharky Bar that continues to bring blues to the blue and troubles to the troubled. Canadian Dave once again sat in for the Swedish Ambassador, who was a little jet lagged and assigned to bar-propping-up duties, but did take over the drums for a few numbers in the second set. As usual the adrenalin-pumping relentless machine that is the Hellhounds chalked up a few wins and a few losses, but ended on a high, such that the Mythical Dude, he of the sweet notes and deep deep bass, was left begging for more tunes. I'm told he returned to Sharkys the next night to let his guitar gently weep and wail some more, in the presence of Lost Highway.

On Friday night Equinox held its fourth birthday party, kicking off the show with a singer/guitarist whose name I didn't catch, followed by the debut of a brand new band (some familiar faces, and some new) Cacash and Los Poporks: bass, drums and percussion, keyboard, trumpet, flute, guitar and Satchmo-meets-Serge Gainsbourg vocals. They gave us a kind of jazz/funk stew that ranged from French-ish Django-ish standards at high speed to a very funky reading of a Herbie Hancock tune, the title of which escaped me then and continues to elude me.

Hot on the heels of Los Poporks came the Cambodian Space Project. Unfortunately we started without soundchecking, and encountered the familiar problem of getting the vocal to soar above the psychedelia. Our in-house carney-barker, Aussie Ken, kept the patter up while we twiddled knobs, switched cables, spluttered and swore. Once we solved the volume issue (unfortunately shedding some cosmonauts along the way), however, the rocket took off with resounding force, and the crowd -- which was substantial, and had been blocking tuktuk passage along Golden Street for a few hours already -- only seemed to get larger and louder. Charlie Wat Phnom pushed the groove along , The Lovely Irene made her electric debut with a blue guitar with go-faster white stripes, and Srey Thy charmed the assembled throng once again.

The crowd -- and the band -- was even larger and even louder the following night when the Mekong Pirates played FCC, their final gig with this line-up as guitarist Marion is returning to France. Once again pushing physical boundaries of the stage, the Pirates kept playing and playing until half the audience was dancing. I love the swing and sway of the Phnom Penh Horns, the rhythmic interplay of the drums and percussion, the bouncing of Gildas McSwashbuckle, the Apsaric sway of Mom … we were also treated to a brass invasion of the dance floor, and some thumping funk headed by guest The Fabulous Ms Esther.

But still the weekend was not over. Sambo the elephant turned 50, and a party was held at Wat Phnom, somewhat to her bewilderment I expect. Even more to her bewilderment was the appearance of a six-piece acoustic version of the Cambodian Space Project, leading the singing of Happy Birthday before launching into a last-minute rewrite in the form of I'm 50 (and boy is it hard to sing "haksep chnam" twice fast without spitting). After the cake cutting, the CSP reassembled for some more tunes, surrounded by a crowd of mostly Khmer onlookers.

So now I've finally achieved one of my childhood dreams: to play drums for Khmer tunes at an elephant's birthday party wearing a pink t-shirt.

See you soon -- watch out for Cambodian Space Project special Australia Day show at Snowy's over the river.

From Hell(hounds) to Prey Veng ... and back: 7-10 January

The Hellhounds are playing Thursday nights at Sharky's in January - guaranteeing an early start to the weekend for the next few weeks. With the added bonus that they have a full drum kit installed - this not only makes it less of a lugging activity for me to move in and move out, but gives me a little more colour to play with than the old snare-hihat combo.  The Mythical Dude had some jolly nice things to say about my added extras this week.  Microphones were the issue of the week, but with a little moving about we were able to cook along very nicely.  Aside: it seems Sharky's are getting serious about live music right now: Check out their plans for the rest of the month!

Friday night META House celebrated their third birthday with a packed out rooftop party featuring one of the more exotic line-ups that the Cambodian Space Project has been able to come up with so far.  Featuring the debut of The Lovely Irene on left-handed guitar, Gildas McSwashbuckle on right-handed guitar, Eric on effortlessly tasteful percussion, plus the lilting strains of Khmer clarinet player Bun Hong (along with regulars Space Commander Bong J, Aussie Ken, monkosmonaut Ratha and the ever-charming Srey Thy) (oh, and self)  we entertained long past our allotted timeslot ... particularly with the extremely special appearance of Charlie Wat Phnom on tight-as-a-gecko's-clacker drums.  Asia Life Guide has put up some great pics from the night.

And so the next morning, The Cambodian Space Project set off for our next venture, a mission to Srey Thy's village in Prey Veng to play a concert in a rice field - with the assistance of an $80 collection from the META House audience, we purchased, delivered and handed over a brand new generator for the village.  In the last of the afternoon light we played for half an hour to a large but mostly bemused crowd; the feedback was that we weren't loud enough, so when we went back on to play in the dark, lit by a single fluourescent tube that was largely covered in mosquitos, we cranked it up and attempted to get the sound louder than the nearby wedding.  I think we managed it .... then it was back to the house for acoustic guitars and djembes until late, stretching from Ros Sereysothea to Neil Young to something in Khmer that was awfully similar to She'll be coming 'round the mountain to Del Shannon to Tom Waits ... a lot of old fashioned hooting and hollering and some pretty sore fingers.  I hope to add some photos in the coming days.

Like this one:

Penhstock Blue Moon New Year: 31 December

On the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, and marking the end of 2009, Sharky's outdid themselves with a sensational night.  No less than six bands, made up of around 20 performers, playing from 9 pm through to 2 am.  It was great not only to see several bands I've not been able to catch before, but also to be a part of such a friendly and enjoyable crowd. 

The night kicked off with the inimitable Bum'n'Draze who, we were told, had that day achieved the distinction of having a box of their CDs stolen from the seat of a car.  Be on the lookout for (a) pirated Bum'n'Draze albums at your local CD shop and (b) young Khmers turned on to their crazy Scandinavian subgrunge.  As the fella said: we'd rather be heard than paid.  And heard they were:  with two guests along, a third Finn who played some cool trumpet (never heard Sabbath's Paranoid with horns before) and Gildas McSwashbuckle contributing some mean guitar.  The throbbing madness was brought to a close with the destruction of a tv set.  All in a day's work.

Following on, out of France and Kampot, came JP and the Nurses, a very cool little outfit playing some post punk pop including covers of Zombie, a deliciously mangled Sweet dreams are made of this, and even Gildas McSwashbuckle and I contributed some backing vocals for With or without you.   Then with a minor change of line-up we enjoyed the Happy Cockroaches, playing a mostly French set with similar tight rhythms and a more continental punky feel.  I especially enjoyed I will survive. 

The Stiff Little Punks were in fine sweating form, again proving to be more than the sum of their parts.  The highlight of their set was undoubtedly the closer:  Holiday in Cambodia, of course. 

The boogie blues rock of Lost Highway took over the stage next, and they brought in the new year with their usual brand of enthusiastic sound: loud guitar, honking harp, augmented by (unfortunately   a bit lost in the mix) keyboard.  A broken guitar string created an opportunity for Tall Thom to show off some licks, and Ian the Punk contributed some vocals.

The Hellhounds were last on the bill, and we had some pretty hard acts to follow.  The crowd seemed to be on our side, though, and we cranked through some of our louder, faster stuff with Canadian Dave filling in on bass in the absence of the Swedish Ambassador.  After a while the stage filled up with Lost Highway personnel and the jam was on: I recall Stormy Monday and Ian the Punk helping out on a boisterous Honky Tonk Women - the night's not over until someone's played HTW.  And so went the jam until 2, when the curfew kicked in; the only downside of the night, as I'm sure the groove could have kept cruising for at least another hour.  But maybe it's not such a bad idea to finish when it's still good.  


There are already some great photos over at the Sharky's page; less impressionistic than these offerings.  


Thanks to the Sharky's crew for putting on the show, for making it work so smoothly, and making it so much fun to be a part of.   Penhstock continues with Lost Highway on 1 Jan and Plan B (from Australia) on 2 Jan.   


Seeya near a stage somewhere in 2010.

The view from behind the drums

Mostly about a boat ride: 4 - 6 December

Another busy weekend as we lurch towards Christmas, opening with the Lazy Jazz Drunks at Huxley's on Friday night in what may well be the last performance with the Swedish Ambassador before his winter hibernation.  The unit proves to be getting at once looser and tighter - jazz influences are increasing in the form of the Ambassador's chord substitutions and my insistence on turning the end of a song into the beginnning of the next one.  The crowd was a little thin, it being a first Friday and the damn joker draw continuing to capture the imagination of punters, but those that were there seemed to enjoy themselves; although, as Tall Tom pointed out at one point, not as much as the band.  Still, we had a guest apprentice drummer, an impromptu Riders on the Storm, and a late finish.

Saturday was going to be a punter's night for me, but events conspired against this.  A pick up band comprising of Aussie Ken, the Swedish Ambassador, Phil the Fiddler and myself clambered onto a Tonle Sap boat late in the afternoon to provide entertainment for the children of an orphanage called Little Hearts (on the far side of the river, about 2 km north of the Japanese Bridge).  The kids had been taking part in PhnomPenhPhoto, assisting a couple of photographers to display their work at several locations around the city.  For the first half hour the kids sat quietly and ate while we played a range of stuff that we thought we all might know - Cottonfields, Goodnight Irene, Dead Flowers - as we wandered in that boatish way southwards.  By the time we were turning around to head north again, the dark was falling, and the kids were starting to take notice, and we had an inquisitive audience.  With the help of some tunes like Stuck inside of Phnom Penh with the Memphis Blues Again (It's not the Mississippi, it's the Mekong) and the perennial Johnny B. Goode, pretty soon the deck was a sea of gleeful dancers.  Aussie Ken had brought some hand percussion and a slew of old harmonicas, which only added to the fun.  It was magic.  Eventually a broken guitar string (the only one of the whole weekend) brought the band to a stop, but the night then turned into a 'try an instrument' session, as one after another the children took turns playing violin, drums, guitar and mandolin.  Eventually the recorded dance music came on, and the dancing continued as energetically as ever, as we headed up the river to the orphanage.  We poured off the boat and up the riverbank to their home, where there were some final remarks and thanks, then the volunteers returned to the boat and with a little instrument swapping we played as we all cruised back to town.

Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Little-Hearts/163479952110?v=info&ref=mf    or http://www.littlehearts.be/           Special thanks to Bart and Jean-Francois for getting the event on, and to Guitar Steve for being the liaison from his sickbed.


And so the night turned into eating, drinking and more playing, with the Swedish Ambassador giving drumming lessons to booksellers on the riverside, and some last acoustic fun at a somewhat reluctant little Khmer place near the Night Market.


The night was not over, and there was still time to catch a handful of songs at The Tree on 118 St by the Stiff Little Punks, who I can strongly recommend if you like it loud and fast.  They put on a fearsome show and I will be looking forward to catching more than half a set sometime soon.


The Hellhounds rode into Talkin' to a Stranger on Sunday for a couple of tight, energetic sets notable for some very tasty playing from Guitar Steve and the public debut of a new set of strings on the axe of Jimmy Hellhound.  The new material keeps rolling in, look out for some more unfamiliar tunes in the coming weeks.


I heard mixed reports about the two bands that played at FCC over the weekend, and was disappointed at missing the Khmer band at the Bodega.  Do we have any roving reporters that can bring me up to speed? 


See you in the funny papers.

Pink Suit weekend: 19 - 22 November

The weekend kicked off early, with the Hellhounds taking the stage at Sharky's, pushing through two solid sets despite some illness in the ranks that threatened to derail proceedings earlier in the day. If you haven't caught up with the extended, rhythm section version of the Hellhounds yet ... well, you should.  It's better each week.  

Friday night saw the Lazy Jazz Drunks take over upstairs at Huxley's, overcoming some technical issues (such as the absence of a second guitarist, disintegrating drumsticks, and the need to go out and find extra mics) to raise the roof in the way that only the Drunks can.  The Swedish Ambassador was doing his damnedest to put the Jazz back in the LJD, and after the crowd thinned out to go to Walkabout for the big draw things got looser, culminating in a prolonged stopping-all-stations jam on Whole Lotta Love with Ian throwing in lyrics from any song he could think of, and I think several that he couldn't think of.  The Drunks will be at Rory's on Saturday 28th trying to be as quiet as possible, and back at Huxley's on the 5th. 

For a complete change of pace, Saturday night's first birthday party for Chinese House was a much mellower affair.  The occasion called for something special, and it became the debut of The Panthers, a new project that the Swedish Ambassador and I have dreamed up:  the quieter, mellower side of D'Sco: The Geckos of Love, with an emphasis on standards and ballads, a chance for him to play keyboards and a chance for me to sing rather than play guitar and to wear a pink suit and hand out roses to beautiful women.  Stick around, that sort of stuff happens all the time.  So we captivated the crowd for an hour or so, taking the usual opening night nerves in our stride, before being joined by Ritchy on guitar and vocals (and switching to bass and drums) to provide some live music for a herd of swing dancers (is that the appropriate collective noun?  perhaps a press of swing dancers, or a swirl of swing dancers) who put on a very enjoyable show (including an intriguing solo number Cupid's Arrow).  The evening then degenerated into pre-recorded music ...

On Sunday D'Sco: The Geckos of Love were back to basics at Talking to a Stranger, relaxed with less equipment and just two guitars.  We played the game where I play songs that Dan has never heard (and in some cases I've never played in public, or indeed at all) and he does his best to keep up, and usually does dazzlingly well.  In the second set I played half an hour's worth of my own songs, at the strong encouragement of some gentlemen at the bar, feeding my interest in putting together a band to play original material next year, to test the theory that punters are interested in such a thing.  A quiet night, but by no means unpleasant. 

I gather there was a band at The Cavern on Saturday night which from reports sounds quite interesting.  Anyone see them? 

Seeya round the traps

Solo, Salsa, and then Swinging: 6 - 8 November

As Water Festival receded like a king tide, the Swedish Ambassador headed for the coast, and the Geckos of Love had a few days off.  Consequently I had the rare opportunity to check out what other people were doing:  but it seems everyone else was out of town as well.  Friday night I found Patrick at the Velkommen Inn, wrestling a little with the equipment, but otherwise playing a confident and tuneful  mix of songs to a decent and at times enthusiastic crowd.  Saturday night I was encouraged/dragged to the institution that is FCC to witness what was billed as 6 authentic Cubans, which was not so much half a dozen fine cigars as four musicians and a drum machine playing Latin to an dancing-oriented audience.  My first reaction was not so much Buena Vista Social Club as Miami Sound Machine but I decided that was a bit harsh.  Not really my thing - tight and slick but with the passion painted onto the sound rather than arising from it - but people were enjoying it.  And it was certainly a pleasurable experience walking home down the empty street next to the Palace with the sound humming in the air all the way through to St 19. 

On Sunday night I was back behind the small kit with the extended Hellhounds, cooking through a couple of really good sets at Talking to a Stranger that had first the kids and then the assembled adults dancing about gleefully.

This coming weekend look out for Australian blues legend Phil Manning at Chow and FCC (Hellhounds supporting); the following weekend Lazy Jazz Drunks will be dismantling Huxleys on Friday, and the 1st anniversary celebrations at Chinese House on Saturday, which will include the debut of Phnom Penh's newest and possibly classiest duo The Panthers. 

See you around the traps.

Winding up at Velkommen & selling SIMs: 30 October - 3 November

Water Festival of course changed the musical landscape over the weekend.  Friday and Saturday were relatively quiet nights, even more so for me as I had to sit out of the Hellhounds final Velkommen Inn gig on Friday due to a damaged wrist brought on by an ill-advised participation in a game of football with some kids, which just goes to show that exercise is bad for you.   A few guest vocalists rounded out the Beer O'Clock Band's performance, and then the Hellhounds carried on with a guest drummer fresh off the plane from Australia for the first set, and then the Swedish Ambassador taking the thwacking duties and Dave of Misspent Yooth sitting in on bass. 

Saturday night I was back in action, and was able to drum for the Lazy Jazz Drunks' public rehearsal at The Cavern, which then evolved into some impromptu jamming with Tom, Russian David and Khmer wunderkind TR. 

Sunday and Monday D'Sco: The Geckos of Love shared a stage outside Riverhouse for Water Festival with some Khmer entertainers, promoting one of the local mobile phone companies.  We added our particular shade of lusty, bluesy noise to the cocktail of uptempo dancing, slow balladeering and endless Khmer prattling about special deals by a guy who could speak underwater.   The view from the stage was sometimes formidable, not really our regular audience.

 

 

 

Special thanks go to a group of young Aussies on Monday night who called up AC/DC, allowing me to pull out my guilty pleasure You shook me all night long, and then not only demanded an encore of Johnny B. Goode, but turned on a great bit of rock'n'roll dancing that delighted the crowd ... or perhaps astonished is a better word.  In any case, a lovely bit of magic. 

Tuesday turned into a bit of a washout, thanks to the rain, but we did play on at the afterparty until the beer ran out, playing Chuck Berry music and trying to find some songs that we had in common with the partiers (and coming up with Hotel California and Take me to your heart).

November is here, and it's going to be full.  Catch you around the traps.

Hellhounds (Extended) versus Sharky's: 26 October

The Hellhounds gig at Sharky's last night turned at almost the last minute into an Extended Hellhounds gig.  A rousing soundcheck of an impromptu Honky Tonk Women set the pace for a lively night that was notable for only minor string breakage, an encouraging level of applause, an attack of photography (gotta get some of those posted soon) and closing with a request for a cajun number.  We were only too happy to oblige.  We even had some of the girls shuffling along with the sound. 

The Sharky's blog now has photos up.

Rain, rugby and wolf whistles: 22 - 25 October

The weekend began, as usual, with D’Sco: The Geckos of Love performing quietly but enjoyably at Sayon Silklounge (on St 19 about 50 metres north of St 240), a night made quieter than usual, incongruously, by the crashing thunderstorm which cleared the streets most effectively and made sure everyone stayed home.

Street 104 was busy on Friday night, as billowing clouds of rugby players in black-and-white-sharkskin patterned shirts gathered and dispersed, piling in and out of tuk-tuks and bars. These individuals, however, were not there for the music, and there was a broad acreage of carpet viewable at the Velkommen Inn where the Hellhounds held forth; although it must be said that there were a number of patrons who sat on the street to watch the rugger lads and formed a small audience.

Undeterred, we whipped through a couple of sets, with the 5-piece ensemble (the Swedish Ambassador and I adding rhythm section to the existing 3-piece core band) continuing to improve its swing and groove, and myself making fewer glaring drumming errors.

Saturday night, however, at The Cavern on St 104, was something of a different story. The evening began with a short practice session for the Lazy Jazz Drunks, who after the normal rehearsal style of a few ropy numbers were playing pretty tight and getting a very favourable reception from the small crowd gathering around the bar. Many of these were wearing matching t-shirts, some kind of business mafia apparently (I assume rugby was involved somehow) but there were familiar faces attached so they were forgiven, particularly when they were clapping and cheering.

After the rehearsal the Swedish Ambassador and I took to the stage for our regular tomfoolery, pulling out some Supertramp on request from the floor as well as a keyboard-driven version of The Long Division, and Stuck inside of Phnom Penh with the Memphis Blues again (otherwise known as It’s not the Mississippi, it’s the Mekong) again proving that there is at least one band in the capital playing original material. Singer/guitarist D who had joined us the previous week returned for a solo set that included a brief a capella-with-drums moment when the power adruptly took a short break.

I for one was somewhat disappointed that I was missing the Khmer rock’n’roll band at Chinese House (the menace of gigging too much is not getting to be audience enough – can anyone enlighten us? Was it good?) However, the magic was about to blossom again on 104 Street.

At some point during the last set, with D'Sco back on the stand, Sir J encouraged a young Khmer guy up to play with us -- picture a youthful Khmer Marc Bolan in a schmick all-black strip with perfect stage-hair – who took us through Knocking on heaven’s door, Don’t look back in anger and a song in Khmer, with an ease and grace suggesting he’d been performing since he could walk. Then he announced that he would rather play drums, so D’Sco clicked into rock’n’roll mode, thumping out an only occasionally played original Som Chop! and a medley that started with Polk Salad Annie, passed through Bang a Gong and ended with a chorus or two of Little Queenie (as far as I recall).

Less than 24 hours later, the extended Hellhounds broke into a shuffle for the Sunday session at Talking to a Stranger, which led of course to the first flashes of lightning in the south east. At the end of the first set, which had included some new tunes briefly rehearsed that morning (including Got my mojo working, which may or may not refer to a small Japanese car, and Walking the dog, which benefitted from some participatory wolf whistling from the crowd) the rain arrived, forcing a rather longer break than expected and succeeding in keeping audience numbers low. Still, being Phnom Penh musicians, we are well trained at having a good time whether people show up or not.  We cooked nicely through the second set, chugging through as though we'd been playing together as a 5 piece for years, not weeks. 

What else went on that I missed because I was busy?