Siem Reap’s high season is off to a sound start with two music festivals planned for November, both involving the industrious Ian Croft, a former investment banker turned music studio entrepreneur.
First up is Punkacolypse, a new punk rock festival helmed by Cam PoiZen and aided by Croft, to be staged at X Bar on Saturday November 18 from 7.30 pm. Tickets including a drink are $5.
On the following weekend, the action shifts to Croft’s 60 Road Studios for the literally jam-packed, frenetic-free and five-hour seven-band Bon Om Touk Festival-cum-party kicking off at 6pm November 15. That’s a lot of action to be fitted into a five hour gig and Croft says, “I might have been a bit carried away there. In terms of squeezing everything into five hours, we have a little more work to do. And we plan to make it a bit more complicated with some clever lighting and a bit of projection mapping.”
Jammed in during the week between the festivals is live music with Joe & Jumping Jacks at Pomme, Open Mic at Laundry Bar, Sunday Sessions @New Leaf with Amok Soul and Cam PoiZen at the Welsh Consulate.
The festival date for Punkacolypse fits in with the touring schedule of the headline feature band Slang Poor Kids from Italy.
Doch Chkae band ready to thrash at Punkacolypse. Supplied
“They are a real throwback to the 90’s punk scene and they are on tour supporting their new album and single,” Cam PoiZen says. “So having them headline in Siem Reap is pretty awesome. With any luck this will lead to more bands wanting to play here.
“Then we have the bands Reign in Slumber, Doch Chkae and After God coming up from Phnom Penh – Reign in Slumber is a bit more on the hardcore side, same as After God. Doch Chkae is pretty much straight metal with a punk rock spirit, and we round out the line-up with a very original Siem Reap band, The Wildmen, a project by Rod Tolentino and Chema Rodrigez.
Punkacolypse is the brainchild of Cam PoiZen, an American event producer who hosts regular weekly sessions at Star Bar and the Welsh Consulate in Siem Reap, and long-time friend and punk aficionado Joshua Hiram Banks who, through his company Kumite which fights for the underground music scene regionally, is touring the Slang Poor Kids headliners
“Joshua reached out to me a few months ago and asked if I was still producing events and if I could help him put together a punk festival here,” Cam PoiZen says.
“There are a lot of bands that tour Southeast Asia and typically they play Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, but they almost never make a tour stop in Cambodia. So we had the idea of putting this place on the map as a tour destination.
Super Bon Om grooves from Scapegoat Candy. Supplied
“The X Bar venue is perfect for a punk show with the skate vert ramp on the roof and I’m very grateful that the owner Carlo is giving us a shot, as well as 60 Road Studios for providing the sound and lighting.”
The idea for the other festival, the Bon Om Touk party-style gig, evolved out of a conversation with Ian Croft and musicians about how to celebrate the music studio’s 8.5 year anniversary.
“Feedback from the last festival was very positive and it was really the musicians who motivated an 8 ½ year anniversary party,” Ian Croft says. “We had talked about it loosely, but members of the Japan Guitar Shop band loved the idea and we thought, why not? We do a lot of event management here and I enjoy hosting music. It gives us the opportunity to test some new ideas in a familiar environment.
“We have focused on independent musicians or musicians on smaller labels and we are really looking forward to it. I am really pleased with the line-up. I believe it is one of the best for Cambodia this year – some amazing bands with a huge following.”
And indeed the lineup, which for indie music lovers speaks for itself, includes the following bands:
Scapegoat Candy, Siem Reap’s own British indie rock band, has a strong music influence from Manchester in the 1990s and has been rocking Cambodia for four years
Geography of the Moon is a duo who got together in East London in the summer of 2016 and are largely influenced by bands from the 80s and the 90s, somewhere between psych rock, post punk, new wave and indie rock,
Kampot Playboys, a southern Cambodia band performing unique Khmer-folk-rock-fusion “with a twist of lime,” have been a mainstay of the independent music scene for over 10 years in Cambodia as well as at festivals in Singapore and Darwin.
Sam Rocker: the artist formerly referred to as she began performing in 2012 with the post-hardcore band ‘No Forever’ and he has released four albums and many more singles, combining a sweet powerful voice and rock sound. Sam will perform with session musicians at the Bon Om bash.
Japan Guitar Shop, formed in 2020, is a Phnom Penh-based rock, blues, and hip-hop band whose debut album, ‘Done You Right’, will be released in early 2024.
Joe and the Jumping Jacks played their first gig ten years ago for the Vibe Music Fest at Doors Phnom Penh. More than 50 talented musicians have played with this band over the years and in 2022 they recorded the ‘Best Damn Bar E.P.’
Jam Cha started jamming at the beginning of the crazy time that the pandemic represented as a way to cope with the lack of work and gigs. The band has a distinctive sound and a formula, and quickly became the most popular band in Siem Reap. Now set to conquer the world.
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