Saigon Punk Chronicles: The Metal Edition

Not really a hardcore or punk show per se, but this show still had a lot of overlap in the crowd. The bill consisted of Orca from the Philippines, Diarsia off their brand new release, Method, Obsess, and the Korean shred machine Oathean. I grabbed the Fuji x100v and an old speedlight and rolled the dice. These shows give me a chance to experiment with different set ups - multiple cameras, light set ups, techniques…No pressure if I shit the bed and they turn out awful, but at least I learned something, right?. That said, I don’t think I’ve run into any insurmountable challenges, and different tools yield different results. I wanted to shoot a bit more abstract images to bridge over from the usual dragged shutter and speedlight combo and I think they turned out interesting. Tried a bit of multiple exposure shenanigans. Essentially played around and threw everything at the wall to see what stuck. Maybe a bit artsy even..

Saigon Punk Chronicles: Year End Party with Slaughter to Prevail.

This year’s pre-Tet show lined up Russian heavy hitters Slaughter to Prevail and a whole host of regional support with Saigon’s Knife Sticking Head, Pick Supplier, District 105, and Infecated and Cambodia’s Doch Chkae all bringing the lunar year to a close with a bang.

As I got there, I caught the last couple of songs from Infecated, so I missed Knife Sticking Head and Pick Supplier, unfortunately. I’m sure they crushed it as they always get the kids moving. I’d never seen Infecated, and their blend of death metal brought the ruckus. Heads banged, horns were thrown up, breakdowns were moshed to…

Phnom Penh’s Doch Chkae took the stage following Infecated and straight up destroyed. I hope they play in Saigon sooner than later. I have a feeling there are much bigger things in store for these kids.

Next up, the homies, District 105 did their thing with their beat down hardcore moshy goodness. Circle pits, finger pointing, and a stage dive or 6.

Slaughter to Prevail rounded the show out. I don’t quite understand how their singer Alex gets his voice to do what it does, but it’s ridiculous. Couple that with super heavy breakdowns, crazy blast beats and a damn good stage presence and you always have a recipe for good times. That said, interestingly, their guitarist was absent and the guitar was a recording. Hopefully that’s not an indicator of any permanent changes and just a matter of temporary “shit happening.” Either way, still a great set and I can imagine it would be that much better once the guitar issue is sorted.

Can’t wait for what the new year brings. Let’s get it.

Infecated

Doch Chkae

District 105

Slaughter to Prevail