Saigon Punk Chronicles : Soi Dau Lang Warm up

Another chapter in the Chronicles. As the scene in Saigon keeps expanding, more venues are beginning to host punk and hardcore shows, and this was the first one at Le Cafe Des Stagiaires in District 2. With multiple floors, this venue is able to have a show on one floor while having a completely different vibe on the rooftop. Think open air laidback cocktail vibes....And then think about a DIY punk show blasting on the floor just beneath. Endlessly amusing to watch those different worlds collide. Definitely saw a few interesting looks as the suited, booted and cocktail dresses passed by kids losing their shit to breakdown after breakdown.

On the lineup were Under Pressure, Empathize, HappyCo, and Hypertension. A good mix of heavy metallic hardcore with some mathy finger tappin’ shenanigans alongside some more post hardcore vibes between the mix of bands. It’s nice to see styles start to branch out within the whole DIY scene here and it’s just going to get better and better. Big ups to Ethos Collective, stay tuned for some fun news on this whole scenario.

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Frank Turner, 7uppercuts & Papa Lam

Another chapter in the Chronicles and what a chapter it was. The fine folks at Loud Minority put together an absolute banger of a show. Frank Turner boarded a plane in London, got off of the plane, and played a show a few hours later… If you didn’t know this, you’d have been well impressed by his performance and the energy in the room. Knowing this, it’s ever more impressive… What an absolute professional road dog.

Callum from 7uppercuts started the night off with Skeleton Goode as his backing band with his solo stuff under the name Papa Lam. Really looking forward to see how this progresses, fun stuff in kind of the same vein as Turner. 7uppercuts then got on stage and ripped it up setting up for an absolute barn burner from Frank Turner. The fact that a guy can get up on stage with an acoustic guitar and have people lose their minds like I was watching Bad Brains is quite honestly mind boggling. Can’t give this man enough credit. He played one crowd favourite after the next and ended things with Skeleton Goode coming back on stage as his backing band. As I watched from the balcony, it felt like I had stepped back in time and was watching one of the great punk shows of my youth. This type of energy in a room isn’t the norm so being able to see it in Saigon was pretty special.

For the photographers, these were shot on my Sony kit with a 28mm prime lens that I’ve not used in ages. Normally I’ll use a 18mm for these type of shows and get up close and personal, but opted for a bit of a different feel for this. Allowed for a nice little happy medium in this venue.

Papa Lam

7uppercuts

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Overpower

Another chapter in the Chronicles. A blend of local staples and couple of bands from Indonesia, this show felt like a party. Something’s changed in the scene here over the last couple of years and it really does feel like a proper hardcore scene these days. Kids be wild and mosh like it was their job. As I’m in no position to be participating in that shenanigans, I chose to keep to snappin’ photos. The line up consisted of Saigon’s Under Pressure, Kinh, Elbowdrop, Empathize, Cut Lon, Denpasar’s Kenya and Fraud coming out of Surabaya. I didn’t catch everyone, you know school night and all.. but the bands I saw all brought the heat. Rather than going through every band, just click on their links and go give them a listen. Now for the visual proof.

From the Archives : Furnace Fest 2022

As the final chapter in the current incarnation of Furnace Fest is just a couple of weeks away, I’ve gone back and looked at many of the photos I took in 2022 and reminisced about seeing old friends, making new ones and how the DIY punk scene has shaped every facet of my life since the day someone gave me that first Minor Threat record. While its super cliche to say we’re out of step, I truly believe that merry band of misfits and sense of friendship I found in the scene has made my life infinitely better.

So have a scroll through some of my favourite frames of the weekend and get ready for the final chapter. I’m super bummed I won’t be able to make the flight this year, but I’ll be there in spirit.

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 : Rock Fest

Although this wasn’t your classic DIY punk or hardcore show, it was certainly interesting to see hardcore bands play on a big stage with over the top production and I had to go out to support the homies in District 105 and check out a few other bands. A mixed bag of genres, Rockfest showcased both local and some international bands and its really good to see these types of events coming to Saigon more. Tons of bands played, and I took a boatload of images, but I’m going to limit it here to the bands that fall into the punk scene or at least close enough to the DIY scene to fit within this personal project. So, that being said, the images below are from Saigon’s District 105, and 18.18, The Flob and Thailand’s Annalynn and Defying Decay. I tried to shoot this a bit differently as the over the top production provided with about a bajillion different coloured lights which I find a bit visually noisy and takes away from the raw emotion of punk. Maybe I’m just an old head and love the way old black and white photos of live music look like…whatever. Anyways, to the images!

DISTRICT 105

ANNALYNN

THE FLOB

DEFYING DECAY

18.18

Saigon Punk Chronicles

It’s been far too long since I’ve been to a show and I feel like I’ve been neglecting my long term personal project, Saigon Punk Chronicles, so when I saw there was a show this past Saturday, I jumped at it. With work and travel, it’s been a whirlwind since… January. Going to shows keeps me in check, keeps me young at heart, and every time I go, the words of 7 Seconds get stuck in my head “I’m gonna stay young until I die!” Even with work and the everyday responsibilities, the legacy of punk and the scene still shapes who I am every day of my life. DIY, the merry band of misfits, forgetting the outside world and escaping into a community made by us, for us. It’s forever weaved into my DNA.

I didn’t catch the whole show, but I did catch Tariot, Bao, Low Fat, and Cut Lon. I’ve seen Tariot and Cut Lon before but didn’t know what to expect from the others. They both killed it and Low Fat, in particular was soooooo fun. They’re a Japanese outfit out of Bangkok and their energy was wild. Raw, loud and fast… just the way it should be.

For the photography folks, I decided I’d make life hard for myself, though not consciously. I’ve been having so much fun shooting with the Fuji x100v, I decided to give it a whirl shooting live music. I knew this could provide some challenges, and I wasn’t wrong. At all. Probably not the right tool for this type of job, and shooting with a fixed lens in such a high paced environment made for more misses than I’d even like to admit. That said, I don’t mind how gritty these are. I grabbed a tiny little speedlight I hadn’t used before and brought some extra batteries, but of course they weren’t the right size, so I had to crank the iso, shoot available light and hope for the best. Noisy, maybe not tack sharp, messy… I had to keep reminding myself, moment is more important that technical perfection. To let go… kinda the same idea of going to a show in the first place. To let go. Besides, punk is noisy, maybe not the cleanest, a bit messy. Just the way it should be.

Bao!

Low Fat

Tariot

Cut Lon

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Enter the Year of the Dragon

Another year end party and this one was a banger. I didn’t catch all the bands, school night ya know, but it was one of the funnest shows I’ve been to in ages. By the time Desolated went on, kids were hanging from the rafters and the stage was invisible under the sing along pile ons. Fucking amazing. When I first moved to Saigon, shows felt very different than they do now in the best possible way. It feels like a proper hardcore scene, though with some marked differences from the scene I grew up in. First, none of that stupid scene elitism. Everyone here, at least in my experience, is so down to earth, approachable, and welcoming. Secondly, the representation of women is far more than when I grew up. It’s so good to see.

The line up consisted of Desolated from the UK, Moneybag 1327 out of Kuala Lumpur, District 105, Diarsia, Elbow Drop, and Pizza Dua. I caught Diarsia, District 105, Moneybag 1327 and Desolated, so my apologies to the other bands!

Desolated

Moneybag 1327

District 105

Diarsia

Stage Dives and High Fives!