Brooke Palmer has been playing around in Phnom Penh for some years now, and LengPleng felt it was time to have a sit down to find out some of her back story – the ukulele, the singing, the looping and everything else.
LP: I was reading your Passing Chords mini-profile (2023) in preparation for this, and there I found the phrase that I recalled: “this little instrument changed my life”.
BP: Yes. It still is! I started my affair with the ukulele when I was living in China. It was one of those planet alignment things. They were becoming really trendy at the time, and there was an article a local magazine called That’s Shanghai talking about a street where there were lots of instrument shops – the photo they picked was a wall of ukuleles. I thought maybe I should get one of those. Then a few days later I went to one of my regular open mics, and on this particular night a Chinese multi-instrumentalist who lived in New Zealand, just in town visiting, brought a ukulele with him. I said: hey, can I just hold that for a second? Two days later I went and bought one. I had tried to play guitar but it’s just so big…
And I’m really a rhythm person. I sing, and all of the musicality is in that. So I taught myself ukulele, it came naturally, from a lifetime of working in music. I play really rhythmically, and that’s a lot of what drives the kind of music that I play. It took me a long time of having my YouTube channel and teaching people to realise that rhythm is not easy for everybody. Some people have a lot of difficulty with that.
Then I started playing whenever and wherever I could. Shortly after I got it I took it along to the jam night at a really popular live music club called The Melting Pot, one of my best friends was one of the resident singers there – most of the musicians were American, and some Chinese. Bass player D-Notes (shout out to D-Notes!) said come on, we’ll do Somewhere over the Rainbow. I had brought it with me just to show them – look guys, I got a ukulele – but then it was come on up… I was terrified. It’s wild to think about that moment, and then everything that happened afterwards. Later I was going along to an acoustic strumming circle every Sunday at an Irish pub and just playing along, and I was approached by an Irish band and said hey, do you want to do a gig with us on Tuesday? Okay!
In China at the time foreign musicians were offered a lot of commercial gigs – weddings, real estate marketing events, 100 day baby parties. You would get a group of people together, figure out five songs to do, and wing it, get paid a lot of money to play for 20 minutes. Pretty dress, lots of make-up, high heels – as long as you look the part. And I did that for the next three years that I was in China, probably 300 events. I really miss that stuff, it was so much fun. You would never know what to expect. I remember a Hello Kitty themed wedding. They would usually have 500 to 1,000 guests, and as much entertainment as they could book. And they would just turn us off in the middle of a song – finished now! Go early, hang out all day, play for 20 minutes and go home.
LP: You came from a classical music background – this is a completely different world.
BP: For a vocalist, there’s a lot more in common between classical singing and soul and RnB than with pop or rock. It’s just the kind of music I like anyway. Most of my influences are Black musicians. When I started getting into popular music I was singing folk and bluegrass and Americana. I played uke for a long time in Shanghai with a band that played Irish folk songs – I kind of cut my teeth, because I was just winging it most of the time.
The last time that I was really intentionally working with classical music was probably 2003, and then nothing – karaoke for fun once in a while – and I had no direction in music whatsoever. Once you spend five minutes out of the classical game you’re out – it’s like being an Olympic athlete. You have to be really disciplined, you work really hard for not much return.
LP: Was that a conscious decision to walk away from the classical world?
BP: I love it, and I still sing it for fun at home. The physicality of singing – the rewards from classical singing are more visceral, and I think that’s why people respond to it a lot, when they don’t know that it’s coming. But I had problems with my vocal cords, right after I graduated from university, and then I went abroad for a year as an au pair in Germany. I actually found an American vocal coach, and I worked with her a couple of times a month. And this was after four intense years at university – I was not a disciplined classical music student, and there were way better technical singers among my peers. I was having really subtle problems with my vocal chords; I applied to Master’s in Opera programmes but I didn’t make it into any of them. I just wanted to travel, and party!
Before the ukulele I had no musical direction, I wasn’t writing or performing. The ukulele got me writing songs, which I hadn’t done before. I started the YouTube channel on a whim pretty much, I had no idea what I was doing – people were not teaching the songs that I wanted to learn, so I thought maybe somebody else wants to learn this stuff, so while I’m teaching myself I might as well show how I’m doing it. One of the first tutorials I did was for Super Freak by Rick James – on a challenge from a friend. Challenge accepted! The world’s funkiest ukulele channel was born.
LP: How did you get to Cambodia?
BP: I came for just a month in 2013 to do the usual tourist stuff, and started hijacking microphones everywhere. Hey, can I play a couple of songs in your break? When I got to Sihanoukville there was so much live music happening. I played at the open mic at the main music venue there at the time, Led Zephyr, and the owner said if you want to come back we’ll give you a paid gig. Then in 2014, after five years teaching in China, I was pretty burnt out on the North Asia city life, rampant capitalism, air quality, and I came back to Sihanoukville. For two solid years I was playing six or seven times a week for two or three hours, solo and with a band. And when people come on the channel and say: I want to play like you, how do you do that? I say you have to play 24 hours a week for two years. You have to practice. Nobody wants to hear that. I was here for three years, went to Thailand to decompress for four years, and then returned in 2022.
Somebody asked me recently when did you decide to become a musician? I can’t remember not being a musician, I can’t remember not trying to entertain people. I used to do little shows in the living room when I was a kid. And now I still do shows in my living room! For other people it’s their greatest fear – it’s survival for me, I have to do something in front of people. I want to change your life like that.
LP: Did you have a supportive family upbringing for all this?
BP: My parents gave me a lot of opportunities – starting with music classes at four years old. They never told me no, and I was supported in every little musical adventure I went on as a kid. There was a lot of emphasis on cultural literacy – my parents were antique dealers, and had a great appreciation for well-crafted things. It was important for us to learn about art and cultural history. They both had great taste in music, and great vinyl collections from two different eras – my mum was Woodstock generation (her favourite song is Feeling Alright by Joe Cocker), for my dad it was Ray Charles. They would cry when I sang in church and not admit it until years later. I’m very much my father’s daughter, and when I think about it I’m, like, I’m actually doing what my dad did when he opened the antiques shop – here are things that I like, come hang out with me and enjoy these things that I like. Here’s music that I like, come and appreciate this stuff that I like.
Lately I’ve been thinking that I’m so glad that I’m a creator, and my work is in creation. As hard as it is, being an artist and trying to make a living – I’m so glad that I do that.
I’ve had the experience of appreciating the path that I’ve chosen this year, while battling cancer and beating it. Mum said something really beautiful to me – the courage and strength you have has been really inspiring. But I know I would not have felt that way if I had not chosen my path by myself, whether it was artistic or not. I’m cancer free now, but when I was diagnosed seven months ago, everyone was saying you’re so positive and optimistic, so strong. But if I had lived my life according to some template that I was expected to fulfil I would not be feeling the same way right now. If this is going to kill me, at least I’ve been doing what the hell I wanted to do the whole time, and creating something to try to change people’s lives. That’s why I was able to be that person, doing what I’m supposed to be doing – spiritually rather than capitalistically.
Everyone talks about midlife crisis, but no one ever talks about midlife clarity. And I’m having it now too! Thanks cancer!
LP: Let’s talk about the looping thing and how it influences your shows.
BP: My number one of all time is Prince, and one of my number twos is Marc Rebillet, he’s my inspiration for looping. He improvises every show that he plays, a lot of it through crowd work. I discovered him in 2018 and saw him play at a festival in Thailand last March. He really took off during the pandemic, because he was livestreaming from home every day in Manhattan. He had a hotline for people to call in, they would have a chat, they would give him song ideas to improvise on. I thought this guy has it figured out – he’s just making music, entertaining people. . A lot of his stuff is kind of silly and wild, unhinged.
For my performances, the best moments are when people get involved, giving me ideas, and then they’re part of it. Even if it’s really stupid. Or when somebody gets on the mic – I’ll get them to say something silly, or if I hear something I might say come up here and say that. Or get somebody to play a beer bottle solo. Sometimes an instrumentalist will join me, mainly Preston on the keys. The stupid ideas are always the best, you feel the flow happening. I just want to entertain, make people dance and laugh. Silliness is way more important than people want to admit, especially in this political climate: silliness is actually a weapon right now.
Find Brooke acoustic this Friday at Botanico, next Friday 24 at The Vine and next Saturday 25 at Tropico. Next month at The Vine on Sunday 2 November (looping) and Dave Fest, M’Pai Bai Bay, Koh Rong Somleoun, 4 – 7 November.