click here for an audio-visual look at the gig highlights

***for full gig listings jump to the bottom***

Greetings:

Tonight, Thursday, in Phnom Penh find the jazz jam with Dr George at The Deck, and Adam Marsland celebrates his birthday at Little Susie.  Cloud presents an audio-visual presentation Nitelight featuring Max Jones, and Muz Muskett hosts the open mic at Noisy Chili.  Later, The Extraordinary Chambers are at Oscar’s on the Corner.

In Phnom Penh on Friday Miss Sarawan is at Khmer Funk Sky Bar, Poca is at Botanico, Scott Bywater is at The Vine, Jack Lemon is at The Tin Hat and Grace Jenkins is at Cloud.  Stu Cottom is at The Silk Route and John & the Scallwags are at Hometown Hangout, while The Lark are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Kep, Bamboo Train are early at Art Bar and in Kampot the Jampot open mic at Karma Traders is hosted by PJ Nutting.  In Siem Reap, Millie & Kodi are at The Panthers Hut.

On Saturday in Phnom Penh, check out the Khmer-Japanese Drum Festival at Friends Futures Factory, the Healing House open mic with Savannah and Brooke at SP&U and the International Women’s Day celebration with Mirasol & Jed at The Deck.  Then there’s an open mic hosted by Guit George & Johnny L at Villa Grange, Packo’s Busking Kings are at Front Bar and Cambodia Soundbase are at Botanico.  Dr Salad out of Scotland (see our feature below) and Drunk on Champagne are at Seekers Spirits, while Metta Legita, Intan Andriana & Sharon Lui are at Au Marche and Kim & Co. are at Velvet.  Ace is at Little Susie, Rockustic are at Tropico, Kimberly Bugo is at Samai Rum Distillery and Alli G is at Rust.  Later and louder, Shake 79 are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  On the coast, Christian Herve is at The Wave: Kep West and Soselo Summer are at Soundgarden on Koh Rong.  In Siem Reap Vort-X are at The Pizza Garden.

Come Sunday, Lewis McTighe is at The Vine, Scott Bywater hosts the Sunday Sundowners open mic at Tacos Kokopelli, YGN Band is at Botanico and Stu Cottom is at Bar Oz.  Later on, Shaken Spirit are at Oscar’s on the Corner.  In Siem Reap, Vort-X play their farewell gig at Laundry.

If you’re new to town and/or looking for a starter gig, The Tin Hat want to hear from you:

Department of Let’s Try That Again

Angkor Wave (formerly Kampot Radio/Radio Oun) has nearly completed its relocation to Siem Reap, and will be relaunched on 1 April 2026 with a renewed committment to local and barang Cambodian music.  The first order of business will be the Top 40 Songs of All Time countdown fundraiser at Khmer New Year – nominations will be called for in the coming days and voting details released soon.

Also, Intan Andriana’s launch of her debut album, My Life In Jazz was rained out last Friday night and converted into a listening party.  A rescheduled concert has been announced for Sunday 15 March, also at Chew & Bash.  For more information, including ticketing, see below.

 

 

And!  It’s Bandcamp Friday again.  Support your local and international acts and make that purchase you’ve been putting off.

Department of New Releases

A video was released last week for 45 a round, by Tired Panda (the trip-hop project of Andrea Rubbio of Geography of the Moon) featuring Cove Aaronoff of Japan Guitar Shop.

For those with a taste for EDM, LengPleng has been contacted by NanoDaHeroux, an electronic music producer who recently released a Khmer-language EDM track: Unfortunate Love.

The LengPleng Interview

For all the right reasons – Dr Salad from Scotland

Coming to Phnom Penh this weekend, and to Siem Reap next weekend, is Dr Salad, an independent band from Edinburgh, Scotland, promising muscular power pop, rich with surfing guitars and vocal harmonies; they call it heavy romance.  Lewis McTighe (Drunk on Champagne, Little Thieves) and Colin Hodgkins (Japan Guitar Shop) are behind this latest bring-‘em-over project, and Lewis was good enough to sit down with LengPleng to explain the how, the what, and the why.  Band member Ewan also answered some questions.

Lewis:  I don’t really know exactly why this band occurred to me and not any other band in the world.  Since my days with JGS Colin and I have developed a pretty good professional relationship when it comes to putting on music events in Phnom Penh.  We have a good balanced skill set for that kind of thing – communication, organisation, that kind of stuff – where  most artistes don’t thrive; we like putting in the time and effort to make an event that best frames the art.

Read the full article here

Passing Chords – a few things you may not know about….

Mike & Margie / Arizona Roses / M&M / Desert Roses – they can be found playing at open mics across Phnom Penh for many months of the year.

Mike: I started playing music at the age of 7 for an elementary school class performance. At the age of 10 I started playing the clarinet and I played through high school before giving it up, which I regret as I really did love it. At the same time I was singing pop songs and rock and roll songs with my younger brother.  I started playing guitar when I turned 20 in 1974 and I have been playing and singing in some fashion ever since.  Margie and I started playing at open mics together in late 2018 and early 2019 and we became a gigging duo in 2019.

Margie: I played the recorder in 4th grade, saxophone in 5th grade, and then switched to percussion in the 6th grade, at age 10.  I continued playing percussion in junior high and toured with the high school marching band in the summers, playing cymbals in 7th grade and snare drum in 8th grade. I became section leader of the high school percussion section at age 12 I stood out in the crowd as I was 119 cm tall and weighed around 30 kg.  The other snare drummers were several years older and much taller.  I learned to play flute, trumpet, clarinet, trombone, and even tuba. My first drum kit experience was in jazz band. I intended to go to college to study music, I wanted to be a band director or play for the symphony, or perhaps be in a rock band. However, life had different plans for me.  Even though I had grown to almost 145 cm and weighed close to 40 kg, I was easily outmatched in a head-on duel with a BMW traveling at 90 km per hour. My brain and body are still recovering almost 40 years later.  A couple of musician friends in Phnom Penh convinced me to try playing drums again, so in September 2017 I joined the percussion ensemble at the college where I taught mathematics. I started playing the cajon at open mics in Phnom Penh in May, 2018. I met Mike at my second ever U.S. open mic in November, 2018. I bought my first set of congas in March, 2019, and then a drum kit in October, 2020 and a marimba in 2023. It’s been a long and difficult journey, but I’m finally somewhat of a musician once again.

Do you have a pet musical hate/pet peeve?

Mike:  I do not like people who think they are better than anyone else. I know there is a bit of ego involved in getting up in front of people and performing but some take it too far.

Margie: I have an extreme aversion to ‘music’ that is nothing more than repetitive sampling accompanied by a thudding bass that can heard several kilometers from the source, even through walls.  I also cannot tolerate music that is turned up louder than the capacity of the speakers.

A private musical indulgence:

Mike: I love to play the music of Harry Chapin, Gordon Lightfoot, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, James Taylor, John Denver, Steve Goodman and others. I love doing classic pop, pock, and pountry but I love the singer/songwriter stuff more.

Margie: I love playing congas to Santana, the Gypsy Kings, the Doobie Brothers, and any Motown song.  If there’s a conga part, I want that part! I also love playing multi-percussion solos and small ensemble pieces, and I was fortunate enough to do that from 2017 to 2024 semester in the percussion ensemble at the college where I taught math.  I miss playing with that group.

The year you first came to Cambodia:

Mike: The summer of 2019. I fell in love with the place.

Margie: I first visited Cambodia in the summer of 2013. I came to check out the school built by the nonprofit organization a former colleague started back in 2005. I had been supporting that organization since its inception but hadn’t yet seen it in person. I immediately adopted a local family. Other than during the COVID years, I have spent at least three months each year in Cambodia since my first trip here.

An early music memory:

Mike: In 1999 my band opened two shows for the band called Lizzy Borden.  Later we played at the same club and opened for Tool.

Margie: Listening to Eight Miles High playing on the radio as my mother picked me up from my playpen, put on my jacket and hat, and began carrying me out to the car. I wanted to stay inside to hear the rest of the song but wasn’t able to talk yet.

The last thing you had to eat:

Mike: Fish and chips at The Family Pub on Street 174.

Margie: A plate of grilled mixed veggies at The Family Pub.

Stagefright – yes or no?

Mike : No.

Margie:  Yes. However, the amount of stage fright diminishes with the amount of confidence I have. Playing in front of people whose skills are much greater than mine causes a bit of anxiety that only practice can alleviate. For casual gigs, open mics, and jams, there is no stage fright at all. It doesn’t really matter if I’ve ever heard the song before. I just play.

A country you want to visit:

Mike: Australia.

Margie: Australia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Laos, India.

A book or movie you keep going back to:

Mike: The movie Field of Dreams

Margie: 501 Spanish Verbs

What languages do you have?

Mike: English and enough Spanish that I will not starve if I am in a Spanish speaking country.

Margie: English, Spanish, and a little bit of Khmer and Malay. I used to speak Russian but forgot everything except the rules of grammar. I also learned some basic phrases in several Amazonian languages and a few southern African languages, managing pretty well while I was there, but promptly forgetting them upon leaving those countries.

Your primary instrument, and when you started playing it:

Mike: Acoustic guitar, 1974

Margie: Percussion, 1976

Something people might be surprised to know about you:

Mike: I used to be really shy

Margie: I only play drum kit left handed and left footed because of my head injury and mangled right leg. I’m originally right handed

You have a time machine and a magic ticket to one gig or festival in the

past. What do you choose?

Mike: Jimi Hendrix at Monterey 1967. I would love to see the entire festival live.

Margie: Pink Floyd’s Animals tour.

What would you want in exchange for making a Faustian pact with the devil?

Mike: At 71 years of age I want for nothing.

Margie: That’s a huge sacrifice on my part, so I would have to make it worthwhile. Here is my offer:

  1. Everyone on the planet will suddenly recognize that the Bible, Quran, and other religious texts of that ilk are allegorical accounts, not instruction manuals.
  2. There will no longer be any laws, customs, practices, or even thoughts that deny basic rights to humans based upon their gender, levels of melanin in their skin, or any other biological characteristics. These basic rights include access to education, the ability to determine their own attire, and access to transportation, potable water, financial institutions, and housing.
  3. Logic will be be considered a core subject just like reading, writing, and arithmetic, and all primary educational instutions will incorporate that change into their curriculum.
  4. Teachers of each subject shall be masters of that subject prior to entering the classroom.
  5. Classrooms shall consist of children of the same ability in the subject being taught. When they have mastered the material in their current level, they will proceed to the next level. Age will have nothing to do with it. Fuck that notion of “children need to learn with their peers in order to maintain their self esteem”. True self esteem can only be earned.
  6. All people on my black list will spontaneously combust and their assets be be used towards repairing and developing infrastructure.
  7. The extremely wealthy people who are not on my black list will use logical reasoning to determine if their offspring deserve to receive any benefit in excess of normal living expenses. If not, the inheritance will be bestowed upon others. This will be done at the will of the wealthy individual, not by any law or decree.
  8. Everyone will realize that loud cell phone applications and conversations within earshot of others is extremely rude and inappropriate, and will adjust their behavior accordingly.
  9. I will have everlasting life and health, the ability to travel, and can observe the effects of the items on this list on the inhabitants of this planet for its entire existence.
  10. I maintain the right to add to or edit this list at any point in the future.

Department of Mutual Support:  Friends of LengPleng

Being a Friend of LengPleng is open to venues, acts, and even private individuals; if you value the service we provide please consider assisting us financially.   For a modest contribution ($25 for three months, $40 for six months, $75 for 12 months), you get the logo of your choice into the weekly email and onto the weekly wrap page, and an automatically click through to a page on our website for further information, photos, videos and so on – we like to think of it as an alternative to Facebook.

We also pay special attention when you have a good story for us – an upcoming event or an artist you wish to highlight.  Email gigs@lengpleng.com for further details or bail up Scoddy wherever you see him.

 

      

   

 

Steve Porte Photo of the Week

Keiko Kitamura jamming at the Velvet open mic on Friday 27 February.  For more get along to the Khmer-Japanese Drum Festival at Friends Futures Factory this Saturday afternoon.

 

If you wish to receive LengPleng in your inbox every Thursday please send a subscribe email to gigs@lengpleng.com.

Musicians, venues, punters:  if there are things you know that LengPleng should know, please tell us and we’ll do our best to tell the world.

See you around the traps.
your correspondent,

 

 

Guillermo Wheremount
LengPleng.com
gigs@lengpleng.com (mailto:gigs@lengpleng.com

 

Weekly Gig Guide – week commencing Thursday 5 March 2026

** residency/weekly

Thursday

 

Friday

 

Saturday                                                             

 

Sunday

 

Monday

 

Tuesday

 

Wednesday


Coming soon:

Friday 13 March

Sunday 15 March

Wednesday 17 March

  • St Patrick’s Day with Rockustic, 7.30 pm, Wild Rover

Saturday 28 March

Sunday 29 March

  • Spanish guitar recital by Tran Quang Huy, 7 pm, Raffles Le Royal – note ticketed event

 

By Weekly Wrap