Leng Pleng

Farewell forever shows and other dubious contentions:  Arone and Jesse of Faceslap

Usually upon arrival in Cambodia, new expats begin immediately to attend farewell events for other expats.  The music scene is frequently marked by goodbye forever gigs, and this month offers plenty – among them the infrequently seen Faceslap, who play their last at Back Street Bar this Saturday night.  LengPleng went to the Wood House Studio and talked with Arone Silverman and Jesse Ricketson of Faceslap (and several other bands) while two other prominent Phnom Penh musicians strummed and harmonised on the balcony.

LP: Faceslap always seemed to be sort of band that was forever rounding out the numbers at a hastily thrown together festival.

Jesse: We haven’t played a lot of gigs.  We’ve done four ever, I think.  It’s kind of odd, because it’s a really fun band, probably my favourite band that I’m in here, just in the uniqueness and vibe that we create.

Arone: I enjoy the challenge, it’s a completely different mind-set.  It’s been difficult to do the gigs because it’s such a niche.

Jesse: It’s a hard band to find a venue for.  The vibe that we’re going for is very much like a DJ experience, dance-floor kind of thing.  Ideally you’d want to be in a club, with darkness and lights and a big sound system.  That’s where it’s meant to be, but it’s not so easy to find a venue like that.  To do it in a pub or something doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Arone: We also look for opportunities that would be late night, and that really limits us as well, which is why we gravitate more towards these rogue performances at the last minute.  All the venues are kind of worried, a little concerned about volume, but also the vibe.

LP: Will it frighten people away?

Jesse: Are you saying that’s the question we ask, or are you asking that question?

LP: Are venues asking that question?

Jesse: I think it’s funny that we’ve ended up with that reputation.  With this gig coming up we had a bit of trouble, they were wary to put us on, because they thought we would whip the crowd into a crazed frenzy and it would start a riot or something.

Arone: Maybe the sound to the community would be – hey, there’s something crazy going on.

Jesse: It’s not that.  It’s fun dancing music, and it will have occasionally intense moments.  People get into it.  We’re excited to prove that it’s actually just good fun dancing music, it’s not a crazy free for all.

Arone: The show is supposed to be entertaining, spontaneous, evolving.  It’s supposed to be non-stop, just like you would at a club – really try to emulate that experience.  And that’s what’s challenging about it, but that’s what makes it really fun too.  Finding the right venue. And the response from the people who do come, they love it.  We’re really excited.  That’s what keeps us really interested as well.

Jesse: Some of the most enthusiastic crowd vibes we have had, across all of the bands here in Phnom Penh.  People really enjoy it.  There’s that surprise – people are used to dancing at a club to a DJ, that sort of sound, the electronic vibe, and then when they’re seeing it made in front of them, and it’s improvised, so it’s meandering in different directions and ups and downs, and all that happening interactively with the crowd, I think it’s exciting to people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arone in acoustic mode                                                                                             Jesse in colourful mode

 

LP: We were talking before about the number of things you need to plug in.

Jesse: It’s a lot.  We’re going to record it as well, so there’s even another layer of stuff to plug in, just to make life even more difficult.

Arone: The good news is – except for the kit, which he is micing – there are no other acoustic instruments, so it can all go direct.

Jesse: I’ve realised that, as a drummer, the one way to give yourself more shit to lug around, if there wasn’t already enough, is to add electronic elements to it.  And so now I’ve got to set up a whole kit, and a whole electric kit, and I’ve got a loop pedal and I’m getting feeds from all the synths, and these guys have got one or two synths each, and it’s all midi connected, and it’s just like a big tangle of cables. Which is great, it’s what allows it to be what it is, but in terms of set up it’s substantially more consuming.

Arone: Every show we’ve had has exponentially grown in terms of not only things to manage and set up, but also the connectivity and integration of everything.  When we first started it was like everyone is free on their own, and you just have your sounds that you can do and we try to make something.  At this point, we’re all connected as one, and any one person can control it. Jesse’s got master control.  It allows us to do so much more – it’s like having three conductors at once but we all connect at the same time.  It’s really cool.  And that’s what makes this band unique.  It’s a different conversation between musicians than in other groups.

Jesse: It’s been fun preparing this one – we’ve done more preparation than we’ve ever done.  Often it would be a last minute thing, hey, do you want to just jump on the end of this line up?  Yes, sure.  Do we have time for rehearsal?  Whatever, we’ll just do it.  But this one we’ve had quite a few rehearsals.  It’ll still have a lot of improvised elements, but we’ve mapped out a structure and a flow of styles and tempos and vibes – definitely the most planned we’ve been.

Arone: That will make it really enjoyable I think. We realise from our shows it’s important to have that kind of flow from one style to the next.

LP: This time you’re the only one on the bill?  Is that a first in itself?

Arone: A few months ago we did it at Sam’s, carried the whole show.  That was good, a good turnout, we got the right equipment.

Jesse: So we’re going to do two hours non-stop – there will be ebbs and flows and times when it will just be ticking along, always bubbling along.

Arone: We’ve both played at Back Street Bar a bit, and this is the first time we’ll be starting at 11, rather than 9.  Usually you have to wrap up at 11, but they’re having a street festival that night.

Jesse: it’s going to be already quite busy, there’s going to be a high energy.

Arone: So we’ll be doing it late, which is ideal for us.  A sweet little wrap-up.

Jesse: There’s definitely a degree of the bittersweet to it, like with all these “last gig ever” things, putting all of this effort in and then getting it really slick, to this awesome point, for the last one.  I’m glad we’re doing it, but then you think the show is cooking now, we should carry this on and do ten more gigs like this.  It is what it is.

LP: Both Arone and Damani will be leaving next month?

Jesse: And I will be later in the year.  My departure will be a slower, smushier affair, I’m working towards that.  I play in a lot of bands, and I realised that every single one of them has either Arone or Damani or both.  It will definitely be a big change not having those guys around any more.  Everything’s very busy now, we’re doing all these shows, and I’ll get to the end of March and… hello?  Anyone?

LP: And on Friday at Cloud you will be playing with Vartey Ganiva as well?

Arone: We’re going to do a short set with Spiked Gravy, because Ricky wanted to do one last set.  [Ed: as it turns out Spiked Gravy will be playing their very final show at the Kampot Craft Beer Festival on 25 February.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vartey Ganiva Band at LF Social Club

Jesse: How many final gigs have you got this month?

Arone: Faceslap, Vartey Ganiva, Pocket Change, Spiked Gravy.

Jesse: And then next month is The Goldilocks Zone.  And you’ve got your solo show.  That’s seven.

Arone: And the Joy Boys next Thursday, so it’s eight.  A lot of finales.  A month of bliss.  And that will be the last Vartey show, definitely, it’s been really fun getting back into that.  A whole lot of memories with that.  We haven’t played out in a long time.

Jesse: It’s been a couple of years.

Arone: Right before we stopped we recorded quite a lot of songs.

Jesse: Partly COVID, partly Vartey had a baby at the same time.

Arone: It’s been nice to spend the last couple of months here enjoying things, culminating in these gigs.

Jesse: This is the busiest I’ve been – a rehearsal or two every day, all these gigs lined up.  It’s nice.

Arone: It’s so unique here, you can do gigs all the time, and people will join you, people will come and support.

LP: Where to next, Arone?

Arone: I’ve got some music contacts in Chicago, I’m going to see about a little project there.  And then I have some opportunities in the north east, but I’ll start in Chicago.  You never know, I may be back.

Jesse: You’ll probably be back.

LP: Jesse, you’re headed to Australia?

Jesse: Berlin.  I’ll be there for a few months in the middle of the year, and potentially make a permanent move next year.  It’s hard to leave.  I have so much connection and love for Cambodia.  Partly I think I want to keep a foothold here and not just do a big cold move, but just bounce between for a while, which is what I’ve been doing for the last year or so anyway.  I think we’ll all always have a little connection to the country regardless.  I think everyone that’s come here – for some people it might have been intentional, but most people end up here by accident, fall in love with it, seeing it and feeling it and living it.

Arone: My first year here was not social at all.  I came here to start a business, had to pay my way so I figured the easiest thing was to teach English.  After nine months I said it’s not for me.  But the experience was interesting.  I had no idea about the social interaction that was going on – I think most expats are here because of the social life you can have almost every evening.  I went back to the States before another opportunity brought me back, and then I got into music, which took me into a different world, a totally different Phnom Penh.

Jesse: Do you think music is the reason that you’ve stayed here this long?

Arone: We all enjoy living here, it’s a nice lifestyle, and I like the ability to do passion projects, which I don’t think you can do in a lot of places.  If I didn’t have the music I wouldn’t have stayed as long as I did.

Jesse: Having the capacity to play as often and as easily as we do here is actually quite special, even though they’re all kind of small gigs in small bars.  I play much more here than I ever did in Sydney.  I was in bands there and we’d rehearse and work up and do our show maybe once a month or something, but the opportunity here to play in five bands and gig all the time, it’s nice.

Vartey Ganiva and Spiked Gravy are at Cloud on Friday, Faceslap are at Back Street Bar on Saturday night, Arone is back there on Sunday evening for an acoustic show with Lewis McTighe and Gary Custance; check LengPleng for details of more farewell to Arone shows.