Leng Pleng

Siem Reap punksters The Wildmen – Claude (vocals), Sage (bass), Chema (drums) and Rod (guitar) – have a new EP, The Wildmen, recorded at 60 Road Studios, that will be launched at a listening part at The Harbour on Thursday 26 May.  Leng Pleng got some punk attitude, tentatively asked some investigatory questions, and cleaned up the mess, which is presented herewith.

Does the band have an origin story?   And who does what? 

Chema:
Four strangers met in a bar and started jamming. The rest is history.

Claude:
Everything started at the end of 2020, when I started to hang out at The Harbour. I was always involved in bands and music when I lived in Italy and the UK, but I would never thought I would start playing again, even in Cambodia. The Harbour gave me the chance to do just that. I was playing guitar and singing for the first few months, with Sage at the bass and Chema on drums, jamming and playing Ramones covers. It was a blast, we realized people loved that kind of music, and I decided to leave the guitar behind and concentrate on singing and be a real frontman. My friend Justin Lutz from the USA came on board, a very skilled guitarist, and we decided we should have a name: The Wildmen. Justin left a few months later, as he preferred to play solo projects, just when Rod Tolentino moved from Kampot to Siem Reap. I really liked Rod’s  style and the way he plays, a real rocker, so I asked to join us in the beginning of 2021.

Sage:
Iggy Pop threw up and voila! The wheels on the bus go round and round.  It spontaneously solidified like lime jello after some crazy Italian with a Napoleon complex got up at open mic and started singing “I’m a Wildman”.  With his accent everybody thought he was singing “I’m a White Man”, so it sounded like some racist anthem.  We had a good laugh about it later when the confusion was cleared up. Then we started playing some rock and punk stuff at The Harbour open mic and the ball started rolling.

Is the band a democracy, an anarchic collective, a dictatorship, a meritocracy or just a bunch of hooligans? 

Sage:
We are a military theocracy: everybody better worship the Ramones, or else!

Claude:
A bunch of hooligans, but we actually democratically share every decision.

Chema:
Bunch of hooligans, I’d say. Whatever that means.

Punk rock has many different streams, both geographically and generationally.  Do you as individual musicians have more or less the same or a range of different stylistic influences? 

Claude:
I like many types of music, not only punk rock. I simply like good music and I think we all come from different backgrounds in this band, but we found the right alchemy to match everybody’s taste. It all comes together, it works, and we have fun.

Rod:
Yes, we have different influences. My guitar playing is much influenced by metal, hard rock grunge and NuMetal kind of music. As you listen to the record it’s a mix of it.

Sage:
Couldn’t be more diverse and eclectic if we tried. Hell, I don’t even like punk music.

Chema:
Although the cultural and generational differences between the band members is pretty huge, rock and roll unites. The power of music.

What has been the reaction to The Wildmen in Siem Reap?  Do you have plans to go on the road? 

Rod:
We were been playing at the open mic every Wednesday at The Harbour last year before the lockdowns.  The crowd said that our music is highly energetic.  We would love to tour around the country, but first we need to get more gigs to promote our album.

Sage:
People love us, chicks want to hump us, bars want to pay us money to make people’s ears bleed. The usual.

Claude:
People love us.  We’re unique, as we not only perform music but we create a real show on stage, sharing our passion for the music we play. Our goal is owning the stage and showing that we have fun playing the music – the crowd gets the message every time.

Chema:
We’re wild. That’s it.

Ho Chi Minh Blues sounds like it has a story behind it.  Did I hear there was a plan for a video?  

Claude:
HCMC Blues was written during the closure of the borders last year.  At the time I was dreaming to go to Thailand and Vietnam again, remembering the great time we had while visiting cities like Bangkok and Saigon. So the song is a journey from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City, traveling via Phnom Penh and other cities we really love. We might have some chance to play a live show in Saigon in September, so it would be ideal to shoot it there.  That would be perfect.

Rod:
Yeah, we’re planning a music video.  The idea is the band will be driving with friends from Cambodia to Thailand and with Vietnam as our last stop!  That would be awesome, I’m stoked for that! Hopefully we will be able to pull that off.

Chema:
That’s the idea. I want to show it to my mother: show her something to be proud of at least for one time.

The Wildmen EP can be found on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and Spotify.  Get along to the launch party tonight at The Harbour and take part in the video shoot for the song It Is What It Is.  

p.s. punk isn’t dead, it just smells funny