Simply that: here comes Carnival Youth, on their first visit to Cambodia. They are here as the guests of Japan Guitar Shop, who were impressed by their performances at Zandari Festa in Seoul in 2024. LengPleng had a chat with Colin Hodgkins, of Japan Guitar Shop, to find out how this came about. (Note: read to the end to learn of our special ticket offer)
CH: Zandari was a great opportunity to see dozens of bands from all around the world, and we really made an effort to see as many of them as we could. They played two shows, we played two shows, and never met them but we saw them perform, and they were outstanding. We shared a venue, the after party space, on different nights, and they were the best band we saw. We were looking for bands that might be interested in coming to Cambodia. They had a really positive attitude, and seemed excited about the idea, and they have already done some recording in different countries. They’ll do some tracking at 60 Road Studios while they’re here, in between concerts in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap – that might have been part of the draw for them to come here. They struck me as indie rock but with Baltic influences, and just generally global influences.
Roberts Vanags, the keyboard player with Carnival Youth, was also happy to answer some questions from LengPleng.
LP: Congratulations – you’re coming to Cambodia. It’s not your first time in Asia obviously, but have you played much outside Europe? And forgive our ignorance, but what profile does Latvian and other Baltic music have in Europe?
RV: Hello, hello, hello! Yeah, this will actually be our first time playing in Southeast Asia — apart from going there for holidays or longer backpacking trips — so we’re really excited to see how our instruments handle the Cambodian weather! Lately, we’ve been focusing more on Latvia, as we took a step toward making an album in Latvian and doing some bigger shows at home. But in general, we’ve played around quite a bit — after a few years of crisscrossing European venues, we also ended up in Japan last year, and before that did China, and a few trips to the US, playing in New York and at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Oh, and a fun fact — we recorded our quite experimental indie album Good Luck in São Paulo, Brazil back in 2018, spending three weeks there soaking up the vibe.
Latvia itself is a super green, small, and peaceful country with a population of just about 1.8 million. We speak our own language — Latvian — so if something goes abroad, it’s usually in English. We’ve got some small fan bases here and there, but it’s pretty tough to stay independent and break into the market or hit the charts without some big label backing. Still, we love doing our thing our way.
LP: How did the band form – was it mates who made a band or a band that became mates? Is the band a democracy or a dictatorship? And who are the songwriters?
RV: We’ve got two twins — Emils on drums and Edgars on guitar — who obviously know each other forever. Then in 8th grade they switched schools and became classmates with me, who had some keyboard skills. We hung out for a few years and eventually started making music together — and here we are 15 years later, still feels like we just met. So yeah, definitely mates first! Kristians joined us about five years ago as our third bass player — but he’s here to stay, no doubt about it. As for democracy vs. dictatorship… I’d say we run a pretty chill democracy. Everyone throws in ideas, and we follow what feels right for the song.
LP: What would you say were your key influences?
RV: When we started out, we were big fans of bands like Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, MGMT, The Beatles, Radiohead, and Bon Iver. These days, the inspiration has shifted more towards the groovier side of indie — Parcels, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, LCD Soundsystem. We love Mk.gee too.
LP: What should audiences in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap expect from the Carnival Youth shows?
Some fun and excitement! We’ve worked up live versions of our songs that really breathe and bounce — we’re a boy band, you know, four singing guys that play indie rock/pop with groovy bass lines and a touch of psychedelic flavour. We’ll be playing songs from all our albums, but lately we’ve leaned more into that groovy, upbeat vibe — something that should fit perfectly with the Cambodian heat.
LP: Do you have any other plans while you’re here, or other stops on the tour?
Besides the shows, we’ll be spending a few days working in the 60 Road Studio in Siem Reap and shooting a video there for our next single — a collab with a Latvian hip-hop artist friend of ours. So, some music-making mixed with a bit of adventure time!
To sample their wares, check out their YouTube channel.
To see them in person, in Phnom Penh get along on Friday 31 to B-BOX [Tickets at The Deck, The Vine, or online at Wonderpass] and in Siem Reap to The Labyrinth [Tickets] on Saturday 8 November. Both shows have Japan Guitar Shop in support. (Note: for the Phnom Penh show The Deck are hosting a pre-party and offering a free bus to the venue)
AND LengPleng has two tickets to the Phnom Penh show to give away to the first two people who email gigs@lengpleng.com with the subject line: Latvia.
