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Pinoys bring the noise to Cambodia

Pinoys bring the noise to Cambodia

Saturday night, April 7, 8:00 p.m., Siem Reap, Cambodia: All-Filipino band Mr. Bones and the Boneyard Circus opens The JD Set live music showcase at the grassy open-air Le Meridien Hotel grounds the size of two football fields.

Beginning with a blistering self-penned composition entitled “Horror Scene,” the title track off their debut indie release, they segued to an intense yet melodic “Grease, Gas and Glory” that quickly moved to the dark, angry swells of “Lady Grimm.”

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A metallic version of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” pumped up with Nine Inch Nails steroids led to a rockabilly punk romp of Korn’s “Not Meant for Me”.

The avalanche of covers ended in a primal boogie rework of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”

It was an opening salvo as hot as the weather that reportedly hovered in the 40s that evening.

A mélange of Cold Play and Lady Gaga

Mr. Bones and the Boneyard Circus played in Cambodia as part of their winning the JD Set Finals in the Philippines. Marketing representatives from JD offices in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia also arrived in Cambodia to see how the JD Set showcase can break new markets for the JD products.

Singapore was represented a young bar band called The Goodfellas, which displayed fine form covering Coldplay and U2 hits.


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Cambodia’s pop princess Aok Sokunkanha, dancing in sync with four guys in
leather jackets, dished out likeable Lady Gaga covers and a sweet ballad in her native tongue. She even gamely rapped at certain sections of her set.

In between band breaks, show host DJ Maverick provided feverish dance tunes and punctuated his delirious booty-shaking mix with his trademark call, “Somebody make some noise!”

Leaner and meaner

It was clear Boneyard Circus answered the call. They rocked the hardest, considering they opted for something leaner and meaner compared to their more elaborate “steampunk” attack in Manila. They weren’t allowed to wear their usual costumes and the sinister videos that usually accompany their live performances were absent in Cambodia.

Playing with plain clothes on was actually a welcome relief from the hot windless weather that pervaded throughout Siem Reap. Instead of the eight-piece band’s quirky videos, the big screens on both sides of the stage projected images from the activities of JD Set entourage during the day.


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Still, lead vocalist Bones Frankenstein told Yahoo! OMG, “It was such an amazing opportunity for us to be able to share our music with a new audience. We are so glad that the audience in Cambodia was very receptive to a different kind of music than they’re used to. We even saw several people trying to sing along to our original songs!”

The entourage

Selected Filipino music journalists including this writer joined the band on their one-off one-set rock show in Cambodia. The two winners of a free trip to the Cambodia gig courtesy of JD Philippines got the same warm welcome.


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The two-day jaunt also included a visit to Siem Reap’s famous temples of Angkor Wat and a lesser attraction, the infamous Killing Fields.

Jack Daniel’s JD Set has been showcasing local talents in the ASEAN music scene. Previous JD Set sponsorships included Cynthia Alexander’s one-of-a-kind collaboration with Nyko Maca at the Hard Rock Café in Singapore and Cebu rock icons Urbandub playing a back-to-back concert with ska-punk hitmakers Good Charlotte also in Singapore.