The five members of Japan Guitar Shop, a band based in Cambodia / Courtesy of Japan Guitar Shop

One of the dozens of acts coming from overseas for this year's Zandari Festa is Japan Guitar Shop, a band that comes not from nearby Japan but from Southeast Asia's Cambodia. The band, which mixes rock, blues, soul and hip-hop, will be here for the festival which takes place Oct. 3 to 5 at various venues around western Seoul's Hongik University area.

Cove Aaronoff, JGS' lead singer from the British Virgin Island of Tortola, told The Korea Times that the festival had been recommended by a friend in Cambodia.

"One of our friends who owns 60 Road Studios in Siem Reap turned us on to it," Aaronoff said. "He'd sponsored a local Khmer rock band called Batbangers about five years ago and traveled with them to Seoul for Zandari. He was insistent that if we got the invitation to participate, we should hop on it."

That was long ago, way back in 2016. JGS only formed in 2020, and after four years, they're ready for Zandari.

"We're just gonna arrive with open minds and ears and try to soak in as much of it as we can," Aaronoff said. "Festivals are always a great opportunity to check out a wide range of bands — and, in this case, venues — and to commingle with like-minded souls."

JGS released its first full album, "Done You Right," earlier this year, recorded at 60 Road. It offers nine soulful songs that provide a thoroughly satisfying listen throughout, with no filler. It's music born out of a tiny space in a remote country's music scene, but I could just as easily picture them playing at a major blues festival.

The street outside 60 Road Studios in Siem Reap, Cambodia / Courtesy of Japan Guitar Shop

All five current members of JGS are foreign to Cambodia.

"We live in Phnom Penh, which isn't for everyone, but we love it," said Colin Hodgkins, an American who plays bass and raps. "It's an extremely chaotic, dynamic city that's going through drastic changes. It has a rising middle class and it's increasingly cosmopolitan, but Cambodia is still a poor country with a lot of problems. For us, the main appeal is the music community, which is very close and supportive of one another."

The lineup is rounded off with Chema Rodriguez of Mexico on drums, electric guitar player Francesco Scarfone from Italy and keyboardist Felix McFadden coming from France.

Hodgkins said the members of JGS especially love the local music community, which is very close and supportive of each other.

"Hip-hop is really taking off in Cambodia at the moment, commercially and otherwise, but there's also a great local underground metal scene — and we're on board for all of it," he said. "Our band is among several expat bands working on original music here, and we tend to work together to create big events that help musicians and venues alike. The band Geography of the Moon, who are Cambodia-based and currently on a world tour, exemplifies that idea, as do Soselo Summer, We Are Ewe, Wind-Up Mice and many others."

Hodgkins was happy to share the history of Cambodia's music scene, which he said blossomed in the 1960s when a psychedelic surf-rock craze swept the country.

He cited Pen Ran, a singer and songwriter who was at the height of her popularity in the 1960s and early 1970s. She disappeared during the Khmer Rouge genocide, which began in 1975, leaving her fate unknown. But Hodgkins pointed out that her influence can still be heard in today's Cambodian psychedelic rock bands.

One of the other bands reviving Cambodia's vintage golden age of music was the Cambodian Space Project, which built up significant momentum until their lead singer Kak Channthy passed away in a traffic accident in 2018.

Japan Guitar Shop performs at Bassac Lane Street Festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Courtesy of Japan Guitar Shop

"The music scene here continues to honor these truly remarkable musicians, and there's this ongoing trend of Khmer music being influenced by the West, and the expat bands here recognizing the history and value of Khmer music," Hodgkins said.

"The audience at our shows will typically be a mix of locals and expats of all ages, but since Cambodia is a somewhat conservative society, late night shows tend to have fewer locals compared to expats."

He admitted that JGS' music doesn't consciously draw from Cambodian music, but he added, "It may have a subconscious influence given how much of it we hear. We certainly appreciate it."

A painting of Japan Guitar Shop's lead singer Cove Aaronoff / Courtesy of Johnnie Cluney

It's clear that JGS is content to be established in Cambodia, and if they were to have formed in a different country, the challenges would be different — and so would the benefits.

"If we were in Japan or a more developed country, higher costs of living and costs to make music would probably pose challenges," Hodgkins said, "but even though Cambodia is a relatively cheap place to live and make music, there's much less infrastructure, and that arguably poses greater challenges."

Speaking of Japan, the band gets its name from a shop in Phnom Penh that's owned by a Japanese couple who are jazz musicians. On the second floor of the shop is a rehearsal space where the bandmates first began playing music together.

"During the early days of the pandemic, restrictions were beginning to be placed on restaurants and bars, but not a neighborhood thrift store, so it was somewhere we could go to play music, drink beers and hang out," Hodgkins said. "Then, when we started playing our first few gigs, we'd rent the same gear with which we'd rehearsed, and the electric piano and kick drum had 'Japan Guitar Shop' stickers on them. It's what the audience saw from our very first show, so it felt like a natural name for us."

He added that the name serves as a tribute to the shop and its owners, who were kind enough to let them use the space. "We still love rehearsing there," he added.

Japan Guitar Shop is scheduled to play Zandari Festa at Veloso on Saturday, Oct. 5, from 9:20 p.m. to 10 p.m.

For those who don't want to pay for the full festival, and for those who want to see them twice, they also have an extra show at The Studio HBC in central Seoul's Haebangchon neighborhood scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 3.

Visit linktr.ee/japanguitarshop for more information about the band, or go to zandarifesta.com for more about the festival or reserve tickets.