How and why

The Band’s name

THOM is the Romanization of the Khmer adjective «» which means “BIG”. So, THOM THOM can be translated into “BIG BIG”.

One can find the repetition in a common vernacular expression: “Orkoun thom thom” (translated into English with “Thanks big big” that, in spite of its grammatical impropriety, is often used on the markets or in the streets in order to make smile or laugh the shopkeepers. (To be correct, one should say “Orkoun tchraen (tchraen)”; the adverb “tchraen” meaning “a lot”.)

This funny use and the powerful voicing of the expression have appealed to French electroacoustics composer Sylvette VEZIN; the latter is a very good friend of Sopoi, Nalen and Jean-Philippe. It’s Sylvette who suggested the three rock musicians to call their new band THOM THOM. The new line-up wanted a name matching with its music and this “BIG BIG” met perfectly the big guitar sound, the heavy bass guitar and the powerful drums; the 3 instruments creating a “resounding dough” overflowing the usual Cambodian music mould.

The music and the choice of the line-up

The bands backing the Cambodian stars are 99% of the time made up with the same “kind” of musicians: two electric guitar players, one bass player, one drummer and two keyboard players; the latter are there to soften and mellow the roughness of the rock instruments. In spite of the use heavy distorted guitar stacks, the overuse of echo chambers, reverbs, all kinds of effect units, and keyboards makes that almost all the bands have the very same sweet and sour sound having lost all power and strength.

Sopoi, Nalen and Jean-Philippe have chosen to be a power trio in order to get back to the roots of a raw sound that no process would smooth or polish. Moreover, the band thinks that its music should match its lyrics. As the latter are quite often shocking for the Cambodian audience, the logic had to be pushed to its limits and the sound had to be in harmony with the lyrics.

Furthermore, this formation, reduced to the basics, allows the band to play in venues that either for technical reasons or for money issues could not have bigger bands coming to perform; indeed at the spring 2006 TEUK MATÉ missed out on concerts in France in the region of La Rochelle because of the costs for plane tickets, transportation, accommodation, etc. for 5 musicians, that were too high for the concerts promoters. THOM THOM hopes to have fixed this problem thanks to this ultra-light line-up.

More than a band, a mission…

THOM THOM is in line with the idea(l)s behind VÉALSRÈ and TEUK MATÉ, that’s to say the writing, the recording, the broadcasting and the promotion of original material dealing with social issues and not reducing popular music to a wild piracy of foreign tunes and melodies.

In spite of a not very favourable audience, VÉALSRÈ and TEUK MATÉ have managed to upset a bit the routine by showing that it was possible to play in a band, to make records, to play gigs, to be on the TV and on the radio without belonging to a record company. Both bands have also shown that lyrics can deal with other topics than love and also shown that songs can play another role than just being sole entertainment.

A few bands appeared after those adventures but initiatives are still too minority to make a new and fresh wind of change blow over the asepticized Cambodian music scene. One needs to strike harder!

Cambodian people value by the success abroad of their “children”. Thanks to the love of French culture and language, THOM THOM hopes to find a small place on the stages abroad ; traveling to play concerts in French speaking countries would be finally the proof that originality “pays” compared to the popular singers whose radiance is limited to Cambodia or to the Cambodian Diaspora living in France or the US

The day jobs that the band members have kept until now are only a guarantee of artistic and musical independence within Cambodia. So, Sopoi, Nalen and Jean-Philippe are ready to drop them the day when concerts abroad would allow them to survive thanks to the music.

THOM THOM hopes to dig a “furrow” deep enough to see many songwriters and bands who have understood the importance of creating and writing new songs rather than just recycling the others’ popular tunes.

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