Frank Turner playing live in Saigon Vietnam by music photographer Lee Starnes

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Frank Turner, 7uppercuts & Papa Lam

December 02, 2024 in music

Another chapter in the Chronicles and what a chapter it was. The fine folks at Loud Minority and Noise Saigon put together an absolute banger of a show. Frank Turner boarded a plane in London, got off of the plane, and played a show a few hours later… If you didn’t know this, you’d have been well impressed by his performance and the energy in the room. Knowing this, it’s ever more impressive… What an absolute professional road dog.

Denpasar, Bali's Kenya plays in Saigon at a hardcore punk show.

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Overpower

October 18, 2024 in music

Another chapter in the Chronicles. A blend of local staples and couple of bands from Indonesia, this show felt like a party. Something’s changed in the scene here over the last couple of years and it really does feel like a proper hardcore scene these days. Kids be wild and mosh like it was their job. As I’m in no position to be participating in that shenanigans, I chose to keep to snappin’ photos. The line up consisted of Saigon’s Under Pressure, Kinh, Elbowdrop, Empathize, Cut Lon, Denpasar’s Kenya and Fraud coming out of Surabaya. I didn’t catch everyone, you know school night and all.. but the bands I saw all brought the heat. Rather than going through every band, just click on their links and go give them a listen. Now for the visual proof.

From the Archives : Furnace Fest 2022

September 23, 2024 in music

As the final chapter in the current incarnation of Furnace Fest is just a couple of weeks away, I’ve gone back and looked at many of the photos I took in 2022 and reminisced about seeing old friends, making new ones and how the DIY punk scene has shaped every facet of my life since the day someone gave me that first Minor Threat record. While its super cliche to say we’re out of step, I truly believe that merry band of misfits and sense of friendship I found in the scene has made my life infinitely better.

So have a scroll through some of my favourite frames of the weekend and get ready for the final chapter. I’m super bummed I won’t be able to make the flight this year, but I’ll be there in spirit.

Saigon Punk Chronicles: The Metal Edition

July 22, 2024 in music

Not really a hardcore or punk show per se, but this show still had a lot of overlap in the crowd. The bill consisted of Orca from the Philippines, Diarsia off their brand new release, Method, Obsess, and the Korean shred machine Oathean. I grabbed the Fuji x100v and an old speedlight and rolled the dice. These shows give me a chance to experiment with different set ups - multiple cameras, light set ups, techniques…No pressure if I shit the bed and they turn out awful, but at least I learned something. That said, I don’t think I’ve run into any insurmountable challenges, and different tools yield different results. I tried to shoot a bit more abstract images to bridge over from the usual dragged shutter and speedlight combo and I think they turned out interesting. Tried a bit of multiple exposure shenanigans. Essentially played around and threw everything at the wall to see what stuck. Maybe a bit artsy even… what is going on?!

Annalynn's vocalist jumps into the crowd at RockFest Vietnam photographed by Vietnam Photographer Lee Starnes. A part of Saigon Punk Chronicles

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Rock Fest

July 10, 2024 in music

Although this wasn’t your classic DIY punk or hardcore show, it was certainly interesting to see hardcore bands play on a big stage with over the top production and I had to go out to support the homies in District 105 and check out a few other bands. A mixed bag of genres, Rockfest showcased both local and some international bands and its really good to see these types of events coming to Saigon more. Tons of bands played, and I took a boatload of images, but I’m going to limit it here to the bands that fall into the punk scene or at least close enough to the DIY scene to fit within this personal project. So, that being said, the images below are from Saigon’s District 105, and 18.18, The Flob and Thailand’s Annalynn and Defying Decay. I tried to shoot this a bit differently as the over the top production provided with about a bajillion different coloured lights which I find a bit visually noisy and takes away from the raw emotion of punk. Maybe I’m just an old head and love the way old black and white photos of live music look like…whatever. Anyways, to the images!

Saigon Punk Chronicles

July 01, 2024 in music

It’s been far too long since I’ve been to a show and I feel like I’ve been neglecting my long term personal project, Saigon Punk Chronicles, so when I saw there was a show this past Saturday, I jumped at it. With work and travel, it’s been a whirlwind since… January. Going to shows keeps me in check, keeps me young at heart, and every time I go, the words of 7 Seconds get stuck in my head “I’m gonna stay young until I die!” Even with work and the everyday responsibilities, the legacy of punk and the scene still shapes who I am every day of my life. DIY, the merry band of misfits, forgetting the outside world and escaping into a community made by us, for us. It’s forever weaved into my DNA.

I didn’t catch the whole show, but I did catch Tariot, Bao, Low Fat, and Cut Lon. I’ve seen Tariot and Cut Lon before but didn’t know what to expect from the others. They both killed it and Low Fat, in particular was soooooo fun. They’re a Japanese outfit out of Bangkok and their energy was wild. Raw, loud and fast… just the way it should be.

Saigon Punk Chronicles : Enter the Year of the Dragon

January 11, 2024 in music

Another year end party and this one was a banger. I didn’t catch all the bands, school night ya know, but it was one of the funnest shows I’ve been to in ages. By the time Desolated went on, kids were hanging from the rafters and the stage was invisible under the sing along pile ons. Fucking amazing. When I first moved to Saigon, shows felt very different than they do now in the best possible way. It feels like a proper hardcore scene

The Black Lips play a small one of show in Saigon at Soma Art Cafe. Photographed by music photographer Lee Starnes

Live Music Recap: The Black Lips and Skeleton Goode

March 20, 2023 in music

Last week, Atlanta hometown heroes, The Black Lips played a small one off show here in Saigon after their gig at Coracle Music Fest up in Mui Ne. It was all a bit surreal as I’ve seen The Black Lips more times than I can probably count and it brought back memories of beer soaked ridiculous shenanigans years ago when I lived in the A. It was so good being able to hang out and relive some nostalgia while partying with the Saigon homies. Skeleton Goode opened up with their take on Psych rock and absolutely killed it. I only took my Fuji x100x anticipating maybe a few beers flying and wanted to avoid cleaning the Sony kit after night of rocking out, but it turns out Saigon has a bit more manners than Atlanta used to so everything stayed dry. Shooting with the Fuji was ….. not ideal. While this little camera is completely capable in travel and most everyday situations, it is not exactly fluent in autofocusing in low light situations. That being said, I loved the rawness of these frames and it matched the vibes of the show. It felt like the DIY punk shows I grew up going to nearly every week. I wish more of these type shows happened in Saigon. Based on some info I heard though, this may be changing in the near future. Fingers crossed. Now onto the images!