AsiaLIFE

Guitarist Mike Stroud and Synthesiser player Evan Mast, made the FCC’s ageing timbers come to life in December. Playing to a packed crowd, the gig was widely claimed to be the best the Penh had seen since Dengue Fever struck town. AsiaLIFE’s Kate Liana asked the duo that is Ratatat what the experience was like.

AL: How did you guys meet?
We met at Skidmore College (upstate New York), and started playing music together. Then after school when we were living in New York we kept playing together, and started building our sound.

AL: What was your music like then?
It was a lot funnier. We used to play a lot of fantasy music. We recorded a lot before we ever played live.
AL: What do you think of Cambodia?
It's great, it's an amazing country. Everyone's really friendly. We were in Siem Reap yesterday, it was incredible. We took the boat down here, so we saw some of the countryside, but we haven't seen as much as we'd have liked. We've hardly seen much of Phnom Penh but we'd love to come back, it looks great.

AL: What have the shows here and in Saigon been like?
The festival in Saigon was great, but we hadn't played in a while so it was good to jump back in. The show here was really fun, the crowd was great. It's so different from anything we've seen, it's just a really interesting place to be. It's hard because we couldn't communicate well with the sound guys, and it was also hard to hear ourselves onstage. But otherwise we really enjoyed this gig.

AL: What did you think of the crowd?
It was great to see a lot of Cambodians here. There were more locals than in Saigon. People were dancing onstage, which we love, but the stage is the same height as the balcony railing, we were afraid someone would fall onto the street. Luckily they got off after a few minutes.


AL: How did you end up coming to Phnom Penh?
We have a manager in Australia who books all of our shows in Asia and the region. We had played Asia before, and when we were booked for this festival in Saigon (LoretoFest) we knew we'd already be in the area. Our manager knew someone at the FCC group, and convinced us to play here and a few more gigs in Saigon at Pacharan.

AL: Do you like touring?
In general, yes. We've been on the road about six months of this year. When we travel it's great to see other cultures and very exciting, but we're pretty focused on the music, so we don't get to explore as much as we'd like to. Our schedule is tight, so we don't see much of the place, but it's still really interesting.

AL: What's been your favourite tour so far?
We had a great tour in Asia before, through China and Hong Kong. We played an amazing gig in Buenos Aires, it was fascinating to see the different night life scene there.

AL: Where will you go after this?
This is the last stop on the tour, then it’s back to NYC. We'll do some recording, hopefully, take a little time off.

AL: What would be your ultimate fantasy gig?
I don't know, maybe playing Machu Picchu? That'd be pretty awesome.

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