Junkies in Saigon Part 1

I think it all began the week before New Years Eve. Carla Laus, a close friend of mine was visiting for the holidays and wanted to hook up. Being that I don’t entire go out that much unless its work related, I simply invited her to our pre-Give A Damn gig at Capones where we were played a few songs. She liked what she saw and had pretty much right then and there decided that she wanted us to play in Saigon, Vietnam. She said, “Send me a video of you guys playing a song so I can show it to my good friend who’s a concert producer/promoter”! I was a bit drunk and couldn’t quite believe it to be realistic so I shrugged it off, although produced the video via facebook. Rupert, the producer, saw the video and gave the go signal! I couldn’t believe it! New Years had just passed and it was 2009 and we were going to Vietnam!

There’s a long story with how we got off work for 7 days and how our drummer who also plays in another band had to explain that he was leaving the country on such short notice and problems with passports and it being Chinese new years but lets skip all that and just say that we got what we needed to get done, done!

And so on January 21, the Blue Jean Junkies were at the Ninoy Aquino Airport Terminal 3 waiting for our midnight flight to Saigon! First time for each of us, and none of us knew a damn thing about the place except that it was in Vietnam!

We got there at about 130am, Carla and Rupert were there to pick us up and though we were invited to a French Party we opted to get a bite to eat instead and chill for the long week ahead. We each had some Pho and was shown how to eat it and how this leaf does that and that leaf does this and tasted chili sauce Vietnamese style! After eating our Pho over a few beers we decide “Alright lets head out and check into our hotel and put our guitars down”. We checked in and were shown a few nearby bars where we could easily get to without needing to be shown around. We said our goodbye’s to Carla and Rupert and minutes later decide to drink some beer at Go To Bar which was a minutes walk away from our hotel.

Getting Started

It was fun sitting in that bar, loads of people but everyone taking it slow, I sat at the bar and ordered us 3 beers. In no time a Vietnamese local was sitting next to me asking me if she could crash at our hotel for the night, hooker. I shooed her off and carried on with the band. Nino ended up convincing the bar to let him use facebook while Niko and I decide to have a look upstairs! HOLY FUCK! Go To Bar’s upstairs was happening!!! For lack of a better word that is. It was pumping with white guys and girls, dancing to fucking Eminem while everyone sang along but it was fun to see everyone being so into it and in a great mood! We stayed awhile, maybe 2 to 3 rounds. I spilt some guys beer all over the floor by accident and he didn’t like it much. After a few Eminem tracks I couldn’t take it and asked Niko if he was ready to head out. Down we went, Nino was just about done, and we called it a night.

Rupert and I

The following day was Thursday the 22^nd, first day of our series of gigs. We woke up a bit early and took to the streets! The 3 of us got ourselves together and made our way out for a Vietnamese lunch. We went up the street and took a left, saw a series of shops and café’s and made our way into this one place that didn’t have too many tourists. We had a look at the menu and ordered beef and chicken. After eating another delicious meal, Niko and I thought to go for a walk just to see what was around while Nino went ahead to the room. Being a bit off our heads and tired plus having a long day ahead, we went back to the hotel. Rupert had come to get us at about 4pm for sound check. He decided to walk to the venue since it wasn’t too far away. 20+ minutes later I wished we had taken a cab because my bass is not light and walking around wasn’t that easy, especially in fucking Saigon traffic! But we got to Sheridan’s and met the owner Mike. He had a word with us, said our hello’s and got the deal for the night explained to us. We were to play 2 sets of about an hour each, acoustic, and with percussions. Bass straight to the mixer controlled by a cool sound engineer who doesn’t speak much English. It was Rock and Roll. Sound check was ok, we got a bite to eat, and made our way back in time for our sets.

Carla Nino me and Niko

First set was good. Nothing explosive and very unusual for the Blue Jean Junkies but it was good fun all the same. We played mostly covers and the set felt longer than I thought it was. I’d asked Rupert how we were doing with time and he said that we’d been playing for about 35 minutes when we’d finished our set list of 8 songs so we needed to come up with a list on the spot to fill in the remaining 25 minutes. We did, then took a break, had more beer, and met some people. Mike told us that he felt we were holding back and to just do our thing and not worry about making too much noise, even though we were in this fairly small pub. We say ok, drink more beer, meet more people, say hi to some people we’d already met, and had a few laughs. Suddenly it was time to start the 2^nd set, we were ready. Tanked up we hit the stage without a set list and began. It must have taken about a song or two for us to start getting really into it. Without warning we were rocking and feeling the heat! Carla sang a song or 2 with us, the audience requested songs by singing song lyrics’ in between songs, and people were now standing directly in front of us giving us less room than from what we already hardly had, but we loved it! The connection we reached with them was beautiful and we were all on the same boat, a bunch of people out having a good time while getting tanked up! Only difference was that we had instruments with us, but we were all rocking! It was a great night and in the end Mike even gave us Sheridan’s T-Shirts as well as asked us to sign his posters because he wanted to put it up with his other posters in the pub which consisted of some great musicians known worldwide, it was an honor for us to be amongst some jazz greats!

The Blue Jean Junkies Tanking Up!

Anyway, we got paid a bit extra in Dong (Vietnamese currency) and made our way out. Nino wanted to check out Vasco’s which is where we were scheduled to play the following night, Carla took him. I don’t know what happened to Rupert but Niko and I had only one thing on our minds: we weren’t looking to pick up any women, we didn’t need to see the clubs that people had been talking about, nor were we itching to check out more fucking Eminem music at Go To. So, were told that you can smoke ganja at this bar if you buy it there, plus they sell beer too! Without needing any more info we grabbed our stuff and hailed a cab! I think we must’ve put our stuff in the hotel before going cuz I don’t remember having my bass with me there. Anyway, we found our way and were there! Its on the same street as our hotel, Vui Diem, and just a 10 minute walk down the road. We were greeted by these 2 local girls wearing simple clothing and took a seat on some bar stools by a high table. Since we’d drank nothing but Saigon Bia (beer) the first night, we decided to drink Tiger Bia’s this night. Beers are served and just as I’d hoped was true, 3 joints were handed to us. It was like being in heaven! I had to ask the waitress twice if I could really just light up and they said “yes of course go ahead”! WOW! I love Saigon! I don’t know how long we stayed there but it was pretty long as many rounds and repeated orders were placed and by the time we walked home I told Niko “Fuck dude I think were lost” to which he replied “But were just on the same street as where we live”. I guess I was high! He even wanted to check out Go To but I begged off and crashed. He did the same. Nino shows up I don’t know how much longer and next thing I know it’s the next day.

Us with Mike Rupert and Carla

To view the full photo album, follow the link below:

http://odysseylive.net/miggy/albums/2975/