Japan Guitar Shop is a Cambodia-based original blues rock, alt-soul and hip-hop group. Their new album, Done You Right, is available now on all platforms:”

The New Album ‘Done You Right’ Out Now

Images: Steve Porte – Johnnie Cluney – Luka van Opstal.

1. For someone that is yet to discover Japan Guitar Shop in 5 words how would you describe yourself.

Come to Cambodia and see.

2. What inspired you as an artist?

We found a thrift store where we live, in Phnom Penh, with an upstairs rehearsal space and $1 beers, and that place (which was called Japan Guitar Shop) inspired us to play every day as friends, and then as a band.

3. What is your process for preparing to perform live? Do you have any Diva demands? Who’s the Mariah Carey of the group?

Our preparation to perform live usually involves a family dinner. There are no egos in our band but Francesco Scarfone and Chema Rodriguez have hair worthy of divas.

4. Where do you feel you fit into the music landscape?

Under a bridge between genres like rock, soul, and rap.

5: What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike?

The five of us all grew up in different countries, and so our musical tastes are pretty expansive, but we definitely lean towards anything soulful and correspondingly have a distaste for what A.I. has been generating so far.

6.What’s currently in the pipeline for 2024?

We’re gonna do our best to tour our new album, Done You Right, which was just released.

7. What would you say is your greatest strength as an Artist?

We genuinely love hanging out and playing music together, and that helps us overcome a whole lot of challenges.

8. What would you say is your greatest weakness as an Artist?

We need to get better at leveraging social media. It’s not our forte but we know it’s important.

9. What music artiest would you say have influenced your work?

Khruangbin, The Roots, The Black Keys, Outkast, Deer Tick, Future Islands, Tom Waits, Anderson .Paak, Lucinda Williams, the Black Pumas, and many others.

10. Who would you most like to collaborate with artistically?

Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse.

11. What was your worst performance?

There was a food poisoning incident on a night we were playing in front of a large audience, and it wasn’t pretty.

12. What can fans expect from your new album Done You Right

It’s truly our best effort.

13.What was the most difficult obstacle you have ever faced and how did you overcome it?

We grew up musically in a country that lacks infrastructure and resources, and so our biggest obstacle has been ensuring that all the venues we play are adequately set-up from a logistical and technical standpoint, and we’ve overcome that by becoming roadies for one another, and for the other bands that play with us.

14: What is your creative process when making music. Do you work with others or is there just you?

Usually someone comes up with musical concept or idea, sometimes as simple as a chord progression, it gets developed by the group, and then Cove Aaronoff and Colin Hodgkins add lyrics. The process varies, but that’s pretty typical.

15. Where do you see your musical career in 10 years?