The past eighteen months have been a busy time for Saigon Soul Revival (SSR), a Saigon-based band that’s, as they say, “on a mission to bring back the raw, live sound of 1960s and 1970s Vietnamese rock and soul music”. There was the release of their second full-length album, Mối Lương Duyên (Destiny or Fate); a tour in Europe; a live session recorded by Seattle’s fabled KEXP radio station; and an appearance on the soundtrack of HBO’s The Sympathizer, based on the novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

Having lived in Saigon for years and seen SSR live on a couple of occasions, I figured the time was now to make their acquaintance and get their perspective on these recent successes. I meet Indy (guitar), Minh (vocals) and Gabriel (bass) at Indy’s District 2 apartment on a drizzly weekday afternoon. Jan, SSR’s German manager and producer, is also present, receiving and responding to emails about upcoming shows in Germany and Denmark. Absent are the band’s two other core members: Hiếu (drums) and Đăng (keyboard).

• Tags: Issue 40, Michael Howard, Vietnam