If you're at a loose end of an evening during your visit to Phnom Penh, you may want to consider taking in some live music. Many venues in town feature live bands that are locally-based or visiting from abroad, such as El Dealbreakers, Durian, Cambodian Space Project, Dub Addiction and Holliday in Cambodia.

Little Duke and the Mekong Blues Messengers belting out the tunes at Sharky's.

The best way to find live music is through the Leng Pleng guide, which posts upcoming live gigs. They also have listings for local bands, DJs and regular gigs and, if you're a singer or musician, you can check their listing of open mike events. They send out an email with the event listings for the coming weekend every Thursday -- sign up on their site if you're interested.

Otherwise, here are a few venues that have live music nearly every weekend.

Sharky Bar

Sharky Bar-- which claims to be the longest running rock n' roll bar in Indochina -- is on a mission to be the place to go for live music in Phnom Penh (and eradicate their long-standing reputation as a sex worker bar). They've been pretty successful and Sharky's has gigs on every weekend. Be warned, though, that it's still a tad seedy, although no worse than the clubs on Street 51. Personally, I'm a fan of the laid-back, dive bar-vibe at Sharky's, and you probably will be, too.

126 Street 130, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 228 045
sharkysofcambodia.com

Equinox

Over on Street 278, Equinox hosts live music almost every Friday and Saturday night featuring indie, reggae, dub, electronic and funk bands. Admission is always free and the gigs are often very crowded.

3A St 278, Phnom Penh
T: (023) 676 7593
equinox-cambodia.com/live-music

Paddy Rice

Paddy Rice, the Irish pub on the riverside, has an open mike every Thursday night starting at 20:30, and all musicians are welcome to join. They also have feature bands on the weekends.

213 Sisowath Quay at St 136, Phnom Penh
T: (017) 773 102
paddyrice.net

FCC Phnom Penh

The FCC has live music most weekends -- if you're looking for a more relaxed, and slightly more upscale environment than some of the previous listings, this is the sort of place where you can sit down and enjoy fancy (albeit pricey) cocktails while hearing some of the best bands that Phnom Penh has to offer.

363 Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh
T: (023) 724 014
fcccambodia.com

Tags: Equinox, FCC, live music, Paddy Rice, Sharky Bar

When you're ready for a big night out in Phnom Penh, where should you go?

Phnom Penh has no end of nightlife and clubbing opportunities, so if you're heading this way, be sure to pack a pair of dancing shoes. The area around Street 51 (Rue Pasteur) is the most happening spot in town, with many of the bars and clubs centered in the area.

The bar at Pontoon is always bumpin'.

Pontoon

The most popular club on Street 51 since they opened in January, Pontoon keeps the music pumping until 5am with a mix of local and international DJs, with big name DJs occasionally making an appearance. At $3, the drinks are cheap and effective, and they're open seven nights a week.

80 St 172 near St 51, Phnom Penh.
T: (010) 030 0400; (016) 779 966.

Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is the club in town that everyone's heard about, possibly because of the excellent name, taken from a Joseph Conrad novel. Popular with sex workers, backpackers and the men who want to chat up either of the former, Heart of Darkness boasts two floors of nightclubbing and head-splitting remixes of Top 40 tunes.

DJ Club: For when you feel like slow-dancing at a nightclub.

DJ Club

DJ Club is a Khmer club a block off of Street 51 that is always crowded with freshie boys in skinny jeans. Plays pop, hip hop and Top 40 and the drinks are reasonably priced, so if you want to check out a bit of Khmer young adult culture and see teenage boys dancing with each other while the girls ignore them, head into DJ club.

Corner of St 174 and St 63, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 586 884

Do It All

During the week Do It All is a West African restaurant and mostly-empty nightclub, but on Friday nights the place is packed with African expats who love to dance. Easily one of the most spirited dance floors in town on a Friday between midnight and two.

61 Street 174, Phnom Penh
T: (023) 220 904

Saint Tropez

Popular with the Khmer elite and expats, Saint Tropez prides itself on keeping out the riff raff. I haven't written about Saint Tropez before, because their door policies once left my friend outside because of his skin color. If you can get past that (and I can't), they're known for being "classier" which translates into more expensive drinks and fewer backpackers.

31 Street 174, Phnom Penh
T: (097) 900 0401

(If clubbing's not your thing, we've covered Phnom Penh's rock bars, gay-friendly bars and ladies' nights already.)

Tags: clubbing, dancing, DJ Club Phnom Penh, Do It All, Heart of Darkness, Pontoon, Saint Tropez

Phnom Penh is probably home to more Western-orientated bars than foreigners, but most of them seem to believe that all Westerners want to hear is Top 40 from three years ago. You can't walk down one of the busy bar streets without hearing the strains of Lady Gaga or Rhianna, but where should you go if you don't want to party like a G6?

A few bars in town pride themselves on only playing rock and metal. Here they are:

Nothing says rock bar like a Lynyrd Skynyrd flag.

Zeppelin Bar

Many in town just refer to Zeppelin as "rock bar" and it's as close to a local institution as the Phnom Penh bar scene has. The Taiwanese owner, Jun, is a metal nut, and his huge collection of records can attest to that. One of, if not the only place in town that plays vinyl, you'll hear lots of older metal in Zeppelin, and Jun, who DJs all night, takes requests. Zeppelin also has the distinction of being one of the only non-girly bars on Street 51 and they stay open quite late most nights. And although it's not a full restaurant, regulars rave about the food, especially the pork and leek dumplings for $1.50.

9C Street 51, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 881 181

Garage

Garage is a laid-back bar just off the riverside that is most known for its incredible collection of tunes -- they bill themselves as Phnom Penh’s premier music bar, and with a collection of 200,000 tracks on their system and a Spotify account that can stream another 10 million, I'm not inclined to disagree. They’ll let you make requests but keep it classic -- you’re not going to hear any teenybopper pop in here. Their Facebook page says it best: No James Blunt. No "My Humps." Ever. You'll find it by the neon Velvet Underground banana outside.

9Eo St 110, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 754 763
jungle-bar.blogspot.com

Lone Brothers Bar

Just opened in October, the Lone Brothers Bar is affiliated with the Lone Brothers Motorcycle Club and the bar of the same name in Sihanoukville. Inside they've got a flat screen TV (playing horror movies when I stopped in) and outside a large table good for socialising. Run by a German biker, they play mostly classic rock and have cheap beer and a laid-back vibe. It is, however, a girly bar, but the girls aren't particularly pushy.

Corner of St 51 and 174, Phnom Penh
T: (011) 579 574

Tags: Bars, Garage, Lone Brothers Bar, rock music, Zeppelin

Most visitors to Phnom Penh who are the club-going type end up visiting one the few Western-oriented clubs in town. But there are even more clubs in town catering to Khmers, and each offers a unique clubbing experience -- from daytime discos to live bands and slow dancing -- that gives an interesting insight into Cambodian night-life.

Who says it's not cool to slow dance in a nightclub?

Here are a few Khmer clubs in Phnom Penh that are worth checking out:

Spark
Phnom Penh's classic Khmer club, Spark is filled with the under-25 Cambodian set who are there to ogle each other and nurse overpriced drinks. Live music, DJs, and comedy acts make this a must-see for tourists looking to understand exactly what Khmer 20-somethings who are allowed to stay out after dark actually do. And what they do is slow dance -- every night Spark has a few slow-dancing sets with a live singer belting out Khmer love songs and giving the patrons an excuse to awkwardly put their arms around one another.

Parkway Center, Mao Tse Tung Blvd, Phnom Penh.
T: (012) 433 333
Open daily, 21:00 - 4:00.

Platinum
Catering to the wealthy young Cambodians of Phnom Penh, Platinum is a Western-style club featuring a booming sound system that plays mostly Top 40 dance music. A great place to see where Phnom Penh's well-heeled elite youth buy overpriced drinks and talk about who their dads are.

St 47, Phnom Penh.
T: (012) 621 76
Open daily, 18:00 til late.

Daytime clubbing... it's contagious!

Fever
Catering to the after-school crowd, Fever opens in the early afternoon to take advantage of the must-be-home-by-9pm Khmer crowd. Despite its hours, it's set up like a proper nightclub and with no windows, you'll be hard-pressed to recall that it's not even dinnertime yet when you are shaking your booty on the dance floor.

1st Floor inside the Pencil Supermarket Mall on Sothearos, Phnom Penh
T: (016) 303 999
Open Mondays 13:00 - 24:00, Tuesdays through Thursdays 15:00 - 24:00, Fridays and Saturdays 13:00 - 24:00 and Sundays 15:00- 24:00.

DJ Club
DJ Club is always crowded with freshie boys in skinny jeans and you're almost guaranteed to see teenage Cambodian boys dancing with their arms around each other for lack of female alternatives. Plays pop, hip hop and Top 40 and the drinks are reasonably priced.

Corner of St 174 and St 63, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 586 884
Open daily, 20:00 - 3:30

Tags: DJ Club Phnom Penh, Fever Phnom Penh, Khmer clubs, Khmer disco, Platinum Phnom Penh, Spark Phnom Penh

If you missed all of the excitement of Cambodia Pride Week, never fear, there are bars and clubs catering to the LGBT crowd in Phnom Penh every night of the week.

"The Phnom Penh gay scene is just coming into bloom," Marcus Mucous, the organiser of Cambodia Pride and mastermind behind the gay night at Pontoon, told me. "This time two years ago it was in its infancy. Now it's starting to pick up momentum and there are more people who are going out, including Khmers."

Even the cocktails have pride in Phnom Penh!

Here are a few bars and clubs in Phnom Penh that are either gay-owned or gay-friendly:

The Empire
Owned by an Englishman and his Khmer partner, The Empire is a chilled-out bar near the riverside that has an excellent wine and cocktail selection as well as delicious Western-friendly Khmer dishes (read: no prahok). Try the signature Empire Cocktail made from fresh sugarcane juice, vodka, Bacardi, Triple Sec, lime and a sugarcane stirrer.

#34 St 130, Phnom Penh
T: (089) 383 817
facebook.com/khmerempire

The Local 2
Not a gay bar per se, the Local 2 is a local-style pub run by an Australian lesbian. This gay-friendly expat bar features pub quizzes on Thursday, musical instruments for customers to use and two pool tables.

#8 St 144, Phnom Penh
T (068) 891 677

Blue Chili
Filled with Khmers and expats alike, this gay-owned pub and busy pick-up joint is a good place for a pre-clubbing drink. They also have drag shows on Friday and Saturday at 11:00, performed by Oak, the Thai owner, who dances on the bar. The place is known for its gay freelancers who are reputed to have sticky fingers, so hold onto your valuables.

# 36 St 178, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 566 353
bluechillibar.com

The Phnom Penh Pussycat Dolls tearing it up at Hoochie Mamma's.

Hoochie Mamma's at Pontoon
Marcus Mucous has made Thursday night the new Friday with his night at Pontoon, Hoochie Mamma's. Although it's meant to be gay night, it draws a mixed crowd of Westerners and Khmers, both gay and otherwise, with its bangin' electro house and $2 mixed drinks. At around 1:00 a drag and muscle boy show stars the Phnom Penh Pussycat Dolls -- it's worth sticking around for.

#80 St 172 near Rue Pasteur (St 51), Phnom Penh
T: (010) 030 0400; (016) 779 966.

Rainbow Bar
This small gay-owned bar is perfect for a friendly, relaxed drink. The bar features shows on Friday and Saturday nights that are a bit different from the rest, in addition to drag performances they also re-enact scenes from Khmer soap operas and do other Khmer-oriented acts. They also have karaoke nights and are known for their Khmer-friendly atmosphere.

#73 St 172, Phnom Penh
T: (097) 741 4187

Heart of Darkness
Where everyone ends up after all the bars close, the legendary club Heart of Darkness is a mixed club that is also the gay bar of choice every night of the week except Thursdays (when everyone is at Hoochie Mamma's at Pontoon). The gay "spot" is behind the staircase and on the dance floor, of course.

#28 St 51, Phnom Penh

And if you're heading to Siem Reap, here's our take on gay-friendly hotels and bars there.

Tags: gay nightclubs Phnom Penh, LGBT Phnom Penh

"Ladies’ nights" -- those antiquated gender-discriminatory events -- are still popular around Phnom Penh. These mid-week promotions usually offer some sort of free or discounted drinks to women in the hopes that it will draw more of them, and the men that love them, into the establishment. It never seems to have the desired effect, as there are almost always more men than women in the bars and clubs in Phnom Penh, but I’m not one to turn my nose up at free drinks.

It's Ladies' Night and a blue margarita is feelin' right!

Here are a few of the top Ladies’ Nights promotions in Phnom Penh:

Darlin’ Darlin’
Tuesdays, 18:00-21:00.
Darlin’ Darlin’, the club at Nagaworld, offers 50% off all cocktails for women until 21:00. This is a decent promotion because the cocktails at Darlin’ Darlin’ are delicious but regularly rather pricey. They also feature a cover band from the Philippines kicking out the jams at a volume that I consider unbearable and bartenders that juggle and light things on fire.
At NagaWorld, Hun Sen Park, Phnom Penh
T: (023) 228 822

Pontoon
Wednesdays, 21:00-05:00.
Pontoon offers 50% all cocktails for women (bringing a mojito down to $2.25) as well as 50% off Vodka Cruisers, Miller, wine and bottles of champagne. The best part? Free Jello shots. Surprisingly busy for a Wednesday night, the event features DJ Illest rocking the crowd with dance tunes and old school hip hop.
#80 St 172 near Rue Pasteur (St 51), Phnom Penh.
T: (010) 030 0400; (016) 779 966

Riverhouse
Thursdays, 16:00-late.
Riverhouse Lounge offers a free welcome drinks to women on Thursdays, as well as 2-for-1 cocktails and groups of five women or more can get a free jug of margaritas. In practice, the Riverhouse staff can be quite surly about delivering said free drinks so be sure to ask for a drink ticket downstairs before you go in. Lots of reports of women being refused the free drink promotion because it’s “too late” or because the staff was too busy staring at the walls. DJ Star, DJ Blue and DJ Gang play Top 40 dance tunes.
Corner St. 110 and Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh.
T: 012 299 161

Tags: Darlin Darlin, Phnom Penh Ladies Nights, Pontoon, Riverhouse

Bringing a bit of South America to Phnom Penh, a team of Venezuelans have opened a new restaurant and bar at the Chinese House on Sisowath Quay. Antonio Lopez de Haro, originally from Caracas, Venezuela, first visited Phnom Penh while he was living in Singapore. He liked it so much he kept coming back, and eventually decided to open a restaurant here that drew on some of his favourite cuisines -- the Venezuelan food from his childhood and Mediterranean tapas influenced by the flavours of Asia, where he has lived for the last six years.

There's a new bar and lounge (and restaurant) at Chinese House

A tepui is a table-top shaped mountain that is found in South America; the name means “house of the gods” in the language of the indigenous Pemon peoples who inhabit Venezuela’s Gran Sabana. “Each tepui is a completely different ecosystem,” Lopez de Haro explains, and it’s clear that this idea has influenced Tepui, which is worlds apart from the average Phnom Penh eatery.

There’s the interior, for one. The Chinese House is one of the best preserved buildings in town, having been barely changed since it was built in 1903 by a Hokkien Chinese family in the French villa style with Asian touches, like a Chinese-style doors and traditional tiled roof. Since Tepui opened, they’ve moved the bar and lounge area downstairs and the restaurant upstairs, which was built of hand-hewn hardwood and has a decidedly elegant atmosphere.

But what’s made me a regular at Tepui is the food. The head chef, Gisela Salazar Golding, is also from Venezuela, but trained in Spain, most recently working in Dublin and Shanghai, which is where the pair met when Lopez de Haro was a regular at the restaurant she cooked at. Golding’s creations are easily Phnom Penh’s best tapas -- the seafood salpicon with avocado served with banana chips, patatas bravas and the tuna tartare with a wasabi emulsion are some of my favourites. The drinks menu is also creative, and shows a more Asian influence than the food, with cocktail ingredients like tamarind, sake and green tea liquor (luckily not all in the same drink).

Tapas plates at Tepui range from $4 to $14 (for foie gras) and the mains are between $12 and $17. Cocktails are $4.50 or $5. Prices are on the high end for Phnom Penh, but they’ve just started a happy hour offering free tapas to those who purchase drinks between 17:00 and 19:30.

Tepui at Chinese House, 45 Sisowath Quay, at Street 84 in front of Phnom Penh Port.
T: (023) 991 514
www.tepui.asia
Open Tuesday through Sunday, bar is open 17:00 til late, kitchen is open 18:00 until 22:30

Tags: Chinese House, cocktails, tapas, Tepui

The sign on the outside says Maxine’s, but the local expats that love it call it Snow’s or Snowy’s, after the charismatic Australian owner, Ian “Snow” Woodford. Last Friday Woodford was told that he would have to clear out, and this weekend is set to be the last in the long, storied history of a bar that is considered a Phnom Penh institution and whose owner is something close to a local celebrity.

Watching the sunset over the Tonle Sap at Snow's

Snow’s is a short trek across the Japanese Bridge on Chrouy Changva Peninsula. The tumble-down wooden house with a porch that hangs precariously out over the water is known for its stunning views of the sunsets over the Tonle Sap. The interior is decorated with artwork from local artists and Woodford himself, who makes paintings by covering traditional Khmer images with coloured and metallic dots, a technique called pointillism. The ceiling is hung with hundreds of brass bells and the face of Buddha looks out from every wall.

“We would have been here six years on Khmer New Year. We were the one Western place on this side of the river, the one red dot,” Woodford told me, obviously saddened by the situation. Snow’s is one of more than a hundred houses that are being cleared as part of a riverside beautification project that apparently began months ago with the addition of a number of large billboards facing Sisowath Quay. There are plans to put a garden where Snow’s and the many family homes now stand. “I knew it was going to happen,” Woodford said, “but not so fast. There are no games with these guys. When they say go, you go.”

Hundreds of brass bells decorate the bar at Snow's

A visit to Snow’s means getting to talk to Woodford and hearing his stories of days gone by. Woodford came to Cambodia in 1993, as a contractor for the UN. His job was to move 150 UNTAC Land Cruisers through Khmer Rouge occupied territory, a dangerous job that involved delicate negotiations, bribery and drinking homebrew with Khmer Rouge soldiers. When Matt Dillon came to Cambodia to film City of Ghosts, Woodford was cast in a small but memorable role as a quirky patron at a brothel. Hearing Woodford’s stories is as easy as sitting down next to him -- he’s quick to pull out his dog-eared scrapbook where he’s collected photos and memories of his time in Cambodia and show it to all interested parties.

But the end of Snow’s has come, and this weekend will be its last. Woodford is looking for another location but for now, Saturday night is the planned final bash. Rumour has it that the Cambodia contingent of El Dealbreakers will be playing (although said rumours have yet to be confirmed). Regardless, “it’s going to be quite a blowout,” Woodford promises.

Maxine’s / Snow’s
71 Tonle Sap Road, Chruoy Changva Peninsula, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 200 617.

Tags: Bars, El Dealbreakers, Eviction, Maxine's, Snow's, Snowy's

This March 5, Kep's sleepy atmosphere will make way for a musical collaboration as Eastern and Western performers come together for the 1st Kep Beach Festival.

Kep Beach Festival

The show kicks off with DJ Hoxup playing Khmer rock 'n roll from the 1960s and 1970s, with other artists ranging from the famous Khmer chapei player Ta Kong Nay through to European DJs including French DJ Stephane Arii, one of the organisers of past dance events atop Bokor Mountain.

We had a quick Q&A over email with one of the festival's organisers, Stefaan Lambrecht. Stefaan has been living in Cambodia for the last five years, running the decidedly charming Botanica Guesthouse in Kep. He explained that he and his co-organisers, including the Kep Ministry of Tourism, settled on Kep for the festival because they see great potential in the area and they're "striving to create an annual intercultural event where Khmer meets Western and where music, arts and culture bring people together."

The festival is supported by Kingdom Breweries, Ezecom and Asian Trails and a portion of the proceeds (drinks and food will be on sale) will be donated to Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), a child-protection organisation in Cambodia.

They've got no idea how many people will show up as this is the first time something like this has been attempted in Kep, but they've got their fingers crossed for 500 people. So, if you've got nothing planned on March 5, head down to Kep, take in the tunes and support a worthy cause while you're at it.

The Kep Beach Festival kicks off at 14:00, running through till midnight and will be happening right on Kep beach.

Have fun!

Serving up drinks at the new Pontoon.

The Phnom Penh club scene can leave one feeling a bit like Goldilocks looking for a bowl of porridge -- this club’s too small, that club’s too sleazy ... but finally there’s a nightclub in Phnom Penh that is just right. Pontoon was one of the most popular clubs in town until it mysteriously disappeared last September. Much to the relief of Phnom Penh club-goers, it’s back with a bang and better than ever.

Previous incarnations of Pontoon were riverside -- it was actually an attached pontoon and boat floating on the Tonle Sap. In 2008, the pontoon partially sank in the early morning hours, but luckily no one was hurt. After the titanic episode, Pontoon was docked at Koh Pich -- Diamond Island -- and soldiered on as the only place in town where one had a remote possibility of hearing dance music that wasn’t awful, awful crap. Despite massive popularity, they had to close in 2010 for “safety and licensing reasons”. In Cambodia, safety and licensing concerns tends to be code for “not paying large enough bribes”, but of course that’s just idle speculation.

After more that four months gone, Pontoon was nearly forgotten. Expats crowded into Riverhouse, Saint Tropaz and Heart of Darkness, griping about the music and wishing there was something better.

And then everything changed. Last month the new Pontoon opened up in the middle of Phnom Penh clubland -- it’s on Street 172 off of Rue Pasteur (Street 51). The space is impressive -- there’s a proper dance floor and separate seating areas where it’s still possible to have a conversation. The bar is massive, the sort you can loiter around without embarrassment. The $3 mixed drinks are strong and many nights have drink promotions.

Sundays through Tuesdays see a mash up of various types of music: pop, dance, hip hop and electro. Wednesdays are Ladies’ Night with 50% off cocktails for chicas and, wait for it, free jello shots. On Thursdays, Marcus Mucous takes charge with a gay night called “Hoochie Mamma”. Last week they had a live cabaret show including three beautiful Khmer drag performers and $2 mixed drinks. On Fridays, when they often have special guest DJs, you’ll hear mostly electronic music, and on Saturdays they play a mix of old and new hip hop. On the weekends there’s a $3 entry fee but on Fridays it’s free in until midnight and on Saturdays it’s free if you arrive before 22:30.

The club attracts a good mix of Khmers and Western expats and backpackers all eager to hear good tunes and get down. Tonight features the Stanton Warriors, a UK breakbeat duo. See you on the dance floor!

Pontoon
#80 St 172 near Rue Pasteur (St 51), Phnom Penh.
T: (010) 030 0400; (016) 779 966. Open daily, 21:00 - 5:00ish.
http://www.facebook.com/Pontoon

Tags: clubs, Hoochie Mamma, Pontoon, Stanton Warriors