THANH TUNG - ONCE A ROCKER, FOREVER A ROCKER

Dung Le
Mar 30, 2019
3 min read

Updated: Mar 31, 2019

ree — Tung - drummer of Cheffin' ( photo by: Arnography )

Pham Thanh Tung, 23 years old, is the drummer of Cheffin', a young but potential alternative-indie rock band in Saigon. He is not only with the role as a drummer, but also a baritone vocalist and famous songwriter in the Indie community.

FROM HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL...

Unlike Lam or Cu in the previous stories, Tung realized that he loves music when he first saw the teenage series "High School Musical" at the age of 13. From that, he tried to mimic the singing voice of US-UK singer and fell in love with music day by day.

With the encouragement from his dad, a semi-professional guitarist, Tung took several vocal classes to improve his voice and knowledge about music, At the age of 18, Tung had won the 1st of Rewind The Memories - one of the biggest non-professional competition for young singers in Saigon.

ree — Tung at Rewind The Memories - 2015 ( photo provided by character )

.... TO ROCK MUSIC

From a soft boy who loves US-UK pop music, it all changed to Tung when his first listen to Avenged Sevenfold - a heavy metal band from the US and KOP - a Vietnamese alternative rock band. For the first time in his life, Tung recognized that his real passion lay behind the heavy drum patterns, distorted guitar riffs and scream melodies. He started to learn how to play drum as a first step to follow his new passion - becoming a rocker.

In 2016, Tung was invited to be the drummer of Rebellicious - a local hard-rock band. Rebel as the name of the band, Tung practiced 3 hours a day to catch up with the band. But Rebellicious was also a big regret for Tung when he realized that except him, none of the band members think seriously about music. To them, music is just an entertainment tool, not a passion. Tung finally had to say goodbye with Rebellicious to chasing his own dream.

ree — Tung and his gig with Rebellicious ( photo provided by character )

During this time, Tung also began to write his original songs. With his innate ability of writing melodies, Tung has been composing over 50 songs with full lyrics. His songs, as he describes, are inspired from the songs of Hai Bot and KOP with narrative and emotional stories. Every time Tung faces struggles in his daily life (love, family, friend, occupation...), he converts them into music.

After breaking up with Rebellicious, Tung nurture his dream of a new project: a alternative rock band named Cheffin'. It took Tung over 1 year to recruit a full band with fellows that share the same dream with him.

Talking about Cheffin', Tung shares his thought that Cheffin' means a second family to him. Every member, although come from different generations, shows respect to each other and try to improvises themselves every day. a Lung, the debut concert of Cheffin' in January 2019, attracted over 1100 audiences come to the stage and become an important milestone in their career.

ree — Cheffin' at La Lung ( photo by La Lung Team )

BRINGING THE VIETNAMESE ROCK BACK

As mentioned above, Tung has a big heart for Vietnamese rock music. To Tung, this kind of music has been nurturing his love for music and shaping the man he is today. However, the RockViet trend in recent years is decreasing. Famous rock bands start to break-up as young audiences are turning their back to Vietnamese Rock.

For Tung, bringing back the Vietnamese Rock vibe is his biggest dream to do with Cheffin'. Although Tung is currently facing several hardships come to his life, including financial problem, military service, he still tries he best to dedicate his time and money for Cheffin'. He believes that Cheffin's music, with the spirit of youth combining with the nostalgic vibe of Vietnamese rock in the early 2000s, will reborn Rock Viet once again.