It's fair to say that Stephen Wrench knows a thing or two about music. He was with American band Lynyrd Skynyrd for 21 years and has been involved with some of the biggest names in music worldwide and now runs one of the United States' most successful record and film labels.
Krom.
Wrench is confident his latest signing will be in the running for a Grammy Award next year, and the songwriter, composer, lyricist, producer and guitarist should know as he's one of a select group who nominate and vote in the prestigious awards.
His latest signing is Phnom Penh-based band Krom, who are due to do some more shows in Bangkok early in the new year. Krom's last shows in Bangkok earlier this year were the first time the Cambodian band had ventured overseas with their unique brand of noir music and were a big success.
Krom's music delves into dark places, and it's certainly not mainstream pop, more a cross of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. Their songs, written by Australian guitarist and singer Chris Minko and classically-trained Cambodian singer and dancer Sophea Chamroeun, cover things like prostitution and human trafficking, subjects Cambodians know only too well.
Three months ago Wrench signed Krom to his label, Music/Radio Promotions, a subsidiary of his Musik and Film company, after a friend in Hong Kong sent him some of their songs. Music/Radio Promotions's music is carried by more than 250,000 stations in 180 countries.
Their unusual sound and the subjects they sing about, some only in Khmer, intrigued him.
"I signed them because it was unusual and not cookie cutter stuff like everything else I hear these days," he said. "I loved the harmonies, the raspiness of Chris's voice and the overall sound is unique and very pleasing to the ear."
Wrench is keen to take Krom and their music to a wider audience once their next album is completed -- the band only do occasional shows in Cambodia and spend most of their time in a studio recording and building up their repertoire. Their next album is being recorded at the studio they use in Phnom Penh, but is being mixed by Wrench and his team in the US.
Krom has also sent Wrench and his team some of their previously recorded songs and they have been remixed in the US and may also be re-released.
"Touring is the only way to expose the world to the music of Krom," said Wrench. "Once the album is finished, we want to arrange a tour of NZ/Australia, Europe, the UK, the States etc, and hopefully partner them with some of my platinum friends and others that Krom would complement.
"But it's too early to tell yet. We have to get the album done first, then market and promote Krom's music." Wrench's list of friends in the music business is impressive, and he says many will either want Krom to play on the same bill as them or will want to work directly with Krom.
Wrench has been in the music business for 50 years and the list of people he's worked with is impressive.
"Here are some of the names I can remember: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Toto, Loverboy, Duran Duran, Eddie and the Cruisers, Dr Hook, Atlanta Rhythm Section and Bad Company," he said.
"There are others too, like Tommy Tutone, Survivor, Rossington Collins Band, Rick Springfield, Hank Williams Jr, Vince Gill, John Anderson, David Allen Coe, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, Ozzy Osbourne, Staind, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Ryan Starr, Travis Tritt, Bonnie Raitt, The Flamingos, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Sister Hazel, Blessid Union of Souls, Craig Campbell, Grand Funk Railroad, Abba, Chad Brock, Michael Peterson, Daryl Worley, Lonestar, Marilyn Manson, Mona Lisa Twins, Foghat, Shenandoah, Alabama, Toby Keith and Collin Raye.
"I have a lot of friends all over the world including members of Abba, Loverboy, Toto and the list goes on. Once we have an album I will present it to all of them and it will be promoted to the world via Sony."
With the recording industry going through monumental changes in the last 15 years, and many companies and artists losing revenue through free downloads on the internet, Wrench plans to play it safe with Krom. "Record sales are nowhere near where they used to be, but I believe there is a huge, hungry market out there that wants to hear something different, and that's Krom. We will sell CDs and vinyl, only there will be no free streaming or digital access," he said.
Krom's songs have been used as the soundtrack for two recent films, Camp 32, which will be shown in Phnom Penh and Bangkok in December, and New Horizons In Cambodia, which was shown for the first time last week at the Bahamas International Film Festival. Wrench thinks the band's unusual blend of Khmer and English songs is worthy of a Grammy Award, and with good reason.
"I am a nominating member of the Grammys. This year I nominated three artists, plus my wife talked me into nominating myself. There were over 60,000 submissions in each category. I am proud to say I have two songs nominated for Song Of The Year that made it from 60,000 submissions and now narrowed down to 134, so I have a one in 67 chance of winning.
"Also we have three other artists who also made it through from tens of thousands down to a few hundred. They are Crimson Chrysalis, Anjali Ray and Rose Boyd. We hope Krom will be on that list next year."
Wrench thinks Krom's music has a lot of potential, mainly because it's so different from anything else heard in the mainstream media these days and also because the band tackles subjects on the seedier side of humanity that most other songwriters steer clear of.
"I call our music Mekong Delta blues, a variation on Mississippi blues, and the two other singers in the band, sisters Sophea and Sopheak Chamroeun, are both classically-trained Cambodian opera singers," said Minko, an Australian who spent years working with disabled people in Cambodia. "They sing like angels, while I'd probably make Tom Waits sound like a soprano."
Wrench thinks Krom may be the first Cambodian band playing its own music to taste international success.
"We hope Krom will become a household name, win a Grammy and be the opening act for The Rolling Stones and others. The whole world is open to them -- exert that positive energy, and who knows?"
Only time will tell, but with Wrench's label promoting them and Wrench and his team mixing and marketing the new Krom album, the band's future is looking good.
