Anesthetic Youth is a four-piece alternative indie rock band based in Ho Chi Min City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam, of all places. The band caught our attention with the 2020 single and video, “Fortune and Fame.”
The song is a blend of emotional lyrics and experimental alt-rock jamming, powered by muscular guitar riffs, precise and driving rhythms, and a fiery front-woman leading the way.
Formed in 2017, the band is a multi-cultural unit: vocalist Giand Kieu is Vietnamese; bassist Jesus Carrillo is Peruvian; drummer Luis Zapiola is American and guitarist Angelo Silva is Portuguese.
“Giand and I worked on it on a very cheap acoustic guitar which I still use to write our songs since they always sound a lot better on the electric guitar, and by the time we jammed the song with the rest of the band, the lyrics and the guitar parts were finished.”
Anesthetic Youth formed in 2017 as a metal/hardcore band. After several line-up changes, however, they evolved into more of an experimental rock band. Two years ago they received high praise for their debut single, “Self Portrait” which was followed by the band’s debut EP, Dystopia, in February 2019.