Date(s): December 1, 2026
Type of Show: Concert
Showtime(s): 8PM
Tickets: $20
MANAS
Tashi Dorji: guitar
Thom Nguyen: drums
Che Chen: guitar, percussion, homemade instruments
MANAS is guitarist Tashi Dorji, drummer Thom Nguyen and Che Chen (of 75 Dollar Bill) on guitar, percussion and homemade instruments. Steeped in years of friendship and a cooperative, mutual-aid ethos, the group has gained a reputation for intense, cathartic live shows characterized by Dorji and Chen’s guitars, hypnotic one moment and ecstatically abrasive the next, and Nguyen’s multi-limbed maelstroms exploding outwards in parallel. Chen’s battery of auxiliary percussion and homemade instruments can refract Nguyen's multi-directional rhythms or create ritualistic settings for the trio’s synchronistic interplay. Their post-hardcore take on free improvisation draws on their collective loves of punk, grindcore, black metal, free jazz, noise and other extreme sonics, as well as Buddhist and Taoist temple traditions of Asia and the Himalayas.
Dorji and Nguyen originally formed MANAS as a duo in 2012 in Asheville, NC and immediately caught the ears of the many undergrounds they traversed via near relentless touring throughout the 2010s. Originally from Bhutan, where he absorbed US/UK rock and heavy metal via bootleg cassettes while surrounded by a family full of folk musicians, Dorji arrived stateside for college and immersed himself in Asheville’s DIY punk scene where he met Nguyen, a Vietnamese-Mississippian transplant who had been playing in local free rock outfits Nest Egg and Mendocino. The two met Chen as 75 Dollar Bill (Chen’s trance rock band with drummer Rick Brown) and MANAS’ tour routes crisscrossed the US, and the trio became fast friends. After many collaborations over the years, Chen officially joined the group in 2025 for a US tour and produced the recording sessions for their forthcoming album Where? (Amish Records, Spring 2027). A powerful statement ushering in a new phase in the band’s evolution, Where? also features guest appearances from extended family members Alex Zhang Hungtai (Dirty Beaches) and drummer Lesley Mok.