Marco Ferrarese has re-launched his former personal site Monkeyrockworld to focus on overland travel in Asia. With the pedal to the metal when it comes to rough action and a prominent punk rock ethos, this is a welcome arrival in a saturated world of glossy travel sites and cookie-cutter backpacking guides.
Marco is the former guitarist of Italian metalpunk band The Nerds Rock Inferno, who released several albums and toured in both Europe and the USA, supporting bands like Antiseen, Cocknoose, Bible of the Devil, Slough Feg, GBH, UK Subs and a hundred others between 1997 and 2007.
He moved to Asia for work in 2007, first in China, and settled in Malaysia since 2009 never looking back. From Penang (which he also covers on the Penang Insider) he has written about extreme music in Asia and travel for some of the world’s leading publications, and played guitar in Penang thrashcore combo WEOTSKAM from 2011 to 2016, helping produce and release their only CD “Six Pack Tsunami Attack!”.
Marco is an expert on Malaysia and Borneo. He co-authored guidebooks on Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand for seminal British publisher ROUGH GUIDES, published an acclaimed novel, “Nazi Goreng” (2013, which is now banned in Malaysia) and several non-fiction books, including “Banana Punk Rawk Trails” (2015), that describes his journey as a white elephant in the Malaysian metal and punk scene, and “The Travels of Marco Yolo” (2016).
He has also written more than 100 articles on travel, culture and extreme music in Asia for a variety of international publications that include Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, CNN Travel, BBC Travel, The Guardian, National Geographic Traveler (UK), South China Morning Post, NIKKEI Asian Review, Roads & Kingdoms, Southeast Asia Globe, Perceptive Travel, Time Out, Bangkok101, Vagabonding, and Penang Monthly.
Monkeyrockworld returns from the desire of mixing Marco’s two passions: untamed travel and meaningful exploration of the world. Together with his wife, Malaysian photographer Kit Yeng Chan, Marco dishes up worthwhile suggestions to get to the heart of Asia, and any self-confessed punk rocker should take a look.
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