Pions of a dark sector gauge group can be strongly interacting massive particle (SIMP) matter, produced by the freeze-out $3 \to 2$ interactions, with naturally large self-interactions. We study if adding photon to set-up do it all: i) maintain thermalization visible sector, ii) resonantly enhance $3\to2$ thus allowing for perturbative pion description, and iii) provide velocity dependent self-...