Sukie has spelled out the future of Thai music in three letters — EDM. After nearly a decade out of the scene's direct spotlight, the co-founder of independent label Bakery Music and the force behind the early wave of alternative bands is returning with a fresher style that draws from electronic dance music.
If it sounds like a startling change for someone who had a hand in defining the sound of Thai rock music in and around the turn of the century, well it is. But Kamol "Sukie" Sukosol Clapp says it's close to his roots in hip hop and his passion to promote a distinctively Thai brand of music remains the same.
"I lost my passion for music for a long time," he admits. "When I finally got it back, I decided EDM is what I wanted to do. Basically, it's any kind of music that has electronic origins — in the computer — so it has a very wide meaning. In rock, you have hard rock, metal, punk, alternative, and so on. EDM is the same. You have house, electro, dubstep, trance and many more genres. The realm of EDM is huge."
Sukie is convinced that EDM is the sound of the millennial generation, sometimes called Gen Me, who often take it for granted that they come first. But he believes the younger generation lacks a sound of its own, which presents an opportunity.
"Every generation has its own sound. The representatives of the sound of Generation X were Moderndog and Bakery Music artists. Generation Y were defined by Bodyslam and Big Ass. But who is the sound of Generation Me? Can you name one?" he asks rhetorically. "You see, there's no sound of this generation. No one has been able to come up to that level, like the way Moderndog was in the '90s and what Bodyslam was in the early 2000s. Right now, EDM is everywhere. It's just started to come into Thailand but no one has made a big effort yet to take it to the next level. So all I am doing is adapting it to the Thai market.
"A lot of people think I'm a rock guy because of Moderndog, Pru, Flure — all the bands I've worked with. But my background was actually hip hop. I did the first hip hop Thai band, TKO, which I produced a long time ago. Also, when I grew up in New York City, hip hop was something I always listened to. I used to work on electronic music, it's just that people don't know much about it. And dance is something I've always wanted to do, but I've just never had a chance to."
The most influential person helping Sukie connect to the younger generation and guide this musical transformation has been none other than his 20-year-old son, "Dino" Dejjutha Wagner Clapp, a big EDM fan. The realisation came one day when they were chatting on Skype and Dino spoke about a concert he had attended with about 100,000 other fans. Sukie was stunned. "All he listens to is EDM. His generation — all of them — listens to EDM."
Sukie's return to the scene comes with the arrival of Monkey Disco Boy, a mascot which the producer describes as his own avatar.
Monkey Disco Boy is not really a primate but has a more out-of-this world story.
"He's an alien from the planet Rave who came to the world to tell me that I have to start doing music again. I'm just his ambassador on Earth to spread the joy of EDM."
The story goes that Monkey Disco Boy's spaceship crash-landed, so now he's stuck in Thailand for the next few months. The only way the spaceman can get back to his planet is through the power of EDM fans.
Sukie freely provides the more truthful account of how his pint-sized friend came into being.
It stems both from Sukie's aversion to being the frontman, and the fact he is 45 years old and making music to appeal to people half his age and younger. Plus, "If it was just 'Sukie came out with a new single' or 'Sukie went on a TV show today', I think it's kinda boring. But if I have a character, we can do so many things together. I hope we can take EDM to another level."
If all goes well, Sukie could help send Monkey Disco Boy home. "I need to do a big concert next year. The spaceship can be refuelled when we have 10,000 people to give him power, so that he can fly back to the planet Rave."
The first single under this venture premiered on Aug 1. Called Forever Young, the progressive house track features emerging artists Boom Boom Cash who Sukie discovered through YouTube.
"When I got back into music in May, I was wondering what Thai kids are doing right now, so I went on YouTube. I went through it and none of the bands caught my eyes, except this one. I was like, 'Who the hell are those guys with four million views?' They're doing something different and have so much energy. It's the only band that captured my imagination since I came back, and I can guarantee you they're about to become big," he said with a big, fatherly smile.
"The single has just been released so you can't really judge yet. My feeling right now is the exact same thing as 20 years ago when we came up with Moderndog. There's good feedback. And then you have feedback that goes something like, 'This is not the real EDM.' And none of this surprises me because it's the exact same thing I went through 20 years ago.
"After coming back to the music industry, I realised that the Thai EDM market does not exist yet. It's still underground. Twenty years ago, there was no alternative market yet either. And I remembered the first two months when I went on tour with Moderndog, there were so many shows that people in the audience went like this [lifting his hands up and covering his ears]. The reactions now are just the same."
There are those who dismiss EDM as "doof doof" music — even Sia Furler has laughed off the genre, and she has enjoyed several massive hits. Sukie is not worried, however, saying he can convince people it's not just noise so long as the songs are right.
"I believe if I create good content, people will come. It will find a way. If you have a bad song, no matter what you do, you can get the best singer or record the best, it's going to be a bad song anyway. If you compare it to a movie, the song is like the script. You can get a billion-baht budget, get Spielberg to direct it and DiCaprio to act, but if the script sucks, then the movie's gonna suck."
For help, he has turned to familiar and reliable faces from Bakery Music, including Trai “Boy” Bhumirat, Boyd Kosiyabong and Po Yokee Playboy. They have helped write lyrics for his latest record, which he described as “EDM on the outside, but Bakery at heart”. That and the spectacular line-up including Pod Moderndog, Stamp Apiwat, Ben Chalatit, Burin Boonvisut, Southside, Gene Kasidit and Q of Flure, should be enough to make the Monkey Disco Boy debut as one of the most hotly anticipated record of the year.
With record sales not being what they once were, live performances are increasingly important to the music industry. Having seen David Guetta and Steve Aoki in concert, Sukie is planning on making Thai-style EDM a spectacle in its own right.
“I need to make it a new experience. And for the CD, as you know, people don’t usually release albums any more, so I’ll probably make it a limited edition and make it really cool like a collector’s item. Not easy, I have to admit. I’m still working on it. We also have a launch party on Aug 28, so I’ve got to be ready for that.”
The party will also mark an end to Sukie’s nine-year hiatus after farewelling Bakery Music and resigning from LoveiS. His self-imposed absence has not been entirely low-profile, since he has spent his time balancing work for his family’s Sukosol Hotels with a love of motorcycles and a side project as a TV producer.
“I’m very passion-driven, not business-driven. When I left the music industry in 2005, I found a new passion, which is motorcycles. Back then, motorcycles were like a new girlfriend to me. And I ended up doing two seasons of a TV show called Dream Chaser, which was mostly about me riding around on a motorcycle. But my initial goal was not to do a show. I just wanted to travel around, and then the TV show was just a way of making a business out of it,” Sukie explained.
The third of four heirs in the famous hotelier family also supervised the building of two new Sukosol Group properties, one on the Chao Phraya riverside and the other at Pattaya.
There was little time to turn back to music in the meantime, and when he did inspiration failed to appear. His inner compass was directing him to music, but when the opportunity did present itself the passion was not the same as before.
“Between 2009 and 2013, every time I sat down and tried to do something related to music, nothing came out. I was the rocket that refused to launch. In May, I told myself that I was going to try one more time, and if that time it didn’t work then I guessed music would have been over for me for real. So I sat there and tried again, and finally realised that the reason I failed at the previous attempts is because I just hadn’t tried hard enough. Technologically, I’d forgotten everything. When you were trying to be creative but you don’t know what to do with the technology, it’s frustrating. It took me two months to get over the technological barriers. But once I got over that, it started to flow. Now, I have 21 songs in stock. There’s no answer for, ‘Why now?’ I guess with motorcycles, it’s about instinct. But music is different. For me, music is emotional and deep. It’s not easy to find the way to get in the zone once you are out of it. I’m in the zone right now and I don’t want to lose it.”
It is always dicey for artists considered past their prime or in retirement to reinvent themselves. The risk that they will cheapen or tarnish their legacy runs high, tainting the memory of long-standing fans, but sometimes they stage a comeback that is astounding enough to strengthen their image.
These risks are probably lower in the case of a producer, but Sukie is still feeling the pressure.
“A lot of people have been asking me, ‘Isn’t this a big risk?’ Or, ‘What will happen if it doesn’t work?’ And my answer’s always, ‘If I believe in what I’m doing, then I’m not afraid of anything.’
“As I’ve been gone for nine years, my biggest fear would be that my work sucks. There’s a lot of pressure. There’s a s**tload of pressure, because I ended my music career pretty well last time. I could’ve just left it there, right? Right now I believe in my work. Whether people like it or not, that I don’t know yet. All I know is if I thought my work was bad, then I’m not OK. But as long as I believe in my music, I’m confident.”
Plus, Sukie wants to freshen up the Thai music scene since at many festivals the headline acts are limited to the likes of Bodyslam and Moderndog. Great as those bands are, he is keen to encourage new artists and bring new sounds and styles into the mix before the music industry turns into a stream full of dead fish.
“If I didn’t do it, I’d feel like I’m betraying myself,” said Sukie, “Where are the new young bands? How come there’s no new artists that are capable of replacing those old artists yet? What’s going on with the industry? If it’s still like this 10 years from now, there’d be no music industry left. I’m not exaggerating. We’ll be an industry made of nostalgia acts. There’s no future.
“No one’s talking about the song any more. If you asked people how the music industry is, they will just complain about illegal downloads and YouTube. Does anybody even talk about the song? No. But that’s the most important part.
“This year is Bakery’s 20th anniversary, by the way. I could easily call up the guys and say, ‘Hey, let’s do a big show and make some money.’ But clearly it’s not a big challenge. I’ve been gone for almost 10 years, I don’t want to come back and not do anything new. My goals are to do something new and have fun with it.
“I know what I’m doing is a huge risk. The chances of making it and not making it are equal but I enjoy pushing the envelope to see how far I can do. I’m just willing to fail.”
‘Forever Young’ by Monkey Disco Boy featuring Boom Boom Cash is now available at the iTunes Store, Deezer and KKBOX, or by calling *24826. Visit www.facebook.com/MonkeyDiscoBoy. Monkey Disco Boy’s launch party will take place at Onyx, RCA on Aug 28, with special live shows from Boom Boom Cash, Stamp Apiwat and Pod Moderndog.
