Redemption song

Redemption song

Krissada 'Noi' Sukosol Clapp looks to his past, and future

SPECIAL REPORT
Redemption song
Photo: VARUTH HIRUNYATHEB

Under the hot Sun one recent morning, Krissada "Noi" Sukosol Clapp was in a good mood. The singer-songwriter-actor was in a red jumper with a long strip of white cloth tied around the waist, the same outfit he wore in his latest music video.

"I'm in a good mood because I've been out of the game so long, and now I'm back to do music again," he said.

After a 12-year hiatus from recording music, Krissada has dropped a long-awaited solo single, Dae Sahn Tee Kao Rop (The Judge), in September. The charismatic frontman of the band Pru was one of the most iconic rock singers in the 2000s, with an intense stage persona and contorted body movements that combine pure joy with inexplicable agony. Krissada and Pru -- the rock outfit he formed with three other friends including his older brother Kamol "Suki" Sukosol Clapp, a musician and producer of the legendary Bakery Music -- helped define the alternative music scene in the Thailand in the 2000s with their songs.

At the age of 47, he still looks young; his appearance hasn't changed that much from over 10 years ago when he was at the peak of his career. He was also chatty with us. The reasons? "It is fun to be able to give an interview in English," said the Thai-American singer.

Pru's self-titled debut album in 2001 was a commercial success. It included the hit rock ballad Took Sing (Everything). The combination of a solid rock album and Krissada's unique stage presence and dance moves won the band Favourite Artist Thailand at the 2002 MTV Asia Awards over the biggest pop icons at the time like Tata Young and Thongchai McIntyre.

Three years later Pru shocked their fans when the group announced that they called it quits, not too long after the release of second album Zero. But why did it take 12 years to make a comeback?

"It's all about timing," said Krissada.

"Whatever happened in the timeline of my life in the past 15 years was about the right timing. For example, I didn't start making music until I was 31, which was quite late because the timing wasn't right before that. And when Pru decided to call it a day in 2005, it was because we were going through so many transition periods in our lives -- the second album wasn't as successful as the first one, each member of the band seemed to have lost their passion to continue, and even Bakery Music was about to fold and was sold to Sony."

After Pru ended, Krissada helped his mother, Kamala Sukosol, serving their family business as creative director of The Siam Hotel, a luxury Bangkok hotel on the Chao Phraya river.

"I knew I didn't help my mom with work that much in the past," he said. "And since I didn't have my band anymore, I decided to dedicate my time to the hotel. Because in the end, family always comes first."

But during his 12-year absence, Krissada never abandoned his passion for music. He continued writing songs and was a fixture at recording studios. But the idea of releasing a solo album didn't take shape until his 2006 performance in Ramakien: A Rak Opera at Lincoln Center, New York.

The three-day festival served as a showcase for rock bands, dancers and designers from Thailand. The show also infamous for the fight onstage involving Krissada and Sek Loso which was, at the time, one of the biggest stories in the Thai press and gossip columns. "People seem to remember that incident so well," Krissada said, laughing at the memory.

Despite the unfortunate incident, Krissada got to meet and play with many great musicians, including his future collaborator, Vichaya "Nong" Vatanasapt of The Photo Sticker Machine.

"I think a great thing was born from there," he said. "Nong is a very talented musician, and we got along so well. Aside from playing with The Photo Sticker Machine, Nong also worked as a film score composer. My main influences come from instrumentals and film score music."

Krissada doesn't play musical instruments, so when he composes songs, he would usually hum melodies and record them with tape recorders. He would then take those demos to the studio where Vichaya helped him bring his sound and imagination to life.

"Although I couldn't play any instruments, I could still write songs," he said. "I knew in my head that how the arrangement should be for every song -- like this is when the drums come in, or this is when the strings come in. And Nong was the one who helped translate that for me."

His new single, The Judge, is a mid-tempo pop rock track in which Krissada addresses a more serious subject -- redemption and being given another chance.

"Redemption is a beautiful thing," he said. "The song is about people who have made a mistake in their lives, and now he or she wants to come back. But before you can prove yourself, or come back, you need people to accept you or give you a chance first."

The singer also discussed viral video footage of an actor who punched a motorcyclist who hit his Mini Cooper, and then forced the cyclist to prostrate in front his vehicle.

"My first instinct after watching the clip was like wow, this guy isn't cool," he said. "And then when society started judging him, he was eventually fired from all of his jobs due to his misbehaviour. I don't know him personally, but I felt bad for him because of one quick mistake that was caught on tape and then his life was basically ruined."

The promotion video for The Judge was shot at the Prison and Correctional Facility For Young Offenders in Pathum Thani, where the band performed live for inmates. The video includes footage of former inmates who asked people to see past their mistakes and give them another chance in life before judging them. The video was directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri, a renowned director who worked with Krissada in 2012's crime action film Antapal (The Gangster).

"I was lucky to be in a film like The Gangster," he said. "It's given me the opportunity to connect people to my music. The people in prison couldn't care less about Noi Pru, but they liked Jod Howdy, the main character in The Gangster. And that helped me create a rapport with them in the prison concert."

Krissada is also an accomplished actor in Thailand who won the best actor award at the Supanahong Film Awards for his role in the 2006 thriller 13: Game Of Death, and then again as best supporting actor for action fantasy movie Khun Phan in 2016. But despite his success, Krissada believes his future acting prospects are slim in what is mostly a young man's game.

"I have always said that acting and singing are very similar -- it's all about telling stories," he said.

"But in terms of business, with songs, I can create that myself. But for movies, you have to wait for people to hire you. You have to wait for the phone to ring, and to me, I think the phone is about to stop ringing."

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