There’s no shortage of giant, flashy music events in Bangkok, but there are also organisers that aim to offer music-lovers a unique, more personal experience. We talk to three such groups who have added fresh notes to Thailand’s music scene.
Sofar Sounds Bangkok
Secret gigs in a living room
A secret gig in a tiny London flat in 2009 was the beginning of Sofar Sounds, today a global movement with a presence in 96 cities worldwide. Fuelled by frustration with conventional live music, Sofar Sounds aims to bring back the magic of live music in intimate spaces and create a community where music-lovers can discover new sounds and artists — all for free and in a living room.
Photo: Jake Carvey
Adam Sharpe started Sofar Sounds Bangkok (www.sofarsounds.com, http://fb.com/sofarsoundsbkk) after he relocated to a large apartment in downtown Bangkok. As SSB’s manager, he produces every event with help from other volunteers. Three bands — electronic funk group Naked/Astronaught, trippy electronic outfit White Light and experimental duo Gad — played at the inaugural show on Dec 14. The second show was held in Feb, where three more acts performed. One gig every two months is currently organised, with the next planned for May.
Register for free at Sofar Sounds’s website to receive an invitation and a newsletter about secret gigs around the globe. You should feel right at (someone’s) home at SSB events, leaving your shoes at the door and entering a living room where there’s no barrier between the performers and audience members. There’s also an element of surprise — you won’t know in advance who will be playing.
It’s good news for the bands too, as they receive exposure (each show is professionally filmed). The recorded performances are uploaded to Sofar Sounds’s YouTube channel, reaching people across the world. Without the usual distractions found at gigs held in bars or clubs, everyone attends Sofar Sounds for the music.
Sharpe says there is no shortage of talent in the Thai underground music scene, which is thriving. He sees SSB as a platform to empower local acts, allowing them to reach global audiences and develop personal fan bases. Videographers who volunteer to record performances will also receive credit.
Photo: Tillman Seidel
Photo: Tillman Seidel
DOOD
Photo: Tillman Seidel
Honest feedback to help newbies
Two Thai dudes — Thawatpon “Muey” Wongboonsiri, vocalist and lyricist of Thai pop duo Scrubb, and Thaweesak “Lolay” Sritongdee, artist, designer and bassist of Happyband — formed DOOD (fb.com/doodsound) in Jun 2012. Dood means “to suck” in Thai, and bands who play at DOOD events will know if their stuff sucks. As an artist, Muey sees the need to nurture new bands and help them improve their craft by providing them with opportunities to play in front of and receive feedback from live audiences.
For DOOD’s first shows, the pair contacted a few bands they personally know and found venues that wished to support their goal. Later, Muey and Lolay discovered more indie bands through word of mouth, YouTube and attending live gigs. They put the bands they found interesting in categories, which helps them come up with a concept for each event.
Additionally, they’ve come up with a formula for naming each event. It begins with DOOD’s name, the venue and broad terms for the style of music that will be performed. Its next show, “DOOD x Studio Lam * Electrosonic Trip!” will be held this Sun (Mar 22). Six indie acts will perform, starting at 6pm at the venue on Sukhumvit Soi 51.
Small gigs are organised at various bars and restaurants that support DOOD’s vision, allow free use of their space, and most importantly, have a quality sound system. The duo gives priority to fresh faces on the scene (those with less than 100 “likes” on their Facebook pages). Many bands have had their live debut at DOOD events.
Muey and Lolay believe that bands at DOOD events are able to experiment with their sound and gauge the merit of their music by the audience’s reaction. They hope the immediate response bands receive from a particular audience can help them hone their identity and style.
Conflakes
Indie music in a fun atmosphere
Conflakes (http://fb.com/conflakes.conflakes, IG: @conflakes_official) is a group of five friends who came together for their love of music, as well as a love of seeing others enjoy music. Make-up artist and designer Chucheewa “May” Cheepchol, one of the organisers, said the group aims to create events centred on indie music, fresh concepts and unconventional venues.
The goal is a night featuring close contact between performers and audience members during which everyone can enjoy themselves. Three Conflakes events have been organised since it was initiated last May — a camping night in a gallery, a brunch at a hotel’s swimming pool with a “colourful tropical” dress code and a chilled-out concert beneath the stars on the rooftop of an art institute. Conflakes chose the bands to play at the events themselves, ranging from unsigned to more established acts.
The group decorates the venues, hustles to get freebies and occasionally builds a stage. Conflakes wants to offer an intimate feel through its events, an atmosphere music fans won’t find at usual venues. It focuses on giving people who attend its parties fresh music and delivering a relaxed vibe.
GURU RADIO
In doing our part to support the indie music scene, we would like to introduce three acts we’re currently hooked on.
Singer-songwriter Wissanu Likitsathaporn, aka Youth Brush (goo.gl/jfvjnZ), transports you to a blissful (or sleepy) trance with his whisper-like singing and ethereal acoustic tunes. Youth Brush is Wissanu’s side project as he is also known as the frontman and guitarist of Two Million Thanks. His songs make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. So far, he has self-published two albums — Dialogue of the Familiar and The Luncheon on the Grass.
Jelly Rocket (http://fb.com/JELLYROCKET) is an all-girl band that beautifully blends pop and rock with a dreamy touch. Pak (keyboard), Pun (vocals) and Mo (guitar) are in their early 20s, but have already earned themselves quite a following, despite the fact that they have only three singles so far. The video for Jelly Rocket’s latest single, “Forgotten”, garnered almost 300,000 likes on its YouTube channel in the span of one and a half months.
For something sensitive but soulful, check out the quintet White Light (http://fb.com/whitelightnajaa). (If you want to be super correct, add an infinity sign — ∞ — after its name.) Bea Tiraratana (synthesiser/vocals), J Jeerayuth (sampling/synthesiser/engineering), Tommy Anuwath (keyboards/synthesiser), Nott Niyom (guitar) and Ton Wuttiput (bass) join forces to deliver slowcore/experimental jams in English.
* For other indie acts, check out Thai music streaming service Fungjai (www.fungjai.com). Listeners have free access to non-mainstream songs on the website, while the artists receive a portion of the ad revenue.
