Going to a live concert to see your favourite band play can sometimes be overrated. With thousands of audience members, you get so lost in the crowd you might not even see the star of the show. People spill beer on your shoes. You end up losing your friends. You might get caught in a stampede in the mosh pit and end up with someone's knuckles in your face.
An alternative would be watching a live gig in the intimate confines of someone's living room. Such is the concept put forth by the worldwide live music community, Sofar Sounds, also known as Songs From A Room. With a presence in 120 cities around the world, it represents a truly global community of people who have a thirst for a less commercially-orientated musical experience.
On Saturday night, 200 Thai music lovers converged in the living room of a lake house in the dark depths of Ramkhamhaeng to celebrate the one year anniversary of Sofar Sounds Bangkok. Anticipation was heavily stacked, as the curated audience, who had vied for spots to this secret gig -- only days before finding out its location -- didn't know who they were coming to listen to. Only one thing was certain: it was guaranteed to be a good gig.
Leaving their shoes at the door and their cigarette smoke outside, audience members piled in at 8pm to find a spot on the wooden floor. Founder and director Adam Sharpe gave a warm welcome, jokingly admitting: "We're further from civilisation than we've ever been!" Just as he started to speak, a massive peal of thunder was heard outside. Sharpe's co-host and Sofar Sounds Bangkok's managing director Pakarn Kiatpinyo aptly translated everything Sharpe said into Thai.
"We are so proud of how far we have come today, considering this all started in my large living room one year ago; we are now a team of 25 people, all passionate about making people recognise the musical talent that exists in this city."
Sharpe went on to detail Sofar Sounds Bangkok's exciting new partnership with Fungjai. For those not in the know, Fungjai, Thai for "listen to the heart", is a streaming service that could best be described as a Thai Spotify. It allows lovers of music to stream all the Thai music they could possibly want, catering to the ever-changing tastes of ears veering towards more experimental forms of music not normally found on mainstream charts.
The opening act was Yanin, a four member band with the 21-year-old female vocalist Yanin, accompanied by a bassist, guitarist and piano synth player. She opened in a sweet voice, not with a song but with a question, in Thai: "Did you manage to find it OK? I got lost too!"
The crowd watched in adoration as they listened to a beautiful Thai husky voice, vaguely reminiscent of Irish rock band The Cranberries. Yanin sang along to folk-inspired, trippy, dark guitar riffs with a synthesiser that made the songs sound futuristic. Yanin admitted it was the first time she had ever performed to an audience like this and that she was nervous, yet many were left with goose bumps when the 45-minute act was over. Following an hour intermission and mass consumption of fusion tacos by Two Angels Tacos and Vanilla Cream Ale by beer brewers Sandport, Plastic Section took the stage -- a purple carpet -- with bare feet, a testament to Sofar's intimate feel.
Plastic Section is a four-piece band led by singer Ben Edwards. In contrast to Yanin, they were the definition of rock'n'roll and got the audience headbanging and jumping along to ballads accompanied with heavy drumming, sexy strumming by their gothic-chic female bassist, and the alternate playing of tambourine and melodian by the fourth member. The height of their performance was Displacement Blues, a song that had the audience running riot.
Following them was Thai electronic band Fwends, featuring the childlike yet altogether endearing female voice of its lead singer May Chucheewa. The five member group played songs in both Thai and English, ending their gig by throwing a bunch of white rucksacks into the audience, which the crowd went wild over.
Next up was the reggae dub band, The Sri Raja Rockers, their hometown, of course being Sriricha, Chon Buri. The band had the whole crowd in the palm of their hands. A line from one of their songs, "I want to eat vegetables; I want to eat fruit, wa uh oh uh oh!", is oh so simple, but oh so catchy! When the lead singer walked into the audience, the crowd went crazy as he pointed his mic at them to sing along with him.
After their 45-minute show, audience members were prostrating themselves in front of the band, pleading for more. The night ended with a three-hour DJ set by Charlie from Thailand's hottest electronic band DCNXTR. Just 60 people were left on the dance floor by 3am when the party finally ended. The unknown host must have wanted his or her living room back.
It seems that after a year in the business, Sofar Sounds Bangkok has established itself as a pillar of the Thai music scene, lending itself as a platform for Thai artists who, overall, are increasingly beginning to tour regionally. At every show, audience members are told they will be featured in a music video produced by Sofar Sound's High on Life Media team who film each gig. Their next video will feature the infamous Thai all-girl rock trio Yellow Fang, who performed at their fourth event.
"We believe that the Thai music scene is one of the most exciting emerging scenes in the region," said Sharpe, "its great that we have this platform that allows artists to expose their musical talent", of course not just to Thais, but to the world.
Yanin.
