Inside the sound control room of Chon Buri's Karma Sound Studio, the three members of Thai alternative rock band Slot Machine were standing in a corner, bobbing up and down in excitement as a line of journalists stepped through the door. One by one, we were greeted by the band's latest record producer Brandon Darner -- a former Slipknot drummer whose list of credits also include chart topping hits with Imagine Dragons.
For three weeks, they have been working on the band's eighth studio album, doubling as their second ever English album, and that very moment was going to be the first time they would play their newest tracks to any member of the public.
Vocalist Karinyawat "Foet" Durongjirakan, guitarist Janevit "Vit" Chanpanyawong and bassist Atirath "Gak" Pintong, finally greeted everyone shyly -- in stark contrast to their out-of-this-world stage presence -- and expressed their hope that everyone enjoy their new music.
But first, why another English album?
"After [our last English album] Spin The World, we felt that it was only the beginning for creating songs for the world stage," said Karinyawat.
Slot Machine recording their eight studio album, which is also their second English album. Photo © Slot Machine official Instagram
"We want to prove to ourselves and challenge ourselves to do something that's way above our limits. We've been in the Thai music industry for 15 years, which is a long time. So we felt like it's an opportunity for us to, first, be better, so we can produce better works, and second, we want to inspire the later generation -- for them to at least have a case study. We want Thailand to have more weapons other than food, tourist spots and [traditional] culture. We want art or music to be another weapon that people talk about, like when people think of Korea and Japan with K-pop or J-pop."
As one of Thailand's most ambitious rock bands, Slot Machine rose to fame with their first studio album released in 2004, especially with their hit ballad Ror (I'm Waiting For You). They eventually got the ball rolling and opened for Linkin Park's Bangkok concert in 2007, performed at the Super Slippa Festival in Taiwan and the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, and even toured 14 cities in the United States and Canada last year. They've been nominated for Best Southeast Asian Act at the MTV European Music Awards in 2013 and 2014 and have attracted and worked with world-class producers like Steve Lilywhite (U2, The Rolling Stones), Daniel Denholm (Silverchair, Bee Gees), and now, they're with Brandon Darner, who's dedicated his time to produce seven songs for the band's latest album.
"[Foet] has an incredibly unique voice, and also a vocal range that is so rare," Darner said at another interview on the same day. "I was drawn in by that. But also how adventurous their new demos were. From one song to the next they were very different, and I really perceived a fearlessness in them. They were experimenting and trying new things. It takes a lot of courage to do that, especially if you're a really successful band... because that could scare everybody. That could scare your management, it could scare promoters, it could scare fans. So I was excited that they were being so fearless."
Listening to the tracks, their first song Know Your Enemy sounds unlike anything that they've done before. Heavy in synths and filled with an amazing drumline, Foet's voice shines clear and powerful through the energetic groove. Their second song, Bangkok, was slow and cinematic, and the combination of the drums playing in unison with Vit's guitar sounded completely fresh and new. The last song they played, Magic, is a full-out rock number. Raw, loud and headbang inducing, it's proof that the boys still know how to rock after 14 long years. They sounded bigger and badder than ever, and this just might be the key to get them further out there in the world.
"With someone like Foet's voice, you can have a big sound, and he can deliver on top of that," explained Darner. "A lot of the demos are quite similar to what Gak had written, and I think we just made it sound bigger and more cinematic."
Darner describes himself as a fairly hands-on producer, asking the band to rearrange certain elements of the song, cut some parts out, or to just try different things.
"I was blown away at how open they are," he said. "They were just like, 'Yeah, let's try it!'. There are some bands that are not very receptive to that and that can be tough, because that's what you hire a good producer for -- for someone to challenge some of your ideas of what your songs should be."
What seemed to allow this was Darner and the band's instant connection with each other -- thanks to their common love for heavy rock, The Beatles and U2.
"I was nervous because you don't know," he said. "I flew all the way around the world. We didn't know if we were going to like each other but we did, and it was great."
"Once he talked about Slipknot it clicked already," said bassist Gak. "But we didn't know he'd be this nice! He's very sweet. Him, me and Foet have very similar personalities. It's so similar that it's surprising."
One thing that's noticeably different from their last album is how international their sound became. Their past influences like old-school luk thung singers Chai Muangsingh, Pumpuang Duangjan and Sodsai Rungpothong never seemed to make an appearance in any of the new songs.
Slot Machine recording their eighth studio album, which is also their second English album. Slot Machine official Instagram
"It's because we feel that we've represented Thainess with our last album with Steve," said Foet. "So with this EP we didn't put it front and centre. We found a new concept, and this new concept is about creativity. It's also a time period where we're only left with three people," he added, referring to the leaving of their drummer Settharat "Auto" Phangchunan earlier this year. "We have to say that in the crisis, an opportunity arose, and the opportunity was to be creative in every single part. We really delved in every single step."
Filling in the gap for Auto's complex drumming, the three remaining members composed even more complex beats of their own using the computer and letting Seth -- a drummer from Darner's team, put a human touch to it.
"If it were to be a human playing, they would never play like this," laughed Gak. "Frankly speaking we don't like drum parts which have a normal drum groove."
"When we talked with him [Seth], he thanked us for giving him the opportunity to challenge himself," Foet said.
"He said if he didn't do this with Slot Machine he wouldn't know where he'd drum like this."
Brandon Darner and Slot Machine chat as journalists listen to their new music. Photo © BEC Tero
Now with three remaining members, the band, backed up by their label, will continue to try to appeal to the rest of the world.
"We've only just started," said Foet. "If it's BTS lingo, from Siam, we've reached Ploenchit. We're still on the way and we're already giving the younger generation something to look at. No one else has had the opportunity and we're lucky to have it.
"It's not easy and you have to fight with a lot of things," he continued. "But in the end it's our heart that we have to win. We've come this far, we've been this tired, how can we stop? We have to continue. It's like walking up a mountain. At a certain point you think, 'We made it', so we should continue."
