Sumet: It all started with a video I recorded on my phone. I normally work at a factory in Rayong. When I came back to visit my dad, I found out that he had just formed a band. I wanted to help him promote it on social media so I recorded a clip and put it on YouTube with the hope it would help secure jobs from locals. One day, an American called Peter Doolan who studies Thai contacted me to say he’d loved to see the band. We started to record our music again to talk with labels and finally got a contract with Innovative Leisure. We have released two albums now. 

 

Viroj: I used to be a musician when I was younger, playing guitar, and worked as a handyman in Nongkhai. After working for more than a decade, I decided to come back home to Petchabun, where I saw the unemployed teenagers in my village playing music in their spare time. I just thought I wanted to help them make money from their music, so decided to gather them together to play music for special occasions like ordination ceremonies and weddings. 

 

Viroj: It was an ordination ceremony in our village, Sak Ngoy in the Lom Sak district, which was followed by temple ceremonies like kathin and phapa [an annual Buddhist ceremony when robes are offered to monks at the monastery]. We were so blessed. We went to play at the 37th Trans Musicales, a French music event last year. Now we’re going to play at Roskilde Festival in Denmark this June 25.

 

Viroj: Now we have eight members and we’ve all kept our day jobs. I sell beef from my home, our phin player is a political science student at Rajabhat Phetchabun University, and our drummer is a janitor. We’re also farmers. We grow rice every year when the rain comes. Anyway, our members keep changing due to their age—some have grown up and left to work permanently or start families. The lineup has changed six times already. There are eight members now. I just help playing cymbals. 

Sumet: I also still work at the factory and do some freelance photography both in Rayong and Bangkok. I rarely go home to help the band but do manage the tours if they need it. 

 

Viroj: We have kind of adapted our style from phin bands. We combine modern instruments like bass and orchestral drums with Isaan’s phin. It helps add more colorful rhythms from the usual phin band style, which only uses traditional long tom tom drums and rammana [a one-sided drum with a shallow body]. Musically, we just create new melodies based on styles that people like, from molam queen Siriporn Umphaipong to Carabao. But phin remains the band’s lead instrument. That’s why we call ourselves phin pra yuk [adapted phin band]. The phin player needs to be able to create sounds and change them while playing non-stop. 

 

Sumet: It’s absolutely beyond our expectations, and all from a low-res video on my phone. It’s absolutely wonderful. 

Viroj: I didn’t expect this either. We were nobodies and now we are on tour. We will try to keep on advancing our skill. We plan to buy more instruments and a car with a better sound system for ceremony jobs.