I never wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be a guitarist. My parents never supported the idea of me becoming a musician, so I never got to take piano or guitar lessons like other kids.
I’d sing in my free time. Before I knew it, I was singing sing at every party. Later in school I joined a school marching band, then my friends’ rock band… it just kept going from there.
One karaoke night is all it took to land a record deal. After my band at Bangkok University won several awards, my bandmate took me to a karaoke party and someone from [record label] Stone happened to be there. He told me to audition at the label the next day. That day, I signed my first contract.
Just as my album was completed and about to be released, the record label went bust. But my album producer went on to work at Grammy where he showed the record to [producer] Pond Thana who suggested it would be safer to put me in a band. That’s how I ended up in the band R R R n’ B.
We released three albums but managed to get booked only once. Everything was turned upside down. I’d gone from landing a record deal to being lost. My singing career was obviously over.
I prayed to God to guide me and I swore I would give my all if he could just point me in the right direction.
My prayer was answered by a phone call from a former R R R n’ B bandmate. He suggested we form a new band to play at pubs.
To sing well and to be a good performer are totally different. We played eight pubs a week and I learned how clueless about performing I’d been until then.
We made quite a lot of money, too; I bought my first secondhand car with the cash.
Nobody cares about music at lounges and high-end places, so we decided to cut our shows down to just those places we felt comfortable playing, like Saxophone. That’s where Crescendo happened.
My bandmates were all talented musicians: Nor, Ake and Champ. I learned a lot about making music during that time and got to write my first lyrics, “Ma Rong Pleng Gun Ter” (“Come Sing Together”). Our songs became hits on Fat Radio.
Fat Festival felt so pure with all these people who didn’t care who we were or what we looked like. They were there for the music. It was magic. Then we went on to release an album on Bakery Music, the label’s last band before it went under. Then we signed with Sony. Then the magic was gone.
I was kicked out of the band and some people made me out to be the villain. I cried for three days. I was cast as the guy who was so selfish and ambitious that he left the band to go solo. I was touring when a guy said, “You know Crescendo wrote a song about you, ‘Hen Kae Tua’ (‘Selfish’).” The real reasons are more complicated, but all I could reply was, “Thank you.”
Problems in this country are caused by people who believe whatever they are told. People who don’t really know what happened and just listen to what they heard. That’s why I was despised.
I want to put these things behind me. We have forgiven each other now, in a way. If we had been as mature as we are today, I think Crescendo would still be together.
Singing is not my work. It’s what I love to do. So it never feels like going to work when I sing. For me I only feel at work when I’m giving interviews, like right now. I have tried hard to think of what else I would be if not a singer, but couldn’t come up with anything.
It’s not the power in my voice that I think is my best talent, despite what people say. If you ask musicians who play with me, I think they’d say it is my rhythm and timing.
A first full solo concert is like a wedding. It’s like you’re showing the world your commitment to what you love. It’s every artist’s dream, I think, to have his or her own concert.
I hope that I can continue to do this for the rest of my life. I think I would die a happy man if I could sing into my 70s. It means a lot to me that veteran singer Kob Songsit, who is a relative and supported my education since I moved to Bangkok, will join me on stage.
Little things hurt me. I think I’m quite sensitive but I prefer to keep my feelings bottled up. I just can’t let go of the little things, especially when it comes from people I respect.
