I was not born into a musical family. My father had a collection of about 50-100 records of Thai songs, but I wasn’t interested, not until I revisited them after coming back from the UK.

I studied fashion marketing when I was in London and worked as creative director for an advertising agency, only to find out that I didn’t like it at all. I’ve never had any music classes. I’ve just expanded my knowledge by listening to a lot of music.

I started listening to house and hip hop. House music has samples from disco, Latin and African music, while hip hop has its roots in soul and funk. Gradually I started to find the sources of those samples and stepped into the world of world music.

An MP3 is like air. It’s got no dimensions. I’ll buy the CD first, but if it’s a record I really like, I’ll buy the vinyl. The sound from a vinyl is much more than an mp3 can give you. And it’s got cover art and everything that makes the music tangible.

The first time I DJ’ed was at Market Bar in London for a free beer. I met the resident DJ of the place at a record shop in London, and most of the records we bought were the same. So he invited me to join him.

I decided to stop working on fashion and pursue my dream—music. For four years, my main income came from DJ’ing. Then I came back to Thailand and attended some sound engineering classes, but I didn’t like that. But then I found my dad’s music collection and got deeper into Thai music.

I bought Thai records, mixed compilations and promoted Thai music. After a while, I decided to do it on my own, under ZudRangMa Records.

Someone once told me I had the bad taste of a taxi driver, when I launched my first compilation. I didn’t really mind. Thai people hadn’t opened their minds much then. That’s why I distributed my first compilation in Europe.

Look thung is like durian. It’s hard to get into for first time listeners, and you either love it or hate it. I kept pushing it until I had more Thai fans that didn’t reject my work.

My first Paradise Bangkok party was in 2009 with Chris Menist. I met him at a record shop. The first and second parties were very successful, even though we didn’t promote them that much. We mixed Ethiopian music, reggae, African and other world music with Thai funk and look thung.

My purpose is to bring all the music in the world together and make Thai people proud of our own sound. Lately, many people have asked me to play only Thai songs, but that’s not what I want either.

Isaan Dancehall is my second party which focuses more specifically on Thai molam. We have a lot more Thai records now, and I feel it’s important to mix this with dancehall music. It really worked when I first did it in Japan.

“I can’t play in Bangkok; everyone hates molam,” Dao Bandon told me when I booked him for Paradise Bangkok. It turned out to be a very fun party and he thanked me the next morning. Thai people are more open now.

I don’t think I have sophisticated tastes. I like songs that I can feel, and they happen to be these Thai country songs. But I hate look groong like Suntraporn’s. I want to puke every time I hear it.

I’m not a fake kid who pretends to love look thung songs. I’ve had a fight with a taxi driver on this issue. I said I loved Angkana Poonchai and other artists from the same period. He answered that I had the tastes of an old Isaan uncle, and he wouldn’t listen to that stuff even though it’s from Isaan. I think that’s pretty ridiculous.

I buy a vinyl as soon as I see it, otherwise it might be destroyed. I once went to buy a specific record at the Cambodian border, but the owner told me he had just burned 20,000 of them. These guys destroy the history of music! Some of these songs only have 300 copies in the world. If we don’t save them, they will disappear.

I have 50 copies of some records. That’s why I decided to open a record shop.

I believe that the Bangkok music scene has a future. Today people seem to be more open to new things. One day a high school boy came into my shop with his mom. He picked up a spiritual jazz record by New York artist Moondog and bought it after I played him a sample. Apart from Japanese and European collecters, I think the only other Thai person who has it is Pod Moderndog.

We do our part to create variety in the Bangkok music scene, with the belief that the industry can break through the commercial pressure.

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