I dreamed of being a policeman when I was a kid. Living up-country, it was so cool to see a cadet in uniform walking down the street. But I wasn’t good at studying and ended up playing football to gain entry to a good school.

Books can teach you about all aspects of life. Even though I was a poor student, I loved reading. I would walk 2km to the public library every day just to borrow a book. As a result, I knew a lot more about life than other kids my age.

I was totally taken with music as soon as I joined my school band.

I quit playing football and dedicated my time to the band. We had shows almost every night and I started earning money from playing music. Soon I dropped out of school to pursue my dream of being a musician.

Playing original music is far better than covers. I got bored with the band because the other members always wanted to play hit songs, while I wanted to play material that I had written.

I quit the band and packed my bags for Bangkok, where I hooked up with Nga (Surachai Chantimathorn of the band Caravan), who I had met when he toured Khon Kaen. 

Thai record labels treat artists like slaves. It’s really backwards that they take advantage of them. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon.

Being an artist means you must have honor. You must be able to put a value on yourself and also deal with the record companies.

I’m independent. I’m not signed to a record label and I have no sponsors. I’ve done well to stay in the game this long, which is why I’m throwing a 25th anniversary concert. I’ve been lucky to have good friends who have helped me out along the way.

The Thai music industry is dead. We must admit that. We can only survive by playing live shows now. I continue to release music because I want to preserve my status as a musician, but there is no revenue to be made from releasing albums anymore.

The best moment of my life was when I released my first album, Tueng Puen, in 1987. But the joy was short-lived. It flopped and made me scared to continue my music career.

I had to earn a living by selling steamed buns until Nga Caravan recruited me as a backup musician and I had the chance to release my second album, Sue Tua Tee 11 (Tiger no.11), which turned out to be my big breakthrough.

I didn’t realize that I was such a success until people kept asking me to sing my songs. Receiving my first check from the record label was a complete shock. I had never seen B10,000 before in my life, but they handed me B300,000.

I love to be called a musician, not an artist. I love being on the road touring, playing live and making audiences happy.

The phua chivit [music for life] genre is dying. There’s no new generation coming through and we don’t know how to create new things. It’s still popular, but we’re waiting for some new talent to bring change to the genre.

The musicians of phua chivit can’t be fabricated. Record labels can’t make us up. We’re born like this. We love exploring the meaning of life.

Our country is shit now. There are so many conflicts. We used to be free to express our opinions, but now it’s impossible. It’s really wrong. We need to put our problems up for debate.

People often expect me to say things just to please them, but I don’t do that. It’s a pity to see this from people who are old enough to know better.

No matter how much we fight, all our problems are dealt with by politicians in parliament, not us. It’s simply a waste of time to protest or fight one another.

We’re not ready for the AEC. Our crime rate is high and our law enforcement weak. Look at the South, when is it going to end? It’s been deteriorating for a long time and our social problems are worsening.

Let’s look ahead to the next three years; if Aung San Su Kyi becomes the Prime Minister of Myanmar, can any fool in our parliament compare to her? Hell no!

I’m happy that my music can reach new ears, as most of my fans of my own age just sit at home.

Our teenage years determine our future. Right now, I’m only concerned with how to help my five daughters live their lives to the fullest.

Being on the road for over 20 years has been pretty exhausting. But I’ll keep doing it until I die.