Do you guys have day jobs?
Hao: We get together to practice at least once a week, usually on Thursdays but I also teach at a music academy.
Noom: I used to be a tour guide in Koh Samui but now I’m a tattooist.
Tong: I play as a backing musician for other artists, such as Palmy.
Ake: I’m an interior designer.

Tell us about your music making process.
Hao: Except for the sound engineering, we do the whole thing ourselves—writing the lyrics, producing the music, making and selling the CDs. The budget is our own money and we even play gigs for free. We take part in underground music festivals such as Kodindy where we sell our albums.

Why are your songs more concerned with social matters than personal feelings?
Noom: It’s normal for foreign bands to write songs about social matters, but it’s very rare in Thailand. We think there are already so many Thai songs covering relationships, romance and love—there are many more things worth thinking about. We’ve all lived through political crises and the Red-Yellow dispute of the past few years, so what better way to express how we feel about those social issues than through music? As a group, we first discuss what we want to say then I write the lyrics.

How has the Season Awards success affected the band?
Hao: We get to play more gigs, there are more people on our Facebook fan page, our songs on YouTube are getting more views, and we’re doing more media interviews than ever before! But none of this will ever change our attitude, or the message we want to get across.

Do you ever think about taking a more mainstream approach?
Hao: We know full well that our songs won’t be hits. That’s why we’ve never sent our demos to the major music companies. We’ve submitted our songs to radio stations with little success.
Noom: Although we’re happy with the underground following we have, we do want our songs to be heard by a wider audience. Joining a major music company could be good if they let us continue making music our own way. But if the company wanted to compromise our identity, we’d rather stay independent.

What do you think of the alternative music scene here?
Hao: It’s getting worse. The copyright issue doesn’t only bother the mainstream music industry, but also underground bands. The underground scene nowadays is different from before, too. Previously, everyone really supported one another. But these days, with the whole social media thing, the audience divides into cliques and supports only particular bands. Benjamaporn Meekaeo