More than sixteen years since his hit single “Ta Klom Klom” took Thailand by storm, Paopon Thephassadin Na Ayutthaya aka Tar Barbies, 36, is looking to stage a comeback, writing off his previous albums as amateur while keeping up his foul-mouthed but charming bad boy image.

My parents raised my younger brother and I like hippies. They never forced us to be what they wanted.

Just once, my mom asked me to do something. She asked me to finish getting my degree. I nearly dropped out because my grades were really bad. I had to score thirteen as in a row to pass, but I made it.

I speak too fast. My mom took me to see the doctor because she was worried that I had some condition but the doctor said I was normal. I speak fast because I think fast. I have to say everything before another idea comes out.

I love to push things to a certain point. Then I lose interest. Like when I played tennis, I made it until I went to the junior open then I dropped out. I just wanted to see what it was like.

I hated the music industry after seeing every celebrity get recruited to be a singer, no matter whether they were models or boxers. That’s ridiculous.

I loved to write poems and got awards at school. So when my friends started playing music, I offered to write lyrics for them.

Those songs brought us a first record deal. One of my friends showed our songs to the record company and they loved it, even though we couldn’t play that well.

I was stubborn. I refused to sing “Ta Klom Klom” at first. I told the producer that the song was too pop. I had grown up with Nirvana! But they begged us to do it, so we agreed to record it just once. We said, no matter how bad it is, we won’t fix it or re-record it. It became our most successful single.

When I look back, I feel our first songs fucking sucked. I really hated them. Those who are real musicians will know that we were just crazy kids who played like morons. My friend used an electronic guitar to play an acoustic song. I mean, what the fuck? I recently ran out from a pub because I couldn’t bear to listen to our songs.

And now we’re back, doing music, after being away for eight years. We have more knowledge about music. We’re ready. I enjoy looking at the feedback from both those who love and those who hate our new single, “Korn Wan Sud Thay.”Some say it has a good sound while some say, “What the hell is this song?”

Music doesn’t reflect who you are anymore. I grew up in an era where everyone showed their identity through music, like by dressing grungy like Nirvana, or dressing as a rapper when they listened to hip-hop. Now you’ll see guys dressing like Way Thaitanium but they listen to P’Bird.

One thing that never changes after being in entertainment for more than ten years is that I won’t compromise. I won’t do things that I feel are not right. But I will sometimes change my mind about something, if I judged it too quickly.

I used to think acting in lakorn was nonsense so I rejected many offers. I felt that lakorn is just disposable entertainment. They have the production tools in their hands, so why don’t they do good things instead of having bitches slap each other?

My opinion changed after acting in movies. I used to think acting class was retarded but it actually helped me a lot. And now I love acting. I feel like I’m having an orgasm every time the director says, “Cut! It’s a wrap!” Because that means I nailed it.

I’ve never been famous with the mass audience, so I don’t understand what it’s like to be a celebrity. Now, I really don’t understand what’s going on in our society where “celebrity” is an occupation. They just get paid to show up at events, let reporters take photos of them with a product logo behind them—what the fuck is that?

I’m also pissed off when people judge me just because I have a big surname. There are people who post comments on YouTube on our new music video that I have the same last name as “Praewa 9 Bodies” [an underage driver who caused nine deaths in an accident] so it’s like I might be a bad person, too. I want to kick those behind those comments in the face. They judge me even though I didn’t do anything wrong. I intend to do good music, so why is my music dragged into this?

Money is important but how you make it is more important. It’s not about how much, it’s about being proud of what you’ve got. You can be the richest man if you’re happy.

I’m like a gipsy who’ll do any job that comes my way. Sometime I feel that my life is like being on a boat. It can get stormy, but I like it. I just wish the storms didn’t come so often.

I dream of being a husband who has two kids and four dogs. I wish I could have a wife who can grow old with me. We can hold hands, walk on the beach, just like old tourists in Krabi or Phuket. That’s really nice.

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