After their first album, Gold Medal flopped in 2009, The Begins, made up of Aphicha “Tong” Suksaengpetch (bass), Suppasit “Sean” Sakolthanarak (piano), Wut Wongsansern (guitar), Kittiwat “Mhai” Saengprateep (keyboard) and Kevin Biddle (drums), gave up on their musical dreams. And yet, they just released a new single “Sing Tee Ter Kad”. So are The Begins starting again?

BK: How did you guys come together?
Tong:
I wanted to create a band like the Bee Gees. I love the way they sing together. No one leads anyone. Thailand didn’t have this kind of band yet, so I talked to Boyd Kosiyabong and he supported us. We tried to find good male singers with beautiful voices and we found Sean, Wut, Mhai and Kevin, who is American. He used to play with bands in the US—Ashanti, Backstreet Boys—and in Japan; and then us.
Kevin: I met my wife here and have family here. It’s true I would earn more money if I still played in Japan. But I rather play here because I can be part of something, which is my band, not just be a musician.

BK: What happened after you released the first album?
Wut:
It flopped. Really. Our tour was dropped suddenly. We even tried to spend our own money to go on tour, but it still didn’t work. So we thought about quitting the music scene. I quit my job as a teacher at the Bangkok Christian School to do music and it flopped. Fortunately,
P’ Boyd always helps us by giving us studio jobs so we could survive.

BK: What inspired you to come back?
Tong:
A fan wrote me a letter to thank us for the song “Thank You.” She said that she was so depressed and when she listened to our song, she felt better.
Sean: Another point is that we won Best Recording Single at the Seesan Awards, which was really a big change for us. We thought that no one cared about us, but our small group of fans do care.

BK: What are the difficulties with being a musician in Thailand?
Wut:
In Thailand, you need discipline. If you have it, you will respect yourself and practice more. It also teaches you to respect others in terms of not showing up late and working together as a team. Especially our band, who has to sing as a chorus.
Kevin: The music scene in America is really going through a hard time. The music business has really slowed down. Not a lot of clubs and pubs want live music. But here, I can play every night.

BK: If you compare your voice to an instrument, what would it be?
Mhai:
I would be a saxophone because its voice is really beautiful.
Sean: I think I am a classic guitar. My voice is like a chord. I can sing only in-one tonal range.
Wut: It’s piano. It’s soft but strident at the same time.
Tong: I think I’m like a violin. My voice is rough and in high key so every time I sing, it will stand out from others like a violin.
Kevin: Bass. It supports all the other instruments.

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