What were you guys doing before forming Vacancy?
We had quite different backgrounds and experiences before coming to Thailand. DJ Moola, in particular, has had a huge DJ career. He used to play with [Japanese pop group] Pizzicato Five and organize a big party called Readymade Blacklist with [Pizzicato Five member] Yasuharu Konishi. After we all moved to Bangkok, we were introduced to one another by DJ Hiroo then we started hanging out almost every week. Actually Hiroo and Moola launched the original Vacancy earlier this year at Tease Gallery (J-avenue) but after Hiroo went back to Japan, we decided to form a new crew and restart Vacancy. It was all very natural.

What type of parties are you looking to put on?
There’s a big nightlife scene in Bangkok. It’s our opinion, though, that it can be separated into two types of parties: the big ones comprised of all the current commercial tunes in a big location with DJs and tons of people; or more original parties that give you real good music in a small location with nice DJs and a crowd made of music lovers. We prefer the second option but we’re not doing the same thing we would do in Japan. We want to do something original to Thailand; something more than playing Japanese artists for a Japanese crowd.

What’s the plan for Vacancy?
First of all, we’re trying to make our home base Shades of Retro. Then after that, we want to join with Thai artists, other foreign artists, and Japanese ones, too. But for now, Shades of Retro is the best place for us to get started.