How's your year been so far?
It's been a good start to the year, thanks. I finished off my Wide Awake artist album and started the year with some great shows in Europe and North America.

What are you currently busy with?
The Wide Awake album tour is now starting and I'm doing dates worldwide, plus I've just started work on the track selection for In Search Of Sunrise 9 which is due for release later this year. Your first full album release Wide Awake is making waves.

How did you put it together?
Very nicely! When I started with the production I told myself “I'm only going to make tracks that I like and will not look to make just "trance" or "house" or any one style. The title track featuring Ellie Lawseon is getting charted worldwide.

What can you tell us about that collaboration?
Good vocals are very important to make a track crossover. Amazingly I've still to meet Ellie in person—we made the track by e-mail sending samples back and forth!

How do you approach production work? Any special rituals?
Only one! I need to feel good; then I can produce anywhere, whether be it at home, studio, in an airport or hotel, or even in a plane.

Tell us more about your podcast, "In Search of Sunrise Radio."
This is something I'm very proud of. It's on a growing number of FM stations around the world and on AH.FM every Friday. And of course it's available as a Podcast on iTunes.

Define your kind of trance.
Melodic, energetic and for dancing to!

What do you think of the trance scene right now?
It's maybe not as big as house at the moment but with good music coming through trance will last forever.

Which was your most memorable gig and why?
I think Sensation in Melbourne during NYE 2009. Playing to 50,000 people was a very special experience!

You’ll be spinning in Azzura, Singapore; what can we expect?
I'll do what I always do—make you dance!

Catch Richard Durand at his Wide Awake Album Tour on Mar 12, 6pm. Azzura, 46 Siloso Beach Walk, Sentosa, 6270-8003. $30 includes one drink.

How do you feel about Congratulations?
My favorite thing about it is that we really captured what it felt like to record as a side piece band in California and it still takes me to that moment. It’s the first time I’ve ever been involved in something, finished it and felt like I totally nailed it. I was a lot happier with this one.

So it’s a lot different than when you finished Oracular Spectacular?
When we finished that, it was more like, “thank goodness it’s over.”

We heard you guys wanted to call the second album Congratulations even before it was finished. Do you reckon you made the right choice?
Yeah, I think so. A lot of people were saying that it wouldn’t be a commercial success like the first album. It’s cool when good pop music becomes successful but I don’t think that’s the end goal for it. If being popular happens, it happens. It’s more about making music we like. I think we made a good album. I like it.

Your title track has a sort of mournful sound to it. And it’s dedicated to pop culture? Tell us more about that.
That song is most obviously about us as a band. The music and lyrics were written when we were pretty disillusioned about touring. We were sort of burnt out after finishing the first album. It was kind of depressing, I guess. A word that describes it would be “jaded." But it’s fun performing that song now because our attitude is so different.

A lot of us here are catching you live for the first time. What can we expect?
It's basically just us standing there playing our instruments. It’s not very theatrical music; it’s more about playing the music well as a live band. We have a friend of ours doing digital stuff on screen behind us, which is really cool. It feels really neat to get wrapped in the whole audio-visual thing.

What's the craziest crowd you've ever played for?
The show we just played in Argentina was right up there. We played a show on a huge beach and there were like 30,000 people or something. It felt like a real rock concert. People were going crazy.

Tell us about life at home.
I like New York—it’s a huge city and I hadn’t lived in a big city before I moved here. It’s so big that you kind of have to find your own smaller version of New York. You can’t really deal with the whole city all at once. My life here is simple and I can live it anywhere. I have my apartment set up like home the way I like it and I pretty much don’t leave.

Don’t miss MGMT & The Whitest Boy Alive on Mar 24, 8pm at Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Hall 603, Suntec City, 1 Raffles Blvd., 6337-2888. $138 from Sistic.

How has the working process evolved between you guys over the years?
It’s pretty much the same actually, which is very slow (laughs). How it works is, for the majority of the recordings, we will try to expand on them during rehearsals before recording them in the studio, or not. It’s a process of going back and forth—developing the tunes— before we’re all finally happy with it.

So you guys are in a more comfortable place right now?
Yeah, we were in a really dark place a few years ago—pitch black even—and the sound reflected that. These days, we tend towards the sunny stuff. But that doesn’t mean that the upcoming set will be less exciting. There’ll still be lots of melody and great dynamics…

What do you think of the rest of the wannabe post-rock musicians out there?
I agree that there is way too much music and way too many “musicians” today. But for us, music’s in our DNA—it’s like breathing—there’s no question about it. No motivations, no intentions, we just do.

What have you guys been listening to lately?
Right now, I’m in a phase of not listening to anything…

Famous last words?
Enjoy yourself.

Be quick to check out Tortoise before tickets sell out on Mar 17, 7:30pm. Esplanade Concert Hall, $40-80.

The bespectacled and much-lauded designer has seen her label Hansel stocked in over 10 Australian boutiques in cities like Queensland and Melbourne since 2004. Her sartorial journey has seen the designer, more often than not, taking the clichés of retro glamour and injecting them with a dose of eclecticism. The result? Fun and flirty pieces, the quintessence of fashion modernism. After opening her first flagship boutique at Mandarin Gallery last year, Soh impresses again with her new line Hello Hansel which sees the designer taking on casual wear chockfull of the quirks and whimsies that Hansel is known for. The celebrated designer behind your Favorite Local Fashion Brand in the Reader’s Choice Awards 2011 gives us an intimate insight into her design eye.

It’s been eight years since your debut at the Mercedes Australian Fashion Week. How has the journey been?
It has been a steep learning curve full of ups and downs! It has also been a very fulfilling experience.

How would you describe your style today?
With the recent launch of my casual wear label Hello Hansel, I have found a happy balance with Hansel being the more dressy and sophisticated label and Hello Hansel carrying the fun pieces with Hansel’s signature bright, graphic prints.

Tell us more about your new collection “The Geometric Swan.”
The whole collection’s theme and direction sprung from a single vintage button with a graphic swan motif that I came across during my sourcing trips in Hong Kong. I envisioned dresses with plump ruffles and gathered, fluttering sleeves and knew straightaway that the theme had the potential to become a whole collection.

Previously you’ve sold your creations only online and through consignment, but you’ve opened a boutique just recently. How is that coming along?
With my new shop, I have been able to present Hansel merchandise in an environment that showcases Hansel’s style, thus creating a much stronger brand identity. I have also been able to meet more of Hansel’s customers and learn firsthand about their preferences and needs. It has also been a terribly exciting challenge to run the shop, keeping me on my toes everyday! I am constantly thinking of ways to improve our product and our service. Also, ever since we had our physical shop presence, we have been approached by several large companies for project collaborations, which is fantastic for the brand! Opening my own shop is something that I should have done a lot earlier!

Singapore-designed fashion labels have fared quite well overseas but are still quite unknown here. What does it take for Singaporeans to have a piece of local fashion in their wardrobe?
Continued and consistent publicity on the local and international successes of Singaporean fashion labels will help to change the mindset of the general Singaporean public. For an industry that is a lot about status, Singaporean labels would also need to gain more publicity like international celebrity endorsements to really grab the general Singaporean's attention and alter their perception about the capabilities of a Singaporean label. I am hoping that the Audi Fashion Festival and Blueprint events will carry on for at least the next 10 years as their continued presence would greatly develop the general public's view on the local fashion industry.

What for you is exciting in fashion now?
The acceptance by consumers of all labels from all market levels, from the mass, to the indie to the high end. It is now seen as being smart to mix pieces from labels from different market levels.

Finally, do you have any fashion advice or styling tips you could give to our readers?
If we invest in one thing this season, what should it be? A Hansel dress with a signature Hansel print.

Hansel is located at #02-14 Mandarin Gallery, 333A Orchard Rd., 6337-0992.

Your two last performances of Chui Chai, at Patravadi and then the Alliance Francaise, were very different. What should we expect this time around?
I’m going a bit further. There’s a new scene never produced in Thailand, a duet. It’s part of the story of Chui Chai but in our previous performances we skipped it. It’s the scene where Hanuman rapes Benyakay. When I am in Thailand, every couple of days, in the news, I hear of a rape. And yet, no one talks about this. No one complains. Nobody thinks this is very important—this is crazy. That’s why I created this piece, and premiered it in Singapore. It’s something that’s been moving me for a long time.

So this staging of Chui Chai will be more personal and less political?
It’s still political. Rape is political. Politicians are all men. Laws are made for men.

Are the recent developments on the Thai-Cambodian border influencing you?
I’m thinking of doing a scene on this. But it’s sensitive. I’m not sure what I can do on stage about this. What I did at Patravadi was about what’s going on in Thailand. Now this is outside of Thailand. And the situation is unclear. Is this a game or is this real?

So you self-censor?
I show everything because people in Thailand don’t think very much of theater. They consider it just a spectacle. Before, there was nothing being produced that was political, nothing that serious. So no one from the government, no one from the Thailand Cultural Center comes to see our shows. And if they do see it, they don’t understand. For example, Ganesh was a very political, very powerful performance where I was talking very directly. But nobody [from the authorities] saw it. They worry about visual arts, painting, even music, but not what about what goes on in theaters or dance.

Will we see more of you here in 2011?
I’m going to tour Ninjinsky Siam in London and Pichet Klunchun and Myself in Switzerland and Brazil. I have a new premiere in Singapore in October, called Black and White Khon. Here, there’s no space to perform. There’s no theater in the BACC. If I want to perform at the Thailand Cultural Center, I need to sell B100,000 worth of tickets and find another B100,000 for the deposit. I need a star or some funny guy in my show to get that kind of money. There’s just no art space here. So I’m building my own theater on the Thonburi side of the river. It should open in May and I’ll try to premiere Ninjinsky Siam. We need a space for real classical dance, not some restaurant.

Isn’t that the National Theater’s role?
They only produce when they get a commission from the government or the head of some cultural department, when they need to celebrate this or that. Their full time job is teaching, not training as dancers, not being on stage. When they present on stage, how many hours have they practiced? A couple of times? Even if you’ve done a certain show before, you need 2-3 months of rehearsal. You need to practice every day. These are not real performers. They complain that no one comes to see their show. But compare them to ballet. The muscle, the jump, the body is perfect in ballet, and when ballet comes to Thailand, the tickets are B1,000-5,000 and it’s a full house. People don’t understand the story of the Nutcracker or Sleeping Beauty any better than the Ramayana. People pay good money because they know what they will get, the high production, the dancers’ training.

Catching up with Pichet Klunchun at Chui Chai

What continues to shock me the most is how prudish Singaporeans are (well, the media is) in terms of censorship of sexually related material. It’s really at odds with what is otherwise a pretty worldly sort of place.

They pixilated the word “ass” as in “kick ass” on a blackboard in the background of some Jamie Oliver show I was watching on TV, yet advertise violent movies before the feature when I take my kids to the cinema. Bizarre!

I’m definitely pushier on the train here than I used to be, but I do swear a lot less. I walk slower, and therefore sweat less. I’ve lost my Australian phobia for queuing up, and have started assuming that if there’s no queue, there’s no point.

I’m also better at working out if sales promotions offer value for money, and care more whether they do.

I use acronyms more, but don’t know what they stand for. I have found myself walking around while texting; no major accidents yet though. And I lower my voice when talking about the government.

I don’t carry an iPad. I don’t really need to spend more time in the attention deficit world of screen-based media—I get too much of that anyway between my laptop and smartphone (I need to own up to an Xbox also, I guess).

I prefer to be less connected and spend more time reading a paper book, cooking something or trying to get some sort of exercise.

If I could, I would produce either a TV series or a video game rather than write a book. I reckon the best kind of storytelling is a drama series a la HBO. Sustaining characters and stories over 10 hours of content per series really gives depth and detail that is substantial and satisfying, as well as a depth of involvement that’s very immersive.

People who use the guru word, or even allow someone else to use it about them really make me cringe! Brand gurus seem to be a dime a dozen, and the implication that there is some kind of secret enlightenment that only the guru can offer devalues the significance that brands can have.

The bullshit factor in this industry is very high. So many people claim expertise in “brand,” and most of them confuse having something useful to offer with buzzwords, a clever PowerPoint deck and a punchy insight or two—normally something to do with digital media or what makes Gen X/Y/Z tick.

When it comes to first impressions, if you look like a buttoned-up suit then order a Pina Colada, that would get a laugh out of me. If you look like a tattooed skate punk, then a cup of tea might be a nice counterpoint. Just not a Diet Coke. That’s a drink with zero credibility in my books!

I stay curious and fresh by pushing myself into new things. No good brand is static, and people are just the same. Having a predictable spiel isn’t good—you need an unfolding narrative, not a worn-out one-liner.

Happiness is a successful new business pitch in the afternoon, followed by a dinner out with the family, including a nice bottle of pinot!

Sudarat Laksiriroj, who has been renting two properties from the university in the old Sam Yan Market area for over 40 years, explains her ongoing legal battles and the effect of all the changes on business.
Chula gave us a first eviction notice 16 years ago. But then they let us stay. In 2007, they sent a lawyer, who brought us all to the court and made us sign a moving consent document. We all signed and didn’t really pay attention because we thought they would just let us stay like last time. We paid our rent like normal for a year and right after that, they told us we could only stay until June 2009. Most of us didn’t have anywhere else to go, so we stayed until the end of that year. Around May 2010, I found a notice on my other house, saying that according to the 2007 contract, they had the right to take over the other property I also rent in Sam Yan. I didn’t believe it at first because I’ve never owed rent for that house in the 40 years I’ve been there.

Many other tenants and I decided to hire a lawyer and thought we could fight and ask for another three-year contract. Chula just brought up that 2007 contract, as it states that Chula has the right to take possession if I didn’t move by their deadline. I found a new space to rent and moved as quick as I could, but then Chula told me that they were going to charge us B400,000 as a late leaving fee. I couldn’t take it. I don’t have that much money, so I asked them if they will accept B100,000. This issue is still going on.

My sales are lot less since the old market was torn down, and also because some old customers don’t know that we’ve reopened nearby. I understand that Chula has the right to have their land back, but they shouldn’t have been this cruel to us. We are innocent people trying to make a living and we didn’t really understand what we signed. I’ve lived here since I was born. So I’m bound to the place and feel very sad that everything has changed.

Kai, waiter at Seng Sim Ee in Suan Luang for 16 years
I prefer the old market. Without the Suan Luang fresh market there are less people. I have been here since I was very young, so I’ve seen a lot of changes and this is the biggest change to this area. We used to close our shop at 10pm as we sold everything, but that’s not going to happen these days.

Aew, waiter at Seng Sim Ee in Suan Luang for two years
We’ve never known exactly what they will do with the land. There are several rumors: some say it will be a dormitory while others say it will be something else. But one thing I do know is that we have a lot less customers. Without the parking space at the market it’s not convenient for people to pick up food around here.

Prachob, owner of Por Pang Ping grilled bread shop in Suan Luang for 15 years
I wish it could still be the same but I know it won’t. I used to sell bread and milk with my cart in front of the fresh market but I had to move here [into a shophouse] when they knocked it down. Without the fresh market, things have changed. There are only half as many people as there used to be and now I mostly get customers at night. Even though I work longer hours I sell around 10% less than what I used to when I was a street vendor. But you know what, I used to be scared that they [Chula PMO] wouldn’t renew my contract and kick me out of the building. Now I’ve made up my mind. I am too disheartened to stay here. If possible I want to move somewhere else and start something new.

Sirigesinee, Assistant Director of Marketing Communications at Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square. Working in Siam Square for 10 years
I have been working here long enough to see plenty of changes to Siam Square—mostly positive. I don’t mind new developments if they keep the space as savvy and lively as before. But honestly one thing I don’t understand is why Chula are going to have a hotel just right opposite us, a loyal, long-term renter. No matter what they say, two hotels will be targeting the same customers so we can’t avoid competition. The hotel business in the CBD area is tough enough. And what if one day they just don’t renew our contract?

Jay, Training Manager at Hard Rock Café Bangkok. Working in Siam Square for 20 years
Chulalongkorn University might not be on the best track with their development plans in Siam Square but at least they’ve succeeded in making this place the teen headquarters for several decades. One thing that is a concern is the maintenance or lack of it. Chula have added so many new things but then not taken care of them.

Sarintorn, senior year student at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Communication Arts. Studying at Chula for four years
I don’t like the development plan.Because my faculty is right next to Sam Yan it’s where I always go have lunch and hang out. But because of the changes, all the restaurants and shops have gone and I have to walk a lot further to find restaurants. I also feel that Sam Yan is an old area and we should keep it traditional. Sam Yan would not be Sam Yan if it’s full of new modern buildings.

Found in 1917, Chulalongkorn University, a.k.a. Chula, is Thailand’s most prestigious higher education institution. With 1.76 sq kilometers (1,100 rai) of property in the heart of Bangkok, it’s also sitting on some of the most valuable real estate in Thailand. After years of asking, Chula has finally gained the government’s nod of approval to knock down shophouses to make way for its multi-billion-baht redevelopment projects but shopkeepers in Siam and Sam Yan—some of whom have been renting there for decades—are understandably upset. We spoke to Associate Professor Permyot Kosolbhand, chief of the Chulalongkorn University Property Management Office, to get his spin on Chula’s big plans.

“It’s a dilemma. If we don’t do anything, the university will die. On the other hand, we also need to deal with angry renters who have been here for several decades,” says Permyot. As he points out, the university is now partially privatized, with the government funding only 30% of the budget and the tuition fees and alumni donations bringing in a negligible revenue. Chula is therefore dependent on its real estate but little shophouses selling t-shirts or noodles are obviously not paying the kind of money needed for a competitive university in the 21st century.

The irony is that Chula needs private funding, but the government’s stake means it also needs cabinet approval for any project with a budget greater than one billion baht. “People say we’re rushing to knock down those Sam Yan shophouses, but actually it’s long overdue. We’ve been asking the last four governments for permission [to develop the area],” says Permyot.

But does Bangkok really need another ‘lifestyle’ mall or hotel where small, individual businesses once stood? “The shophouses are over a half-century old. They could collapse any time. It’s impossible to find a harmonious solution for everyone, but we’re still trying. This is Chula’s biggest facelift ever, but we want the old Siam and Sam Yan to remain recognizable. It’s not that we don’t preserve old things, it’s that we preserve them in our own way.”

The relationship with the tenants will also be profoundly different. Gone are the days when Chula could afford to simply build and rent. “The Sam Yan area alone is almost 14 rais [22,400 sq meters] so we decided to invite private enterprises to invest and then share the profits,” says Permyot.

We’re skeptical that anything recognizable will remain of our teen memories and we really don’t need another mall. At least, Chula is getting in bed with bland retail/hotel/condo developers for a good cause—education—as opposed to simply lining some investors (or government official’s) pocket—though only time will tell.

I was spoiled as a kid. I was an only child in a working class family in Chiang Rai. My dad was a security guard and my mom a tailor.

Even though my parents weren’t rich my father worked to put me in private school because he wanted the best for me.

I love to read because my parents read. I inherited this habit from them. My mom would teach me everything she learned. She would tell me about Vincent van Gogh, his famous sunflower paintings and how he cut his own ear off. My father loves classic Chinese novels, so I grew up with those, too.

Private school was a strange world for me because I was a regular boy but all my friends were rich. They introduced me to new stuff: music videos, trendy shoes, hip-hop. I fell in love with hip-hop.

I dreamed of being a prosecutor because I loved to watch the TV series Pao Bun Jin (Bao Zheng) and wanted to uphold justice. I felt that as a judge, you just can’t do as much to help people. But a prosecutor can actively seek evidence to help them.

I studied law at Ramkhamheang but, despite loving the law, I discovered that I have no talent in this field. I dropped out after meeting Joey Boy.

Meeting Joey was like a movie for me. I had tapes of every Thai hip-hop artist and he was my idol. I knew he had a TV show at Channel 7 so, even though I was in Bangkok for the first time in my life, I decided to catch a bus to see him, get his autograph and give him my demo hip-hop album. I even cried when I met him.

Joey called me and asked me to join their concert at FAT fest where I sang the first song I’d ever written, called “I Hate RS.” People really loved it and Joey signed me onto the Gancore Club.

I had a bad temper when I was a teenager. I used to kick my TV because I couldn’t stand watching Dome-Pakorn Lum’s music videos.

I wrote songs about my contempt for certain things in the world. I felt the world sucked, with murders, bad news, also the divorce of my parents, so I wanted to destroy it—or at least be a rebel.

I became less irreverent after I was scolded about wearing flip-flops on stage at a mini-concert. I thought, “What the hell? What difference does it make if I wear flip-flops on stage?” My senior at Gancore pointed out that hundreds of people put in months of work to prepare everything for me to be on stage for just five minutes, and asked if this was how I wanted to repay them.

I used to eat cat food from my neighbor’s cat. I had no money. I told my mom that I was going to stop studying and be an artist and that she should stop sending me money.

I didn’t get any jobs for a year. I used all my rent money to eat. After six months, my label found out what was going on and staged a concert to pay my rent.

I am just a guy who loves to sing hip-hop. I don’t actually have a hip-hop lifestyle like other hip-hop artists.

I believe that hip-hop music will change the world. I will change the world with my songs. I don’t know when it’s going to happen but it’s a project that I plan to do before I die.

I chose to sing “Goodnight” with Thee Chaiyadeg and dedicate it to soldiers who fight in the South, because I knew that Thee was the only person who could soothe Thai people.

I think the government hasn’t done enough to fix the Southern problem. It’s true that it’s a historical conflict but if we don’t start to fix it now, when will it finish?

In a war, no matter what side you’re on, there can only be defeat.

I think Bangkok was like a teacher. It taught me from my mistakes. It made me more street savvy. It made me mature enough to be the head of my family. Now I can buy a condo for my dad and send money to my mom.

If I could be Bangkok governor I would make a place where people can protest, scream and destroy stuff as much as they want.

Love is the least serious thing in my life.
A microphone is all I want. Before I had so much ego. Now I know that every award I get will go on to someone else anyway.

My philosophy is to just take a breath. That means you’re still alive. I used to have tons of philosophies but eventually they all just make your head heavy. Now I have just one.

Everyone wants to achieve nirvana. They just haven’t realized it.