Sawadeekar/p

Hi everyone,

We are back :-)

Bangkok has unleashed the vehemently lethal army that runs deep inside our body. On our supposed last day in the city Zai almost (almost) got defeated by these dark soldiers, but thanks to many unnamed spirits, he managed to fight back and win a victory.

And so we are back in Singapore but our corpses remain weak.

Nevertheless due to the beauty we have experienced (even in the event of sickness) this Bangkok trip cannot be left untold.Bangkok remained as the icon of life-li-ness for many of us and this trip was more significant because it was the period where ‘people power’ brought an acute change to ‘Thaksinomism’. Even though we didn’t make it to the demonstrations (hence cannot put up images to share) here are some flyers that went around in the sound performance that so::on orgainsed:

ok some information about so::on. The main person behind this collective is Koichi, whom you should be very familiar with by now. Koichi shares a very intimate relationship with the sound artists here in Singapore and hence exchange actively takes place between Bangkok and Singapore sound art scene. Last year Koichi brought The Observatory to a festival gig that So::on organized and this one that we just attended was to feature Chee Wai, Jazzkammer, Zai, a Thai punk rock band called LATE and Koichi’s own band Space Buccha.

So::on plays the role of a fervent organizer which pushes standard of sound event in Bangkok and from the features we gathered from magazine, they are really coming up strong. Oni and so::on have plans of collaborating so we wait and see what happens na.

Aboutcafe. This is a two storey building where exhibitions, forums, gigs take place. Apart from its unfortunate location of being sandwiched between busy roads, this is a place of envy for onistudio. Zai will write more about this place and oni’s ideas in a later post, for now I present you some picture whoring:

That’s Koichi in picture, setting up for sound checks.

Zai tired of waiting for his turn to play (he was sick btw)

John and Lasser checking out their gadget shopping for the day.


Chee Wai seemingly indifferent to their display of geekiness (Chee Wai had toured with Jazzkammer for a week and half also to Guangzhou, China)

Apart from Lasser’s trance spasm and John’s evil child-like grin during their incredibly loud noise performances, this trip, together with the last gig I Have Even Escaped Myself at 72-13, really got us to know our friends from Norway better. For one Lasser is never smokes nor drinks (even coffee) his entire life (Lasser you must be really sick of this comment) and John once had long waist-length rocker hair. Well, apart from these personal facts one of the most precious thing is the great spirits and madness towards noise-making they brought to us and vice-versa. Lasser and Chee Wai recorded a duet jamming and so did John and Zai. We advise tinniduos out there who constantly seek higher decibels to keep a keen look-out for the release.

The Show! (video is kind of fuzzy from the digital camera)

Really fun cross between metal and hardcore punk rock! Koichi and I love them.


Zai on acoustics banging his last might on the guitar.

It doesn't sound loud here but I could hear Chee Wai and Lasser from duck kway teow stall across the road.

Jazzkammer. This will probably just sound silly on our small speakers. Always go live!


Space Buccha. Noise, electric guitar, saxophone trio.

The guys were so jealous that so many girls were at the event. (sorry no pics but you can catch glimpses in the video) We’re not saying that there are no cute girls when we organise event in Singapore but hey seriously we have waay too many men! A striking difference in the crowd was that the Bangkok scene (from this event alone) consist of mainly 20-25s wheares in Sg our audience is older in their late 20s to early 30s. All these said means we have to work harder to make local alternatives a good and available choice for young people.

Anyway by the time the whole affair ended it was 1am and everybody’s pretty zonked.

That night we went to Silom for supper and back to the hotel. Zai went to a wrong room, knocked for a minute and a white guy wrapped in a white towel opened the door. We thought it would be the end of his manhood but luckily the man could still run in his drunken state.

So much for this post. We’ll tell you more about Shimizu shabu-shabu (which Chee Wai can give up a performance for), the beloved Aree neighbourhood which sells everything from umbrellas to underwear to umbilical cords (kidding) and Zai will personally recount his conversation with ‘death’ and himself.

Oh, kind of sensationalism huh.