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Indie is in. But what is behind this often used term? Jeremy Hartley from the punk rock band the The Darlings, gives us a comprehensive insight into Bangkok’s Indie scene.  A collection of trusted motives
Just about everywhere you go during a night out in Bangkok you are likely to hear music, though it would be wrong to say that it is a good place for live performances, at least at the moment. It would be hard to confuse Bangkok with New York, or Paris or Manchester, for there are precious few musical acts on the local scene that are pushing any boundaries. This is not to say that there is no talent. Quite the contrary, there are countless musicians in this city who could play you the entire Scorpions catalogue or, better still, who could sit down and figure out your favorite song after just a single listen. These musicians are technically proficient and almost preternaturally skilled at mimicry. The problem is that most of them seem to lack that characteristic that is generally looked for in most forms of popular music – soul.
There seems to be a pervasive fear of taking risks or at least of not entertaining, so tried and true material is widely preferred. And this is not just in the pub circuit and the cut-and-paste world of pop music. Many, but not all, of the bands that have emerged in recent years under the “indie” banner play a very polite style of jazzy pop that relies heavily on a small collection of trusted motifs, both lyrical and musical, and methods of execution. It’s nice for background music and serviceable for a night of romance, but the only reason the people in the crowd are sweating is because of the tropical climate.
Bangkok Do It Yourself
One would think that this atmosphere would make Bangkok rather infertile soil for any sort of indigenous, DIY (Do It Yourself) music scene. Yet amazingly, this is exactly the sort of scene that has surfaced during the past year or so.
It is worth noting that the DIY aesthetic that is so central to underground or independent music is a hoary old presence in that club known as global culture. It is a firmly established part of the Western pop canon, though it would be wrong to identify it as a Western cultural export. The rebellious creative spirit of DIY music proceeds directly from the primal appeal of the beat of rock and roll, a genre that has proven popular and accessible among people around the world. Rock may have originated in the West, but there is little reason to think that its appeal is anything other than universal. Asian bands, like their counterparts in South America, the Middle East and elsewhere, are more than capable of holding their own alongside their Western counterparts in terms of execution and innovation. Rock and roll, like democracy, seems to operate according to the dictates of its own manifest destiny.
For its own historical reasons, Thailand is currently experiencing the rebirth of its own version of the DIY spirit and has the bands to prove it. Starting with the Songs for Life movement during the 1970s, when students took the streets to overthrow corrupt governments and communist rebels took to the hills, and the brief flare-up of interest in alternative rock in the early 1990s, Thailand has had its share of independence-minded musical movements. The economic/political situation has not always made it easy, but the kids have persisted. The relatively stable and prosperous socio-economic conditions that have sprung up since the 1997 economic crisis ended have paved the way for the current DIY push.
The Eastbound Downers
Two years ago there was a small number of bands, record labels and music stores doing their own things, though they lacked cohesion as a cultural movement. The infrastructure wasn’t in place in terms of venues, promotions and regular performances. That all changed with the launch of the noisy, raucous Eastbound Downers and their Noise Pop concert series. The Downers played their first show on a boat drifting down the Kwai River in Kanchanaburi during a drunken weekend in 2002, launching themselves by setting a precedent in Thailand for where and how music is presented.
Because the Downers were not content to push boundaries by themselves, the equally unprecedented Noise Pop series followed hot on the heels of their earliest shows. The premise was to throw a concert featuring bands playing their own music at a different venue around the city every couple months or so. Style wasn’t important, just originality, allowing bands playing anything form hard core to electronica who might normally never have hung out together, much less played together, to see each other in action. The value of this kind of mixing of knew talents, new ideas, new styles, cannot be overstated. It is a key component in fostering creativity and diversity, crucial characteristics of any healthy localized music scene.
The Downers found some memorable venues to facilitate the budding movement to which they started giving shape: The excellent and now-defunct Paradise Disco in the heart of the Soi Nana red light district. The now-closed Mao Ka Jai restaurant near Silom Road, which has played host to excellent bands hailing from as far away as the Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the United States. Asoke Bar on Asoke. The always indie-friendly About Café gallery near Chinatown.
They have likewise brought together or helped set up first shows for a wide selection of bands: License to Kill, Zealot, Born from Pain, Pus of Social and System Suckers have served up blistering hard core and metal. From the Makers of Casablanca, Crux, Brandnew Sunset, Stage Clear, Adulterer and The Darlings have delivered emotional sets of punk rock and emo. Styrene Jungle, Lucy’s Suicide, Zom, Apartment Khun Pa and Dubbrainers have thrilled with their fun and experimental funk, ska and pop. And these are just to name a few. The Downers have also been instrumental in arranging concerts pairing local bands with acts from overseas, including the excellent Malaysian acts Man Under Zero Effort, Aloe in the Bottle and Elisabelle Tears, Australian folk-punk Steve Towson, hard core stars King Lychee from Hong Kong and anarchist punk rockers Rambo from the United States.  Obviously the Downers did not launch the scene on their own, but they did expand it, make it more inclusive, and went out of their way in terms of promoting their projects by going after new fans and exploring different media to get their message out. This message, of course, would be empty had the Downers not been able to rely on the efforts and enthusiasm of the Thailand Hardcore Collective (a group of hard core bands and fans), New Destiny Records (a punk rock label with a record store called Gimme Shop at Coco Walk Plaza under the Ratchatewi BTS station), Bama Records (a label grouping punk rock, experimental rock and the just plain experimental), Hualamphong Riddim Records (a label covering pop, funk, ska, reggae and dub), Dude Sweet and Rocket Club (organizers of garage rock parties and shows), radio stations like Fat Radio (104.5 FM, the station also organizes Fat Festival, an ostensibly independent music festival, in October) and countless other organizers, promoters, artists, record stores, DJs, musicians and fans of independent music.
Members of bands that have visited Bangkok from abroad have been overheard making remarks to the effect that though the DIY scene here is still relatively small and immature in terms of style and skill – it has been likened to that of Singapore ten years ago – it is much more fun, much more vital than its counterparts in nearby countries. There is a sense of possibility in Bangkok and a genuine spirit of community among those who are involved with bands or venues and the people who come to the concerts.
Bands share members (one notable example is Van Crux, the singer of the emo-core band Crux, the drummer of From the Makers of Casablanca and the bassist of The Morning After), equipment and promotional duties. If a band invites some other bands to play together at a concert, you can be sure that the favor will be returned. Though there are generally at least two or three concerts each month, Bangkok still suffers from a lack of a regular venue. The city boasts countless venues that are sympathetic to independent music, but none of them is regular. This will not last forever, though, as interest is growing and more people are getting involved.
The writer lives in Bangkok and is a member of The Darlings.
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